Last night I had a Magnum bar while typing the e-mail. There must be coffee in the ice cream because I was up until at least 1 a.m., then kept waking up, so I probably got 3 hours of sleep.
For the last 2.5 days we've been smelling fire, like there's a brush fire in So Cal. There's a lot of smoke, but other than a couple of very small bonfires along the side of the road, haven't seen anything worthy of the smell. And it's everywhere, even in the heart of the city. We found out from Mr. Qing that the farmers typically burn the crops to improve the soil for next years crops. The government put a ban on it, but didn't tell the farmers in time. The first farmers that started the fires were thrown in jail, but there were too many that burned their crops and they can' throw them all in jail, so the rest are OK, but they haven't released the one's already in there. Also in jail is a student that's pro-democracy - anti-communism because he won't stop talking about democracy.
As we were getting on the bus, it started to rain. The first concert is at a middle school about 1.5 hours away. The concert was supposed to be on the sports field, but was moved inside to the cafeteria. While the performance was going on we kept hearing electrical interference from the sound equipment, I was waiting for the sound system to short out. The school provided lunch which was very tasty. The big debate was whether one of the dishes was potatoes or bamboo shoots, it turns out that it was potatoes (one of our translators settled it.)
Water and stone don't mix well so I fell on my left bum carrying a snare drum to the bus, I'm sure I'll have a large bruise, it hurts to sit on it. After my fall, Jeff banished me to the bus until it was time to go eat; he said he didn't want to take me to the emergency room.
The next school is also a middle school and another 1.5 hours drive. This one is in a gymnasium, so it's loud with bad reverb. We were supposed to do 2 concerts at this school, but at the last minute (like at the end of the first concert), they decided on only one. During both concerts I typed the lyrics to all the Christian songs in the repertoire since the church we are going to on Thursday wants Mandarin translations for all of the songs.
A lot of the students are complaining about having to eat Chinese food and dinners in our honor. Some were petitioning for McDonalds. Doc wouldn't say one way or the other where we were going for dinner. The drive to dinner was quite a while and we pulled up to another Peter's Tex Mex - wild cheers went throughout the group. I split a bacon burger with Jared, it was delicious, but I could only eat 3/4s of the 1/2 and I was still stuffed.
After we returned to the hotel (about 9:30) Josh, Dain, Teresa and I went for our nightly massage. I haven't had one for 2 days since we've been getting back after 11. I have been carrying a heavy pack on my back everyday so I deserve it. Sam's was full, so we went next door to John's - smoky, but the man that gave me my massage was good, I fell asleep. It's not quite as clean as Sam's so we're all going to wash well before we go to bed.
It's still sprinkling, but it's nice.
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