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Published: August 31st 2005
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Yue, Daphne and I
Here we are at the Brazilian BBQ the night Daphne left for Shenzhen. The last few days have been a blast!
Saturday I taught at the JAC until 11:40 and was scheduled for another class there at 4:00. In those 4 hours between classes, Snow and I just hung around and did some shopping. We headed over to Silver Plaza and all the way down the street there were a bunch of mean selling these small aluminum cans. Turns out that they're crickets, and you can buy them for anywhere from 1 RMB to 50 RMB and then FIGHT them and bet money on them. We saw a couple of fights, where a bunch of men gather around a tupperware container on the sidewalk, dump their crickets in and watch them fight! We didn't stay to see if they fought to the death or not. We went to Silver Plaza and looked around for a while there and although I didn't buy anything I did see my first child peeing into a garbage can. Mother holding him over the can while he did his thing. In a department store, similar to Sears maybe. Haa! We took a cab to Jenny's Cafe for lunch then walked down the street for a long while, checking
Me, Melissa and Rebecca
At the Jinan Global Party out little shops. We passed a really poor, dirty older woman bending over a ripped open garbage bag and when I turned back, I saw that she was eating with her hands out of the garbage. That's one of the most worst reality checks I've experienced so far in China. Reminded me how poor a country China really is. Snow and I went back to the JAC, which is at the bottom of Hero Mountain and we had some time to kill so we wandered around the Cultural Market there.. saw all kinds of fish and live animals like lizards, mice (I held one that jumped out of my hand and almost died!), turtles, and the smallest puppies I've ever seen. All kinds of crafts and antiques (knock offs) too. I'll go back there when I have a bit more time. But on the way back to the JAC I had a lady offer be a scorpion, apparently they are really popular in Chinese medicine and really good for your health. After my afternoon class, I cabbed home in a hurry to get ready for the first annual anniversary party for Jinan’s premier English/Chinese magazine, Jinan Global. Carlos had dropped
Dance Partners
Mel and I with our dance partners when we attempted to learn Latin dancing. The guy between Mel and I was my partner, he's from Argentina. off an invite to my school a couple of days before. I showed up there around 7 and ran into Rebecca. We found the “lowai” (Chinese word for “old foreigner” but basically used as a derogatory term for white people and roughly translated to mean “white demon”) table and I met a couple of other teachers. There were a bunch of speeches, and then a huge buffet and not a bad dessert bar to top it off. I tried dragonfruit which was absolutely amazing, it reminded me a bit of kiwi. There was a bunch of entertainment.. some modern dancing, a girl who played electric violin, some acrobatics, a guy on a unicycle, and then they invited a bunch of the foreigners up on stage to try and learn latin dancing. Melissa and I had promised Carlos that we would volunteer, so we went up there and tried the best we could with our partners. When the party was over we all went to the Pyramid for a bit to chill out, and Rachel (the lead singer of the Philipino band that plays at the Pyramid) gave me some conga lessons! I danced a bit and went home around 1:30.
I worked early on Sunday morning but only until 11. I took a cab to Carrefour and did a huge grocery shop all for about $50 Can. I went home and had a nap, then Duncan called me up from David’s to tell me he was in town and we met up at UBC for a coffee. He was in town for a few days from Shanghai, with three guys that he met down there, and they’d already been drinking all afternoon at Dave’s place. We went back to Dave’s and I met Tom, Damian and Sach, three guys from England who are in China for three weeks. We all sat around and played some drinking games (Pyramid and King’s Cross, fun games to bring back with me to Canada!!) and then went out around 9 to the Pyramid to grab some food. Stayed there for a while then Duncan, Damian, Tom and I went to Cinderella’s to dance it up. We danced a bunch on the bouncing dance floor, me surrounded by my three bodyguards, and then we hogged the space in front of the air conditioner and chilled out for a while. We moved rooms and played
Shanghai Crew
Me, Duncan, Tom, Damian, David and his girlfriend Julie a Chinese game similar to Connect 4, but you had to get five in a row and it’s a little different. All of the guys got their butts handed to them by the Chinese hostesses who challenged them. Went home around 3:30 and the three of them crashed at my place, two in the spare bed and one on the couch.
All I have to say is “Stop struggling!” Haha.
Monday I worked in the morning then met up with the guys at UBC for lunch but was called into work for 2:30 on my supposed afternoon off. Didn’t end up being too bad though. I met Godwyn at the university gates around 6:30 and went to his place for dinner which was great. He’s from Ghana so he made me an African dish, Chinese style, and he told me a bunch of stories from his travels. Didn’t stay too long there, I left around 9 and cabbed it to Dave’s but they were all drunk and playing poker so I walked home and went to sleep.
Yesterday I taught in the morning at the Shandong Agricultural College which is my assistant, Snow’s, college. Talked for a
Drinking at David's
Duncan, Tom, me, Sach, Damian and Julie while with a bunch of the Chinese teachers and students, and encountered my nastiest squat in China yet. Went for lunch with a few people and Snow and tried some Chinese dishes… a peanut and onion dish, egg and tomato, celery and cashews, and a spicy tofu dish. But then they ordered “fried fish” that showed up and turned out to be whole little friend fish; heads, tails and all. And they’re eaten head to tail. And they stink to high hell. I had the afternoon off and went computer shopping around 3:30 with Helena (computer whiz at the school). After two and a half hours, I walked out of there with my own laptop. I should get it up and running by Friday with an English version of Windows. I met up with Melissa around 9 at Jenny's for some dinner and then took a cab home. What would have been a 15 minute taxi ride home took about 45 minutes because of traffic so I got in late.
I teach all day today and I'm frustrated because I am trying to explain grammar terms that I barely understand... and I am tired and sore and I want
Party at the Pyramid
Gooddrunkentimes... bottomless beer on teachers' night! a day off (I'm on day 9 in a row here). But I guess teaching is like any other job, some days are better than others. And I'm looking forward to my trip to Shanghai on September 13-16!!!
Love you all,
Xes and Oes,
Laur
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Tyler
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Gah, must find!