(no subject)
Hey all.
I'm in Jingdezhen right now. It's been raining for the last two days, and I've developed a really crappy head cold. So right now I'm feeling kinda crabby. I'm also sick to death of Chinese food already.
Other than that though, it's amazing. Jingdezhen is not a tourist town, so we are really getting more of a feel of what most of china is actually like, unlike in shanghai. We've also been able to travel to some small villages, which are just unlike anything I've ever seen. We're in the mountains here, and it's beautiful. THe studio we're working in is an outdoor studio so we can look at the mountains while we work, which is just amazing.
We've been taking in a lot of the sights here. Jingdezhen is the porcelain capital of china (and has been for the last 1000 years or so), so we've gone to porcelain factories, museums, and markets. Everyhting in the porcelain factories is still made by hand, just on an incredible production scale.
I'm learning new methods of throwing, trimming and decorating. It's interesting, if frustrating.
I've realized that my life would be a lot easier if I knew chinese. Right now i'm making do with sign language and drawing pictures.
I am also slowly becoming used to being stared at everywhere i go. I feel like some sort of oddity, which i guess I am here.
In about a week we leave to go to Xian. I'm looking forward to it, even if it does mean a 24 hour train ride.
Things I will no longer take for granted when I get home:
1. Variety in food readily available
2. Matresses (here we sleep on boards with a thin foam pad on top)
3. Toilets with seats (the ones here are squatty-potties aka holes in the floor)
4. Showering in an area seperate from over the toilet (it would take too long to explain)
5. Being able to not be noticed
6. speaking the same language as the majority of the country
7. People actually obeying at least some traffic laws
Things I will miss:
1. seeing new things all the time
2. the extremely favorable exchange rate
3. the scenery
4. doing something brand new every day
I'm in Jingdezhen right now. It's been raining for the last two days, and I've developed a really crappy head cold. So right now I'm feeling kinda crabby. I'm also sick to death of Chinese food already.
Other than that though, it's amazing. Jingdezhen is not a tourist town, so we are really getting more of a feel of what most of china is actually like, unlike in shanghai. We've also been able to travel to some small villages, which are just unlike anything I've ever seen. We're in the mountains here, and it's beautiful. THe studio we're working in is an outdoor studio so we can look at the mountains while we work, which is just amazing.
We've been taking in a lot of the sights here. Jingdezhen is the porcelain capital of china (and has been for the last 1000 years or so), so we've gone to porcelain factories, museums, and markets. Everyhting in the porcelain factories is still made by hand, just on an incredible production scale.
I'm learning new methods of throwing, trimming and decorating. It's interesting, if frustrating.
I've realized that my life would be a lot easier if I knew chinese. Right now i'm making do with sign language and drawing pictures.
I am also slowly becoming used to being stared at everywhere i go. I feel like some sort of oddity, which i guess I am here.
In about a week we leave to go to Xian. I'm looking forward to it, even if it does mean a 24 hour train ride.
Things I will no longer take for granted when I get home:
1. Variety in food readily available
2. Matresses (here we sleep on boards with a thin foam pad on top)
3. Toilets with seats (the ones here are squatty-potties aka holes in the floor)
4. Showering in an area seperate from over the toilet (it would take too long to explain)
5. Being able to not be noticed
6. speaking the same language as the majority of the country
7. People actually obeying at least some traffic laws
Things I will miss:
1. seeing new things all the time
2. the extremely favorable exchange rate
3. the scenery
4. doing something brand new every day