http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Dongbei/Dalian/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Asia , China , Dongbei , Dalian en-us Mon, 08 Sep 2008 10:15:25 BST Mon, 08 Sep 2008 10:15:25 BST I just went to buy a printer for the computer. It's 75 for an HP printer scanner and copier all in one and I'll be able to use it here and in the US. Right now I need to do a lot of printing and copying for the visa so it's important for now. If I copy and or print up to 500 things then I've already paid for the price of the printer so it's worth it. Anyways I was at the shop buying it with http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Dongbei/Dalian/blog-175781.html Ok. So since Cam and I are engaged to get married I've decided to drop the idea of not talking about him on this blog. It's impossible. I live with the man almost every cultural issue I have is with the man or his friends he's my life. If you don't want me to talk about my life then I can not talk about him otherwise it's not going to work.Anyways a lot's been going on over here recently. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Dongbei/Dalian/blog-175699.html On our way out of the apartment Wesley and I noticed some branches outside of our neighbors' front door. I asked Wes if he knew what they were for but was met with only a blank stare. I'm not one to be overly superstitious but I got a little worried. These branches somehow reminded me of the Biblical story about the passover. Either we put some mystical markings outside our house or evil spirits http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Dongbei/Dalian/blog-171372.html More tidbits about Dalian a peninsula city city with the most number of roundabouts in China 50 population of about 6 million with 2.9m in the metropolitan area size of about 30x Singapore. Today was my last day in China. We went to ShinHai Park literally translated Star Sea Park a popular park with the locals. It used to be a garbage dump but you wouldn't even know unless someone to http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Dongbei/Dalian/blog-170906.html By this time I think I've tried all variation of Ce Suo washroomrestroom along the various roads highways and attractions. They range from behind a bush a hole in the ground with 4 walls a sliding channel lined with heavy plastic with 4 walls a bigger room with a gutter separated by walls turkish squat toilet and all the way to 5 selfflushing urinals with soap dispensers and runnin http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Dongbei/Dalian/blog-170507.html So I've been going through a bunch of tests in the past couple days.First of all I took a Chinese test this morning. It was a bit rough There were two parts of this test the first part was listening and the second part reading. The listening wasn't too bad. I know I made a couple mistakes one I chose the wrong answer and it kept going before I could change it two I didn't write one of the http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Dongbei/Dalian/blog-170275.html Having a bit of trouble with everything at school and home. First of all no one seems to understand my relationship with Cam. Everyone thinks we're having an awful relationship and doesn't know why I'm in it. Just to let you know first of all I'm not masochistic and from past experience ya'll should know that I've stuck to relationships that I benefit from not ones that harm me. Yes Cam and I http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Dongbei/Dalian/blog-167897.html Lately I have been getting more and more frustrated with the Chinese way of doing things. They do some things that absolutely don't make any sense to me. Today for example the security man who works for the school Jason walked into the foreign teacher's office and turned on the flourescent lights which we never use instead of the halogens that we always use. He told Yuki one of the stu http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Dongbei/Dalian/blog-159986.html Spring Field Trip Big Black MountainnbspAsia raquonbspChina raquonbspDongbei raquonbspDalian By southernsoulApril 27th 2007MichaelWesley and I participated in our university's semester field trip to the Big Black Mountain. Most of our classmates came along with the exception of Zhong Dao and Zeng Jun Rong. The weather was perfect and the climb was absolutely awsome. We didn't get to http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Dongbei/Dalian/blog-159741.html The weather was gorgeous outside so I spent the whole day trekking along the famed Bing Hai Lu. I started out at Ying Bing Lu and eventually made my way to Tiger Beach. The following are some snapshots of my hike. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Dongbei/Dalian/blog-159629.html My trip started suddenly and unfortunately ended just as quickly. It was just like that I decided one day last week that I was going to spend my Labor Day week off at a quiet little getaway just 3 hours north of Dalian called Bing Yu Gou. Hailed as the Little Guilin of the north this gem of a place only has a brief history of about 20 years. Discovered back in the late 80's Bing Yu Gou is j http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Dongbei/Dalian/blog-159592.html Just moved into a new place and some people are asking me about the layout and what it looks like. I've termed it a palace because it's 120 square meters I'm pretty sure they're square meters up on the 17th floor. It has two big windows on either side one looks out onto the apartment complex that I live in and the mall that Cam works at and towards the sea. The other side looks out towards O http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Dongbei/Dalian/blog-155042.html I think I finally know what it's like to be the husband coming home from a long day at work. You just worked 13 hours and all you want to do is pass out. You don't really want to talk to anyone don't really want to do anything just want to rest. But the only problem is everything around you is not at rest it's still moving. So you still have to deal with the noises of your wife and your lit http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Dongbei/Dalian/blog-151756.html Route to Dalian and Back After Vietnam I took a series of flights through Bangkok and Shanghai to Dalian China. This coastal city of 1.5 million is in North Eastern China close to North Korea. There I stayed at a university and helped conduct research on the same type of device for which I received my graduate degree. I had arranged to be there for one month. Most of the time I was busy working http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Dongbei/Dalian/blog-151033.html You are a man who owns many cats at home. I was a tiger you found in the wild. The moment you saw me you looked and thought to yourself ldquoaah such a beautiful creature but itrsquos a tiger and all I have are cats.rdquo But then after some examination you discovered I had some of the same features as a cat and you decided to take me in and try to tame me to become a cat. But alas in http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Dongbei/Dalian/blog-146653.html I'm back after a business trip to China. 5 hours to Shanghai then an internal flight from Shanghai to Dalian. Stayed at the ShangriLa and our gracious hosts made sure we were well taken care of from providing cars and chauffeurs to taking us for fantastic lunches and dinners. Oh yes and of course there was the business part of it too Good trip more on it later. For now am going to sta http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Dongbei/Dalian/blog-146590.html There was a handsome little boy who lived in a town. Every now and then he would go out into the woods to have a picnic. But every time he went out he came back screaming Tiger Tiger The first time he did it the townspeople got really scared and started running trying to get to safety. But the tiger never came. After that when the boy came running back screaming Tiger Tiger the town http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Dongbei/Dalian/blog-146237.html So it's finally happened. I didn't know it would happen this fast but I'm finally starting to get old. I slept 9 hours last night and again fell asleep the entire bus ride from my school to my work. For some reason I always seem to be tired no matter how much sleep I get. Also I'm getting lovehandles Darby with lovehandles can you imagine I mean really I never thought it would happen. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Dongbei/Dalian/blog-142055.html I am really on the internet too long. About 7 or 8 in the evening I finally made myself leave my apartment and go somewhere. I put on my tennis shoes grabbed my Ipod and bounced out of the door and down my concrete stairway. I passed a couple of children playing a game of badmitton with two rackets and a bird. I passed the fruit vendors the tanned meat fryers the dvd salesmen and several hung http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Dongbei/Dalian/blog-141503.html I believe that after three classes of teaching english to children I can classify myself as an English Teacher. A big title. It comes with a lot of responsibility. I am responsible for the future of these children. Their lives depend on my ability. Well I wouldnrsquot carry it that far. I think my first day is worth mentioning though. I got up very early for me in the morning because I was d http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Dongbei/Dalian/blog-140899.html Saturday March 17 brought celebration among even the smallest communities in the world. Why do we celebrate St. Patrickrsquos Day To stomp on the spirit of a man whom quoted from a native Irish man ldquosoaked all the fun out of Irelandrdquo. A man who spent his life converting Pagans to Catholicism making it the major religion in Ireland today. A man whom hated alcohol hated parties http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Dongbei/Dalian/blog-140890.html So I really need help with this problem. Cam's aunt decided that we were close enough that she could request something from me through Cam. So Cam asked me to get it and I said I would try. Unfortunately this item that was requested does not exist. She is looking for a sweatshirt preferrably wool made in the US that says made in the US. Unless I get someone to make a sweatshirt for me I a http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Dongbei/Dalian/blog-139828.html Haven't really been blogging lately. Don't really know what to write about. Can't write about Cam any more and don't really have a great feeling about writing about what I do every day all day long teaching and studying. Not really much of a change. Someone kind of said it once a long time ago when I was blogging my blog isn't a travel blog and that's what the site's for. I live here and h http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Dongbei/Dalian/blog-139076.html So yesterday I taught my English Corner on periods sex and pregnancy to women only. A bunch of people were worried about the topic beforehand. A couple people said that it wouldn't go well and people would end up walking out because they got frightened. Others were making fun of me for the topic and not being helpful when it came time to ask them questions about it. But when I got in the clas http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Dongbei/Dalian/blog-127468.html There are a couple things that I currently do not know how to say in English. If you know how to say these things please let me know. First is something the Chinese call ma la. La means spicy so it is a type of spicy. But instead of being hot spicy this is a type of spicy that makes your mouth numb. Second is what the Chinese call bai ming nian literally white next year which makes http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Dongbei/Dalian/blog-125443.html Visited Countries MapGareth and I were just talking about the fact that China is officially the English sucker of the universe. For some reason the longer you are here the more you lose of your mother tongue. For us this means that when we go home we can no longer speak true English. Last time I went back to the US my father said wait a couple weeks and she'll be able to speak English. We lo http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Dongbei/Dalian/blog-123887.html I've always been the type to wear a serious face. It doesn't mean I'm not happy on the inside. I'm the type that when I smile you know everything's fing perfect. If I have to create a fake smile I can try but I don't know how long I'll be able to keep wearing it. You don't want me to touch you I can try that too but it may kill my estrogen. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Dongbei/Dalian/blog-123541.html This is a really hard country for a straightforward person. Because no one can live here being straightforward. When I was working for Rockies Cat and Russell used to talk about the fake smile that made their mouth hurt to wear all day long. I'm not a big huge smile person. Never have been. When I started working for Rockies Joan used to tell me I scared my students by not smiling. I never http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Dongbei/Dalian/blog-123538.html Just had a great class. It's the look like a foreigner to attract customers class We get to do demonstration classes every now and again where we have to stand up and give a lecture on the school and the teaching style as well as who we are and where we are from. It's fun because we have to go around to all the tables afterwards and we often times get one student monopolizing our time at any http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Dongbei/Dalian/blog-122912.html Last night when I got off work I had to get my stuff in order to quickly go over to Peace Plaza and meet Hui to teach her for a little while. When I left the building it was raining but when I arrived at Peace Plaza it was snowing very slightly. I had to use my umbrella to stay dry. After talking with her for a bit she let Cam Eason and I go home together. Cam decided to walk home since it wa http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Dongbei/Dalian/blog-122654.html