So weird....

Interesting how even in China I don't like to be woken unexpectedly by loud noises. This morning, at exactly 6:00am, there were very loud noises like firecrackers and gunshots coming from the direction of West Lake. Not cool. I was almost afraid to look out my window for fear that WWIII would be going on!!! Nothing of the sort, I guess, because it stopped in about 10 minutes, but man was that weird.
And speaking of weird, this morning was beautiful and sunny (and of course hot), and then at about 1:00, we got drenched. Little did I know that a typhoon is coming our way. That could very well spoil our weekend plans of going to an island (don't ask me which quite yet). The ferries don't even run if there is something like a typhoon going on. I'm sure we'd still find something fun to do, but it'd be cool to go for a road trip. Don't get too excited, though. I'm still going to be completely white when I get back. This island is not a beach resort in any sense of the word. I don't even really know yet what we will be doing, but that's pretty much the way things go around here! :)
I just wanted to make a quick note, before I forget about these things (that happens around here quite a bit, too): Not last weekend, but the weekend before (I'm not sure if I've already talked about this or not), I did karaoke with a whole bunch of people, but it was the way that we kids in the states can only dream of! It was in this secluded room, so we were just singing for our friends, but there was a little stage and about four microphones. The words were on a whole bunch of screens, so many people could sing along if we so chose, and there was a buffet down the hall and we had our own small keg of beer! It was AWESOME!!! (And yes, I happen to like Chinese beer... who knew I'd have to come to the other side of the world to acquire a taste for the stuff!)
This last weekend, we went to Shao Xing. It was so beautiful and amazing. There were buddah statues and waterfalls, mountains and islands. It was like a big state park with about 2000 years of history built in. So cool. I have pictures, but I don't think I'll be able to post them to the blog without paying for it. I'll try to discover another way, but that always takes up so much time. Anyway, I should be going because I need to talk to my students' tutors and make sure we're all on the same page.
Wish me luck for getting my visa renewed... otherwise I might be stuck here like you all warned! (kidding.... I don't think China could handle me any longer than I'll already be here!) ;)