Sunday 4-7-13
I peeled my eyes open and pressed the back light button on my watch, when my eyes finally focused I saw 3:45am right before the light turned off again.. Perfect, it’s almost time to get off. I heard others bustling around as I checked my passport, camera and money then zipped up the jacket I have been wearing the last five days, pulled up my unwashed hair in the same ponytail as yesterday and climbed off my top bunk pulling my back pack along with me, 4:00am that’s when the train should be stopping so we can find the 1,000 Buddha mountain before our train leaves at 1:47pm to Weihai.
4:15 … 4:30 …. 4:45 the train hasn't stopped yet. I’m checking my watch every 5 min as panic fills my veins. Am I worried about missing our stop or having already missed it? Yes but not because of having to take more trains or pay more money to get home, I’m more worried about missing opportunities. We have about 9 hours in Jinan. We know that there is the 1,000 Buddha Mountain in Jinan because we were able to I message Sam who went to Jinan with her travel group with our Wi-Fi and she said it was awesome! We finally got off at 5:00am and walked out of the train station into the dark chilly air. The streets were empty and I was filled with the feeling you get when you are awake at the crack of dawn for a special reason, knowing you should be tired but to excited to notice you are running on a 10% battery. We walked down the street into a Mc Donalds. We opened to doors only to see full tables and chairs. We weren't the only ones with the plan to crash and kill time in McD's. Luckily they had closed off sections of the lounge during the night and opened up the space for the tired Americans. I wasn't hungry of course, but I figured I better get some food into me so that I won't have to stop when we are out exploring. We all got our food, relieved our waters when the playing cards got pulled out. We had decided that we would be willing to travel at the most an hour away and guessed it would be open around 8:00am so either way because it was 6:30am we wouldn't be able to do much of anything. I still had to fight my anxiety. I knew there were things to see and places to go so I was antsy beyond belief. Crista , Sarah and Kristen and I went for a walk up the street and back experiencing the morning rush of Jinan. I noticed that the shops were cooking dumplings having them hot and ready so people could rush by, pay for them as they go off to work or catch the bus. We headed back and by then it was 7:00am. I was ready to go and luckily Mark was as well. Here is the catch, we have no address or clue where it is. But, it’s China and things always work out in the end. I told Mark not to worry I practiced how to say “do you know English?” in Chinese. He told me not to worry because if they knew English they wouldn't need to be asked in Chinese... touché'
Here we were standing in McDonald's awkwardly trying to formulate a way to tell who could speak English... I found the perfect solution. Her hair looks cute. “Excuse me, do you speak English?” “Yes I do know a little.” booya! First try! I asked her if she was from here and when she said yes she studies here in Jinan I waved Mark over as I sat down and asked her if she knew the Thousand Buddha Mountain.. she looked at us weird so we moved to the universal body language. Mark held up 1 finger and then 3 zeros as he said Thousand, rubbed his belly and said Buddha and then made a wonderful mountain top by raising his hands over his head and touching the tips of his fingers together to form a mountain. Her eyes got big and said “oh! Yes, yes, yes, I know that!” we asked if she could write the name in Chinese and then how far it was from here. She wasn't sure how far it was so she called her friend who told her it wasn't far only 20min or so. Perfect!!! We thanked her over and over again then went back to the group to let them know we are on our way!
I can't forget to mention that today is Marks birthday so we devoted the day to telling mark happy birthday whenever possible convenient or not. Happy Birthday Mark!
We went out of McDonald's and were greeted by an unrecognizable street, the day had definitely begun. With people marching down the street, busses competing with sardine cans and Taxi's honking paths through the traffic; you could say it was a little overwhelming. We tried to take the paper with the name of the Mountain to the police officer with hand gestures and charades, we asked which bus to get on to go to our destination, he held up a 5 and then a 1 so we assumed 51 and followed the way he pointed. While walking over that direction we passed the train station and saw a white guy!! what the?! So of course we said hello to our own kind and to great satisfaction we heard an English hello there! Right back at us! Turns out he is an English teacher here as well but with a different program. He is retired and used to teach at Hill Crest and Bingham high school. He has been teaching for a year now in china and goes home in 2 months! That’s going to be rough for him I can tell! We told him that we have been here for 1 month and he said it only gets better... doubt that. It’s AMAZING here and I don't know how it could get any better! We asked him about the thousand Buddha Mountain and all he could tell us was that it was amazing and he went there yesterday but he had a student take him so he couldn't tell us anything other than that. We said goodbye and continued on with our bus search. We couldn't find it and just gave in to getting a Taxi. Before we were about to get in there was an officer standing there. It looked like he was there for crowd control. Kristen, Crista, Sarah and I were at the front of the group and I gave Kristen the paper to show the taxi so we could pass it along to the other 4 in the group after we go. He gestured to the paper so Kristen showed it to him. He laughed as he took the paper rotated it 180 degrees and set it back into her hand right side up... hahaha oops.
We got into our taxi, handed the paper off and were on our way! We got into a little bit of morning traffic but we had plenty to talk about that morning so we were content that the taxi driver was doing all the work for us. We arrived about 20min later to the whole group standing at the front entrance. Andrea was pacing while Mark and Geoff were regretting making jokes about us not showing up. Apparently they were worried about the car full of 4 girls who left before them and hadn't shown up for 10min after they had. Whoops! We had no idea that we were later so we apologized for making them worry and we all headed inside.
People were really concerned about their cameras because their batteries were dead or close to it and I found myself very thankful for mine because the battery wasn't even red and I didn't have my charger with me to have charged it earlier. We ended up splitting into groups to meet back at 12:00. My thousand Buddha mountain group was Crista, Andrea, Mark, Sam, Kristen and Sarah. The boys decided we were going to hike up to the top pavilion and us girls followed. I’m not going to lie we whined probably 75% of the time up the mountain because the steps were terrible but it ended up being a shorter hike than we thought to the first Pavilion (there were two more after this one) and the view was beautiful. We actually saw across the mountain this HUGE gold happy Buddha and made that our target after we made our way to the tippy top of the mountain. 
we took pictures and enjoyed the view and then moved to the tippey top. This was probably my favorite place.
They had a chain that wrapped around the structure filled with locks. I got a lock and engraved Dellany and Morgan with the date and locked the key up at the very top of Thousand Buddha Mountain. I don't think I have ever been so excited to tell Morgan about something before!
After we hiked back down, we found our giant Buddha statue and Mark found some weird Chinese Horse toy to ride around.
We met back up with the other group and hopped back into the Taxi to the train station so we could wander the street and find some food and get back on the train. We got back to the station and concluded that the taxi of 3 people Sam, Crista and Kristen weren't here yet. Geoff had collected a huge bouquet of Peony flowers from the festival that some of the girls in the group bought and some received as a gift but were tired of carrying so he was very noticeable in a crowd and Mark is a good foot and a half taller that all the Chinese and wears an orange and turquoise hat, so the two of them went to wait where the taxis get dropped off and we all sat basking in the sun and soaking up the time we had left being outside and being comfortable without a jacket on. 45Min past by and my stomach was eating me from the inside out when I look to my right and see the 3 of them walking down the street from eating lunch! Awe man! I should a gone with them! Some people in the group were frustrated about the fact that they did meet up first but we never specified it and yeah it sucked we had to wait before we could eat but I wasn't about to sit there and be annoyed when I could go find myself some food. Me, Mark, Andrea and Sarah found a place that had pictures on the wall and we decided to just order something and then share it. We got some good food and some weird food. But in the end, I wasn't very full. We paid and then continued exploring. Kristen and I found a vendor on the corner cooking a tortilla and then putting an egg on the inside and cooking it kind of like my mom made “egg in toast” (take a slice of bread, pull out a circle in the middle, crack an egg and put it in the pan and let it cook then put the toast on the egg letting the yoke poke through and then flip the egg ant toast over and let it cook till done) but it was inside the tortilla so that they could put what looked like shredded potatoes, lettuce and some sauce on it and roll it into a burrito type thing. it was $0.50 and it was Delicious. The only problem was, I still had room for ice cream. I always have room for ice cream but this was a craving that needed to be satisfied. Don't worry, it was. I hit McDonald's, got my oreo mcflurry
and we were on our way into the train station. Our last adventure before heading home. We were in line to board when a boy came up to me with a clip board and I read something about helping the Chinese Deaf Student and getting a token of happiness. And then there were names written down and amounts of money. I pointed to my ear and he nodded. Proudly holding up what I assume is a student card stating the validity of his deafness and his chosen identity. I didn't speak a word to him. And I know AMERICAN sign Language but I could see his personality just by him holding a clip board and showing me his pride in his deaf identity. After I gave him the money I had easily accessible from my pocket and he gave me a smiley face pin or Token of Happiness, I asked him to take a picture with me,
he gave me his raised eyebrow question while pointing to himself and I replied with a nod putting my hand over his shoulder, smiling with him for the camera. I am so proud of him being proud of himself and who he is. He will never know it, but seeing him brought me a little taste of home and a smile on my face. Little did I know I would need it for this 9 hour train ride ahead?
For this train ride I paid about 50Ywhich is roughly about $9.00 and I felt it! Im thankful for the experience, I really am but once I sat down on the booth type bench next to Andrea in and the isle, I felt my battery drain to 1% I have been up since 4:00am, Hiking and sightseeing, taxi hailing and food hunting I was drained. It would have been fine if the backrest of the seat wasn’t joining the seat at right angle forcing good posture and eliminating and way to sit comfortably or sleep. My head was starting to feel hollow, my eyelids had turned to lead and the train seemed to be traveling through a boulder field hitting every bump, jerking in any opposite direction from which it came from. It was a long ride. I tried to get up and walk around but there was so much cigarette smoke in between cars there was no getting through them without developing lung cancer. So I sat and talked with Andrea. Stared at the Chinese people ‘who spoke no English, across from me and counted the seconds until we got home to weihai. Occasionally, in between stops there were seats open by the other teachers in our traveling group and I would go sit next to them here and there. You know its a long train ride when you all go in a circle and tell stories you would have NEVER dreamed of telling someone you met just a month ago but you better believe we have black mail on each other for the rest of our lives.
The train got to the station an hour after it was scheduled 11:00pm. We walked out to every taxi driver in Weihai in our faces yelling things I couldn't understand!! I couldn't handle it! I was so annoyed/freaked out and so tired so what did I do?? I screamed! I screamed at the top of my lungs and those who knew the origin of the obnoxious noise, looked at me, laughed and moved onto the next person, ill get my own taxi thank you! We got into our taxis and got to the school at about 11:30. I was so happy to be home! I got up those stairs as fast as my exhausted body could, got in my room to see Sam asleep. I was as quiet as I could be but she sat up and asked “what’s up??” haha um I just got home! I told her I would be quiet and that we can talk tomorrow.. she still sat there and watched me unpack saying nothing.. I kept trying to tell her to just sleep its all okay but what I didn't realize is telling someone who is asleep to sleep wasn't going to get me anywhere! Well I brushed my teeth, changed my clothes and passed out!
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