We escaped the prison once again.

And so, this new extravaganza begins. We taught ILP classes early on 

Thursday, April 28th. Teaching began at 9 am and went until 11:30am. 

It was a pretty normal day of teaching other than that lasting push 

to get through and have a good time because vacation was just hours 

away. Snow White was the story of the day. When I tried to have 

parts acted out, it was difficult with only one girl per class and a 

need for a queen and snow white character. Most of the time I 

improvised. On occasion, that meant I had to be a character and at 

one point I had to use Kim for my Snow White.

Finding our way to lunch was easy but the food was not all that 

appetizing. We went back to the apartments to finish packing and 

last minute projects. Checking things off my list, I said my last 

few goodbyes and 'i love you's to my fiance before vacation. I never 

know what will happen or how much time I will have to message or 

talk with everyone while on vacation. Simple things sometimes become 

daunting tasks that I only think about doing. 
 
At 13:00, we signed ourselves out and sat in the office waiting for 

our driver. I had my towel separate from my other things so it could 

have a chance to completely dry. Eventually we were in the bus, on 

our way to Nanchang. We hit up Walmart when we arrived. Everyone 

told us, including Tim, that we had one hour. Well, Tim called while 

we were in the supermarket an tried telling Kim that the headmaster 

called him and said the driver was very busy today. So naturally Tim 

says, "Maybe you find your own way to the station?" (the punctuation 

may be incorrect because it usually was more than a question but a 

way of trying to avoid asking or telling us). Kim just said no. It 

was obvious that we would never make it to the train station without 

our driver in time. In spite of this, we tried to be quick and at 

least trimmed off 10 minutes of our hour. Which is really 20 minutes 

if you count the 10 minutes already taken up in our hour by traffic. 

No matter. We got what we needed and we got to the station in good 

time. 
 
We stood awkwardly in line for our train. Noticing once again the 

stares and our alien status. Ashley voiced what sounded like a 

forming thought, which is sometimes how she starts conversations. 

"I think I know how Harry Potter felt. When he had to go somewhere 

foreign and didn't know what he was doing at all." I let it sink in 

for a second before considering responding but she continued, "of 

course, he knew their language so that definitely helped." I 

explained that there were words he had to learn like muggle, 

non-magic humans. We thought of a few others but agreed that they 

still knew the same language and it would be easy to explain the 

unknown words with words he already knew. Yes, the whole time I 

realized we were talking about a fictional character of whom never 

really lived. We talked as if he did and if something made up and 

pretend can comfort you and bring a sense of not being alone, why 

not? We both know it was not real but the idea is the same. 
 
As soon as we stepped on the train, the air changed. It became hot 

and stuffy. I hoped it was just the in-between area but it was not 

so. The heat laid thickly through the whole cabin. The sweat came 

and so did the crowd of people. There were people leaning over each 

other, pushing through, and standing in the isles. No windows 

cracked. Our newspapers, notebooks, tickets, and papers became fans 

for our dripping sweaty bodies. My thoughts turned to the Holocaust 

and for at least the fourth time in my life, I felt a sympathy for 

the Jews and others that were squished in boxcars of trains, 

sometimes naked or in other horrible conditions being transferred to 

camps. The heat was overwhelming. The bodies were not even that close 

to me personally because I had the middle seat and not an edge, but  

it did not matter. We joked about dying this way or losing lots of 

carbs as we sat in our sweat. Only vaguely begging for relief. It 

only took 25 mins or so for the train to start moving. A ridiculous 

amount of time when you have to breathe in 100 people and swim in 

your sweat.

Lindey and I on the train ride.

The train had air conditioning that finally gave us the relief we 

sought after a while. I spent the first hour finishing a book I 

purchased for my kindle app early in my adventures to china. It was 

much shorter than I was hoping and 'Gossamar' was finished and done 

with before I felt the story had began to make interesting 

connections. It could have been so much more. I read a few chapters 

of The Book of Mormon and finished the book of Alma. 

Ashley and I

We wrestled with our bags overhead to get some food that definitely 

did not satisfy us in most means. We lucked out as usual to find 

that the girl facing us was majoring in English. She was freshman in 

college but her English was rather good. At one point, I noticed a 

guy standing by and watching us. He would sometimes make slight 

indications that he might know what we were saying. I guessed it 

right away and whispered to Ashley that I was certain he did. An 

opportunity arose for him to sit across from us, next to the nice 

English majoring girl. He began talking to us. It was a treat. He 

told us of his job as a seaman and told English-Chinese jokes that 

we found amusing. His English was difficult to understand at times 

but the pair made good efforts to fill in gaps and correct mistakes. 

It made for an entertaining ride. He got off sooner than we would 

have liked but it happens. It seems we can only meet these strangers 

and enjoy their company for a while, then there is just their small 

memory. A picture and a few written notes. Then they are gone. 

Without a way to connect again. In America we could exchange numbers, 

Facebook profiles, or other such connections but it usually is not 

the same here in China. We do not carry personal phones, QQ is their 

type of Facebook, and there are many barriers between that usually 

leave us all with just goodbyes. This may be the romance of 

traveling. A meeting of random strangers that can have impacts on 

ones life and the way they think. To have a brief moment and not 

exchange more.

English girl and Tong

It is a long train ride.