Guest Writer...Jeff :-)

I will let Tracy keep up on most of the blogging, but I thought I would give you some ramblings about the area we are staying in. First, I have never been somewhere that is so humid. Our guides told us it is 90% humidity most days. If it is not raining, which is only about half the time, then it is so thick you feel like you have to push your way through it. It hasn’t been as hot as advertised, only middle 90’s. However, when you add in the humidity it is brutal. You see a lot of the local people walking around with umbrellas just to keep the sun off of them.

The other part of the environment that is interesting is the smog. We had heard before we came over that it was pretty bad in this area. If you look at some of the pictures you will notice all the buildings look pretty old and dirty. Many are, but much of their appearance is from the pollution. You can actually feel it burn your throat and your eyes when you walk outside. Most of the families that went out and took a walk today only made it about a block because it bothered them so much. Obviously, it is not something we have to deal with in Kansas City. However, it is very different from even L.A.

Another thing that has been particularly fascinating to me is the traffic. I had read a lot about how crazy traffic was in China. As we have said about many parts of the trip, it is really hard to relate in words without seeing in person. The best way I can describe it is imagine the busiest intersection in town. Something like Sante Fe and BlackBob in Olathe. Then imagine keeping that much car traffic, but adding in double the amount of car traffic in mopeds, and triple the amount of car traffic in bikes. Then imagine that even though they have stop lights, really only the car drivers pay attention to those. Everyone else is pretty much free for all. This really applies to merging and turning. Instead of waiting for traffic to clear, people just kind of pull out in front of whatever is coming their direction. When we were on the bus the other day one of the parents used the example of the video game Frogger. That is a pretty good example because the traffic never really stops, it goes just slow enough that everyone just kind of dives in between. On our first bus drive in Nanchang was to go and pick up Isabel, I was sitting behind one of the dads who is also a Sheriff. We were freaking out as people on bikes and mopeds would just pull right out in front of our bus and cut us off. At one point, even our bus driver really wasn't completely on our side of the street, kind of right down the middle. Our guide from the agency who is with us all week is from this area and has lived here his whole life except for 2 years that he lived in the US. He said he got a drivers license there and found it very peaceful and enjoyable to drive there. He said he will never drive here, it is much too dangerous. Of course it is easier to do that when you can take a taxi about anywhere in the city for something like 3 US dollars and up to five people in the car!

The last thing that I have found very interesting is the difference in the pace of the city. Most big US cities (where most of the population lives in the suburbs and the downtown is fairly empty except for businesses and factories) really shutdown in the evening. In China it is the opposite. Most of the population of Nanchang, which is around 3 million people (the KC entire metro is around 1 million) live in the downtown area. Even late at night you can hear a lot of traffic and horns honking (they honk their horns a lot here!). Even at 3:30 a.m., which is when I have been waking up because I still haven’t gotten over the jet lag, I can look out the window and see all sorts of people out on the streets.

That is all for now. Now back to your regularly scheduled postings by my wife.