Ok so to clear things up about the staring thing...I'm not getting stared at because I sort of look Chinese and sort of not. Only people in Beijing can probably tell that I'm Chinese-American, and they don't stare at me because they're used to seeing foreigners. There's always a good number of foreigners walking the streets, and especially at historical monuments and touristy sites there are tons of foreigners. It's the people in more rustic areas who stare because they don't get as many foreigners as the coastal cities of Beijing and Shanghai. And they don't stare at me because they think I'm Chinese-American. Those people can tell I'm not from their city but they just assume I'm from a more modern, urban city like Beijing. They stare because I'm with white people. They usually stare at my traveling companions first, all of who are white. Then when they see me talk to them in English, they start staring at me. Then after they stare, they approach me and ask me questions about the people I'm traveling with assuming that they don't speak or understand Chinese. But in reality although my Chinese pronunciation may be better than my teachers, they know far more Chinese vocabulary than I do and can usually understand the people better.

So today I'm in a new city: Yulin. I believe this is the most rustic we're going to get. People here stare WAY more than in the last city. Like walking the streets everyone stops what they're doing and just stares. And it's always funny when they call out the one English word they know: Hello. So everyone's always saying hello to us. I have a feeling that by the time I get to Shanghai, I'm going to be so thankful that I'm not being stared at. One of the people on the trip, Dylan, brought his skateboard, and in every city he spends a couple hours skating around the streets. And naturally heads turn as he skates by. And everywhere he goes everyone from little kids to old men ask if they can play with it.

I have so many pictures of little kids on my camera. And a lot of self-taken pictures. If someone randomly came across my camera they'd think I was a narcisstic pedafile. But I'm not.

I'm trying to get onto aim express now, but it's not working. dangit.

Oh and since I've been in China I've had two dinners with two Party leaders. In fact yesterday, we spent the afternoon with a Party leader. He taught modern history (more like modern ideology) at a Party leaders academy where they basically train professionals to be good leaders. They go through 3-4 weeks of intensive training and usually afterwards they all become Party leaders. Well anyways, yesterday I really got to experience special treatment. The car we were in was specially marked as a Party leader's car, and consequently it could go anywhere it wanted and police were especially helpful to us. In addition we didn't have to pay admission to go to this one historical site, and we got a private tour also. Yeah, I'm in cohoots with the Party now. Cool huh?

Well tomorrow the guy in charge of the Yulin Historical Museum, who happens to be a friend of yesterday's Party leader, is taking us around for the day. Should be fun.

I'm dying of second-hand smoke. It's ridiculous.

Well I must be off now. Laaaaaater =]