disoriented: More Yangshuo

February 9th: After being in China for only a few days, we piled into a van with our fellow Bucklanders to head into Guilin for our mandatory medical check. I can say with confidence that nothing could have prepared me for what this medical check would entail. After being poked, prodded, and pricked, the last thing I had to do was provide a urine sample. The washroom facilities were less on the daunting side than I had hoped and were much closer to traumatizing. The ladies' facilities had a single squater. I will spare the details of what said squater had recently been used for, but my gag reflexes were becoming overly active and I decided to pursue another option. I checked out the men's side. Gagging ensued. That's when Emily and I had the bright idea to use a stairwell to obtain our samples. We took turns guarding the door as we each dropped trou to fill our cups. Proud moment.

The rest of our time in Yangshuo was spent exploring, relaxing, drinking, and finally, teaching. After a week of orientation classes, we worked on our first lesson plans and had the chance to do our demo lesson at a nearby middle school. I was overly nervous, but it was good to be in front of real, live, Chinese students and to get some feedback afterwards. Valentine's night we had our 'graduation' dinner with our fellow teachers and the CEO and staff from Buckland.

The next day, some of our new friends started to depart for their teaching destinations. My Visa status was still up in the air, so that meant more time for exploring, relaxing, and maybe a little bit more drinking.

Here are some tidbits: