Linfen Nightscapes

HuaMen (华们)

The Windmark

Check out that sweet box I was able to strap on the back. Carried groceries all the time with that thing. Here it's full of a few of my students writing notebooks.






Peach blossoms a week before they bloomed


The Fen River (汾河) south of Linfen (临汾)…waterless.











My beloved Giant Windmark that I had to leave behind in China. This little 8-speeder with down tube shifters cost me about $250, and I put somewhere in the vicinity of 1,000 miles on this baby. I was able to see a good portion of the surrounding areas because of this bike. I took this thing on dirt roads, gravel roads, off road. I also used it to commute to campus 2 twice a week in the spring, and I didn't get a single flat tire. I ended up selling it for a little more than half what I paid for it; the student I sold it to said he was going to ride it to his hometown of Taiyuan (太原).

Linfen Street #3

Chinese Drive Through

While in Xi'an (西安) for a few days I came across the first drive through I had seen in China. This also happened to be the first drive through my two friends had ever seen, so in response they immediately swung a U-turn, pulled up to the window and ordered three ice creams.

Making Dumplings

One afternoon I went over to my friend Altair's house to learn how to make dumplings. His mom walked me through all the steps and I wrote down all the ingredients, so hopefully I can replicate them soon here in the U.S.

Playing With Glow Sticks

I had some left over glow sticks from a Christmas party some of the foreign teachers threw so I brought them over to the bike shop and we toyed around a little.

Shida Campus 2 (师大二校区)

Building B where I taught 4 classes a week Spring semester.




Studying …


The classroom where all my Campus 2 classes were taught.



This is Shanxi Normal Universities 2nd Campus, its about a 20 minute bus ride (or 20 minute bike ride as well, which was my preferred mode of transportation) away from the main campus.. The facilities over there are not as nice and the students scored lower on their entrance exams so they have to pay higher tuition. I taught there twice a week during the spring semester, two back back classes each day.

PS I wasn't able to post for a while because I was doing a lot of traveling around. I'm now back in the US indefinitely and will be floating around for a few weeks, but I'll try to keep posting when I can. Thanks for looking.