A Journey's End

Walking home from lunch today (7/23), I found myself in quite a jolly mood. I think it was probably in part due to the sugar from the dessert I had. It was some kind of bread with a mix of sesame and white cream. Quite good. Despite the ridiculous amount of rain from Typhoon Vicente, the poor situation I’m in and everything else, I found myself laughing at the absurdity of it all.

Haha. I should be laughing at that ‘jolly mood’ I was in. I haven’t been jolly since then. Stressed, aggravated, annoyed, frustrated, etc. Those are just some of the moods I’ve been experiencing. Great trip to HK, huh? Psh. What a joke. My whole time here has been a joke. What the hell was the point of it all? I know one thing, I lost a lot of money. Oh well, at this point I’m looking to the future. I’ll try to recap some of the things that took place here during my time without making them too lengthy.

The hike to Tai Long Wan was pretty amazing. I think the pictures speak for themselves. They were by far the nicest, most pristine, most beautiful beaches I’ve ever been on. Even the sand was amazing. So fine and comfortable on your feet. I should have just spent my whole time in HK living in a tent on that beach. Looking back, I should have? I didn’t accomplish anything else, so why not? Oh well, guess I missed that opportunity too. Regardless, it was an interesting hike to say the least. I got directions the day before. I found out about the place through a fellow passenger on my arriving flight into HK. I also stumbled across some cliffs that were on the way there so I took down the directions for those too.

Beautiful Bliss

The hike took about two hours in total. Should have been a little shorter, but I was constantly stopping to take pictures. How else to share the experience? The things I do for you people, I swear. Alright, that’s not entirely true. I want to share the experience and take pictures for own memories as well. Plus, I enjoy dabbling in photography anyways. I woke up a little after 8 that morning and took a bus to the starting location. It was pretty straight forward from there, though I did ask one guy to be sure. After getting to the first beach after a little village, I came upon a restaurant. I had to walk through it and asked one of the people working there which way to head from there. They waved me on and told me just to go through. Simple enough, right? Turned out to be not so simple. There were two paths. There was one that hardly looked like a path and wound up through the woods. I thought to myself, ‘No way that’s it.’ Mistake. I looked to the other one that appeared to actually be a path and went out over the beach. There was even some boards laid out in the beginning of it. So, I went with that one. Mistake.

The ‘path’ slowly dissolved and just turned into a rocky beach. I started to question things at that point, but decided to proceed and figured worst case scenario, it was going to take me around and get me there anyways. Well, that was true enough, but it was a little more complicated than what I initially perceived. I found myself scrambling over rocks and soon enough I was clinging to the cliff side trying not to slip. And yet, I pressed on. Eventually though, it got so ridiculous I decided to climb up the hillside and get my bearings. I was also hoping for an easier passage. Wrong again. I struggled through the bush, just praying that I wouldn’t disturb a snake or brush up against a poisonous plant. I emerged through with scratches all over. After all that, due to my current position, I was still surrounded by bush and it didn’t make any sense to continue on that way. I had no choice but to tread back down to the cliffs and rocks.

Shortly after moving on, there was a huge open space to get up top. Go figure. I wandered up, but my way was still the surer path at that point. It worked out anyways. I had to slip down to a break in the rocks where all kinds of garbage ended up. Back in that gap, I found a cave and was able to seek shelter there during the passing rain storm. I sat back, ate a granola bar, drank some water, and waited it out. It only lasted between 10-20 minutes. Once it looked ok, I made my way up over the rocks and saw the fruits of my labor. It sure was beautiful. And it was entirely worth it. I verified where I was with one of the few people on the beach. She assured me I was where I wanted to be. I then asked her where the more common path was after explaining my adventure. She responded with ‘Oh, I don’t know about that. That seems quite dangerous.’ Be sure to use a British accent. She pointed to the way I should have came and I utilized that path for my departure. To wrap up this part, I chilled there for about 2 hours. I would have liked to stay longer, but I wasn’t sure when the last bus was departing.

When I was nearing the location of where I would find the cliffs, I referenced my directions. Wasn’t sure which side of the concrete bridge the ‘cow path’ was supposed be on, though. I decided instead to wade down the stream and figured that would lead me there. It would have, but I caught some people on my left walking down a path and asked them. They were headed to the same place so I joined up with them. It wasn’t that far, and I enjoyed my time there. I made everybody there look like pansies, though. Harsh, but true. In their defense, however, I’m pretty familiar with jumping off cliffs and bridges and things like that. I’ve done plenty back in NJ/PA. I just climbed up to the top right off the bat and jumped. No questions, no problems, no hesitation. I helped some people out there, encouraged some girls, and jumped about 10 times before heading back after finding out the time of the last bus.

Had a great time, but I was exhausted. Wish I could have stayed longer and wish I had someone to enjoy it with. Guess there’s always next time, whenever that is. Won’t be any time soon. ‘Of this I am sure’.

I brushed them off the wall, flanked them and cut off their retreat, and destroyed any deserters. It was a clear and solid victory.

I experienced a ‘War of the Ants’ in my apartment. No idea what was going on or why they appeared. One day I wandered up into the room on my roof and saw this long trail of ants moving to a corner near the door. They were all over. I didn’t know what to do, so I grabbed a piece of paper and started squishing them. I brushed them off the wall, flanked them and cut off their retreat, and destroyed any deserters. It was a clear and solid victory. They really did attempt to retreat and desert. The retreat came first and when that was shattered and it was realized that comrades were dying all over, the ants lost hope and began to scramble in every direction. I let a few go to tell the tale. By the next day, all of the dead had been picked up. Crazy. Seems they almost always retrieve their dead. They really work as a unit and utilize familiar military tactics. Quite interesting. I dealt with them in a few smaller battles, but eventually they gave it up and it’s been fairly quiet on the home front since then. Success.

I may never know exactly what happened to my keys. I’ll explain my villa’s setup first. Initially, you have to use a key to open the door on the bottom floor. Now, there’s only 1 other apartment that even has access to that door. I’m not sure they even use it, because it’s more of a side entrance. I think they use their front entrance more often than not. Now, upon entering, you have to walk up a flight of stairs. At the top, you need a key to get into my place.

One evening, I went out for dinner, and I’m really not too certain what happened after that. What I do know is, I came home and realized that I did not have any keys in my pocket…..Oh, man…; well, I called up my landlord to see if he was home so that he could let me in. He lives nearby, so it wouldn’t have been a big deal. Unfortunately, he was out and wouldn’t have been returning for another hour.

I didn’t have my book or anything on me, and had already finished eating, so I wasn’t about to go back down to the town and just do nothing for an hour. I didn’t want to sit around either.

After a few minutes of thought, I decided to climb up to my place. I had everything pretty good and locked up, but I thought maybe. I knew I couldn’t access anything from the roof because all of that was definitely secured. I could have accessed the one room on the top, but could not have gone beyond that point. Instead, I climbed up to the second floor and checked some of the windows. After scaling along the side, I eventually found a window that was partially open. It was a tight squeeze, but I pulled myself up to the top portion of that window because it was separated in several different parts, climbed over the bar, and dropped in. Wah la! Well that was no problem, but I was still worried about my keys. Where did they go? Who found them? If they knew which place they belonged to, I could even get them back and perhaps they had been duplicated for later use. I was super paranoid about it. I asked the woman who was my downstairs neighbor the next day, but she threw up her hands and apparently didn’t understand a word I said. Was she lying? If she instantly plays dumbs, does that mean she’s telling the truth or faking it? These were some of the thoughts running through my head.

I then decided to go down to the town and play detective. After several enquiries, l located a shop that duplicates keys and put the employees to the question in regards to my keys. I described the key chain, how many keys there were, etc. They claimed that too many people came in with keys and they didn’t know. I found myself wondering how many people could have possibly came in that day. I started using the chain lock on my door when I was home. I still wanted to ask the guy who lived with that woman downstairs. After a few days went by, I still couldn’t determine what exactly I did with my keys. Which door did I leave them in? The door at the top of the stairs? If that was the case, only those neighbors would have access to them. If I left them in the downstairs door, anybody could have come upon them, but chances were that my neighbors would see them first. I finally saw the guy pacing back and forth after coming back from lunch almost a week later. He didn’t speak English, but took my meaning. He walked me back over to the path that I had come up, and pointed to my keys. They were lying there on the side of that path. What the hell? Did he find them and put them there? Was he hoping I saw them? What if someone else came upon them? Funny thing is, I was even checking the path as I was walking up, but didn’t see them because they were off to the side. I thanked him several times in English and Chinese because most people speak mandarin as well in HK, patted him on the back, and went in to my home. I should mention that I did have a second set of keys, but I was worried if someone had them or if I was going to have to pay to replace them. I did keep using the chain on my door after that because it still seemed fishy, but I was grateful to have them back.

I started to have more and more sweet cravings. It’s a problem. This is why I don’t buy or regularly eat sweets. Once you start, it’s hard to stop. Sometimes, it just takes a little taste to satisfy my craving, but you can’t just buy a little taste now can you? So they got you there. And then, the bag is just sitting there. I have to finish it. I mean, come on. The sooner I finish it, the sooner it will be gone, and it’ll be a while before I buy it again. I try to eat it little by little, but that never quite works out.

My office space, nice right?

I’m going to try to wrap this up as quickly as possible. You know, originally I had that ‘screw them’ mentality working for me. I was motivated and I wasn’t going to let that company win. After two or three weeks of applications and interviews, I started to lose some of that motivation. I was up and down with it. Sometimes I felt confident and ready to take on the challenge, other times I was down and not feeling so hot about things. Nothing seemed to be working out. I had both job offers and interviews I had to walk out on. During one particular interview, I was reading over their little catalogue and filling out all the necessary documents. I was in there with another girl applying as well, but once I saw the salary I had to leave. No choice. So, I walked out of the room up to the guy who was going to interview and stated that I would be leaving. We talked briefly and he understood. I just wasn’t about to waste my time or his. No point.

After dealing with this for a while, I gave up on HK entirely and decided I would move back to mainland China. I started applying for jobs there. All over the country. With my experience, I knew I would have more options and could afford to be more selective. Well, just like HK, nothing was working out. None of the job offers really stuck out. I know the value of teaching in China and I know what my services are worth. At the same time, I’m also aware that I would obviously get the higher paying jobs in major cities like Beijing and Shanghai. Only problem with that was, I was over Beijing and during my visit to Shanghai, I didn’t find it all too appealing. It felt like just another city. Just another Beijing experience in a different city. That’s not what I was going for.

One expensive plane ticket later, and here I am safe and sound in the U.S. I survived the city of Beijing. I survived dysentery, tonsillitis, several instances of receiving IV’s, and countless other throat issues and sicknesses.

Did HK defeat me? I wouldn’t put it that way. Was my apartment/villa too good to be true? Yes. Without a doubt.

I finally accepted a position in Beihai, located in Guangxi province. It boasts the best air in China and has some of the most beautiful beaches. It’s a small city and the pay wasn’t great, but being a small city, the living expenses are usually cheaper. Well long story short, we were on the final stretch of working out the details, but I was told 6k/mo on the phone and it was 5500/mo in the contract. Neither myself nor the school was willing to negotiate any further. It was a very small difference but it was the last straw for me. I had verbalized the idea of coming home and the more I said it out loud and with others, the more appealing it was. It was a good weekend too. Both of my brothers were going to be home so eventually it turned into, why the hell not?

One expensive plane ticket later, and here I am safe and sound in the U.S. I survived the city of Beijing. I survived dysentery, tonsillitis, several instances of receiving IV’s, and countless other throat issues and sicknesses. Did HK defeat me? I wouldn’t put it that way. Was my apartment/villa too good to be true? Yes. Without a doubt. Yeah, I could have stayed in HK. I could have worked a job I didn’t believe in or didn’t like, but I just wasn’t motivated to do so. I could have gone back to mainland China, but despite numerous offers and offers I’m still receiving now, nothing really stuck out to me. All the jobs were just kind of ‘eh’ if you catch my meaning. Most of them I could have gone either way on, and that’s not what I was looking for. That’s why I ultimately declined all of those positions and returned to the states for the time being.

A lot of you are wondering, what’s next? Well, I’ve talked to many people by now, but I don’t mind reiterating. I’m still studying Mandarin. Right now, I’m studying twice daily, morning and an evening recap. With that being said, I’m sure that China is in my future. I just don’t know when, but I just feel like I need to keep pursuing the language. I’m not about to let all that time go to waste. There are a lot of open doors for someone that can speak Mandarin fluently. I’m hoping to one day peer into those doors and see where they lead.

One hell of a ride. Thanks for staying with me and following. I thoroughly enjoyed writing about my experiences and sharing my adventures with friends, family, and anyone else who cared to read.

Farewell

-Jeff

Guy Meets Hong Kong

Hong Kong. So far, not so great. It's been a roller coaster ride since my arrival. I left Beijing not knowing how to feel. My first destination was Shanghai, where I stayed for a few days. I had an alright time, though ultimately I don't think I would want to live there. I just didn't really enjoy the overall feel of the city. I won't go into details because it just seems unnecessary at this point. Occasionally, I would acknowledge my departure from Beijing, but I just could not fully comprehend it. Even now, it seems so weird to think that I've left Beijing. I'm not trying to live there again, so I may visit at some point, but who knows? I feel like my time there was so brief. It's already sort of a distant memory to me. I know that a year and a half is not that long in the scheme of things, but it's a decent amount of time. I mean, that was my home for that time period. I don't know, but anyways. I'll discuss Hong Kong and what's going on here.

Goodbye filthy Beijing, Hello Paradise!

So as promised, someone from the company that I was going to be working for picked me from the airport. Everything was on track. He hooked me up with a new sim card for my phone, provided me with all kinds of information about the company and living here in Hong Kong, etc. And man, the bus ride from the airport to the hotel the company arranged for me was awesome. I felt like I was travelling through some kind of jungle. It was a pleasant change from Beijing. It was a gorgeous day and lush greenery surrounded me.

So I'm going to sum this up as best I can. After getting dropped off at the hotel, I got a call from the Vice Principal from the company. He told me was he going to swing by, and we would have dinner and then meet up with some other people from the company for some drinks at one of the guys' apartments. I wasn't feeling that a whole lot, but come on. You can't turn down an invite on your first night with a new company. So I hung out there for a while, had a good time, met some people, and then made my way to meet up with some friends I met in HK during my last visit. Had a good time with them, though I wasn't thrilled about getting back to my hotel at 6 in the morning. Oh well, guess I'll sleep when I'm dead. Haha.

Worth my life…right? Right.

The next day I set out with two people from the company to go searching for an apartment for me. I gave them a range between 5-10k (HKD). Problem with that was, everything we looked at was 10K and more. I figured before my arrival that I would be paying close to 10, but even so. Some of those prices were throwing me off and not worth it in my opinion. Besides that, every apartment was virtually the same apartment. Literally. The only difference seemed to be the view. After checking out a few, I asked to check out this other area I had heard of a little on the outskirts of the real city parts. We made our way over there and checked out one place for 9k. It was a nice place, but the location and view wasn't really doing it for me. The agent told us she had another place that had an ocean view. The only problem was that it was listed for 12k. Despite that, I asked to take a look. She had me at ocean view. So we headed up there with the agents and from the start, the place was really nice. It was much bigger than the apartments I was looking at before with 3 bedrooms. Everything is tiled as well. I was already liking the place from that point, and then……my jaw hit the floor. We headed up to take a look at the roof and see the view. It was incredible. You look straight out and can't even take it all in. You have to turn left and right in order to see the immense beauty that the view offers. I was blown away. I wanted it. Now, bear in mind, all of the places I looked at were 10k and more aside from the other one here in Sai Kung. I could have bargained and played games, but I didn't even want to bother. Instead, I spoke to the agent and asked her what the best price was that I could get the place for. I told her that if the landlord said 11k, I would take it off her hands today. They called him up and sure enough, he said 11k. Done. The deal was all but sealed. The next day, I signed my life away on the lease and dropped a lot of money.

Let's backtrack a little bit. Now, prior to arrival, I had spoken via email with my company many times. There was a lot of email correspondence because I asked a lot of questions and wanted to make sure we were all on the same page. Having done this before, I knew what questions to ask and I knew what I wanted. Everything was set, aside from one little thing. That little thing turned out to be a huge thing. I didn't sign the contract beforehand. Stupid mistake. Big mistake. But you know, I did not foresee any problems, and the boss just stated that we would sign it upon my arrival. I figured that was fine because it would be more official than using an electronic signature. I saw no problem with it. Stupid mistake. Big mistake. I had spoken with two of the head guys from the company about starting work. They both kept mentioning how I was going to be starting right away and working as the head teacher in most of the classes. The schedule was already made and what not. My problem with that was that the contract stated such: 7. Mentoring Relationship: The employee is required to observe classes that are presently being taught by A+ Education teachers. The mentoring relationship with a designated instructor will allow for the employee to become familiar with the teaching methodology implemented at A+ Education. At a mutually agreed upon date, the employee will commence instructing classes as the sole teacher. Also, this was taken directly from an email: 4) Training: You would sit in classes for a couple weeks with another teacher to observe and get some training in the class teaching methodology we use. Having known that such was stated prior to, I was a little concerned and quite frankly uncomfortable with the idea of jumping right into teaching classes by myself. Can I do it? Yes, of course. That wasn't the point. The point was that the contract stated such and the head principal himself confirmed that in email. So when this was brought to my attention, I stated my concern to both of those guys and stated what was written in contract as well. They were both kind of iffy on the whole thing, not really sure what to say. Both said in one way or another that may not be the case. I continued to press with my concern and what was written, yet it seemed my point was just being ignored. Finally one of the guys said something along the lines of, 'Well, if that's the case, we'll just have to cancel the classes.' That gave me some relief.

After signing the lease, and being on this awesome high after obtaining such an amazing little villa, I walked down to the pier after purchasing some Subway for a late lunch. I was sitting there when I received a call from the head boss at this company. He just questioned how things were going, I told him all was well, blah blah blah, and then brought up the same point I had with the other two guys. Right after I stated my concern, he said to me, 'I don't like this conversation. So, you come in tomorrow at 12:00, and we'll see if we still have a relationship.' I questioned his meaning and reluctantly said alright and we hung up. I'll tell you, I felt sick to my stomach. I didn't know what to think. I knew it wasn't looking good, though. And right after signing the lease. Great. Two of the guys from the company swung by later because one had a friend getting rid of some beds. Considering I was prepared to sleep on the floor, I was very appreciative. The timing couldn't have been better. I told the VP (one of the guys dropping off the beds) what had occurred on the phone, and he told me not to think too much and just not to take it to heart or worry about it. That made me feel a little better, but I still wasn't feeling too grand.

I went into the office the next day, and after waiting for a few minutes, I went in and talked with the boss. He opened with something like, 'I really don't feel too good about this.' Maybe I shouldn't have, but I needed to state my feelings so I replied with, 'Well why are you not feeling good about this? I'm the one who shouldn't be feeling too good about things.' Immediately following that reply, he told me I blew it. It didn't matter what I said, everything was turned around on me to make it look like I was the most confrontational person ever. He told me I was. I stated that I was trying to be as non-confrontational, polite, and respectful as possible. To that, he laughed at me. He mocked me, put me down, and told me I wasn't a teacher. He told me that everybody found me confrontational and that nobody wanted to work with me. When I told him that I didn't get that impression from anyone, he told me he didn't care and that those were the facts. It was so belittling and overwhelming that to be honest with you, I was just trying not to break down. It was all so overwhelming. I just arrived. Just signed a lease. Just left everything in Beijing. I remained weak and humble and eventually just bit my tongue and let him speak. When I tried to express why I wanted to observe classes and related the subject to my past job, he told me he didn't care about my previous employment. I told him it pertained to this job, and add to ask him to allow me to speak several times. I had written in my phone what was written on the contract, which he apparently had memorized anyways, and it made no difference. I told him that observing classes was something that attracted me to this job so that I could see other teachers and learn some of their methods, and see some different ways of teaching so that ultimately I could perform my own job better. To that, the boss responded, 'That's it? So what?' I had no response for that. That whole topic was completely ignored. When I had a chance to speak with the other guys, I said to their faces 'Hey, if you had a problem with me, why didn't you just let me know?' Not in a rude way. They both told me that wasn't the case and they both felt very bad and were very apologetic. I called up another one afterwards and got the same story. He disliked me so much that he took time out of his day to deliver me some beds? I may be wrong, but you don't tend to help the people you dislike. The whole situation was mind-boggling and extremely unpleasant. When we he finally finished speaking and I was out of words, he asked me how to end things between us. I had no idea. He finally banished all other costs and fees I might have owed, paid me the promised airfare bonus, and we parted ways. That may not be the end of it, though. We'll see.

I was sick over the whole thing, and since then I've applied to countless jobs, and gone on a few interviews. I've been eating up servings of humble pie and when I finish, I ask for some more. I really don't want to lose this place, not just because of the insane amount of money I'll lose, but because this is like a dream home for me. I have that amazing ocean in front of me, beaches not too far off, huge mountains behind me, and all kinds of other benefits. I'm outside the city, but not too far away. It's just so close to perfect, or so it seems. Besides, if I lose it, then it means that company wins. Well, if I get completely screwed; I'm going to speak with the Labor Department of Education in HK as recommended by one of the employees. I can also speak with the American Consulate and embassy. I may end up doing one or all of those regardless to take care of that asinine company. I may end up losing it all, but I'm not doing so without a fight. I'm going to go down swinging. Maybe it's all for the better. I mean it is one way or another because I have no desire to work with a company that operates like that. If things start out bad, it's usually a sneak preview of what's to come. That 'relationship' was obviously not meant to be. Perhaps, it was just the initial start of getting me to Hong Kong. I don't know. Right now, I'm not doing anything besides depleting my funds even more every day. I'm eating out every day because I have nothing to cook with, and I'm afraid to purchase anything because I don't know how long I'm going to be here or what will come of everything. It is what it is. Only time will tell.

My mood had been taking a turn for the worse. I was losing motivation, losing drive, and submitting to defeat. Nothing was working. In a way, it begins to take a toll on you. I didn't know what I was going to do. Go back to the U.S.? Go back to the mainland? I turned down a few jobs and interviews purely because of the pay they were offering. It wouldn't have worked. Well the other day, I had been walking back to my place after grabbing lunch. Earlier in the day and various other days, I had spoken with both friends and family concerning my situation. I had been kind of up and down on everything, sometimes feeling positive, sometimes feeling negative. That day turned into acceptance. I had decided to just accept my situation and accept everything that took place. A calmness had washed over me, and I was at peace with everything. I had been telling people two weeks before I would make preparations to leave HK, but I decided that there wasn't much of a difference between a week and a half and two weeks. I got back to my place, and I guess it was around 4:00 in the afternoon. I had followed up with one of the companies I had previously applied for earlier in the day, and I hadn't heard back from them so I decided to call them again. It was another financial company. Well, this time no one picked up. That was essentially my mental resignation. I decided I would go to the interview I secured with the one of the financial companies on the following day, which I knew I would most likely not obtain, and then start making plans to get out of HK. Ultimately, I had decided I would just go back to China, move to a cool area, and continue teaching if need be. That still may happen, but I guess we'll find out soon enough.

God has a sense of humor, though. Shortly after, I decided I would tackle some reading from the 5th book of A Song of Ice and Fire, and take a nap. Literally, right as I was laying down, I got a call from the other financial company. That laying down kind of signified my submission to HK, literally and symbolically. And yet, just before I got fully stretched out and comfortable – bam. Phone call. It was both ironic and comical. I was laughing about it afterwards. Just when I felt like all hope was lost, I got the call I was hoping for, keeping my dwindling flame alive.

So, yesterday (7/12), I had two interviews scheduled that I managed to get invited to. One was a very formal interview, the other was more of a meet and greet/interview. They were both in financial companies, so obviously my chances weren't great. I knew that. I have some sales and managerial experience which could be applied, but my overall credentials and experience in those fields lack. I figured it wouldn't hurt to try, though. I also thought maybe something else could come from them. Regardless of the outcome, I was determined to give good interviews and leave a good impression on the people I interviewed with. I researched both companies, took notes about them, got my outfit together, managed to gather up some reference letters last minute from previous employers, and took care of all the necessary preparations. I knew they were long shots at best, but I like long shots.

The first one went pretty well, although I think I could have done slightly better. There was one time when I completely lost my train of thought during something I was saying, but I still did a decent job. I think I did much better on my second interview. The guy I spoke with had told me he could meet me at the same place later in the day. He was originally going to be on his way to a tennis lesson, but ended up cancelling. It was a little more informal, which I thought could prove to be better. At the very least, I was more at ease and more comfortable. In my opinion, I handled myself well, spoke articulately, spoke accurately about the company with the notes I had memorized, and just made an overall good impression. I believe that the man I spoke with felt the same way because he had told me I was intelligent and threw in some other compliments as well. I really enjoyed speaking with him on both a business and a casual level. Despite my under qualifications, for some reason, he was still willing to come to where I was and speak with me. I'm not sure why because he even acknowledged all that to me in person, but I guess his curiosity inspired him to get a feel for what kind of a person I was anyways. I'm thankful he took the time to do so. He was straightforward with me, which I also appreciate, and told me there wasn't much he could do for me in terms of giving me a job with his company. No problem, I understand. I expected as much. But. Yes, there's a 'but' in there. He wanted to give me the contact information of a friend of his for the potential to work in a position in that company. Great! It's not about what you know, it's about who you know. Right? Right. When someone wants to recommend me to someone else or give me someone to contact, I'm more than willing to accept. I need all the help I can get. Anyways, I was proud of how professionally I had conducted myself.

I had another interview with a school early in the afternoon today (7/16), but after reading over some of the info, and seeing when I would be starting, I had no choice, but to tell the interviewer I would be leaving. I was honest and just told him my situation. I don't want to waste my time or his, but that's all it seemed like I did this morning. Fortunately or unfortunately, I can't be sitting around till August, be it the beginning or the middle. Both are too late for me. If I don't have a guaranteed job, I won't stay here another month. The guy was understanding and stated that we should keep in touch should there be any changes or for the possible future. Sounds good. I'm done applying for jobs in HK. In total, I've applied for 112 jobs since May. 52 of those went out after my arrival. I have not been idle, and I've done all I can. I'm not mad or upset anymore. I guess it will all come down to this last possible job opportunity, which by the way, would be a dream job for me. The guy I'm meeting with is not the actual recruiter, but he can help me fast track things and get a foot in the door if I'm interested. Fingers crossed. If not, that's that. I may lose a lot of money. If I'm lucky, I'll get some back. Either way, I'm content. It's out of my control. Things happen.

"I shall call him Squishy, and he shall be mine. And he shall be my Squishy."

Other notes of interest – I was wondering when I would see a snake out here in Sai Kung. It didn't take long. I saw one a few days ago slithering across the path as I was making my way back to my villa. It's possible it was a cobra, but more than likely a rat snake. As previously stated, with no refrigerator and the fear of buying anything for long term with my situation so unclear, I eat out every day besides breakfast. That's getting kind of old, but at least I have a large variety of places that I can walk to. I've found a few small geckos from time to time in my place. Pretty cool. As one person said on a forum I searched, 'They're great! They eat the mozzies!' I then had to look up what the hell mozzies were. They're mosquitos if you didn't know. Probably some UK lingo.

Last, but certainly not least – I went on an awesome hike, which led me to the most beautiful, cleanest, most pristine beach I've ever been on. I'll discuss that in my next post. It was incredible. If I leave HK, I'll be sure to do some more exciting things before my exit. I'll know soon enough. Preparations for an exit may be starting after tomorrow.

Thank you to all family and friends for your encouragement. I couldn't do it without you.

Stay tuned.

- JD

I know what your thinking and yes, Hong Kong is that awesome and it really exists.

Farewell Beijing

So as you may or may not know, the former being more likely, I'm moving to Hong Kong. My time has come to an end in Beijing. I'll have been here for just under a year and a half. It's kind of crazy. In a way, it feels like I just arrived. It's just time. I'm worn out here, tired. Tired of the city, tired of the city filth, tired of my apartment, tired of my school, tired of my company, tired of the job, tired of the poor air, tired, tired, tired….I'm just tired. It's all been adding up and wearing on me, and that weariness has slowly been taking its toll. Restaurants that I used to be quite fond of just don't do it for me anymore. I've lost interest in the parks I used to enjoy and areas I've visited. It's become even more apparent knowing that I'm moving.

Well, this past weekend was pretty wild and left me exhausted. I'm still recovering from the lack of sleep I suffered. So let's see. Friday (6/15) came around, a day I'm always thankful for. One of my friends was visiting from Shanghai, so at around 11, I went out to meet up with her and her friend. I was early and they were late, so I was waiting around for a little bit, but whatever. Sh*t happens. I had already talked to another friend of mine that was out and about that night. He had been telling me to go to this lounge that I went to the previous week. I would of enjoyed going there again, but it just didn't happen. They had a friend at this roof top bar, so went there for a while. The other friend of mine ended up joining for a bit before retreating to a club. Following so far? I actually really like the rooftop bar as well. I had been there once before. It's more of a relaxing bar; live jazz music during the week, dim lighting, etc. It was a little crazier on the weekend, but not too bad. Myself? I would much rather go to a bar with some friends than go to a club. Clubs are loud and crazy. I can't hear myself think, let alone hear anybody I'm trying to talk to. After hanging around for a bit at the bar, though, we did end up going to the club my other friend(s) went to. Not a terrible decision. It was bikini night at the club and with it being summer, beautiful girls everywhere. My retinas were burning. My previous visits to this club weren't particularly great. I got to see young, gorgeous girls with lots of old men the first time. It's so gross and so sad. The things these girls sacrifice for money is crazy. I just want to ask them 'What's your problem?' I have some other questions too that I want to ask them, but I'll leave those out. It just boggles my mind. Anyways, I actually did have fun this time at the club. Prior to arriving, I knew that one of the guys I was friends with that went earlier was friends with the director of 'Mr. And Mrs. Smith' and the 'The Bourne Identity'. With my friends having a table there, me and the people I was with were able to get in for free. A nice change. The place was absolutely crazy. Shortly after spotting the director, I made my way over to him and introduced myself. Because of how loud it was, I had to yell and started with 'Are you the director of….?' As soon as he heard director, he screamed back with confirmation. We introduced ourselves and soon thereafter, he grabbed a bottle of alcohol off the table and poured some into my mouth. Not my style, but couldn't refuse the director! I ended up leaving that club with a few people, and heading back to another bar. Got home at around 5 in the morning, much to my dismay. The sun was already up…..I hate that. I had fun, though.

I met up with the girl and her friend for lunch later in the afternoon, then they left for the airport. Afterwards, I made my way over to Hou Hai because it was fairly close. On the way, I decided to wait in line for the street's famous 'cheese'. It's more like yogurt, but regardless, delicious. The line is always long. I was just planning on pointing to one of the pictures and asking for that one, but decided to ask the guy in front of me what the name was. He happened to speak English, so I asked if he could just order for me. He was happy to help, and even refused money when I tried to pay for it. I insisted, but it just wasn't happening. It was only 10rmb, but still. Who does that? I finally just thanked him and we parted ways soon after. That was nice of him. So, not all Chinese are rude and selfish. I can explain that comment later. Found my way to Hou Hai, and low and behold, the guy I got a picture of months ago was there strumming on his Chinese violin thing. I have only given some money once or twice because there are so many beggars. Because of that and because of the photo I got, I threw this guy 100rmb. I was a little worried about someone stealing it, but hopefully he got it.

It was a little strange walking around Hou Hai, knowing it would be my last time. I slowed down my walking pace, which is difficult. I usually walk pretty quickly. It was a beautiful day and the temperature was comfortable. Not too hot with a nice breeze. But again, a little odd. The fact is, I may never see that lake again. I have no idea if and when I'll be back in Beijing. I slowly made my way around the lake, and eventually departed for home.

By the time I finally got back to my place, it was about 9:00 at night. I forget if I cooked something or ordered some dumplings and noodles from a nearby place. Anyways, I hung out at home for a bit. My friend from the gym had been pressing me to play poker again. Earlier in the week, I wasn't really feeling it, but now I was somewhat interested. About two or three weeks ago, I lost 1,000rmb. Figure that's about $160. Not too crazy, but I don't like losing. And I don't like losing money. That's why I was a little cautious about returning. It's not that the players were real good, in fact, they were all fairly new to the game, or so I was told. I made a few bad moves in the beginning, and afterwards, I just received non-playable hands for the remainder of the night. I was not happy, but whatever. So, I decided I would go play. We didn't get there until about 11:30. Fortunately, I can walk there from my apartment. I was feeling good about it, and decided that I was going to win one way or another.

Within the first 5 hands, I picked up Ace-Jack. I ended up hitting trip Jacks on the flop and a lot of money went in there after. I ended up beating out the guy on my left who also had trip Jacks, but I had the better kicker (Ace). That's got to hurt. With that hand, I had already won all my money back from last time with a little extra. I set aside the minimum amount I wanted to walk away with and played on. I picked up a few more chips in another smaller hand or two and then lost some. Like last time, after that, I just keep seeing the worst hands you can see in Hold 'Em. 4-3, 4,7, 2,3, 2,6, 5,3, etc. I got to a point and decided I would keep playing until I was dealer. You know, every time I play poker and call my last hand. I always get in some kind of predicament for that last hand. Majority of the time, if it's too questionable, I'll just throw it away because it's my last hand and I don't feeling like taking a hit on my chips. This time I wanted to have a little fun. I picked up pocket 2's. Now the blinds were (The ratio of chips to real money was 1-10.) 25 and 50. I raised it up to 300. So that's 30rmb. The guy behind me that I beat out earlier went all in with close to a 1,000, so 100rmb. Everyone else folded, so it was up to me. Now, usually I wouldn't play with 2's, or I'd be real cautious with them. But again, I was having fun. The dealer pulled out the timer on me, so I only had a minute. Most of the people at the table spoke English, so it was a fairly friendly game. They were playing much better and much more reasonable than the last time I played. I let everyone know I was going to show my cards, but I wasn't folding. So I flipped them on the table, and the timer is still going down. There was some talk and I was laughing, and asked what people thought I should do. I mean, I wanted to give them a bit of a show. Ultimately, I called. I figured, well if I win, it will be an amusing hand to talk about, more so because I'm a foreigner. If I lost, well, all is fair. So, the flop came out and the guy paired his Ace. At this point, he's got me beat and my chances of winning are slim to none. The turn comes out, nothing. I threw in the towel at this point and stated that was pretty much it. With only one card to go, 8-10 players at the table, my chances of hitting another two are not very good. The dealer turns over the river, and what do you know, it's a two! That was followed by myself and the rest of the table shouting 'OHHHHH!!!' I couldn't believe it. I completely knocked out that guy on my left, terrible. I did apologize, but it's poker. Apologies don't go very far. He was cool with it, though. I gathered up my chips, which was followed by some low mumbling and confusion until I stated that it had been my last hand. I was feeling good, shook hands with everyone at the table and went to collect my due. I bought in for either 700 or 800 and ended up winning an additional 700rmb. Not bad! Still down 300 overall, but I can live with that. I had fun playing.

Oh, as I was making my way out, I chatted with my friend that I went with for a bit. I had questioned him about his plans for the following day, and he told me he was going to a BBQ with some colleagues. I had jokingly requested to join, but he had stated it just wasn't possible and apologized. Not a big deal. Then, he had an epiphany, and said 'Wait! You should go.' I was a little thrown off to hear him say that and after he stated he was serious. I asked about when and where. He was leaving at 7, and it was a 2 hour drive really far west in Beijing. No way, no how. He persisted, and realizing it was one of my last weekends in Beijing. I finally agreed. I was going to have to get up at 6:30 AM on the weekend. That's really against my weekend wake up policy. On top of that, I already had set up a Skype call before heading to poker, so I came home and chatted until about 3:00 in the morning. I knew what awaited me. Panda eyes and sluggish movement accompanied with an incredible exhaustion. I was already on a loss of sleep from the previous night and just overall because I had been staying up later during school nights. Oh well.

My friend making an attempt at grilling.

Now if you're not on a loss of sleep and wake up with very little sleep, sometimes that can feel almost refreshing. If you're already tired and then lose more sleep, that's not fun at all. My friend was driving, so I managed to catch some sleep here and there on the way there. I was actually really glad I went. The place was pretty amazing. Wish I brought my camera, but I didn't know it was going to be like that. When we were nearing our destination, we started driving on roads that look like they might be featured on that most dangerous roads show. Really beautiful, though. They were winding up through the mountains with awesome views. The day was perfect, so aside from a lack of sleep, I was really happy I managed to join. We got there around 9:00, and I was drinking a beer by 10:30. What a day. The day was followed by countless chuanrs (kebabs) and other tasty foods from the Chinese BBQ. The one guy was apparently some kind of chef in his earlier days, so he knew what he was doing. Everything was delicious. You come to this area, and you rent a table before hand, you can then rent a little BBQ grilling device or bring your own. These are the only grills you'll see in China for the most part.

That school week cruised on by and wasn't too difficult to get through. The last two weeks for me have been like the schools in the U.S. right before summer vacation. You know how it is. Teachers take it a little easier, a little less demanding. The work load lessens and the general attitude is just more casual. So that's how I've been since I made my announcement of departure. Now, I did face a little bit of a dilemma. I don't care much about my company so I could have just left when the time came and been done with it. The problem with that was if I leave before my contract ends, I face a $1,000 penalty. So I could have just left after pay day, but I still would have lost half a month's pay because of how I get paid. 15th of every month. So that would have been 4,000rmb. Besides that, I didn't want to screw my school. I like my school. They've been good to me, so I didn't want them to have to deal with without a heads up. Ultimately, I decided that I would rather get screwed than see my school get screwed. If it meant the $1,000 penalty, so be it. I notified my company and I was quite pleased with the result. Because I gave them notice, I only got charged half the contract penalty. I can live with that. I told the school, my teachers, my kids and got to do things the right way. I was pleased I did.

This past weekend was another great time. It was even better because of the Dragon Boat Festival, so we got Friday off as well. Friday was decent. I said goodbye to an old friend accompanied with a few drinks. Earlier that day, my roommate and I went out and bought all kinds of fruits to make another batch of sangria for Saturday night. The first one was so good that we decided a second was in order. It was fairly similar to the first, but we threw in some litchi fruit and they were amazing. It also had more time to sit in the refrigerator so that didn't hurt either. Saturday was a lot of fun. My roommate's wife went to her home town to visit before heading to Canada with my roommate. So he was free. Another friend of ours was girlfriend free at the time so he came over with his laptop. That was followed by a bunch of Halo games and the consumption of sangria. In total, we went through 4 bottles of wine between the 3 of us. I'd say I was the most sober. For dinner, we headed to this place where we thought we would be able to cook our own chuanrs, but they were pretty much cooked when they gave them to us. They were some of the best I've ever had, though. I know everything tastes better when you're inebriated, but still. Rain had been threating the city of Beijing all day, and we finally felt the sky's wrath on our walk home. We tried catching a bus, but that just didn't happen. Nearby trees weren't doing much to keep the rain off us and we were ill prepared. In other words, no umbrellas. My roommate and I started to make the trek home and had to leave the other guy. He wasn't moving, and we were tired of waiting. What a walk home. Two drunk white guys sloshing home through some of the heaviest rain I've ever seen in Beijing. And it was relentless. Chinese people were hiding out on the sides of the streets near buildings and under umbrellas and laughing at us. I don't blame them. It was probably pretty amusing to witness. I even thought it was hilarious at the time. It was about a 20 minute walk home and by the time we made it, we were completely drenched. I took a shower and went to sleep shortly after.

Sunday was pretty relaxing with some packing here and there. Hung out with my roommate and the other friend from the other night as well. His girlfriend joined as well. We just met up after dinner and played some pool. I'm pretty bad more often than not.

.Pretty cool gift.

This past Monday was my last day of school. I said my final goodbyes to all the classes and teachers. I made sure to get a group picture with all of my classes so that was cool. I did not teach at all. That was the last thing I wanted to do. We just played games and I let the kids do what they wanted to do in some classes. It was a nice way to go out. With the one class, the teachers were expecting me to teach, but I wasn't having that. I slid two tables over to where the kids were sitting, grabbed some of their cool toys, like the magnets and other building things, and told the kids we were just going to play. The teachers laughed and the kids were happy. No complaints here. One of the teachers gave me a pretty awesome gift, which was really nice of her. I've always felt a good friendship connection with her despite our minimal communication. I can sense she's just a very kind hearted woman.

King and Caesar acting like...well, themselves.

I re-gifted some coffee and walnuts from Malaysia and Sichuan province. I don't drink coffee and was never too thrilled about the walnuts, though it was a nice gesture from one of the mothers of the girls I tutored for. I've had it for a while, and decided to pass it over to my boss at the school. I figured it was a nice gesture. Oh, and I probably got the warmest goodbye from one of the security guards after I told him. He was so shocked when I told him it was my last day. He stood up, shook my hand, patted me on the back, and asked about where I was going. I was so stunned by his reaction to that news. He's a real nice older guy, though. We never talked much, mostly just a hello and goodbye from time to time.

And so, it's Tuesday now. I'm leaving tomorrow morning bright and early. Still haven't finished packing because I'm waiting on some laundry to dry. It's a good thing I took today off, though. I would have been up all night. In total, I've sent 3 boxes to Hong Kong ahead of me. Two larger ones and one smaller. Moving sucks. Having some pizza tonight which probably won't be great, but I'm in the mood. And then, back to finish up and sleep in Beijing one last time.

Thus ends my journey here in Beijing. Some of you have been with me from the very start, some started later, and some of you just read here and there. Regardless, thank you. It's nice to know that people enjoy reading about my adventures, stupidity, and overall life out here in China. Beijing has been the experience of a life time, and though I've hated it at times I will ultimately miss it here. I've met so many people in the last two weeks; it almost tempts me to stay. Almost. My time here has come to an end. I'm ready for the next Asian chapter. Beijing can hold me no longer. It certainly has been a road less travelled, but I know I'm on the right So with that…farewell.

But wait! I'm heading to Shanghai for a few days, then off to Hong Kong. So don't worry! You'll be reading more posts soon enough. Straight from Hong Kong. =]

-Jeff

The Dangers of Sangria

Oh, man. Where to begin? It’s been a little while since I’ve posted. What else is new? I guess we can start with today because well, it’s the easiest way. I’m propped up in bed, on the floor. It broke if I never mentioned that. I was cleaning underneath it and had moved the bed out. I knew it was on its way. The back piece just fell off. I’ve kept the awesomely uncomfortable mattress on the floor ever since. Korean style. I think. Started to feel a cold coming on late last night. Again, what else is new? But I refuse to get sick. Been using all methods I have available to me to prevent it. Not doing it. REFUSE.

Today was um, interesting? I was excited because I didn’t have to teach. That’s always a plus in my book. We headed to the Beijing Science and Technology Museum, which I guess I will have to check out on my own as you’ll soon find out. First off, didn’t get to go with one of my classes. Typical, and always a bummer. At least I was able to run into them on numerous occasions today. So we got there, passed through two security checks. More than an airport. No idea why after seeing this place. I’ll sum it real quick. It sucked. I felt bad for the kids. The place was full of ravaging children just running wild without supervision. There was no new technology to be seen in the Children’s Paradise. Yeah, we didn’t get to go into the real part of the museum. The school had decided the kids wouldn’t understand. So that apparently means they don’t even get the opportunity to attempt such. Everything was old and a lot of the things were broken. It was stupid. I’ll give you an example. You could practice your hygiene there. They had a big mouth of teeth with some rubbery toothbrush like thing that you could practice brushing teeth with. What? Why? There was a house like structure with rubber building blocks in which you could attempt to complete the structure by adding some parts of the roof and walls. Science and technology? Where? The place was like some big, old play place. The coolest thing there was the bubbles. Still old and basic, but at least it was fun. They give you these big metal circular things with handles where you could make some massive bubbles with the soapy solution. Sad.

The nice part about it was that the class we went with had half their kids missing. Probably sick as most of the class was. My roommate and I just had to pick two kids each and take them around the place and do whatever we wanted. I picked a girl that seemed to take to me (my roommate’s class) and a kid that seemed cool. The kid was too crazy, though fortunately I didn’t get to experience that, so the teacher had taken him back a short while later. Fine with me, saved me from any trouble I may have run into later. The girl was cool, though. She held my hand everywhere we went and made sure I was going with her in the parts where I could. I’ll explain that a little better. They had a few jungle gym type areas in the place, but adults weren’t allowed. Now maybe you can explain that to me? Supervision vs. no supervision? Hmm. What are they trying to do? Recreate ‘Lord of the Flies’? More stupidity. Cici was fun, though. It was interesting. My roommate and I stuck together with our kids, but because I just had responsibility of the one, I kind of felt like a parent for the day. Haha. So I had a little fun, I suppose. Beat teaching.

I guess next up is Hong Kong. You may or may not know I had to go there two/three weeks ago for my visa. It was fully paid for aside from meals, so after some misunderstandings with my company, I was cool with it. Free trip! I just wish I had been able to stay a little longer. I was only there for a day and a half. With all the running around I had to do, I didn’t get to really experience anything.

I had to wake up at 5:50 the day of the trip to catch an 8 am flight. Thanks company. That was thoughtful. I had a list of other people I was going with, but I didn’t recognize any of the names. Guess I wasn’t the only one that didn’t like the idea of a work visa with my company. While waiting for the flight, I didn’t see anyone I recognized so for a while there it was just like I was taking the trip by myself. Shortly before arrival, I was approached by the girl that went, so finally met up with someone. I actually realized later I knew her from a long time ago, but hardly recognized her. After we landed, I ran into another guy I had met once or twice before from other visa extensions. He’s a cool guy so I was happy to be accompanied by at least one non idiot. They actually weren’t a bad group of people for the most part. Fortunately. The plane landed in Shenzhen because it was cheaper for my company to do that, followed by taking a train to Hong Kong. It was a nice train ride. Shenzhen seemed fairly scenic and beautiful in some parts. Lots of greenery. Stop. Actually, I’m not going to bother with all the unnecessary details of that trip. I’m going to sum it up real quick. I had to do a lot of running around and parts of it felt like I was in the ‘Amazing Race’. I think we lost, but I’m not sure. There was my group, and some couple that we never saw after the plane. Going to take care of the visas was interesting to say the least. Basically, I had to lie to the government. My company even gave me a copy of the document I had to fill out with what to say. Pretty ridiculous. As many people have told me, T.I.C. This is China. Some of the things that go on absolutely blow my mind. I think that’s good enough for now. Though my visit was very brief, I enjoyed Hong Kong . It was so clean. I could breathe. The weather was awesome. You’ll be hearing more about Hong Kong soon enough. Don’t you worry.

Oh, I witnessed an interesting event while going through customs in Shenzhen on the way home. I saw one security woman approach a man and another member of security was coming right up as well. Apparently, there was some trouble about this taped up box he had. The guy was real angry. He had this look on his face liked he wanted to kill the security guards. The box was placed on the ground. One of his pals came up, snatched the box, and ran. Security pursued, but ever so briefly. The second guy threw it off to another friend, and he ran off with it. Some kind of box relay. The most astonishing factor in this story is that security stop chasing them! Why? I was so mystified by the whole situation. It was that easy? Crazy. The flight home took a little while. Our flight got delayed 3 times. We were supposed to leave around 8, but didn’t end up taking off until after 11. When we finally got on the plane, we then had to sit and wait again. I guess that was the third time. I don’t even remember at this point. Originally, we should have been getting home around 12. Instead, I strolled into my apartment after 3 am. Hats off to my company for the late flight.

I went to a bar a couple weeks ago and ended up taking an unusual mode of transportation home. In this particular area, it’s extremely difficult to get a cab because it’s a really popular area for shopping, bars, clubs, and restaurants. I was on the prowl, but you walk towards the direction cabs are coming to get closer and get past some people and there’s always someone else. Always. I just wanted to go home at that point, it was after 2 in the morning. I had even talked to a few ‘black taxis’, which I rarely do. These taxis are not taxis at all. They’re simply people riding around in their cars trying to make a buck. Sometimes, it’s someone just going in a specific direction looking to make some money on the way. More often than not, it’s people treating their car like it’s a taxi. They typically charge way too much, taking advantage of the lack of taxis, but you can haggle with them. On this night, I wasn’t having any luck and getting the price I wanted. This young guy had pulled up beside me in a rickshaw/carriage thing attached to a bike. I guess it’s the modern rickshaw. They’re real common and people will approach you on them all the time. This guy had asked me, but I was laughing at the idea of it. Keep in mind, this is in Chinese. I told him where my home was just for the fun of it, but continued to laugh and told him it was too far. I really found it quite amusing. I also told him that those bikes were too slow. They are motorized, but even so. He assured me it was fast, and hung around even though I continued to talk to black taxis. He was persistent. After going down in price a few times for me, he was at 40rmb, I was at 30rmb. That’s where I had started. He kept saying it was only another 10rmb. Finally, I got to a point and said screw it. Let’s go. Haha. I figured what the hell, right? I had never ridden one before, slow or not, it would be fun. And it was. He was cool too. We talked a bit here and there, and it was actually a pretty fast ride. It might have been another 5-10 minutes than a taxi would have taken me and a legit taxi would have cost about 25rmb, but it was totally worth it. I enjoyed it so much, I threw the guy 50rmb. When in China!

Went to a zoo a little while back. No, not the Beijing Zoo. I don’t ever plan on going there again. This was called Beijing Wildlife Park. Much nicer. I took the trip with my school. As usual, I didn’t get to go with my class. Wasn’t terrible. I didn’t have to do anything. I just wasn’t planning on letting them slow me down. I wanted to make sure I saw all or close to all of what there was to see. It ended up being a good thing that my roommate and I stuck with them for a little while. We were able to bail later and see all we didn’t get to see without them, so it was fine. Again, I really don’t feel like going into details much here. It was a while ago now, and recounting all that info for a blog long overdue just doesn’t seem worth it at the moment.

The last thing I’m going to mention is the Chateau Star River Four Seasons Club. Had I wandered earlier on this area, I probably would have visited this place on numerous occasions. The Chateau Star River is an A list apartment complex near my home. It’s one of if not the nicest area to live in Beijing. Big money. Lots of famous people and celebrities live there from what I’ve been told. I can see why. This was last Sunday, 5/27.

The day before, I had decided to make some sangria. I had this bottle of red wine sitting in my room for a while, and I wanted to make some good use of it. I checked out a few recipes online, and ultimately just made my own concoction. Ingredients – bottle of red wine, sugar, some sprite, Bacardi Breezer (I didn’t feel like buying a whole bottle of rum so I figured one of those mixed bottle drinks would work, haha….), lemons, oranges, mango, banana, apple, and kiwi. Sounds pretty awesome, I know. And it was. I started drinking by myself earlier in the evening, but then my roommates came home so I offered them some as well. I mentioned going to see a late showing of ‘Men In Black 3’, so we continued to drink and ended up going. We polished off about 2 and half bottles of red wine. First off , the movie was fairly dumb as expected. I couldn’t finish it, though. I made it through about an hour, before I was starting to doze off. The problem with that was, being inside the theater; I was feeling sick and getting the spins. I really just needed some fresh air. I was drunk, but being inside watching the movie was making it worse. I had to bail. I was ok outside. So, I walked home and passed out.

I’ll admit I was a little hung over on Sunday. But wait! It’s because of that hangover that I went for a long walk when I woke up and discovered the Chateau Star River Four Seasons Club. See? Drinking leads to discovery. I’m kidding, but seriously. It’s basically a country club type place. It’s where the Chinese hide all the fresh air in Beijing. I ‘snuck’ in the first time I went there. Just walked through some shrubbery. I honestly have no idea if I’m allowed to wander in there or not. I’m thinking no, but who knows? There was virtually nobody in the place. It was quiet, with some open fields, lakes, and ponds. Really nice little area. I chilled there for a while before heading back to grab my camera, eat lunch, and return a little later. I made sure to exit through the main entrance so that the security guard could see me. It doesn’t hurt to be cautious, right? That way, he saw me exit. So when I returned later, if there was any doubt, he would probably remember seeing a foreigner wander out. Haha. Upon my return, I strolled right through the main entrance, paying the security guards no mind. When you look like you know what you’re doing and where you’re going, people don’t tend to question you. I’m assuming this is a place that is probably only available to residents of the Chateau Star River apartments. That would explain the lack of people there. But so what? Maybe I was visiting a friend or looking to move there? Or maybe I got the foreigner advantage and they just assume I’m wealthy? Or it doesn’t matter. Whatever. I got in, that’s all that matters.

Oh, and while in there I met some kids. I had passed them and they said hello in English. I asked them in Chinese if they could speak English and they all claimed they could. Though, I don’t think they spoke that well. We ended up using Chinese the whole time. My Chinese has improved despite my lack of studying for the past few weeks, so I was able to communicate most things and understand most of what they were saying to me. I ran into them again later, and they were just wandering around trying to find something fun to do. Well, I had my shoulder bag with me and always have my little squidge Frisbee in there, so I figured I would offer it to them. I told them they could just give it back to me later, but they wanted me to join. So why not? I spent between an hour and two hours playing Frisbee and walking around the place with them. I got some time to myself earlier, so it was cool. They were nice kids and happy to be hanging out with a foreigner. Haha. Even in my search for some respite from the city, I can’t escape children. It’s ironic.

I walked around the apartments last night with a friend from my gym. Man, I got really depressed. It’s like a different world there. They got lush greenery growing all over. The landscaping around the apartments is beautiful. The little ponds are clean with lily pads and tall grass growing around. I know money isn’t everything, but I have to admit, it would be nice to live there. The sidewalks are paved nicely. There’s no trash strewn about. GAH! You get the point. I plan on bringing some beers in there and playing some cards in the evening one of these nights.

It’s been a while. If you’ve been waiting patiently, thank you. If you forgot about my blogs, it’s understandable. My priorities have been elsewhere. I’ll be discussing that soon enough.

-JD-

Searching For Solitude

I have been sick. Some of you may ask, what else is new? Well to that, my response is, I'm battling several elements. I face lots and lots of sick little children on a daily basis coughing on me and things of that nature, I have Beijing's poor air quality to deal with, and the heat was turned off in Beijing about a month ago. Even though it's been much warmer, my apartment (particularly my room) is quite cold. I've been sleeping in sweatpants and a t-shirt every night despite the weather being 50-70 degrees outside recently. It started with a fever last Friday, followed by some throat issues, stuffy nose, weakness, etc. I guess it sums up to a common cold for the most part, though I'd say it's a little worse than that. Today is the third day I've missed of work (4/5). Well, things happen. I don't miss many days of school, so they can deal. I'll go back tomorrow (4/6) and finish the week out.

Top: Crazy eyes right?
Bottom: Pond of Good Ideas - Frog Eggs

Next up, we'll discuss my little tadpole experiment. I was with a friend in a neighboring park, Chaoyang, that I've been to many times. Later in the evening, we were by the river and I had noticed some frogs on the water's edge. We were checking them out, and then I noticed something kind of strange. I saw these weird looking strands that kind of caught my eye. I dismissed them at first as just another nasty development in the dirty water. Although, upon further inspection, I realized they were in fact frog eggs. Being from the country, I've dealt with frog eggs before so I know what they look like. These were a little different, but I could tell that's what they were. Upon realizing that the frogs nearby weren't moving much, I decided to reach in grab one for inspection. Needless to say, they were pretty strange. They had these flaps of skin on the sides of their bodies, which really made them look odd. Pretty cool, though.

Amongst my shelf of good ideas, I decided to snatch some of the eggs to raise some tadpoles.

I didn't think it was a big deal, my brothers and sister and I did it plenty of times when we were kids and it was easy enough. So, I returned home with my babies and waited. I did some research in the mean time to prepare for the tadpoles. On day 2, the small little black dots were noticeably larger black dots, so I estimated that within a week I would have tadpoles. I was right. 6 days later, they were tadpoles or close to. For a couple days, they were fine, they were still eating from the embryonic sac, if that's what it's referred to for frogs. After that, problems arose. I moved them into a big clear bucket I had purchased for just this cause. They were visibly hungry, so I provided the pre-boiled and then frozen lettuce I had made for them. I guess they weren't eating that. Soon after, I lost most of the tadpoles. I managed to pull out 11 and relocate them to another container and remove them from the stench of death lurking in the old water. They seemed well enough. They were swimming around and were quite vigorous. I added flakey fish food I had purchased earlier in the day.

Let me tell you about this flakey fish food. It was not easy to obtain. I read that tadpoles should eat it readily enough, so I did some searching online and asked a few friends about pet stores in Beijing. After finally securing a location, I set off. I had been there before as it turned out, so it was a little far, but easy to find once I got in the general region. It did require a bit of walking, and it wasn't the pet store I was trying to go to, but I found what I needed and headed home. Well, that was a mistake.

And presto, baby tadpoles

Now, this was just a few days ago, so I was even more sickly than I am right now. The bus stop was the problem. Typically, the same bus stop with the bus going the opposite way will be located on the opposite side of street, either directly or visibly noticeable and not too far away. This was not the case. When I was looking for the bus stop to go home, I couldn't see the bus stop on either side of me. They were quite frequent on the way there, or so I had thought, so I decided I could just walk forward and eventually I would get to the next bus stop. Dumb. Big mistake. I should have gone backwards. I walked…and walked…and walked. Then, I walked some more. I was weak, tired, and felt like death. I could feel a fever trying to get ahold of me again, but somehow my body kept it at bay. I finally got to a bus stop after walking on the side of a major highway for quite a ways, crossing a bridge, etc. I saw the stretch of highway before starting my trek and had decided I could do it. Well, I did, but in my state, it was not fun. And all for some flakey fish food. I got home, dropped some in for the tadpoles, curled up in my bed, and fell asleep for a couple hours.

Well, the next day, a lot of tadpoles had died. I don't know what the problem was. I fished out the survivors and relocated them to a new location. They seemed ok and were quite active. Actually, I temporarily put them in a jelly jar that was cleaned out. There was possibly a little bit of sugar on the sides of the jar, though. Or maybe just traces. Anyways, they still didn't appear to be eating. I tried bread because I read that they ate dog food. Guess that didn't work. I even threw in a little bit of jelly because they appeared to be hanging around the sides of the jars. Possibly eating the traces of jelly residue? Well, the next morning was a sad sight. They all died. Save for one. The survivor. Maybe 'the one'? At the very least, he was 'the only one'. Ha ha ha…..Bad joke. I put him in a paper cup with some plastic wrap over the top, headed to Tuanjiehu Park and released him. He deserved that after the trials he had faced. He probably got eaten by one of the goldfish there. At least, he died with honor. If you have a glass, you can raise it to the little guy. Here's to you, buddy.

As you often see me state, 'it's possible I've mentioned this next thing before'. I don't know. How do I feel about not owning a car? I love it. Honestly, I really love it. No car insurance. No gas bills with the cost constantly going up. No maintenance. No parking. None of that. The one thing I do miss, however, is the music. Driving to and from work was my music time. And I loved it. Windows down, one arm hanging out in the summer, music turned up. It's great. Now, my music time is few and far in between. You can't really study Chinese and listen to music unless it's classical, which I do from time to time. I'm going to put some on right now. That will lead right into my next topic of discussion.

My studying has picked up even more, though I do slack from time to time. I've come to the realization that one, even two hours, is not enough time in my opinion. I'm now trying to utilize the majority of my free time and apply it towards my language study. It can get boring, so I'm constantly changing studying methods and using different programs and things. Doing everything and anything to keep it interesting. It can be a challenge at times. I even started using Rosetta Stone again. I think it sucks if you don't have any knowledge of the language you are studying. Now that I'm much farther along with my Chinese, I've found I can understand it better and learn quickly with it. Much more so than before. Why is that? Because. RS gives you pictures and captions in various forms. The problem is, if you want to have a solid understanding of what you're saying, you'll spend a lot of time looking up individual words within those captions. Otherwise, you'll be able to associate the caption with the picture, but that's about it. That's not very helpful. If you're farther along, however, you probably know a lot of those words, and will need to look things up less frequently, or at the very least, look up less things within the caption. Savvy? Anyways, I want to reemphasize the importance of mixing it up. This technique is even more significant when you're studying by yourself.

You know what I've learned about myself? I love distractions. I've got a tons of little tricks up my sleeves, I like to watch shows, and all kinds of garbage. But ultimately, what purpose do they serve? I suppose they're fun at times, and amusing, but they are distractions. That's a truth I have come to realize and cannot deny. I've been trying to cut down my distractions as well. Need to focus. Need to focus. Need to focus. Like a robot – just stay on the task at hand. And my task and my number one goal above all else is learning Chinese. Why? I have no idea in all honesty. I feel like I have a future with a fluency in the Chinese. Without it, where will I be? Back to square one, lost with a wide range of job experiences under my belt. That's not often a job trait employers are looking for, though it can be helpful at least for you personally. I want to give up sometimes. I want to quit. I even thinking about leaving China and leaving it all behind. Something keeps me going, though. Something deeper than just the prospect of finding a better job. But don't' get me wrong, that's extremely helpful and motivational as well. I try to remember past jobs and I would rather study Chinese all day every day, than go back to some of those horrific jobs. I'll do whatever I can to not go back there. It may take me years, but I will be fluent in Chinese. Maturity. Sucks.

"Lots O' Pills"

I told you I was sick. Here's some more info on that fun time period. I was sick for a couple weeks and bought pills on two separate occasions.

Fortunately, I only ended up missing 3 days of school as mentioned. After the pills didn't seem to fix the problem, I then decided it was time for the Chinese favorite – yup, injections. I will do my best to avoid ever having to do that again, especially since I really have no idea what's going in me. I went to a clinic right near my home, same one I used for tonsillitis, got a brief diagnosis and paid for the suggested meds. The problem was that all I did with this doctor was list some of my symptoms (a friend was there to help me translate). After sitting and waiting for a few minutes, I decided to hell with them. I was all for getting my money back and finding some real doctors or reverting back to more pills. The 'doctor' had determined that I had some kind of viral infection. No idea what. The problem with that was, I wasn't given any tests. I suggested to him that he look in my throat, and I got kind of like a 'oh, sure' response. What the hell is that? The 'nurses' felt bad or were losing some face, so they offered a blood test. I had to pay more of course. It wasn't much, though. Well, it still came back as a viral infection so that guy was either a genius or they didn't feel like changing the meds. Whatever, had 3 days of that. Sometimes I still feel like something is lingering within, but I suppose that is just a lovely reminder of the great air I get to breathe in every time I step outside. On the plus side, I am green snot free and didn't even have a stuffy nose today. Score. I know, paints a pretty picture for you. Moving on.

Solitude...kind of

You want to know what one of the hardest things to deal with in living with a city? Bear in mind, some people may actually love this, but I'm a lone wolf at times. I need my alone time, and it's impossible to be alone virtually no matter where you go here. There's just so many *insert swear word* people. Too many. I manage to find some solitude here and there, but it never lasts too long. I recently found a train track near my home. Can't believe I never knew of its existence before, but whatever. Now, I do. I visited it twice. It was kind of peaceful nearby at times.

This is one of my few meals that I've cooked worth mentioning. I threw in the daily rice regiment, chicken, grated cheddar cheese, tomatoes, and lettuce. I then drizzled lemon on top of it all. Yet, I still felt like something was missing. What to do, what to do….As it turns out, I had bought a bag of spicy chips that I was considering using to make a taco-like salad, but went with the rice instead. Well, my next move was to throw the chips on top of it all and mix 'em in. NICE. A stroke of genius, if I do say so myself. If you are familiar with the various uses of chips and the like, you might even know that they go great on sandwiches. That is where I drew my inspiration. I've made it a few times since then, and it hasn't been disappointed yet. It's my failsafe meal plan. PIC

Hope you enjoyed, I know it's been a while.

-Jeff

You want strawberry ice-cream? NO ICE-CREAM FOR YOU

Ah, school. Good ol' school. Been back for 2 weeks now after tomorrow (3/2). I was a little worried/nervous about it to be honest prior to starting up again. I even did some prep work which isn't really my style. I should say, I did more preparation than usual. Believe it or not, I do well when I wing it. In some ways, I find it better. While it can be a little nerve racking without the preparation, it also gives you even more freedom. I start most weeks with a lesson of cards, maybe with just an idea of what I might say and ask, depending on ages, and that's that. From there, I just see how it goes and see what works most of the time. This is not fail proof by any means, so I wouldn't recommend it to the average person. You have to able to improvise a little bit. The way I see it is, this is how I started in China. I had a little bit of direction in the beginning, but not really. I don't think you can really be prepared for being in the classroom with kids or anyone for that matter. The best knowledge you're going to get is from what you learn during your own personal experience in the classroom. Upon starting, I didn't speak any Chinese, and I was teaching English to foreign kids. You walk in the room and the kids are all looking at you like you're an alien. You basically are. Now, I'm still an alien, but at least they're familiar with me. Instead of, 'AHHH, IT'S AN ALIEN!' – it's 'Oh, it's just Jeff, the alien.' Haha. Anyways, once I started speaking to the first class during my first day back, any fears or doubts I had vanished. It was like I had never been gone, and it's been like that since. I'm playing a lot less games this semester. Sometimes, maybe I forget they're just kids. I have it in my head to push them harder and I expect more out of them because I know what they're capable of. That's all well and good, but I still need to remember how young they are. It's almost like the 5 (some 6) year olds are 13 in my eyes at times, strangely enough. I see their personalities, and how they interact. I know who the brilliant students are and I know who the duds are. Don't think that stops me from expecting any less from these so called 'duds'. Everyone learns different. If someone isn't learning, then I need to find what works for them or get them motivated. Now, I can't say I always follow that, but I'm still learning and growing too. My latest disciplinary act is to take children's shoes one at a time. It started as a joke last semester. I only did it with certain kids here and there, and I didn't do it too often. If a kid was really bad, maybe I'd take off a shoe. I found it as amusing as the rest of the kids. Sometimes tears followed, but what can you do? This semester, I brought that action into full effect. I think it's hilarious, but I've had a lot of kids cry due to it. It's amazing how a missing shoe will affect a kid. It's a simple enough policy – you're bad, you lose a shoe, if you're worse, I'll take the other, if you're good, you'll get it back. Easy. Most understand this concept, some haven't grasped it yet. I ignore the screams and tears and keep right on teaching. Sometimes, I'll look down and find myself with close to 10 shoes or more. It's amazing what a lost shoe will do for their motivation as well. I get some of the best responses to my questions once a shoe is in my possession. Besides, I think it livens up class a bit. I also take a kid with me now and again to another class as well if he's really misbehaving. Yeah, no need to use 'she'. It's always a boy. Don't be fooled though, I've got plenty of goofy and outrageous little girls in classes as well. Although, a couple 2 weeks later, I got bored of that tactic.

Perhaps you remember little Bonnie, precious little creature that she is. This is the same girl in one of my baby classes that used to say 'Negga, what's your name?' Well, she's still super funny. I'm basically just her pet monkey. Yep. We'll be reviewing flash cards and learning new ones, and she'll be off to the side saying 'Jeff lao shi (teacher)' followed by her jumping or patting her head or doing both simultaneously or some other funny little action and telling me to do the same thing. The sad part is….I do it. Haha. It's too funny to ignore and she loves it and laughs even more. Then she'll go on and do that again and again. Sometimes she gives me new ones for every card, sometimes she uses the same one over and over. If I finally manage to ignore her, she'll do it anyways. For example, today she was jumping up and down and raising her arms up and down for every syllable of a word. 'Cucumber' is a great one for her since she can get more jumps in. Love little Bonnie.

School is going fairly well over all. Every morning is a struggle to wake up and get myself up, but I tell myself it's going to be a good day before heading to school. I find it helps, if only a little. And getting out of bed may be a struggle, but I've learned from past experiences. If I don't get up within 2 minutes, sometimes even that is risky, I run the chance of waking up late. I've had a few close calls last year. So far, so good.

Next topic. Arm wrestling. Now, you may or may not be aware of this, but being a Powell, I happen to have a competitive side to me. Having two brothers, I have an even bigger competitive side. My favorite kind of competition is anything that requires physical strength, but I also do enjoy matching wits. Well, it's been a while since I've really had a chance to compete in anything, besides the games we had in my school last year and the occasional chess match. So, I got a little ballsy the other day. I was in the gym and there's this guy I'm friends with there. He works there, big strong brute. I'd say he's the second biggest guy there. As for height, he might be a little taller than the other big guy. My guess is he's in his mid 30's. I really like him, and even though we can't really communicate a whole lot, I feel like there's an understanding between us. I think there's even a mutual respect somewhere there as well. I definitely respect him. He has a humble way about him. His name is Yong Zi. His English name is Young, but he speaks very little English, mostly just a word or so here and there. He's given me some advice through demonstration and gave me an exercise before. At the very least, we'll give each other a friendly nod and a smile when we're see each other. Well, I like to bust balls and I'm jokey, so I told Yong Zi that I wanted to arm wrestle him. In truth, I really didn't expect to come out victorious with this thing. I feel pretty small when standing beside him. I was laughing about it, and told him he would win. He agreed with me and said, 'must win', while also being good natured about it. I told him I couldn't that day because I was already like 30 or 40 minutes in to my workout. I was getting tired. We figured out a day and decided that Friday would work since we would both be in the gym. After getting the day set up, I continued with my workout. Well, it wasn't long before I got approached by one of the other gym employees encouraging me to arm wrestle on that day. I protested and told him I was too tired, but he insisted. He asked me to flex and said I was fine. (I feel the urge to remind you that all of these conversations are taking place in Chinese, and where I might not understand all of what is said, I can understand most by words here and there, gestures, and the situation at hand.) Reluctantly, I agreed to. What the hell, right? It became an even bigger ordeal when all of the male gym employees and most of the other males in the gym figured out what was going on and gathered around. We had to get down on our knees and use one of the weight lifting benches, but we made due. We set forth some rules, got ourselves adjusted, locked hands, and started. Yong Zi had me pulled down a good quarter of the way to his winning end, but I held on, fighting back, and a few moments later, he pulled off calling it quits. I was baffled. We were in a lock position where he had me, but I'm not sure why he gave up. We had a second match, and I stated that there should be no bending of the wrist. The same thing happened again, though he might have had me a little less this time. He abruptly gave it up the second time as well. I was laughing, got pats on the back, some praise, and stood around for a few minutes. I was trying to ask Yong Zi what happened and why he quit, but couldn't really figure it out. Chinese are competitive though, and he wasn't too happy about it. He wasn't mad or anything, but you could tell he was a little upset about it. Remember, it's all about face. I told him not to worry, that he was still much bigger than me and that it didn't matter. He later accused me of bending my wrist, I accused him of the same thing, but we laughed it off. So when all was said and done, I think I just earned little more respect in the gym. Maybe someone will tell their friend when they see me and say 'Hey, that's the white guy that beat Yong Zi.' Haha. It was nice to win, but I didn't like the way it was won. I would have rather had one of us go down fighting till the end instead of just pulling away and quitting.

I really have no idea if I've mentioned this or not, but it won't hurt to mention it again. While I was not too psyched about teaching for another year, I ultimately decided to stay in Beijing at the same job (with a pay increase, naturally), despite numerous offers throughout China. It has its benefits. Although, I should mention I strongly considered the position offered to me in Sichuan. Its south which means year round warmth most of the time, and it's known for its food (some really good and some really fricken hot), and beautiful girls. It was tempting. But for one, I know this job, and I know what's required. It's not too demanding, the pay is good, the location is super convenient, and this job offers me lots of free time. With that free time, I've been focusing on one thing in particular – studying Chinese. That is my ultimate goal above all else. I try to study every day for at least an hour, sometimes more. I usually utilize about an hour's worth of my break, which usually lasts for close to 3 hours, and then review the information and maybe do a little more later in the evening. I really want to learn Chinese so I'm pushing myself and making it a top priority. I usually do a pretty good job of it. I've been getting back into guitar as well and try to play once a day for about an hour as well. I actually feel like I have some direction in the learning process as well. I wish I had been this serious about it last year, but I guess that was my warm-up year, ya know? I studied on and off for 9 months, but it wasn't a top priority. I'm really going for it now. I'm hoping to have a lot more opportunities after this year with a better fluency in the language. I've even considered taking some kind of online course to fulfill my Associate's Degree, perhaps something business specific that could aid me after the year. We'll see. I've got a decent amount on my plate at the moment. I've got something going on every day of the week after school. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays I'm going to the gym. On Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays I'm tutoring. You read that correctly. Monday is a long day. I go right from tutoring to the gym and I usually end up cooking afterwards. I'm really getting tired of the low cost restaurant food nearby. The amount of oil used is just so ridiculous. I feel like I'm swimming in it afterwards. Just seeing it kills the desire for me. I still order it occasionally, but not nearly as often as I used to. Cooking is just time consuming, well not really the cooking itself. I should say the preparation and the clean-up is what's time consuming. Like anything. I need like little elves doing both of those things for me; the prep and the clean-up. Now that would be sweet, and would save me a bundle of time. One day, perhaps. Even so, at least I know what's going into the meal when I cook it. I'm a terrible cook and most of my meals are bland at best, but I dare say they're a great deal healthier. Once in a while a good meal will make an appearance. Ha. Tonight…..was not one of those nights. I've got eggs down, so once a week or once every two weeks I'll make scrambled eggs with bacon. Well I've had many potato attempts that never turned out great with just a stove top oven. This time, I took advice from my Madre and boiled them prior to cooking them and then saved them. I ended up using them 2 or 3 days later, but it didn't work quite as I had planned. The eggs were fine, except being cold by the time I ate them. The bacon got thrown out. Bacon is thicker here, so I usually end up putting too much oil and they come out a little blackish here and there by the time they're finished. No microwave by the way. This is all stove top. Well, in my haste, I threw in the pre-boiled potatoes with the partially cooked bacon hoping to speed up the process. That was a mistake. The potatoes turned into mush, and the bacon didn't cook all the way through and ended up with bits of burnt potatoes all over it. Ah, so disappointing. I wanted to redeem the meal with some cereal until I realized I had no milk. I went out and bought one just before cooking, (they come in little bags) but only purchased one. Didn't feel like walking downstairs for another. Yeah, it's a minute walk. Still. Instead, I used a single piece of bread to make a half a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. That just didn't do it. I'm hungry just thinking about the disaster. I'll post some pics soon of my meals on facebook, so be on the lookout for those.

Gary is also worth mentioning. He's one of the brighter students in one of my younger classes, but lately he's found it more amusing to just say something other than what he's supposed to repeat. I'll admit, sometimes it's amusing. It's nothing major. With vegetables, for green and red peppers, he thought it was funny to say green and yellow peppers instead. Made himself laugh every time. Corn was another issue. He had a hard time pronouncing it and would end up saying, 'porn'. With a shocked face and a hidden laugh that he could detect and sometimes it showed, I would tell him how to properly say it. When he puts thought into it before just shouting it out, he can say corn. But most of the time, he doesn't care and just laughs at himself saying porn. He even asked me what porn meant. I had to laugh and just tell him that it meant nothing…..kids.

During this same vegetable week for the younger guys/girls, I had another class that I was forced to feed every time. One little Cherry started that crazy. She's really bright and super cute, naturally. I end up pretending to grab a vegetable from the card and throwing it at the kids shouting at 'gei wo!' – means give me. That pretty much meant the whole class. Just to move along sometimes, I'd have to shout back in Chinese that it was mine and that I wasn't giving any away. Obviously, I'm throwing nothing, but the kids all think it's hilarious.

The weather appears to be changing course. Sooner than later, that's for sure. On Tuesday…I think it was Tuesday…I woke up and just felt completely amazing. I went to bed earlier the previous night and I just woke up feeling so freaking good. I don't know what it was. It was like my body sensed the change in weather that would soon arrive. The day after that proved to be absolutely gorgeous out. It got up to 46 that day, maybe 48. That's the warmest it's been all winter. It was so nice. The next day was freezing, but that's beside the point. Spring is on the way. The days are longer as well. It doesn't even get dark until 6-6:30. Needless to say, I'm excited. I've been over this cold since it started.

I'll wrap this up with 2 more events that took place last weekend. (3/3, I believe.) I was with a friend and we were on our way to a mall in the middle of the city. The subway ride there was interesting to say the least. I'm on the first stop of this particular subway line, so it's easy enough to get seats. So, we were sitting and this guy was standing in front of me a couple stops later. My legs were spread apart, so his leg was bumping into the inside of my leg, kind of uncomfortably to the point where I had to push his leg gently away with my hand. I took it for just an accident, so whatever. I adjusted my position and closed my legs shortly after that because it kept occurring. Now, since I was with a Chinese girl; stares come like no tomorrow. The farther away someone lives outside of a city, the longer and more obvious their stares will be at a foreigner and a Chinese girl. Completely non-discreet. This is not my first time witnessing this. So, this guy had taken an interest in us early on. We ignored and just talked amongst ourselves. The girl then told me that the guy was talking about me, but we still ignored it at that point. I was starting to get a little irritated, though. He then later had asked me if I could speak Chinese, though I wasn't sure if the question was directed at me or if I had heard him right so I ignored the question. After that, he ended up calling me a bastard or something similar. The girl had informed me of that, and she looked up to him and told him not to say that again. I'll admit, I was pretty mad at that point. This guy was just messed up in the head apparently and just trying to start something or I don't even know. Just being dumb. I looked up at him and said an obscenity of my own. He made no reply. I had grown tired of the situation, was getting mad, and we were getting off soon, so I got up with the girl and I pushed pasted that idiot. Right before we got off, he stood up and blew me like one of those Italian kisses. I'm not sure if you understand that reference or if it's even Italian, but it's a kiss blown like up and away, not directed at me. He then said goodbye in Chinese a few times and I'm pretty sure I heard an English swear from him, though I can't be sure. Such a strange situation. Such a strange guy. I lost my cool, I know. I'm glad it didn't escalate beyond that, but I was more than prepared to crack some skulls if it had. I know, I shouldn't let stupidity like that get to me. I'll work on it.

Situation number 2. The ice cream. This occurred on the same day. We were at the mall, and I had decided I wanted ice cream after dinner long before we even had dinner. So ice cream time came around and we made our way to the Dairy Queen. I still get mad talking about this. Talk about stupidity. This will haunt me for the rest of my life. Haha. Alright, so we ordered strawberry ice cream with brownies. We paid, picked up our ice cream and walked off. We sat down not too far away, took a scoop without really paying attention, and that's when I realized it. That was not strawberry ice cream. No, no, no. Back to DQ, I declared! We went back, and spent some time going back and forth with one of the girls working there. She would have defended this ice cream to the death. Now, this ice cream was some kind of vanilla with pieces of butter toffee or something like that in it and little chocolate bits. I know what strawberry is. I'm 25 years old, I'd like to think at this point in my life that I can tell the difference between strawberry ice cream and other flavors. Nope. I was wrong. The arguing raged on, not that dramatic, but nonetheless. I think the questioned was asked why there was no red or pink within? Why were there butter toffee bits or whatever they were? WHY, WHY, WHY? Nope. She stated again and again that the ice cream she had given us was strawberry. All you had to do was look at it and you could clearly see that it was not strawberry. The girl I was with did most of the arguing, though I threw in some Chinese where I could. This is another reason I need to get my Chinese better, for arguing about ice cream. I would have taken a poll amongst the people in line if need be. Instead, I just looked like the arguing idiot that wasn't happy about the ice cream I got. This girl said she had made it herself, as if that is a winning argument. I eventually snatched the ice cream off the counter, beckoned the girl with me and told the employees they were both crazy. Another situation that I did not handle well. I know. Besides that, the girl told me afterwards that right before I grabbed the ice cream and walked off, they had said I could exchange it for something else. Here's the thing, though. One – we had Dairy Queen again this weekend, ate real strawberry ice cream, and she realized that I was 100% correct. Secondly, I learned through my roommate that employees need to pay for the ice cream themselves if they screw up. No wonder she was defending it so strongly. Remember this, while in the U.S., the customer always comes first - that is not the case in the China. Beware.

Until next time, enjoy.

-Jeff