Spring Break '09: Big Buddha, Big Mountain... I want to say a third big too, but I can't think of a good one

It is Saturday evening, and I am sitting in an inernet cafe in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province, waiting for the lastest episode of heores to load, and for my cellphone to recharge. It has been a fun week. I'm not gonna lie: there have been times where I felt lonely, or bored, or frustrated. I am still glad I made to decision to travel alone though, since I have not gotten close enough to people on my CET program that I would want to spend a week in their company, comprisiming my freedom to choose where I want to go. On the whole, it has been a pretty enjoyable week. What have I done the past seven days? Let me think for a minute...

* I saw the big buddha in Leshan (I quick internet search just revealed to me that this is NOT the world's biggest Buddha statue, but it was still of an impressive size)
* Decided that my favorite bridge in the world is located just to the South of the big Buddha (pictures will come up once I am back in Beijing)
* Made friends with a Uigher boy who led me to an umbrella shop (don't worry, it gets stranger...)
* Climbed all the way up the holy mountain of Emei in one day, covering a little over 30 kilometers on foot, plus climbing to a height of 2,500 meters.
* Chatted with a Buddhist monk, and heard about how carefree the life of a Buddhist monk is.
* Observed an incredible sunris through the clouds with a bunch of Chinese college students at 3000 meters, shortly followed by observing a bunch Chinese college student starting a giant snowball fight at 3000 meters.
* While decending from the summit of Emei Shan, I randomly bumped into two classmates from Beijing, and procceeded to hike down the mountain with them. Wow. What a small world. (and it is hard to say that in a country with this many people!)
* Monkeys. HOLY SHIT were there monkeys! There were times I was amused by monkey theft of other people's snacks, times I was afriad that big mother monkeys were gonna maul me, times I wanted to cuddle babt monkeys, and the time where a monkey jumped on my head in an attempt to get a snack out of my pocket (I'm not sure what he was thinking. Maybe is was a diversionary tactic to help his buddy get the food).
* A cool Daoist temple. I have now seens dozens of Buddhist temples, but this is the first full Daoist temple I have seen, with minimal, if any, Buddhist influence.
* Chengdu does indeed have pretty girls. A combination of clothing style, laid-back attitude, and facial structure?
* Sichuan Opera has a lot more potential than Beijing Opera. Balanceing a bowl of fire on my head while sliding under a bench is now a new goal of mine, and is using my hands to make shadow puppets.
* What is cuter than a banby panda? A dozen baby pandas all in one area playing, laying on their backs munching bamboo off of their cute, fat bellies, amd climbing trees. No wonder the Chinese name means "big bear cat."
* I gave a Buddha statue an offering of fruit. It is really common here, but the strawberries I gave him were fairly mushed and they didn't look very tasty anymore. But hey, a statue doens't need to worry about the consistency of his food, right?
* I met two recent graduates from Minnesota travelling the East, one lady from Australia with pink hair, a lip piercing, and tatoos, and a British girl who likes foreign food, architecture, and animals.
* I went to a yoga class in Chengdu, and it felt awesome. My legs still hurt from climbing the mountain, though.
* Almost fell into a Chinese toilet
* Considered the consequences of streaking Tiananment square while yelling things the Chinese government would prefer it's citizens not to hear. ...I decided that the consequences of this might be a bit too dire for me to do at the end of study abroad (although I would certainly make international news, as well as have a fairly unique chance to document how the Chinese police treat foreign 'political undesirables'), but I will certainly try to do it if I find out that my death is imminent (dur to fatal ilness, enemies in high places, or whatever).
* Continued to contemplate my SIP, with out a final plan. I have come up with two more topics though: Cultural exchange between tibetans and mongolians (did you know that Mongolians are the one's who MADE the Da'hl-ai La.ma?), and working at a youth hostel in Beijing this summer. I have decided that I do NOT want to do Chinese acrobat school as a SIP, although I still hope to go for a month on my own to learn staff spinning, and/or balance board, and/or meteor.
* I miss Meng Lili a lot. I thought about her a lot while I was climbing the mountain (other than enjoy the incredible scenery, I had very little to do but think), and she seems like just the right amount of everything. The right amount grown up and mature and the right amount playful and childish. The right amount seriously motivated to make the world a better place, and the right amount naively dreaming for a perfect little life. The right amount strong and independent and the right amount of needing/wanting me by her side. I am really glad we ended up meeting.
* I visited the Tibetan section of town, and I was amazed by how many people there can't speak Chinese. I learned some basic Tibetan from three monks who were sitting on the sidewalk, and I bought an outfit of traditional Tibetan clothing.
* I realized that I can understand the Sichuan dialect (in Chengdu, anyway). It must be more similar to Standard Mandarin than I thought, and my language skills must have made a signifigant improvement since this semester started.
* I finally learned my lesson: foreign food here usually sucks. The pasta wasn't good. The burrito wasn't that great either. Other than the dominoes pizza I had with Jamie, the foreign food has usually been a let down. I should just save up my cravings until I get back to the US, and then eat everything in one week and get really fat. Well, maybe I'll just save my cravings until I get back to the US.

I am flying back to Beijing at 8am tomorrow, which, in retrospect, is a few hours earlier than I should have arranged it. :( Oh well. I have about 250 kwuai left in my wallet, which means I have used up most of the money that I saved during the first half of this quarter and my week of working at American House. But I will work more and earn more, so it is no biggy. I have to say, I am really looking forward to geting back to the capital. Having a good shower, a shave (it has been a week and I look pretty scruffy), and some good old Beijing-style gai fan (a dish served on top of rice). I am also itching to practice juggling again. When I left Beijing I had just started to practice using five balls, and I am making progress. I am still a long ways away from actually being able to juggle five, but I am getting more used to throwing them, and I can catch a few. Little by little...

Pics will come once I am back in Bejing.