Blogs from Dalian, Dongbei, China, Asia - page 8

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Asia » China » Dongbei » Dalian July 10th 2006

It rains, the hairdresser´s is empty. There´s a bomb, the flag business skyrockets. And all the kids are out for summer, the teachers out of a job for a few months. It´s funny how some things that may seem so random can affect jobs so profusely. "You don´t seem to have much work today" I commented to Camillo who for the first time in a long while had taken a break to have lunch with Cat and I. "Of course, it's raining." he paused "If you want to do your hair today you get it done and go outside and ruin it." It's a nice meal after our World Cup sleepover. Last night Cat got her hair done and even though I was a bit upset with Camillo I went over and chilled with them anyways. ... read more

Asia » China » Dongbei » Dalian July 8th 2006

I'm sitting here next to Shina and Russell. Shina's cutting Russell's nails. We're all on the couch watching Taken (an American TV Miniseries). It's a really awesome show. And the nails just seem to add to the crazy affect of the whole thing. Everyone here is in some sort of couple. Craig has a Chinese girl (not yet girlfriend but really close), and Cat has an African-American boyfriend. There was a promise made to me. He practically screamed it at me. I asked him at least 8 times whether or not he could cut Cat's hair this Friday or Saturday. He said yes every time. "Yes! Of course I can. Not a problem." Tonight I called them at like 7:30pm. Camillo didn't answer his phone. I called the Salon and Hui told me that Camillo was ... read more

Asia » China » Dongbei » Dalian July 6th 2006

Well Camillo and I finally did what needed to be done. We "kissed" and made up (or at least as much as Camillo kisses - which is not). On Tuesday I went over to the Salon after going to the gym. Michael did my hair, Kast asked me where I'd been (he thought I'd gone somewhere since he hadn't seen me in a few days) and Camillo asked me to come over after my class so I went and taught Lucy, had dinner and then came back to see him. After a while I finally got him alone. "What were you trying to ask me today?" I had called around 2pm and asked him if he wanted me to help him or not - if he said no or I don't know then I wasn't going ... read more

Asia » China » Dongbei » Dalian July 4th 2006

Chinese people have a thing about cushions. The number of cushions on a couch is equal to the number of people that should sit on that couch. Hence if there are two cushions there should be two people - no matter how big the couch is. My couch can very comfortably fit three people but Shina insists that only two people sit on it. Tonight the three of us had dinner together - Russell, Shina and myself. Shina made Russell sit on a stool instead of letting him sit on the big huge couch because she insisted it would be too crowded. I'm not sure I really understand it. It also used to be the same with the couch at the Salon and the couch in Camillo's house. Although with the couch in Camillo's house there's ... read more

Asia » China » Dongbei » Dalian July 1st 2006

Reading anything tends to suck me into it. Whether it be a good book or a magazine or a good newspaper article (although I find there aren't too many of the last one in existence). I always get sucked in. This happened to me once again as I was sitting in the coffee shop across the street from our school on Thursday night reading The Advocate, a gay and lesbian newsmagazine I had bought in the US recently. I read for quite a long time and by the time I looked up and stopped I almost went through culture shock again getting used to the idea that I was in China. I spent quite some time thinking to myself how nice it would be to have a Gay Pride Day in China and would it ever ... read more

Asia » China » Dongbei » Dalian June 27th 2006

There are those days when I don't want to be here. In this country. This is a very difficult country for me and always has been. Part of me wants to stay simply for the challenge. Part of me wants to stay for the children. I have a huge attachment to most of my kids. Then there's Camillo. But one can't logically cling to one person for that long. And I know that it's just difficult for me to stay away from him sometimes. Part of me loves the language. As always, there's a lot of me that's attached to languages. But there's the other part that struggles. Sometimes this part of me is stronger than other days but it never seems to leave. I've written of it before. How it has been there no matter ... read more

Asia » China » Dongbei » Dalian June 26th 2006

I'm losing some of my motivation. It's interesting at least I can see and understand it instead of just losing it and not knowing why. I'm not losing it in everything just two main things that I've had a hard time getting motivation to do in the first place. The first of these is Chinese characters. Learning Chinese characters is a real bitch for me. After all it has nothing to do with what I'm good at. I'm good at listening and speaking and memorizing something for a short time before my ear and my mouth catch up with my brain. After that I still pretty much suck at memorization. And unfortunately that's all that learning characters is - memorization. It has nothing to do with how we speak or listen to Chinese, after all it's ... read more

Asia » China » Dongbei » Dalian June 24th 2006

Today I worked my bum off as usual. From 9am-5:15pm I had class. Then after class I went over to Peace Plaza. The place was an absolute mad house. No joke. I have never seen that many people in there. I went up to the fourth floor as usual and began walking over to the Salon when I noticed the balcony that looks down onto the first floor next to the Salon was completely jam packed with people. There was no more space at all for people to stand and look down. Dennis was walking towards me and I looked at him "What in the world is going on?" He didn't know but I asked one of the other people in the Salon and he told me that there was some famous actress there today. I ... read more

Asia » China » Dongbei » Dalian June 23rd 2006

Yenson's back! I'm so thrilled that he's finally back. I was waiting a long time for him to come back. I walked into the Salon today before my painting lesson and there he was sitting there. I immediately walked up to him and put my hands on his shoulders as I stood behind him looking at him in the mirror. "When did you get back?" I asked him. He turned around and gave me a very fierce handshake "Yesterday" he replied. He's a really awesome guy and definitely one of my closest friends at the Salon. last night after tutoring I went back as requested by Camillo and sat there for quite some time studying Cantonese and making a couple of phone calls before they finally finished talking. Even though I was trying to stay out ... read more

Asia » China » Dongbei » Dalian June 20th 2006

Mocking. I hate mocking. If there is anything I can not stand in this world it's mocking. When I was little people used to do it in school. I couldn't stand it then so I learned to stick up for myself. Throughout all the teasing I would stick up for myself. I even taught others to stick up for themselves and learn to cope with the teasing. But then I could handle the mocking because I didn't really have to worry about it. It wasn't my problem because they weren't my friends. The second person who used to do it was my roommate's boyfriend Evan. I hated him doing it because the two of us were friends. For the longest time I couldn't handle it at all when he did it even though he insisted it ... read more




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