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September 15th 2009
Published: September 15th 2009
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GANGSTAGANGSTAGANGSTA

In Yangshuo, sportin some l337 shades.
Hi. So yeah, my laptop basically didn't have internet access the entire time I was in Yangshuo so I could update about anything I was doing or anything. So needless to say i've forgotten a lot of junk. Oh well.

Took the train to Guilin and I had so much freaking garbage it was quite annoying. Luckily some of my friends brought me to the train station and they were allowed to at least help me bring my junk on board. I could have done it by myself, but it would have been annoying. So as I said previously the Changsha airport so kindly broke the wheel on my suitcase. So I went and bought a new suitcase for real cheap. The suitcase is slightly bigger which makes it easier to fit my stuff in there more comfortably. So the suitcase was too heavy to put in the racks so I just left it in the aisle the entire way. I called Buckland and made them send a driver to get me so I didn't have to take the bus all the way there with all my garbage. So I got there and hung out for awhile and met a
Child with ShellsChild with ShellsChild with Shells

A small boy playing with some shells. Probably just stealing them.
few of the new peoples.

Of course......I had a roommate. He was a strange guy. His name was Liam from Ireland. But he didn't really have an Irish accent. He was about the same age as me, and last year he was in Japan teaching English. But he was such a tourist. Always had his big camera yelling OH WOW LOOK AT THIS! Over so much. It was funny, he was so easily amused. So I just hung around and helped the new teachers with training and bummed around. I was half expecting to leave after 2 days or so for my school so I was trying not to get too comfortable.

I was fairly certain I needed another medical check since i'm on another year contract and you need one every year. No one ever told me anything, so I had to go figure out when the group was going so I could go too. I go to the office and i'm like "Yo no one ever talks to me, do I need a medical check?" "oh yeah you need to do that. But everyone left an hour ago. So you should go tomorrow by yourself." ummmm
Lonely dudeLonely dudeLonely dude

This lonely guy just looking at the scenery in Yangshuo
what? YOu want me to go to try to get a medical check by myself? In Guilin, which i've never really walked around there, I have no idea where i'm going, I have no idea how to tell these people what I need. Like typical Chinese they say "It's easy, it's no problem" umm yeah, it's easy for you, you can speak the language! Idiots. So I wake up the next day to go then I realize wait.......if I just get an F visa rather than a Z visa I don't need the medical check. So I ask "Yo can I just get two F visas rather than get the medical check?" "of course." Well thanks for letting me do all the work for myself. WTF am I even here for when I apparently know more than these people? Sigh. So I don't go.

A week later, Owen tells me I need to get a medical check anyway b/c they want to get me the residence permit. Dangit! Luckily there was a new teacher there (All the other teachers have left at this point) and he needed one too. So sweet, i'll just drag this guy with me so
Mountain and moonMountain and moonMountain and moon

Typical night in Yangshuo. Beautiful mountains and a beautiful moon.
it's not so horrible. So we wake up at 7am and take the bus and manage to get there. When we get there the counter woman tells us to gtfo, they have too many people there so they aren't going to do it for us. Uhh what? it's 9:30am....we call the office and then they say "just wait, Owen is there, he'll come help you." wtf. So Owen just randomly was in Guilin at the same time as us and he made us take the bus rather than giving us a ride. What a jerk. Anyway he showed up and started his hussle. Then he was like "Yeah they're not gonna do it, come back tomorrow at 8am." Jesus. So we pay and fill out the forms and go all the way home. Wasting a day, wasting our time, and wasting our money since we didn't even do anything, we just paid them for no reason. Great. So the next day we catch a bus at 6:30am and get there. We're the first people there and we go through the motions. One test the dude was on vacation or something and they were like "Come back next week to finish"
PING PONG!PING PONG!PING PONG!

Yes this is very normal. After class ping pong doubles competition. Everyone gathers to compete and relax.
umm no. The other teacher I was with was leaving that day right after the medical (Yeah another new teacher that left before me). So we call Owen and he's like "just leave, it doesn't matter, the blood test is the only thing that's really important." Apparently AIDS is important and falling over dead to cancer isn't important. Who knows. It's China, it just meant I could leave faster. So we went home.

Staying in Yangshou was boring as usual. When the kids are in school there's seriously nothing to do. I spent my time just standing around doing nothing and getting in the way. But I quickly became very popular in Owen College with the students, which is normal for me. But then I also became very popular with the students in the college next door. So anywhere I went there was people I know. Other people can never understand how I know so many people. It's because I network like crazy and I don't waste time talking to foreigners. Foreigners are boring, i've talked to them my whole life. I've met a lot of good friends and junk. But of course, it's always pointless to do this
Chicken transportChicken transportChicken transport

I bought the one waaaay in the back.
in Yangshuo because everyone is there temporarily. The students will all be gone by the time I go back there so I feel bad that I have so many good friends that i'll more than likely never see again. But oh well. You never know what'll happen in the future.

After a few days I went to Ping (the new girl in charge of teachers) and was like "ok whats up with my school?" So she gave me some random school and I was like "uhh what happened to Huaihua?" "Oh! They already have a teacher! It says right here!" ........wow wtf thanks, they DIDN"T have a teach, you gave them one and completely ignored my preference. So wtfever I was disappointed but at the same time I knew it would happen. So she handed me a school in Qiyang, Hunan. So I looked it over and told her it looked ok. Seriously about an hour later she gave that school to Liam. Ummm what? Ok whatever. So I pick a new school in Yongzhou. Tell her it's ok. Then things got weird.

So my school from last year in Shaoyang called me. "Oh hi, our head master
Lonely BikeLonely BikeLonely Bike

I left this bike here last year and no one stole it. China is safe.
just told us we're able to hire another foreign teacher for this year, so do you want the job?" .....wow I was happy and excited at the possibility of returning to my old school. I would love to go back there. So I ask for some basic information etc etc. Then i'm like oh crap, I have a contract with Buckland. So my plan was go to talk to Owen (the boss) and see if we can cut a deal. So he calls the school up and tries to get them to sign up with Buckland and get a nice discount for them and junk. So i'm waiting for my Shaoyang school to call back while I have this Yongzhou school waiting for me. It's not like I was holding them up, school didn't start at this point so it's not a big deal. A few days go by with no contact. So I get annoyed and call my school asking what's going on. "oh Buckland is too expensive, so we just want to go with you." Ugh. Hassle. SO I get them to agree to pay for my contract release fee if I break contract with Buckland. This is
RiverRiverRiver

Beautiful part of the river out in the country
something I don't wanna do b/c it ruins my relationship with Owen which I have a good one and if something ever went wrong I wouldn't really be able to go back to Buckland for a job. So i'd be screwed, so this is something I really don't wanna do but will do if I end up not being happy. So I talk to Owen again. After suggesting I go to Shanxi province i'm just like ugh it's too cold there, I won't be happy. No problem. There's another school in Guizhou that the teacher there just bolted and refuses to go back...............that doesn't sound promising. I want to go Hunan. I don't want to go to poor and minority filled Guizhou. After talking some more Owen sighs and is like "Ok this is what i'll do. You've shown your loyalty to us, so i'll sign off on releasing you from your contract so you have no penalty. And if there's ever a problem with anything you are welcome to come back." Wow am I really hearing this? This is great! I'm so excited to get to go back to my old school. But at the same time I really
River BathRiver BathRiver Bath

This is so popular. You always see people washing clothes and taking bathes in the river.
wanna weigh my options to make sure this is really what I wanna do.

So the next day I call my school and give them the good news and then we talk salary. She says it's a standard contract..........that's great but what do you consider standard? She says the salary is 4k per month. 4k per month. That is a lot less than I made last year at the same school. I'm like ummm no, you gave me more than that last year, I'm not gonna go back there for less money than before. Apparently she couldn't understand that although they paid Buckland and Buckland paid me, they were still in turn paying me with the money they gave Buckland. So they were refusing to give me more than 4k per month. SO I just said......ok good luck. And hung up. It's insulting and disrespectful to call a teacher after i've already turned them down at the end of last year, and offer me a deal and then offer me less money than last year. Granted I could easily survive on that amount per month, it's the principle of the thing. So I told Owen i'm staying and he was happy. So I said I didn't want to go to Guizhou. So I was expecting to just go to Yongzhou which is fine. Well, then I go outside and find out that another couple was just given my school. Amazing. So I chose 3 schools and they gave all 3 of those schools away to other people. Thanks.

The couple left for Yongzhou and 2 days later they came back. Apparently, the farmers are revolting against the school or something and they cut off the water to the school. So the school just postponed school and all the students went home and junk until the situation is resolved. So this couple isn't going back. So I was told I can go there. Sweet. Granted it's a horrible situation at least I can be in Hunan. So I wait for the opportunity to go. Then I get word that they might not stay a Buckland school for some reason or another. I really have no idea what happened to that school. Owen was gone at this point to visit some other schools so I couldn't talk to him. Ping showed up (Rare occasion as she always just stays at
Bridge and swimming areaBridge and swimming areaBridge and swimming area

Other side of the river.
home and does who knows what because she certainly has been horrible at helping the foreign teachers) so I go talk to her. She offers me this Guizhou school again. I say no that I want to wait for this school where I actually want to go. She tries to persuade me to go to Guizhou and i'm just like no I don't want to go there. I want to go somewhere I am excited to go. I have been a teacher with Buckland for one year and I decided to return. I told you what school I wanted to go to, and you gave it away. I even told you what province I wanted to go to, and you gave all the schools away. Rather than dealing with me easily immediately, you ignored me and didn't give me any schools until they were all gone and now i'm left with the scrub schools. She tried to say that we were waiting for what happened with my old school in Shaoyang. I said it never should have even gotten to that point. The reason I considered going back was because she has screwed up in assigning me the schools that
Water Buffalo womanWater Buffalo womanWater Buffalo woman

This woman attacked Liam after this photo. He had to pay her money, only like 2yuan but still. I would have punched her.
I wanted to go to. When they called me, I should have just immediately been able to say "i'm sorry, I have a assignment already" and instead since I had no prospects that I liked, I was able to consider going back to somewhere that I wanted to go. She couldn't seem to understand that the reason I was in this situation was because they completely failed to take care of me and even think about where I was going. They were too busy messing with the new teachers which is fine. But the old teachers know what's going on, you can deal with them quickly in an hour and send them where they want to go. It doesn't make any sense to take care of the new people first and leave the veterans waiting on the sidelines missing out on the places they want to go. She couldn't understand this. So I was just like forget it and I left. Stupid incompetent new workers.

So a few days of waiting some more and Owen came up to me with interesting news. Apparently the school in Xinshao (right next to Shaoyang about 10 minutes away) had a new foreign
FarmingFarmingFarming

Woman farming her rice fields.
teacher. They said the dude got there and spent the entire night crying and the talking on the phone with his mommy crying. Then they said the next day he left and went back home. So now they need a teacher. I was excited. I could go back to Shaoyang! After all this waiting! Wooo! Owen told me they were still waiting for them to sign the contract, then I could leave, or I could leave tomorrow to go to Guizhou. Umm no, i'll wait. So I wait 2 more days or so then I am called to Owen. He was like "Listen, we don't know what is happening with Xinshao, they really HATE the Buckland representative (Donald) and they don't want to talk to him." Oh great. So Owen then threw 2k RMB on the table and was just like you're going to Guizhou, go buy a ticket..............insert mass expletives.

Anyway, so stay tuned for part 2 which i'll write in a few days. I'm really busy here now so i'm trying to keep things chronological and this is the first chance i've had to really update this thing right. So here are some pictures of my time
Mountain backdropMountain backdropMountain backdrop

The whole area looks like this. It's cool.
in Yangshuo. Some are really gruesome and sad, but I think they're important for showing cultural differences. I should also note that these are NOT MY PHOTOS. Liam took these photos and since I was with him the whole time I don't feel bad about leeching them.

There are a lot of photos, so if you want to see them all make sure you click to go to page 2 as well!


Additional photos below
Photos: 35, Displayed: 33


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Morning exercisesMorning exercises
Morning exercises

Students doing exercise at Xi Jie College in Yangshuo
CowsCows
Cows

mmmm delicious.
Lilly padsLilly pads
Lilly pads

Next to some dudes house.
Worlds first wheelWorlds first wheel
Worlds first wheel

I learned what this was for but I can't remember now. Seems like there's probably a better way to do whatever this does.
Me and studentsMe and students
Me and students

Students from Xi Jie. These are like 15 year old students who only study English rather than going to normal middle school. Their English still sucks.
More of YangshuoMore of Yangshuo
More of Yangshuo

Are you bored with these kind of pictures yet? This is why i'm always so bored in Yangshuo.


15th September 2009

Hi guy
I'm happy to know you're OK. I like your silly blog. It's easy to tell that you're Andy. I'm pleased. The pictures were awesome. uh huh !
16th September 2009

Hey, on the bright side, at least you're going to be in the place where they distill China's "most famous alcoholic beverage." So if the place pisses you off too much you can just get tanked.
17th September 2009

Pictures
Wow, your buddy is a pretty good photographer, some of those photos look magazine quality. Those dog heads are... gruesome. Interesting. Good luck in your new school ^_~
21st September 2009

Table Tennis
Andy, good for you that I "schooled" you in table tennis, or ping pong if you prefer, while you were home, so you can compete with the locals! I hope you have perfected your "poke" technique (and no, that's not dirty for any of you other readers, it's one of Andy's ping pong skills). Enjoy and be happy. FREE THE DOGS!!!!!

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