Missing Macanese Money

Aloha Earthlings,

I have sat down to write this blog entry three times now. I really hope I get through it this time... I’m not sure what to write anymore. The ‘strangeness’ of my life isn’t strange anymore. I have to think about is interesting, when it used to be painfully obvious. Life as I know it involves eating pig spine, dealing with typhoons, flirting in Cantonese, and putting on long sleeve shirts in 70 degree weather (SO COLD!). Okay... that does sound weird. They tell me the seasons are changing but I don’t believe it. We have gone from really hot and muggy to really hot and muggy with more clouds, whoopty-doo.

I have kept busy since we last chatted. The big headlines would read; New Apartment Old Building!. . . New Stickers for a New Semester . . . and maybe Foreign Man Eats Macau!

My new apartment is REALLY nice, all modern looking and clean… on the inside. The outside looks like an 18th century Haitian prison, but whatever, the actual apartment is awesome. The apartment is closer to school too. It only takes about 3 Michael Jackson songs (2 if ballads) on the IPod or a coke and bag of chips to get there.

I also got a shipment of literally THOUSANDS of stickers. THOUSANDS, I have an entire sticker drawer packed to the brim with American stickers. Without which I would be run out of school. My kindergarten kids are now finding it absolutely hilarious to play cover the teacher in stickers. Now when I come home it is normal to find a couple of stickers still stuck to my butt (thanks Aunt Chris!). Ha, school is still a treat. The new semester has begun and with it new names. New names given include Riley, William, Lynn, Ann, Brent and others. I actually work at two different schools for TPR and on weekends I take a motorcycle taxi to the other building. Really I take motorcycle taxis everywhere along with everyone else in China. Let me give some information on this all important means of travel.

“Throughout China motorcycle taxis are one of the most popular means of transportation. They are super cheap, fast, and extremely unsafe. After a little bartering you can travel around 3 miles for about 5 kwai (75 cents US). Always negotiate a price before you leave! If you don't speak Chinese come prepared with written Chinese instructions. Every taxi driver will give you a cheap little plastic baseball hat for a helmet, although wearing the decoration is solely up to you. When riding along keep valuables in zippered pockets and hands firmly clenched to the handles. I recommend trying to keep your eyes open for this adventure but riding in the opposite lane while your driver text messages his girlfriend may be a little shocking at first. Don't worry you did put on your plastic hat right? At the end of your trip pay the driver, thank God, and promise to be a better person. After the first trip if you are unphased and not on the way to the hospital I'd recommend it as a great way to travel. Go ahead cheat death a little more, it's fun! Pretty soon you'll be riding moto-taxis everyday and texting your girlfriend while staring down oncoming traffic too.”

I actually wrote that garble for some website looking for “insider information” about life in China. Motorcycle taxis aren’t nearly that thrilling so I sizzled it up for them. I wouldn’t normally include that in the blog but I’ve really struggled to finish this particular entry so it’s just something extra to chew on.

Okay let’s wrap this up strong with some stories about my trip to Macau. Macau is China but not China. The same way Hong Kong is China but not China. Macau is really tiny, think Cedar Point size only a little bigger.

The city is considered the gambling capital of the far east. American casinos are all over the place such as The Wynn, The MGM Grand, The Sands, and The Venetian. Of course the first day I had to go to the Venetian and try my luck on the slot machines.

I decided I could waste 100 Hong Kong dollars without a problem. I put my 100 dollar note in what I believed to be the 1 dollar slot machine. I figure I can play for awhile here. I stared for a moment at this slot machine wondering what to do. The machine was in Chinese and English but I have no clue what I’m doing. Lines? What are lines again? And how many should I play? And what button should I push?? To top it all off the machine doesn’t even have one of those cool arm lever things to pull. I push one button. Nothing happens. I push another button. Nothing. I push a third button. The slots are spinning!! Come on baby!! I’m feeling HOT tonight… The slots stop. Nothing happens. No bells or whistles... just a big fat zero starring me in the face where all my money should be. I lost everything. I don’t know what I did but somehow in a single spin I had wagered it all and lost. I truly hate gambling.

The rest of the day I spent wandering around the city getting fat on the local food out of sheer boredom. Turns out besides gambling there isn’t a lot to do in Macau. I did however go to the top of one of the tallest towers in the world. The world’s highest platform bungee jump is off this tower. I was tempted to jump… but that is one safety lesson in Cantonese I don’t want to ignorantly nod my way through.

While in Macau I also met an American professional poker player who makes his living gambling. Watching him casually throw around thousands of dollars blew my mind a little bit. He was very cool to let me sit in at his table watch him play for a couple hours, always showing me his cards as he played. He was VERY good. He said he could pick out who was good at the table and would basically avoid them and just take money from the rich tourists, and it showed.

Macau was a nice treat, a little RnR before this current semester started. I am now knee deep in classes and will start more classes next week. I do have another holiday the 1st of October but I’m not sure where I want to go yet, any suggestions?

Okay I’m spent. Anything you want me to write about? Tell me. Have the best week ever, Zai Jain!

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Part of trip: Life in China

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