Unit 69

Well yesterday we went on our trip. It was just for us foreign teachers and we were going out to plant trees. So we meet up with, I think all foreign teachers currently in Wuhan. We go about 30 minutes outside of town and up this big hill. The holes were pre-dug and the tree was just there waiting to be planted. We were all provided shovels and then as we climbed the hill we would "plant" a tree. Then there was a little piece of paper attached to the tree where you would write your name and where in the world you were from. I stuck with Harry for the most part. We dug and planted together, then when it came time to fill out the form, we put both our names and the fact that we were Canadian and American. Then there was a place to put a unit number. We had no clue what the unit number was or what it was supposed to mean. When Harry asked me what I should put, I just told him to put 69. He actually did it, which made me laugh and I knew would make the chinese people confused. Anyway, after the fact, we found out that this was an official Arbor day thing. For the most part, neither myself nor Harry wanted to work too hard. He was now doing this for the third time and I'm not a huge fan of the back breaking manual labour. Especially on a fairly steep hill and with very rocky soil. So we made our way up to the top of the hill and just hung out there and when I say "hung out" I mean hid. Then after maybe 40 mins or so, some of the other teachers, including Annaick and Matty stix made their way up to the top. Then after 10 mins or so, Mr Ye made his way to the top. Anyway, we hung out there for a while, chatting, making jokes and taking pictures, then it was time for us to board the buses again and head out to one of the many universities in Wuhan for lunch.
The lunch was quite good, except for the fact that most, if not all of us, have gotten used to the spice of Wuhan cooking and this food had lacked that. On the plus side however, we got free beer. Also, I don't think I had been surrounded by so many foreigners since before I came to China.
After lunch we headed out to the geological museum of the university. It is actually the largest university museum in China or Hubei province or Wuhan, I really don't remember, but it was very nice. Mostly rock formations and naturally occurring crystals etc, as well as evolution and life size dinosaur skeletons. We spent quite some time there and then Mr Ye suggested (after we had seen everything) that it's time to go back to the school. Melissa and Christa are still being freak-ish-ly withdrawn and seem to make no attempts to make friends with the rest of us or even wanting to be with us for an extended period of time. First to begin, they ducked out early, so when we were coming out of the building, they were already sitting outside waiting. In the van on the way home, we were all talking and making jokes (the usual) and they never once, volunteered info or even agreed or disagreed to anything. Then when we finally got back to the school, they couldn't get back to the frathouse fast enough. I just don't get them. Myself in addition to everyone else has taken the position of defeat. We all just give up on them.
Anyway, the weather was really nice. Sunny and fairly warm, plus I was thankful for a day away from class that I was able to enjoy. Heck, I did some good by planting a couple trees, I was fed and given free beer and I saw a different part of the city.
Sounds good to me.

TTFN