Them and their toilets

I expected China to be a whole lot of things - evidently Communist, evidently disciplined, evidently developed, etc. But when we stepped out on Xiamen International Airport, the first thought that came to my mind was "Did we even leave??"

Xiamen, China looks and feels very much like Cebu City or Subic Bay. The air, the space, the fairly clean and green streets; nothing (save the strange text and language) was really different from the Philippines. Or so I thought at first.

Staying at the Xiamen Middle School #8 (it reminds one of a college or university; Miriam was probably that big), we grew accustomed to their strange but okay food (though duck is horrible), their customs, their culture, their odd language (ni hao ma?), their wild weather (from flash flood area to desert in four hours), their difficult currency, and many more unexpected things. Choirs of different nationalities inhabited the not-so-humble dorms of the school; among them Russians, Croatians, New Zealanders, South Africans, Swiss, Indonesians, and of course, Filipinos. Our tour guides (Teresa, Shadow and Sissy - their English names) and event volunteers helped us during our 7-day stay, and even brought us to the beautiful Gu Lang Yu island... (did I say it right?)

Probably the only downside of the whole thing was having to leave. I enjoyed myself, even if we did only get a bronze medal in Category 4 and a silver diploma in Category 25. On that plane leaving for Manila, I wondered if I could have stayed longer. Missing my closest friends, I would not have gone back to the Philippines, but I would brought them to Xiamen to experience it all with me.

~~~

Their toilets aren't bowls. They're basically holes with running water. o_O