The other morning I went downstairs to scan a map and print it out. Only problem was my dad was at computer looking at tennis matches or finances or something. He started talking…and in general I don’t just interrupt and change the subject…but really I wanted to not hear him talk. So I shared with him that I was researching Nánchang and seriously considering it. I mentioned I saw flights from Nánchang to Shànghai for what would be around $40. I knew what would happen next. He pulled up ctrip.com (a Chinese airfare website) and started plugging in destinations and asking questions with his trademark investigative journalist tone. This was almost worse than listening to him talk about whatever he was talking about before and I began to question ever opening my mouth.

My father and I then looked up some currency conversions just out of curiosity and tried to find out the denomination that was lower than a yuan and other names for the bills, kind of like how we say five bucks, five dollars, five bones, etc. A site with pictures of the money came up and he asked if I had ever seen it and I said yes but not in person, so he said, “come here.” We went to his room and he opened a drawer in his dresser and pulled out those secret travel pouches that you wear around your waist to hide your money and passport in while you’re traveling in DANGER ZONES. He pulled out a bunch of colorful bills and showed them to me. I really like foreign currency, it has always fascinated me; the colors, textures, holographic pieces. I said thanks for showing me and handed it back. He said, “here, just keep it. I’ll give you more when you go.” Scores…126 times. Those are the bills I have on my wall in the picture digitally embedded in this post.

126 yuan…almost a millionaire!

Bigger and better things: sent out e-mails to universities in Nánchang and Guìzhou today, asking if they had any need for English teachers. Also e-mailed my Chinese professor and asked if he could provide a letter of recommendation for me, as some schools request this. And I want to recommend checking out couchsurfing if you plan on traveling anywhere unfamiliar. I have received numerous detailed helpful responses from Chinese natives and expats teaching English who came up when I searched various locales in China.

Gotta go, byeeeeeeeeee!  Let me know what you think.