The second email.

Hey everyone!
I am making a decent effort at sending out emails every week or so, but it is really hard out here. I love hearing from all of you, so even if I don't get a chance to reply (internet time is really limited) keep sending me things!

Lessons I have learned in the field:
-China chocolate is either non-existent or terrible
-China bathrooms aren't as bad as they seem
-Walking up to villagers and asking to stay with them the night generally leads to the best experiences you can have on a trip filled with festivals and broken Chinglish.
-Following a guide with no food and limited water on what is supposed to be a 2 mile hike doesn't always end well.
-The drunk locals know more about an area than you, so if they say you can't make it to the next village, you actually can't make it.
-wash ALL food before eating - you will regret it otherwise
-a "quick jaunt" to the temple on the cliff can take all day
-When walking in a city that has never seen foreigners, the best entrance isn't always to trip with all your stuff on your back and land on your butt.
-When offered a drink at a local festival, it probably has alcohol in it.
-The whores at the whorehouses in your hotel will solicit your men as customers and your women as future employees.
-China is about as an amazing a place to spend 3 months as anywhere you can possibly go.

Mom, Dad, other adults or worried people - we haven't gotten into any direct danger. We did spend a night in an abandoned construction sight with no food or water because we got lost and it got dark, but that's about as dangerous as it's gotten. Dean hasn't caused the Burmese guards to shoot at us yet. The hotel we are staying in tonight in (Lio-ku - I don't know the actual spelling, but that's phonetic) has a whore house on the 3 floor, so all the boys got a talk about how not to attract attention to themselves. It is the first hotel (or city) we have seen in a while and it took us a 2 hour bumpy van ride to get here and we are leaving first thing tomorrow morning. We spent last night in a village of about 100 people - half yi and half lisu. We met one in the nearby town and they invited us to stay with them. It was the night of the moon festival, which usually isn't that big of a deal, but they pulled out all the stops because we were staying with them. We had a huge celebration and they performed for us and we performed for them - juggling and singing "American Pie". They then grabbed random people and roasted them over a fire by throwing them up and down (just enough so the heat wouldn't burn them). It was a way of cleansing, I believe. Ben jokingly pointed at me and shouted TA TA TA (her her her) and they took him seriously and suddenly the villagers grabbed me and hoisted me over the fire. It was a little bit terrifying. Towards the end, the villagers played what they considered to be modern/western techno and a couple of teen-age boys started dancing and told us to join in what they thought was western dance. It was odd rave-like dancing and Sar and I just let loose and made complete fools of ourselves trying to imitate them.
\r\n \r\nWe partied until fairly late last night and then in the morning woke up around 8:30 and went for a small hike up the CLIFF. The girl in my house took us and it turned out to be about 1500 of vertical climbing, some of it on stairs and ladders. We made it to the top where there were 3 temples and a huge beautiful water fall with a pool to go swimming in. It was one of the hardest hikes of my life, but the view was incredible and the the pool felt so good. We had our Chinese lesson outside the temple before heading back down (the down portion took us about 1 and a half hours and we didn\'t stop once). We got back and had lunch with our families before packing up and heading out. \r\n\r\n \r\nWhat I have been most amazed by is the generosity of the people. No where in America would you find families willing to put up 9 strange foreigners, no questions asked. They welcome us into their homes with open arms and feed us the best they have and share their culture with us. When we try to offer them money at the end of the visit, they try to refuse and say that they are so glad that we came to visit them. I thought the incident with the family that was celebrating a funeral and invited us in to dinner would be an isolated one, but I was wrong. Everywhere we go, it seems, the people want to befriend us and share what they have with us. I have never felt so safe walking around at night (except in the cities). It is like a small version of paradise. My entire group feels like crying every time we leave a house because even though we have limited communication skills, we get very attached to families we stay with. \r\n\r\n \r\nWell, that\'s all for now. Like I said, I have loved the emails I\'m getting. It sounds like everyone is loving college and school and what not and that makes me so happy. I miss everyone so much and I talk about you to my friends here a lot. But don\'t worry, I don\'t dwell too much on home. It is fun throwing myself into China 100% and forgetting that I belong anywhere else. I look at every place we go as a potential location to live second semester which adds a whole new dimension onto the trip. Where are the people the kindest (that\'s easy - everywhere!). Where is most interesting? What location would I like to get to know better? Where can I travel from easily and see the surroundings? The village outside of Tengchong is still my favorite, but I\'ve been here less than 2 weeks. I\'ll keep writing when I can, and my group posts YakYaks every couple of days about what we are up to. You can read them (I\'ve posted 2 so far) at \r\n",1]
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We partied until fairly late last night and then in the morning woke up around 8:30 and went for a small hike up the CLIFF. The girl in my house took us and it turned out to be about 1500 of vertical climbing, some of it on stairs and ladders. We made it to the top where there were 3 temples and a huge beautiful water fall with a pool to go swimming in. It was one of the hardest hikes of my life, but the view was incredible and the the pool felt so good. We had our Chinese lesson outside the temple before heading back down (the down portion took us about 1 and a half hours and we didn't stop once). We got back and had lunch with our families before packing up and heading out.

What I have been most amazed by is the generosity of the people. No where in America would you find families willing to put up 9 strange foreigners, no questions asked. They welcome us into their homes with open arms and feed us the best they have and share their culture with us. When we try to offer them money at the end of the visit, they try to refuse and say that they are so glad that we came to visit them. I thought the incident with the family that was celebrating a funeral and invited us in to dinner would be an isolated one, but I was wrong. Everywhere we go, it seems, the people want to befriend us and share what they have with us. I have never felt so safe walking around at night (except in the cities). It is like a small version of paradise. My entire group feels like crying every time we leave a house because even though we have limited communication skills, we get very attached to families we stay with.

Well, that's all for now. Like I said, I have loved the emails I'm getting. It sounds like everyone is loving college and school and what not and that makes me so happy. I miss everyone so much and I talk about you to my friends here a lot. But don't worry, I don't dwell too much on home. It is fun throwing myself into China 100% and forgetting that I belong anywhere else. I look at every place we go as a potential location to live second semester which adds a whole new dimension onto the trip. Where are the people the kindest (that's easy - everywhere!). Where is most interesting? What location would I like to get to know better? Where can I travel from easily and see the surroundings? The village outside of Tengchong is still my favorite, but I've been here less than 2 weeks. I'll keep writing when I can, and my group posts YakYaks every couple of days about what we are up to. You can read them (I've posted 2 so far) at
\r\n \r\nLove everyone lots!",1]
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D(["mb","\r\nMegan\r\n \r\n \r\n",1]
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D(["mb","",1]
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D(["mb","On 9/13/05, Megan Schoendorf <megan.schoendorf@gmail.com> wrote:\r\n",1]
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wheretherebedragons.com. Go to "Yak Yak", then "Current Programs", then "China."

Love everyone lots!
Megan