Brief Discourse on Liberty

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed...”

Not sure that I have much to say right now but I absolutely will later.

Turns out that the same thing kids use to look at YouTube in school is equally effective in other places.

The sun sets on the Northeast provinces around six but not on me.

I’m not done with Beijing yet.

We left our protagonist in a state of confusion and regret. After almost causing an international incident, the mood was grim and the hazy skies of Beijing were no comfort to a man wrestling with his own demons. The world seemed darker but surely the light persisted somewhere in the shadows. Where could this boy pretending to be a man find hope once again?

Probably not at the silk factory that I ended up stuck at for the afternoon.

I questioned myself in Beijing.

Remember that time I lied about updating my blog in just a few days? Well, most of our parents lied to us for years about Santa Claus and if you forgave them for that then surely you can forgive me for this. 

In my defense, I was very busy in Beijing (as you’ll soon find out) and when we haven’t been on the move since then I’ve been diligently working on curriculum that will enhance the lives of children and be awesome.

You parents, on the other hand, lied to you about a magic person who broke into your house after flying around the world because he wanted to give you presents that had been made by freaking elves. And there was a strong possibility that this man was Tim Allen.

Xi'an rocked my socks off.

Having been outside of the country for almost three weeks with near constant supervision and direction as to what I should see and how to not get stabbed pretty much makes me the foremost expert on travel. Thus I am prepared to share my wisdom with you. We’ll start with what you need for survival when you’re exploring China.

I am the panda whisperer.

What’s awesome and way behind on blog posts because of laziness and a computer battery that unfortunately doesn’t last very long for the free time that only seems to present itself while aboard overnight trains?

Also, it has two thumbs and likes to wear panda gear.

My taste buds will miss Sichuan. My intestines could not care less.

Have I told you that I love you lately? I might not have, but surely you know how profoundly I feel by now. I wouldn’t be so concerned about updating this blog if I didn’t love you.

If not for my love, I wouldn’t be slaving over this computer while I’m stuck in an uncomfortably hot room, on an awkwardly firm bed, and frequently dashing to the bathroom thanks to eating really really great but spicy food from the Sichuan province. The food is delicious – the best I’ve had in China yet – but it can ravage a digestive system and really create havoc to say the least!! Kind of makes you wonder what I had to eat. Right?

You should also know I love you because I only talk about things like this with people I really and truly love. Pictures after the jump!

In two days, I felt like I spent two weeks in the Guangxi region....

I feel like it has been over a week since my last update. I was sitting on my bed in the hotel, uploading and organizing photos from today’s events, when I realized that I had posted to my blog from Hong Kong only three days ago. I felt guilty for having not updated but that revelation just made me realize that you’re expecting way too much from me. You should be ashamed of the pressure you’re putting on me and for never telling me how pretty I am anymore.

Anyway, I feel like it was weeks ago that I was crying at my sister’s wedding like a baby that had been punched in the face. We’ve done and seen so much in the past few days that I can’t believe I’ll still be here for a few more weeks. I may be out of clean clothes and have already gained a reputation as the most willing/likely to do stupid things but I’m pumped to see what else China can dish out.

I dined on the faces of animals in Hong Kong.

The title is the hook. We’ll get to the whole “I feasted on animal faces or parts of animal faces” later. That’s just good marketing right there. For now, just know that they were delicious.

My time in Hong Kong started with a shuttle to the hotel. And I was awestruck. Hong Kong is not only massive but incredibly urban. The biggest city I have ever been to is Toronto and it never affected me like Hong Kong did on that first night. My vision was filled by mountainous, hilly islands connected by a multitude of bridges with towering buildings illuminating the light sky. It was a magnificent sight after hours in a dark, metal tube.

I slept two hours in the last twenty-four.

Five hours ago I was soaring over the edge of Alaska and on the brink of busting out of North America and into the world. I wrote up a blog post then about what I had learned after a cancelled flight and seven hours in a flying tube. Now, five hours later, I’m sitting in a Japanese airport and realizing that my propensity for rambling prevents me from being satisfied with what was already written. [I’m actually posting this from Hong Kong, I was about to post it in Narita but realized my flight was boarding!]

This is what I’ve already learned after my flight on the 28^th got cancelled and I survived the trek from Indianapolis to Atlanta to Tokyo-Narita.

This blog is illegal in China. So...

Allow me to introduce my ghost writers.

A few weeks ago I was thinking about how Google is not exactly best friends with China anymore and I was worried about accessing my email. The good news is that my email should usually be accessible (I got a Yahoo account as a back-up) but the bad news is that I forgot Blogger (our lovely host at this very moment) is blocked in China.

As Scooby Doo would say, “Ruh-roh, Shaggy."

Why I really want to go to China.

The main reason I’m going to China is because I want to get out of here. I need to get out of here. Here being the United States. I teach World History so I need to see the world. I don’t believe I can truly impart meaningful knowledge or offer significantly diverse perspectives without experiences like the one I’m about to have in China. The Fulbright GPA I’m participating in is focused on this idea of inter-cultural interactions shaping how we teach afterwards.

But everything I just said feels obvious to me. This desire to go abroad and have unique experiences has been gestating in my soul for the last two years. That’s why I thought I should whip up a list of other reasons why I want to go to China.

I want to be Batman when I grow up.

I’ve been struggling for quite some time to get inspired and update this blog. Granted, it has only been six months so I don’t think anyone can really be too upset with me for failing on such an epic scale. But I just didn’t feel like I could live up to my original goals. I never felt that I had anything to add when there are already so many great blogs run by thoughtful educators.

I really wanted to start writing again because I’m going to China in less than a week and this will be the best way for me to record my travels and to communicate with the folks at home that I haven’t been shot in the head for crimes against crimes against humanity. But even then, the idea of writing an “I’m going to China in one week” post didn’t sit right with me either.

There must be a way of going about this that can make me passionate about writing again. Once upon a time, I kept a blog where I used fake names for my friends - because the Internet was dangerous before lolcats - and whined about how hard it was to be male, middle class, and white. So I’ll do something honest instead of pretending I’m going to be the next big thing in the teacher blogosphere or writing cookie cutter posts.

And if I’m really being honest then I have to ask myself, “What would Batman do?”