permanent vacation

Here at an internet cafe this is the first time I've been able to access my blog bc it is blocked in China. I've needed to set up a proxy which only works when I have fast internet and so far I've just been using someone else's weak signal in the apartment building. Our apartment is real cozy and each day I'm more happy with it. It seemed like a good idea to make Xiamen our base for now and staying in hotels day by day would have been quite costly. By renting an apartment for 6 months we've boiled it down to about $6 USD per day which is far better than if we had stayed in a hostel or hotel. Certainly, things aren't as cheap as they used to be in China. With that said, I'm going to be looking for some ways to bring in a little money, but for the most part I think I can afford to sustain myself without. The only thing is finding some other purpose, but I guess before as a data-entry minion my purpose was also quite small. Tomorrow we are going to Sanming 三明 to meet with Shawna's grandparents. Around there are some caves we intend to explore, so we may be in that area for a few days before returning to Xiamen. After that it won't be long before we go to Fuzhou 福州, and then not long after that I will need to make some sort of plans to leave the country. I'm not sure if going to Taiwan counts as leaving the country per se, so I'm still thinking Mongolia might be a nice adventure.
Yesterday we saw some of the beach, which was nice by China standards. The weather was perfect; we got there and wandered the shoreline a bit, then fell asleep in the sand. The sun was out and a nice breeze was going and I was able to shut out thoughts like some true form of meditation. There were rickity old boats right off-shore fishing out oysters from the water. I've felt more inspired here to write. And so I'm working on that slowly. My Mandarin is also something I'm working away at.
This city is great though. It has a unique way about it. Now that I've been to several other Chinese cities, they all seem to blend together mostly. Xiamen stands out on its own somewhat. There are palm trees all over, winding streets, interesting architecture, small mountains, and like most Chinese cities, buildings being torn down and other being put up. In general it seems people here get at least a 2 hour lunch break and the pace of life is rather relaxed. In contrast, the traffic tells another story; everyone is frantic on the roads and impatient. Peppered throughout the city are free public parks where you actually can get away from a lot of the noise and filth of the streets. Needless to say you don't really get away from the numbers of people in these places...