Resurgam!

Little beknownst to everyone back in the states, I declared Tuesday national "Turn this Ship Around Day" and was stoked beyond belief to tell my loyal blog readers that I, Jonathan Harrison, had a five step plan to cure all misery associated with homesickness and culture shock and that with the help of a Good friend (let's stay hip on the blog jargon) this China experience would be some of the best months of my life, and that I, Jonathan Harrison, refused to spend the next ten months in my apartment not eating, surfing facebook, and listening to depressing Tom Waits (love. that. man.) music until I hopped on a plane next June or died from malnutrition (whichever comes first).


Only to find that my internet was down.


And has been down for three days. Being that my last blog post was kind of a downer, it is with great pleasure I say:

"I'M STILL ALIVE!"

With that being said, I have a myriad of topics to discuss. Almost one for every day the internet was down (so three).

1. Long term commitments: When you start to think about it, ten months is a long time. In fact, it is such a long time it can lead anyone to sit and mull over just how long it is. I think it is comparable to eternity, in the fact that there is a beginning and no end. Just think, in February there will still be four months left! I've left the door wide open for an entire world of change. No matter how long I stay here (unless it's my entire life and I don't see that happening) I will have to rebuild once I get back to the States. Thinking about that is enough to drown a man. Therefore the only cure is to get busy (Thank you, Dr. Hearn) doing stuff, and put home in the recesses of my memory for now.

2. Literature: I've read the Odyssey in the last four days and have started on Ulysses. I don't really know why I enjoy reading a book that's beyond my reach, but there is something about it that is hard to put down. Joyce is like a holstien cows jigsaw puzzle with no corner pieces. I'll end up throwing it across the room about page 300.

3. Bugs: Before I begin on the bugs (this is a really fascinating piece) I would like to say that I have seen blue skies today for the first time in three weeks. I was wondering why Enshi is always in perpetual cloudiness. But it has gone away, at least for a little while.

They have some crazy creatures here. A couple of days ago I saw a moth about the size of a bird that flew like a hummingbird. I watched it for a good twenty minutes before I remembered I had a camera, but, sadly, the batteries were dead. I had never seen anything like it before; it's probably nothing really special, but man, was it cool. Also, I was on my way up to my apartment a few nights ago when I heard something say in an Australian accent "Hey look up." I saw this:



Yes ladies and gentleman, that is a monster spider. The dead spider beside it is what most would consider "big". I said Australian because it is a spider that only the Crocodile Hunter (r.i.p.) would love. The reflection in the middle? Those are the spiders eyes. The spider was so big it had red eye. I'd say it is about a 14 inches from legtip to legtip (is that a word). But I don't think it's only native to China, because I saw something this big in Mrs. Franklin's house once (the one that crawled up the curtains while I was eating breakfast, yea I know you remember me telling you about it). Which is not only the truth, but a great segway into the tag line:
"I'll see you in the morning if nothing happens."