Fuzhou and the Flu

I know this is late but here it goes...

A little over a week ago, the school sent us on a trip with other teachers to southern China, where we went to Fuzhou and Wuyishan. We were under the idea that the school would fly us there, but boy were we wrong, a 24 hour train ride was in store for us on a fabulous Chinese train. We weren't too down in the dumps about it - until the train became very late and Luke and I both got sick.

Luke and I traveled with Lili, Jennie and RuJing down south, Rani was unable to make it because she was sick and Erick opted to stay behind with his wife and child. If only we had been so wise.

Fuzhou itself was not bad, except for the fact that I had been hit with a terrible fever and could barely walk 4 steps without being out of breath. It was not fun, but I managed and we went to the famous West Lake Park and to a book store to buy a book for RuJing. Other than that, the city itself did not have much to offer. It was very much like Zhengzhou and so we waited to head over to Wuyishan where we could get outside some more, away from the city.

Sadly, we had to get on another train when we did this and this time, we were forced on hard seats again, surrounded by smoking Chinese that had no respect for the others around them. I understand that I may sound bitter, but I was. I continued to break out in a fever, my head wanted to explode everywhere and it was too crowded to lay down. Oh well.

The next day we set off to climb Wuyishan. It was very pretty and we all loved getting back to nature - sadly though, I could still not walk more than one or two flights of stairs before breaking out in a coughing fit. I looked really great and all of the Chinese avoided me, I am sure they thought I had H1N1. I laughed it off and continued.

We not only climbed the mountain but were able to raft down the river. That was an adventure all together. It is no shock to us, that we, the Americans, are bigger and heavier than the Chinese. So at the ticket booth, we informed the man that we needed to only have 4 or 5 five people on our raft, versus 6, because we would indeed, sink the boat. Being Chinese, he waived us on, not paying attention to the laowais.

Sure enough - when we reached the boat, the two 'captains' informed us that we were indeed sinking the boat, and needed to pay an additional 10 yuan to receive passage down the river. I am not proud of how I reacted, but felt in my feverish state that it needed to be done. I proceeded to yell in English that he was crazy and we had told the people at the front about our 'situation' and he could kiss it where the sun didn't shine. Perhaps I didn't express myself as nicely as that, but I made my point and away we were, sinking ship and all.

Overall, it was a very pretty mountain and we were able to get really great pictures for our future home, wherever that will be. I sadly did not recover and still have a cough a week later, I am feeling better after going to the school doctor and getting some medicine. Hopefully I will get better soon. I am very fortunate to have Lili as my teaching partner, who was able to take classes for me so I could sleep and try to get better.

Photos are up on shutterfly so you can check them out. Enjoy.