Finally! Some pictures.

Well, it's been a long, hard road, but now I can finally get pictures off my camera. I don't really have time to write, but the other night I went to a performance in the big city square here. It was basically a bunch of kids from a school doing musical performances to celebrate something or other. Here's one side of the square:



Someone saw me walking up (I tend to create a commotion) and grabbed me to sit at what they call here the "Chairman's Table." Anytime there's any kind of performance here, usually there's a table in the very front reserved for VIP's. Seeing as how I'm not Asian, I am automatically a VIP.

A couple of my friends sat up there with me, and we had a lot of fun making faces at the kids and watching all of them doing skits, singing and dancing. It made me think of those performances we used to work so hard to put on in Elementary School. But at the same time, even in the performances that were obviously supposed to emulate American dancing, everything was so distinctly Chinese. It's really interesting, because you know that it's different, but sometimes it's hard to pinpoint what exactly about the performances are so foreign. Or, native, rather. Foreign to me.

Afterwards, I went on a walk around the city, and took a few pictures of the city at night, largely deserted. Here's a street near the square:



And then here's one of the three biggest hotels in town (one of two I'd recommend):



I *told* you guys it was a city. It's not a big city, but it is a city. I have a few more pictures I'm going to ration out since I haven't been taking many. But I hope everyone's been doing well. I have so much to tell! But no time, no time. Soon.