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Published: February 27th 2006
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This is from Left to Right: Cat, Lucy, Rosemary, and Helen all at my new place for the house warming. Well, it snowed here on Saturday and as that was the day that I was moving out it was quite a big thing. Fortunately about six people came over Friday night to move most of my things so I only really had my sheets and a towel (not too heavy). Dalian is absolutely crazy here in the snow! They don't put any salt down on the roads but people still go out so everyone is taking a taxi. Taxis are absolutely insane. My Saturday classes were my last classes of this semester (which started when I got here in August) as well as the ones that started in January. So there wasn't really too much to teach - I didn't do a single lesson plan for the whole weekend (which was really nice). After classes on Saturday Merry came down to try and help me find a taxi - we asked MANY people - taxis were either full or not taking any people. She finally convinced a woman (who was not a taxi driver at all) to take me but I really wasn't comfortable about it. I ended up walking to my new place - which is probably a good 3/4 mile. It wasn't too bad of a walk and like I said most of my things were pretty light but the snow! Not only do they not have salt on the roads but the sidewalks are a mess! I'd say a good quarter of all sidewalks here are made of indoor tile - which means that when there's snow they are slicker than anything I've ever walked on (forget trying to carry 4 bags and do the walk). It was amazing I got home alive but I finally did it. Then I immediately grabbed my things for the gym and went over to work out for a little bit and get my hair done. Alex has been teaching Yenson how to straighten hair and it finally really looked nice.
That night I had a really nice surprise. Craig insisted that Cat and I were EXTREMELY punctual for meeting one of his many possible girlfriends (he's kind of become a little player here and Michael warns me that there are many older men here like him who come here for the Asian girls - and many girls who are looking for a foreign guy to get them into the foreign country). Cat and I were a bit skeptical as it's not normally that important to be punctual to a bar. Anyways, we showed up and the girl never did. So Kelvin, Craig, Cat and I just sat around and talked for a little bit. Kelvin really seems like a great guy - I really enjoy talking with him. He's another "hua ren" like Cat (which means that he's Chinese but born in another country - in this case Canada). After a little bit Laura and Duncan showed up with a bunch of new people. We finished our beers and went into the other room to hang out with everyone. I got introduced to the first sane hispanic I've met here. (I met another Hispanic who was an Argentinian but he was absolutely nuts and I think taking something so I didn't really care to hang out with him.) The guy I met is Markel and he's from Bilbao, Spain. We talked in English for a little while and then realized that we could both speak Spanish so got started talking in Spanish. Markel is a photographer in a program here for photography. He's here with a couple of other people from England (where he lived for a little while) and they are taking the program with a bunch of Chinese people. Some of the Chinese people know English but some don't. Now mind you I had about 3 hours of sleep the night before, had been teaching the whole day and had already had two or three beers so I wasn't drunk but I was a bit tired. For the next hour (at least) I was translating from Chinese to Spanish (and every now and then to English). It was absolutely nuts! I've never tried translating like that before in my life. I've done translating but it's always been from something to my native tongue - not to another one of my languages. I can tell you doing it for the first time when you're already tired is quite an experience. I kept saying "bu" (no) and "ta" (he) when I was speaking Spanish. Mind you I also haven't spoken Spanish in a little while but I can still understand everything I used to be able to (my speaking has just decreased a little bit). I would say something like "Cuantos anos (sorry no accent marks on this computer) tiene?" (How old is he?) and he would ask me "Quien?" (Who) and I would answer "Ta" (He). Or something equally crazy. I really love having another hispanic around, I've really missed it (and I think he has too). We've been texting each other back and forth and it's really awesome. I think he could become a pretty cool friend.
That night was the first night I slept in my new apartment - it's absolutely huge (much bigger than my old one) and looks out onto a pretty big road so there's a nice light and feeling at night. Next day was Sunday and I had to teach a whole day of classes (again my last classes for the semester which I didn't do any planning for). The kids had a lot of fun and so did I. I had a big party scheduled for Sunday night so the whole day I was trying to prepare everything. Sent a bunch of text messages out and finally got the word out. I went out to dinner with Kelvin, Stone, Lucy and a couple of other people from work and then I met Tony, Merry, Milly and Bill, and Wendy back at the school. We took a huge taxi line to my new house (as no one else besides Stone and I knew how to get there). It's a pretty easy place to get to but it's a little complicated to explain. I gave my key to Merry to let everyone in the place and then immediately after getting there I had to run to Peace Plaza and pick up Angie, Allen and Helen. We then all went back to my new house. Russell was there and everyone was sitting around watching TV. Cat and Shina arrived with the food a little while later as did Craig and then Russell went out to buy some cards. We all sat around listening to music and playing spoons (which can be an absolutely insane game). It got a little bit intense but everyone had a lot of fun with it. After a while everyone started leaving (just as Camillo arrived - typical for him as he works so late). Stone and I went to pick up Camillo from the Guan Dong restaurant just around the corner and Camillo was acting a bit jealous of Stone (although I'm not really sure if he was or not). Camillo mentioned very briefly that he wanted to go to KTV but didn't really tell me why. Stone had to leave to go back to his place so Camillo and I came up and played some drinking games with Kelvin. Kelvin and Camillo hung out and chatted in Cantonese for a little bit and then Camillo told me that a bunch of people from the Salon were at KTV and convinced Cat, Kelvin and I to go over there for a little bit. As I might have mentioned earlier I'm not too huge of a KTV fan but when Camillo and the Salon boys go I don't mind it so much. When the girls go from school they simply sit around and watch each other sing but when the Salon boys go they don't do that - they go and drink and play games and hang out. It's much more pleasant. So I had a bunch of fun and then we all decided to leave. Then I went home and Russell and I talked for a little bit and I unpacked a little bit before I finally went to bed. Unfortunately Merry had taken my keys home so I didn't have any but I borrowed Russell's to go to KTV.
This morning Kelvin and I met to have breakfast and get my keys back from Merry but she never came and we ended up having to go over to Victory Square without them. I went bowling with a bunch of the gang and showed Kelvin around a little bit. It was great fun but I'll have to talk about it next time!
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