Monday, August 28, 2006
Sorry it has been a while since a post but I've been pretty busy with this teaching thing. The whole thing has gone very well. I've heard only positive things from my advisors and then just some new ideas for other activities to try.
However, I am still very excited that tomorrow is my last day. Crazy isn't it? I've already been gone over a month. This past Friday was a blast! We ended up putting off going to Macau until Saturday because the rest of the class was going to a KTV (a karaoke bar) so we wanted to go with them. Ridiculous amounts of fun. First of all the security was crazy, metal detectors and everything. We had a private room (that's how they do karaoke here) for the 20 of us and sand and played dice games for awhile. A bunch of us pooled our money together and bought bottles of Chivas Scotch. We ended up getting a bottle for free because we bought so many! And the best part is that it wasn't even that much money and it was really good scotch. While trying to find the bathroom we stumbled across the fact that not only was it a kick ass karaoke bar, but also a GIGANTIC dance club. After we got good and tanked we headed out there and it was crazy disco music and lights and everyone watching the foreigners dance funny. Chinese people just kind of sway and call that dancing. They were quite entranced by the Americans and Brits that pushed their way up to the front of the stage and started grinding. It was seriously a two story club of Chinese people just staring at us and then trying to do whatever we did. Fricken awesome. The cops started warning us that people were going to start trying to take our wallets soon so we decided to head back up to the room where I continued to drink scotch until I blacked out. Good thing Michele got me a cab home. Saturday we rolled out of bed and headed to Macau and we were pumped about that.
We finally got there after ridiculous lines and waiting to cross the border and customs even though, oh don't wait, its still officially China. We went to go into the first casino, and we couldn't because Pablo and I wore sandals (even though we had collared shirts on) and that apparently wasn't allowed. So we spent more of the day walking around trying to find cheap shoes. We eventually gave up because we didn't want to spend more on shoes than we had planned spending in the casinos in the first place. It was cool just walking around though because it sort of felt like you were in Europe with some of the architecture but then you would look around and all you could see were Chinese people. Unfortunately we had to teach on Sunday so that made the weekend over. Tomorrow is our last day teaching and then Wednesday night we hop on the 24 hour train that will take us up to Shanghai. We are pretty excited but sad to be leaving Michele and Chi. Sidenote funny story. I was teaching at the middle school for the first time and I walked in and the students kept telling me that I was "fit" and then would flex. Then the a couple of the boys started calling me superman (I was wearing a red polo). At the end of class a couple of the girls came up giggling and asked if they could call me superman also, I said it was ok.
However, I am still very excited that tomorrow is my last day. Crazy isn't it? I've already been gone over a month. This past Friday was a blast! We ended up putting off going to Macau until Saturday because the rest of the class was going to a KTV (a karaoke bar) so we wanted to go with them. Ridiculous amounts of fun. First of all the security was crazy, metal detectors and everything. We had a private room (that's how they do karaoke here) for the 20 of us and sand and played dice games for awhile. A bunch of us pooled our money together and bought bottles of Chivas Scotch. We ended up getting a bottle for free because we bought so many! And the best part is that it wasn't even that much money and it was really good scotch. While trying to find the bathroom we stumbled across the fact that not only was it a kick ass karaoke bar, but also a GIGANTIC dance club. After we got good and tanked we headed out there and it was crazy disco music and lights and everyone watching the foreigners dance funny. Chinese people just kind of sway and call that dancing. They were quite entranced by the Americans and Brits that pushed their way up to the front of the stage and started grinding. It was seriously a two story club of Chinese people just staring at us and then trying to do whatever we did. Fricken awesome. The cops started warning us that people were going to start trying to take our wallets soon so we decided to head back up to the room where I continued to drink scotch until I blacked out. Good thing Michele got me a cab home. Saturday we rolled out of bed and headed to Macau and we were pumped about that.
We finally got there after ridiculous lines and waiting to cross the border and customs even though, oh don't wait, its still officially China. We went to go into the first casino, and we couldn't because Pablo and I wore sandals (even though we had collared shirts on) and that apparently wasn't allowed. So we spent more of the day walking around trying to find cheap shoes. We eventually gave up because we didn't want to spend more on shoes than we had planned spending in the casinos in the first place. It was cool just walking around though because it sort of felt like you were in Europe with some of the architecture but then you would look around and all you could see were Chinese people. Unfortunately we had to teach on Sunday so that made the weekend over. Tomorrow is our last day teaching and then Wednesday night we hop on the 24 hour train that will take us up to Shanghai. We are pretty excited but sad to be leaving Michele and Chi. Sidenote funny story. I was teaching at the middle school for the first time and I walked in and the students kept telling me that I was "fit" and then would flex. Then the a couple of the boys started calling me superman (I was wearing a red polo). At the end of class a couple of the girls came up giggling and asked if they could call me superman also, I said it was ok.
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
This week has been our first week teaching students. Its not too bad. I think I will like it more when I have a text book to teach out of instead of having to go home and make pictures every night. It is also pretty difficult becuase we always teach different students and its hard to know the level of the students before you actually teach them. For example we are told to teach animals. The know many animals and its pretty hard to randomly find the few animal words they don't know. Apparently tomorrow I go to the school where all the boys are obnoxious, so I'm not too excited about that. I guess I will just have to show them who's boss! Our first visa expires on Sunday so we are going to Macau on Friday. Macau used to be owned by Portugal but they just gave it back to China and so it is sort of part of China and sort of it's own thing. Either way it counts as leaving the country. We hope to tour the city, hit up the dog track and the casinos. I'm excited to learn how to play craps and Phoebe says she will teach me so that should be cool. As my days are coming to an end in Zhuhai I feel like I should give a more accurate description of how it contrasts with the U.S. 
Here is a picture of the chickens for sale outside when I leave my building. Can you say bird flu? Zhuhai is apparently one of the cleanest cities in China, however people still feel it is perfectly find to piss or crap anywhere there is grass. Infact, infants pants have slits in the crotch so all the have to do is squat when they need to go to the bathroom. We have seen many a child with their pants down at a bus stop and many a strange old lady coming out of the bushes along a busy street and don't worry when we walk past the area smells like poop. The city itself would be really pretty except for one thing. There are bars on all the windows of all the apartments. We have yet to figure out why they need bars on the balconies and windows of a 20 story building. The main thing that screams communism is the fact that everywhere you go there are TONS of people "working" in a store but none of them are doing anything. Communism gaurantees everyone a job, that doesn't mean they have to actually be useful. There is an electronics store we past most days and the store itself is maybe the size of a living room and dining room put together. Our record number of people we've seen working in that tiny space is 11. Can you believe that?! Here is a picture in a department store we were in one day. Try to count the number of workers standing around. I was sort of mad becuase two of them starting putzing with that sign as soon as I took the picture, but I think there are still nine women in the picture. Time for bed.
Here is a picture of the chickens for sale outside when I leave my building. Can you say bird flu? Zhuhai is apparently one of the cleanest cities in China, however people still feel it is perfectly find to piss or crap anywhere there is grass. Infact, infants pants have slits in the crotch so all the have to do is squat when they need to go to the bathroom. We have seen many a child with their pants down at a bus stop and many a strange old lady coming out of the bushes along a busy street and don't worry when we walk past the area smells like poop. The city itself would be really pretty except for one thing. There are bars on all the windows of all the apartments. We have yet to figure out why they need bars on the balconies and windows of a 20 story building. The main thing that screams communism is the fact that everywhere you go there are TONS of people "working" in a store but none of them are doing anything. Communism gaurantees everyone a job, that doesn't mean they have to actually be useful. There is an electronics store we past most days and the store itself is maybe the size of a living room and dining room put together. Our record number of people we've seen working in that tiny space is 11. Can you believe that?! Here is a picture in a department store we were in one day. Try to count the number of workers standing around. I was sort of mad becuase two of them starting putzing with that sign as soon as I took the picture, but I think there are still nine women in the picture. Time for bed.
Sunday, August 20, 2006
The rest of last week was pretty boring, however, this past weekend myself, Pablo and Phoebe flew to Shanghai to look at some schools and have some job interviews. Shanghai is amazing! I am really excited to live in Shanghai and I am a little nervous that there will be too much to do there?! So here is what happened... Friday night we went out to dinner with the boss from ESL (English as a Second Language) and that was pretty interesting. Lorne (the boss) is a 40something Canadian who has lived here for quite some time and intends living here permanently. He smoked an entire pack of cigarettes during dinner and smoked another pack at the bar he took us to afterwards. He made
ridiculously vulgar jokes and passes at phoebe even though we only met him that night. After many beers we talked about the job and it pays the best and when it came down to it he is really serious about teaching. It was kind of weird because all the sudden he got really serious and told us that its all about the kids and explained that each kid in China is the only hope of four grandparents. It made us feel a lot better once he got serious because up until that point he was pretty sketchy. He then took us to a bar that he used to manage. Apparently all the girls that were there actually "work" there. Their job is to flirt and get white guys to buy more drinks all night. They have to stay until bar time and then if the girls want they are prostitutes to the men buying them drinks all night. I couldn't believe this guy took us there and was then telling us all this stuff. I'm still not 100% sure I like/trust the guy but I don't think he was lying at all or would ever cheat us, not to mention we don't have a whole lot to lose, all he can do is not pay us and if he does we can easily get out of the contract. He told us to come over the next day and sing contracts and we told him we would call him. However, we had plans the next day to visit two other schools. We canceled one because we really weren't interested but called the other and they offered to come pick us up and show us around Shanghai all day. We felt bad because this school paid considerably less than the other one and the only reason why we were interested was because it sounded like a lot of fun and the people sounded really nice. Oh, but wait, our hotel kicked us out for the second night and we had no place to stay, so in the process of trying to swindle our way into having other plans (to go back to talk more to Lorne at ESL) we told them we had to find a hotel and they found one for us and paid for it. After touring the school, asking some more questions and finding out more about the contract we realized we were going to sign with Lorne at ESL because it was more money and the contract was shorter. But we felt HORRIBLE because the people at the this school (New Beat) were ridiculously nice and their school sounded amazing but we just needed the money and to be home earlier. BUT IT DIDN'T STOP THERE. The people at New Beat wanted to take us out to dinner and we couldn't refuse. Then they also wanted to pick us up to go to the airport and we couldn't refuse. And they brought us gifts in the morning and the whole time they kept talking about their nice little school and dropping all this cash on us and we new we weren't going to sign but didn't know how to get out of everything. We felt like the devil. I really wish I could teach at New Beat but the salary was sooo much lower and the whole point of me coming here is to earn money to travel as much as I can. We also didn't get as much vacation with New Beat. We still feel bad and have to tell them no in the next couple of days. So I now have an official job teaching English to first and second graders in Shanghai. My contract ends June 30th, I have around a 4 week break some where in January/Februrary, a week in either March or May (I can't remember), a day off for Christmas and maybe a week off in October. Now we just need a place to live?! I will keep everyone updated...
ridiculously vulgar jokes and passes at phoebe even though we only met him that night. After many beers we talked about the job and it pays the best and when it came down to it he is really serious about teaching. It was kind of weird because all the sudden he got really serious and told us that its all about the kids and explained that each kid in China is the only hope of four grandparents. It made us feel a lot better once he got serious because up until that point he was pretty sketchy. He then took us to a bar that he used to manage. Apparently all the girls that were there actually "work" there. Their job is to flirt and get white guys to buy more drinks all night. They have to stay until bar time and then if the girls want they are prostitutes to the men buying them drinks all night. I couldn't believe this guy took us there and was then telling us all this stuff. I'm still not 100% sure I like/trust the guy but I don't think he was lying at all or would ever cheat us, not to mention we don't have a whole lot to lose, all he can do is not pay us and if he does we can easily get out of the contract. He told us to come over the next day and sing contracts and we told him we would call him. However, we had plans the next day to visit two other schools. We canceled one because we really weren't interested but called the other and they offered to come pick us up and show us around Shanghai all day. We felt bad because this school paid considerably less than the other one and the only reason why we were interested was because it sounded like a lot of fun and the people sounded really nice. Oh, but wait, our hotel kicked us out for the second night and we had no place to stay, so in the process of trying to swindle our way into having other plans (to go back to talk more to Lorne at ESL) we told them we had to find a hotel and they found one for us and paid for it. After touring the school, asking some more questions and finding out more about the contract we realized we were going to sign with Lorne at ESL because it was more money and the contract was shorter. But we felt HORRIBLE because the people at the this school (New Beat) were ridiculously nice and their school sounded amazing but we just needed the money and to be home earlier. BUT IT DIDN'T STOP THERE. The people at New Beat wanted to take us out to dinner and we couldn't refuse. Then they also wanted to pick us up to go to the airport and we couldn't refuse. And they brought us gifts in the morning and the whole time they kept talking about their nice little school and dropping all this cash on us and we new we weren't going to sign but didn't know how to get out of everything. We felt like the devil. I really wish I could teach at New Beat but the salary was sooo much lower and the whole point of me coming here is to earn money to travel as much as I can. We also didn't get as much vacation with New Beat. We still feel bad and have to tell them no in the next couple of days. So I now have an official job teaching English to first and second graders in Shanghai. My contract ends June 30th, I have around a 4 week break some where in January/Februrary, a week in either March or May (I can't remember), a day off for Christmas and maybe a week off in October. Now we just need a place to live?! I will keep everyone updated...Tuesday, August 15, 2006
The Thai restaurant was pretty good Sunday night and not too spicy, so that was nice. The sad part is that it gave me a little "rumbly in my tumbly" and I had to break my streak of never having to use a squatty potty. Will and Pablo were pretty happy but I felt really sad... The funniest thing 
walking down the street this really cute little girl came up to Will and started tugging on his shirt asking him for money and then rubbing his stomach (trying to say she was hungry). At first we all thought it was cute and funny but didn't want to give her any money because once you give one beggar money they all see it and can sense it and they swarm you. So we started to keep walking, and she wouldn't let go of him! Michele asked her where her mother was and told she had to let go. We were physically trying to tear her away from Will but she had a death grip on his shirt! We had to drag her to a police officer where he had to physically rip her off of Will's shirt and hold her arms while we walked down the street because she kept trying to get away to come chase us! That little girl definitely knew how to work it! Happened on our walk around town later that night. We decided that we knew where we were and we could walk to a bus stop that would take us home instead of taking a cab. So we started walking and decided to walk down the street that we had gone down on our field trip a while ago (the street where we saw the prostitutes) and it was pretty crazy at night. As we were The even funnier part is that the next night we went back down to Gong Bei to eat (will be discussed soon) and while in the underground market we took some random exit and ended back up on the same street and the little girl was there?! Luckily she didn't see us but Will was freaking out. A 200 some pound black ducking in fear of a 40 pound Asian girl. Hillarious. So dinner on Monday we decided to go to the "Indian" Restaurant in Gong Bei. Don't worry, it
wasn't Indian food as in curry and rice from India. No, it was Indian food as in headdress wearing Native American food which equaled steaks. The most politically incorrect restaurant I have ever seen. All the waitresses wore t-shirts that said "Indian" and had on short jean skirts and wore feathers in their hair. It was pretty funny. I was good to finally get some good meat though. Tonight is going to be pretty chill, catching up on emails, blogging and homework. Hopefully more adventures will occur soon.
walking down the street this really cute little girl came up to Will and started tugging on his shirt asking him for money and then rubbing his stomach (trying to say she was hungry). At first we all thought it was cute and funny but didn't want to give her any money because once you give one beggar money they all see it and can sense it and they swarm you. So we started to keep walking, and she wouldn't let go of him! Michele asked her where her mother was and told she had to let go. We were physically trying to tear her away from Will but she had a death grip on his shirt! We had to drag her to a police officer where he had to physically rip her off of Will's shirt and hold her arms while we walked down the street because she kept trying to get away to come chase us! That little girl definitely knew how to work it! Happened on our walk around town later that night. We decided that we knew where we were and we could walk to a bus stop that would take us home instead of taking a cab. So we started walking and decided to walk down the street that we had gone down on our field trip a while ago (the street where we saw the prostitutes) and it was pretty crazy at night. As we were The even funnier part is that the next night we went back down to Gong Bei to eat (will be discussed soon) and while in the underground market we took some random exit and ended back up on the same street and the little girl was there?! Luckily she didn't see us but Will was freaking out. A 200 some pound black ducking in fear of a 40 pound Asian girl. Hillarious. So dinner on Monday we decided to go to the "Indian" Restaurant in Gong Bei. Don't worry, it
wasn't Indian food as in curry and rice from India. No, it was Indian food as in headdress wearing Native American food which equaled steaks. The most politically incorrect restaurant I have ever seen. All the waitresses wore t-shirts that said "Indian" and had on short jean skirts and wore feathers in their hair. It was pretty funny. I was good to finally get some good meat though. Tonight is going to be pretty chill, catching up on emails, blogging and homework. Hopefully more adventures will occur soon.Sunday, August 13, 2006
Friday night was a lot of fun. We played some drinking games in
Will and Pablo's room and then the six of us went down to bar street. I was sober enough to remember and did take some pictures. We hung out at a couple of different bars and had some drinks. We played the dice game a little more and I was excited because I could now understand it and play well. We were going to sit inside one of the clubs but it was crazy loud pumping Chinese techno beats so we opted for the calmer outside sitting. We ran into some of the other people from our class and lucki
ly it was the ones we like and not the smelling or annoying ones so that was nice. We had a lot of fun and got pretty drunk so it was all in all a good night. Saturday was a lazy day. I ended up sleeping until 2pm and missed going to lunch with everyone because I ignored my phone. Then I woke up and everyone went to take a nap so I watched some of my James Bond movies and played a computer game. For dinner we took a bus over to the "night market" and got some pizza at place near by. The pizza was actually pretty good but they don't really use pizza sauce so it was kind of weird. The night market was pretty lame. We all thought it would be more like the underground market but it was very small and all it was was a bunch of really cheap cheap crap. The only good thing about the experience was that we got beer bottle openers for 1 kuai each so we no longer have to use our teeth and ledges. Sunday I woke up and went to go get some of my drying laundry from off the balcony and realized that I could see mountains from my balcony. 
I didn't know those were there?! I decided that it was a really clear day out and we had to take the cable car up the mountain so I made the E.D. (executive decision) for the day and said we were going. Chi ended up not coming because she is pretty sick and Will decided not to go for some other reason. Holy shit did they miss out. The view was amazing! Just insane views of the ocean and the city and everything. At the top there was also some guy with a giant snake that we got to put around us and take pictures (of course it cost money though and we kind of got ripped off).
That was pretty cool. It kept moving for all of us and we were freaking out and then Pablo put it on and the damn thing didn't move a muscle. We were pissed. We hiked around the top a little bit (or I should say I made everyone) and that was nice. It was really hot out though so we all got kind of gross. The best part though was on the way down! You got to ride this cart on a track and we were watching people do it and it looked pretty lame but we thought what the hell. Apparently because we wanted to go on all four of us at the same time we had to go in pairs in these carts and then they put an Asian guy in the front cart to control the ride. I guess he thought, wow, look at these big Americans, I bet we can go pretty fast. WE FLEW DOWN THE HILL. Everyone we watched 
went creeping down but because we had so much weight on the carts he wouldn't let us put on the breaks the whole time?! We definitely came off the tracks a couple times and I thought we were going to tip over, or fly off and die on the side of some mountain in China. Looking back it was crazy fun and crazy worth it but pretty fucking scary. As Pablo put it, it was one of those things were if something were to happen, you would just have to hope you completely died because you would be so fucked up afterwards and would have to go to Chinese hospitals that it would probably be better to just end it in a flash. Tonight we are going to go to dinner at a Thai restaurant. I'm a little nervous because I am pretty big wuss when it comes to spicy food but we will see how things go. OH. I almost forgot. At lunch we ate some "beef" dish and Michele didn't understand what the waitress was saying when she was describing the type of meat, only that it was some kind of beef. We definitely decided that it was intestines. It didn't taste too bad but had a gross texture. I was pretty happy though because I've been wanting to try new things and no one else ever would so I'm glad we got tricked into it. Ok, its time to go to dinner. I will talk to you all soon.
Will and Pablo's room and then the six of us went down to bar street. I was sober enough to remember and did take some pictures. We hung out at a couple of different bars and had some drinks. We played the dice game a little more and I was excited because I could now understand it and play well. We were going to sit inside one of the clubs but it was crazy loud pumping Chinese techno beats so we opted for the calmer outside sitting. We ran into some of the other people from our class and lucki
ly it was the ones we like and not the smelling or annoying ones so that was nice. We had a lot of fun and got pretty drunk so it was all in all a good night. Saturday was a lazy day. I ended up sleeping until 2pm and missed going to lunch with everyone because I ignored my phone. Then I woke up and everyone went to take a nap so I watched some of my James Bond movies and played a computer game. For dinner we took a bus over to the "night market" and got some pizza at place near by. The pizza was actually pretty good but they don't really use pizza sauce so it was kind of weird. The night market was pretty lame. We all thought it would be more like the underground market but it was very small and all it was was a bunch of really cheap cheap crap. The only good thing about the experience was that we got beer bottle openers for 1 kuai each so we no longer have to use our teeth and ledges. Sunday I woke up and went to go get some of my drying laundry from off the balcony and realized that I could see mountains from my balcony. 
I didn't know those were there?! I decided that it was a really clear day out and we had to take the cable car up the mountain so I made the E.D. (executive decision) for the day and said we were going. Chi ended up not coming because she is pretty sick and Will decided not to go for some other reason. Holy shit did they miss out. The view was amazing! Just insane views of the ocean and the city and everything. At the top there was also some guy with a giant snake that we got to put around us and take pictures (of course it cost money though and we kind of got ripped off).
That was pretty cool. It kept moving for all of us and we were freaking out and then Pablo put it on and the damn thing didn't move a muscle. We were pissed. We hiked around the top a little bit (or I should say I made everyone) and that was nice. It was really hot out though so we all got kind of gross. The best part though was on the way down! You got to ride this cart on a track and we were watching people do it and it looked pretty lame but we thought what the hell. Apparently because we wanted to go on all four of us at the same time we had to go in pairs in these carts and then they put an Asian guy in the front cart to control the ride. I guess he thought, wow, look at these big Americans, I bet we can go pretty fast. WE FLEW DOWN THE HILL. Everyone we watched 
went creeping down but because we had so much weight on the carts he wouldn't let us put on the breaks the whole time?! We definitely came off the tracks a couple times and I thought we were going to tip over, or fly off and die on the side of some mountain in China. Looking back it was crazy fun and crazy worth it but pretty fucking scary. As Pablo put it, it was one of those things were if something were to happen, you would just have to hope you completely died because you would be so fucked up afterwards and would have to go to Chinese hospitals that it would probably be better to just end it in a flash. Tonight we are going to go to dinner at a Thai restaurant. I'm a little nervous because I am pretty big wuss when it comes to spicy food but we will see how things go. OH. I almost forgot. At lunch we ate some "beef" dish and Michele didn't understand what the waitress was saying when she was describing the type of meat, only that it was some kind of beef. We definitely decided that it was intestines. It didn't taste too bad but had a gross texture. I was pretty happy though because I've been wanting to try new things and no one else ever would so I'm glad we got tricked into it. Ok, its time to go to dinner. I will talk to you all soon.
Friday, August 11, 2006
I now have a picture of a squatty potty thanks to Will. Mind you this is also the squatty potty in their room which Will bleaches practically everyday (and also know that their shower is just behind you with no tub, no curtain, just a drain in the floor next to the sink). Just imagine how nasty the public toilets are. 
Now before I propose the question of the night I need to give everyone a little more background. First of all, to expand on the Indian girl with the worst body odor ever. Her name is Renu, and by the end of the day the entire classroom smells so bad it makes you want to puke. When we leave for breaks and then come back it is like walking into a brick wall of B.O. And it is all her smell because if you walk by her you can smell her. Second of all, today in class was horrible. My presentation went very well and I went fourth, but that made the rest of the day literally painfully boring (our teacher really liked my lesson though). We had to learn introductions to 11 different languages. Will's was absolutely hilarious. He did the "Southside Chicago" language so it was all intense slang. Hearing these little Asian girls saying "Whatz up shortay" is pretty fuckin funny. On top of that, the annoying guy that stalks us, Jesse, made some comment to will about how Will's term for house "Tip" should be "Crib." Mind you Jesse is 20 years old and has been living in China for the past 8 years of his life being home schooled. Will would not have that so he said no, it's tip as in "Just the tip." Chi and I almost died laughing. Then he made some comment about how "He could feel" what Will was saying or something along those lines and it was "Noted" which is what we say to each other whenever he says something ridiculously annoying. The best part was that Jesse thought Will was being his "boy" or something and started laughing even though we were laughing at him. I feel kinda mean talking about this kid behind his back so much but he is that annoying. The point of this whole story about the day though is the question of the day that was asked at dinner: Would you rather have sex with (smelly, smelly, smelly, body odor of death) Renu, or shit in a squatty potty. The obvious answer is squatty potty because Renu smells that bad and there is no way you could hold an erection with that pungent of an odor around. But Will and Pablo have such horrifying experiences with the squatty potties that they almost picked sex with Renu. Now I have to go because we are going to continue drinking (drinking games my favorite) and then plan on heading to bar street again. Hopefully I will be sober enough to remember it this time but the way things are going its not looking so good.
Now before I propose the question of the night I need to give everyone a little more background. First of all, to expand on the Indian girl with the worst body odor ever. Her name is Renu, and by the end of the day the entire classroom smells so bad it makes you want to puke. When we leave for breaks and then come back it is like walking into a brick wall of B.O. And it is all her smell because if you walk by her you can smell her. Second of all, today in class was horrible. My presentation went very well and I went fourth, but that made the rest of the day literally painfully boring (our teacher really liked my lesson though). We had to learn introductions to 11 different languages. Will's was absolutely hilarious. He did the "Southside Chicago" language so it was all intense slang. Hearing these little Asian girls saying "Whatz up shortay" is pretty fuckin funny. On top of that, the annoying guy that stalks us, Jesse, made some comment to will about how Will's term for house "Tip" should be "Crib." Mind you Jesse is 20 years old and has been living in China for the past 8 years of his life being home schooled. Will would not have that so he said no, it's tip as in "Just the tip." Chi and I almost died laughing. Then he made some comment about how "He could feel" what Will was saying or something along those lines and it was "Noted" which is what we say to each other whenever he says something ridiculously annoying. The best part was that Jesse thought Will was being his "boy" or something and started laughing even though we were laughing at him. I feel kinda mean talking about this kid behind his back so much but he is that annoying. The point of this whole story about the day though is the question of the day that was asked at dinner: Would you rather have sex with (smelly, smelly, smelly, body odor of death) Renu, or shit in a squatty potty. The obvious answer is squatty potty because Renu smells that bad and there is no way you could hold an erection with that pungent of an odor around. But Will and Pablo have such horrifying experiences with the squatty potties that they almost picked sex with Renu. Now I have to go because we are going to continue drinking (drinking games my favorite) and then plan on heading to bar street again. Hopefully I will be sober enough to remember it this time but the way things are going its not looking so good.Thursday, August 10, 2006
It is Thursday night, tomorrow I have to peer teach a lesson in Spanish. All 20 students give 15 minute lessons all day tomorrow in foreign languages and we are supposed to be attentive students all day. FUCK THAT! Pablo and I decided that we are going to try and going early on, buy a bottle of vodka at lunch and then pour it into water bottles and drink all afternoon! How clever is that. I bet though we will be much more attentive listeners and participate more after the booze. The point is that I stayed up late working on pictures for my lesson, drank a redbull and now I can't fall asleep. Because of that you are going to get some comments on Chinese plumbing. First of all, toilets and plumbing systems are not built to handle the flushing of toilet paper. That means every 6 sheets of paper you use, you have to flush. Its crazy. Who in the hell designs a toilet and plumbing for it that can not handle toilet paper. As Pheobe likes to point out "THAT'S ITS JOB?!" I however can not complain to much because I am lucky enough to have a western style toilet in my bathroom. The vast majority of toilets are the "Squatty Potty" type of toilet where it is literally a hole in the ground with two places to put your feet on each side as you squat and do your business. Pablo and Will have a squatty potty and I told them I intend to never have to shit in one the whole time I'm in China. That pissed them off because that's all the ever shit in! I really have problems comprehending the physics/body mechanics of making that work. Not to mention that in public restrooms the floors are completely covered in piss and are often quite slippery. Pablo and Will said they might try to sneak laxatives in my drink someday and I told them that if they did they will die. I will try to take a picture of a squatty potty tomorrow to post but until then, appreciate modern plumbing.
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
It is currently Wednesday night in Zhuhai and I have had three days of TEFL classes. So here's the deal. I'm being taught English Phonology (kind of like phonetics but an international system) by an Asian woman. What you're thinking is right, HOW IN THE HELL IS SOME WOMAN BORN IN CHINA AND LIVED IN CHINA HER WHOLE LIFE SUPPOSED TO BE TELLING ME HOW TO PRONOUNCE WORDS IN MY LANGUAGE?! Don't worry that's the battle we go through every day. For example: country is pronounced countr i (the i being the i sound in ship). BULLSHIT. And there is no "r" sound at the end of ladder, your or neighbor. Oh, and by the way Nigeria has only 3 syllables. No wonder why all these little Chinese people speak crappy English. She was claiming it was British English but even the British people in the class didn't say stuff the way she said. She is the most stubborn woman in the world, I speak native English, you don't. Another part of class that is pretty frustrating is that to show us how our students will feel learning a foreign language we are learning Tagalo, the language they speak in the Philippines. I must say, it makes sense, but when I am already trying my hardest to learn Chinese the last thing I need is to throw another language in the mix. I try to zone out as much as I can during that part of class. I think now would be an excellent time to discuss "Engrish." Engrish is defined as the language created by poor Chinese pronunciation or translation of the English language. It is pretty funny the stuff you see on "English" menus here. For example:
That is our favorite one thus far but another good menu item (on the same menu) was: The Cheese, Seafood Bakes the Spaghetti and don't worry it was a rice dish. Back to class. There is a girl in the class from India and she has THE WORST BODY ODOR EVER. We pick our seats in class every day as far away from her as possible. She sat by us the first day and Chi got a really bad headache from the smell. I just want to buy her some goddamn deodorant. We start grammar tomorrow so that should be interesting and on Friday we have to teach a lesson to the class in a foreign language. I guess I have to brush up on some Spanish but it is supposed to be an elementary lesson so I won't need to remember too much. One of the new TEFL students stalks us. He is really weird and very full of himself so we don't like going out to eat with him but after every class he comes up (specifically to me because I think he senses I am the weakest at being mean) and asks, "So what's the plan for lunch?" We have started making tactical plans every meal of how we are going to split up and re-group and our restaurant of choice. Other than class taking up most of my day things are going very well. Four of us (myself, Pablo, Phoebe and Will) are talking pretty seriously about getting jobs in Shanghai and getting an apartment together. Currently we are all applying to as many places as possible to see if we get offers (so far things are looking pretty good) and are planning on taking a trip there next weekend to check out the jobs, the city and places to live. I'm pretty excited about the prospect of staying with some people from my class because I figure I already came to China for an adventure to make new friends, I succeeded, no need to have to start all over again. I hear Shanghai can be pretty western but I don't feel like I am quite ready (or have anywhere near good enough Chinese) to be by myself in bumfuck nowhere China. I will also be centrally located so I can travel more and also will be closer to Nathan in Beijing. I haven't ruled out anything yet though and am still weighing all options. Well its about time for me to hit the books and make some lesson plans. Hope things are going well back in the states and its always good to hear from everyone.
That is our favorite one thus far but another good menu item (on the same menu) was: The Cheese, Seafood Bakes the Spaghetti and don't worry it was a rice dish. Back to class. There is a girl in the class from India and she has THE WORST BODY ODOR EVER. We pick our seats in class every day as far away from her as possible. She sat by us the first day and Chi got a really bad headache from the smell. I just want to buy her some goddamn deodorant. We start grammar tomorrow so that should be interesting and on Friday we have to teach a lesson to the class in a foreign language. I guess I have to brush up on some Spanish but it is supposed to be an elementary lesson so I won't need to remember too much. One of the new TEFL students stalks us. He is really weird and very full of himself so we don't like going out to eat with him but after every class he comes up (specifically to me because I think he senses I am the weakest at being mean) and asks, "So what's the plan for lunch?" We have started making tactical plans every meal of how we are going to split up and re-group and our restaurant of choice. Other than class taking up most of my day things are going very well. Four of us (myself, Pablo, Phoebe and Will) are talking pretty seriously about getting jobs in Shanghai and getting an apartment together. Currently we are all applying to as many places as possible to see if we get offers (so far things are looking pretty good) and are planning on taking a trip there next weekend to check out the jobs, the city and places to live. I'm pretty excited about the prospect of staying with some people from my class because I figure I already came to China for an adventure to make new friends, I succeeded, no need to have to start all over again. I hear Shanghai can be pretty western but I don't feel like I am quite ready (or have anywhere near good enough Chinese) to be by myself in bumfuck nowhere China. I will also be centrally located so I can travel more and also will be closer to Nathan in Beijing. I haven't ruled out anything yet though and am still weighing all options. Well its about time for me to hit the books and make some lesson plans. Hope things are going well back in the states and its always good to hear from everyone.Sunday, August 06, 2006
Saturday we woke up and went to Chi's dad's house outside the city. He and his brothers own a shipyard in Hong Kong and it used to be where they built the new Disneyland so because of some deal with the government they got some space outside of Zhuhai also so he has a house there. I was a really nice place and it was a good day for all of us to just hang out inside in air conditioning and watch all our pirated movies. It was cool driving through the countryside again and seeing how rural Chinese people live. I guess that in the area we were in there were a lot of shrimp farms and that was interesting to see. Saturday night we had dinner with all the TEFL people in our program. The difference between them and us is that they are just here for the TEFL program and found it on their own through the internet or something so they will be with us for the remaining four weeks of training. The original six of us are also here for the TEFL program but we got to this TEFL program through the LanguageCorps and that included our first week of Chinese and field trips and then extra support services and guaranteed job placement (TEFL people have to find their own job). I am really glad I did the whole LanguageCorps thing for the main reason that we got to spend the first week becoming friends and having adventures. The six of us have a lot in common, we are all from the states, recently out of college, just here for a year to avoid getting a real job and have a fun adventure in the process. The plain TEFL people are a little "different" (as are most of the other teachers at our school). Most of them are older, at least in their 30's and all the way through I'd say their 50's. Its the kind of of thing where you ask yourself, what are they doing here? Shouldn't they have lives back home by now? They seem like very nice people but just the type of people that would be your "Crazy Uncle Larry." Its funny because when I saw my eye doctor before I came he made a comment to me about how he was glad I was going because everyone he knows that went to China for a year was kind of "weird" and he is worried that the Chinese are going to start getting the wrong impression about Americans! I didn't understand him at first, but now I definitely do! Saturday night we just went to a tea house and played some cards. Today we got lunch together and then decided to check out a massage parlor. It was only 20 kuai for an hour massage (about $2.5o US). I know what you are thinking, and the answer is no, there was no "Happy Ending." We were all in the same room with five beds (Will wanted to have no part in it and just sat in a chair watching the whole time) and it was funny because afterwards Michele started laughing and we asked her why. I guess in the middle of the massage the woman that was massaging me said to the other women, "I don't know what to do, I've never done someone this big before." And then I guess all the women started talking about how they were having the same problem. I got a kick out of that and I could definitely feel that she couldn't push hard enough. At one point in time she got up and was standing on my back (and butt) walking around. The funny part is that Will said her head didn't even touch the ceiling. Mind you the ceilings in this room were maybe 7 feet tall, tops, and I was on a waist high table and she could stand on me and not touch her head on the ceiling. I believe I am now caught up on my blog and I will try to update it more frequently (I already got some nasty emails about not writing often enough). Keep in touch and keep the emails flowing.
Friday was the last day of Chinese class. We mostly reviewed and then learned family members. Family members in Chinese is very funny because they all sound like baby sounds: ba ba = father, ma ma = mother, etc. Everything is the same one syllable repeated twice. Because it was still raining we didn't go to Blue Lotus Cave (and apparently there is absolutely nothing about Blue Lotus Cave that is a cave, its just a park, but something obviously got lost in the translation...). Instead we went to a big book store and then walked around Gong Bei (kind of the shopping district of Zhuhai). Gong Bei is also the sketchy district of Zhuhai (especially at night) and we definitely saw some prostitutes. At first you couldn't tell, but I accidentally made eye contact and then they changed to a seductive stance and followed us down the street for awhile. It was funny and at first Will didn't believe me, but after they were walking circles around us and following us down the street looking at us funny he agreed with me. Friday night we decided to break the cycle of doing nothing and going to bed early so myself, Pablo and Will got an assortment of Chinese beers to try. Phoebe did a little drinking also (some pineapple beer that was quite interesting). The Chinese beer wasn't too bad (but don't worry I also got one Pabst) and it was all sold in single cans or kind of like 40's but I think they were more like 30's. We also got a little bottle of bai jiu which is a Chinese alcohol that is apparently really nasty. We drank the bottle between the three of us and it was pretty gross stuff, but it was weird because it didn't burn going down, it just tasted like skunky, skunky wine or something, but it was clear. Then Will and Pablo's roommate Nick had a bunch of friends over also and it turned into a mini-party. They were all teachers at the school and very "interesting" people. For example, Nick and his one friend started do some weird kung fu stuff at one point in time. The girls ended up going to bed and we went down to "Bar Street" with Nick and his friends. Unfortunately I was pretty wasted by that time seeing as how I haven't drank for awhile and all I ever eat is noodles, eggplant and cabbage, so going down to Bar Street wasn't all too clear. It was a really cool street though and we sat outside a bar and played a dice game. The whole street was all lit up in neon lights so that was pretty sweet. I think everyone thought I was even more wasted than I was because I was concentrating really hard on learning the dice game and figuring out the strategy so I was doing a lot of staring at nothing. Either way I ended up getting a hamburger made for me to try and sober me up. It wasn't too bad. We are definitely going to have to go back to Bar Street again sometime, but next time we will go before we finish a bottle of Stoli (which we got for $10 US) and a bottle of Absolute by taking group shots so I can remember better.
Saturday, August 05, 2006
Its a typhoon?! Definitely just had my first experience in a tropical storm. We were supposed to be going to a park on Thursday afternoon but because a typhoon hit
Zhuhai we went to a Japanese grocery store. The typhoon was insane! Chi said that the storm in Zhuhai was only a level 3 out of 10 and we found out later that in Macau (20 minute bus ride to the coast and right by where we go on a lot of our field trips) it was a level 7! The rain and wind were crazy. I could barely sleep the night before because of all the noise but I just thought it was a little storm. On the walk from the bus stop to the grocery store we got absolutely soaked, not to mention the fact that I, weighing in at 190 lbs. Almost go blown away at times. Cheap little umbrellas are completely useless when the rain is going sideways. We saw sheets of metal flying around and downed trees everywhere. Looking back we probably should have just stayed inside! We also found out 
that three people actually died in Zhuhai during the storm because of getting hit with stuff in the wind. And the grocery store, not at all worth it. There was a McDonald's inside though so we had some western food while we were there. Grocery stores here are pretty crazy though. The best is the meat section. All the meat is just sitting out in coolers, unwrapped and you just pick up what you want. Some of my favorite staple items in the meat section are chicken feet, pig noses and pig tongues. YUMMY.
Zhuhai we went to a Japanese grocery store. The typhoon was insane! Chi said that the storm in Zhuhai was only a level 3 out of 10 and we found out later that in Macau (20 minute bus ride to the coast and right by where we go on a lot of our field trips) it was a level 7! The rain and wind were crazy. I could barely sleep the night before because of all the noise but I just thought it was a little storm. On the walk from the bus stop to the grocery store we got absolutely soaked, not to mention the fact that I, weighing in at 190 lbs. Almost go blown away at times. Cheap little umbrellas are completely useless when the rain is going sideways. We saw sheets of metal flying around and downed trees everywhere. Looking back we probably should have just stayed inside! We also found out 
that three people actually died in Zhuhai during the storm because of getting hit with stuff in the wind. And the grocery store, not at all worth it. There was a McDonald's inside though so we had some western food while we were there. Grocery stores here are pretty crazy though. The best is the meat section. All the meat is just sitting out in coolers, unwrapped and you just pick up what you want. Some of my favorite staple items in the meat section are chicken feet, pig noses and pig tongues. YUMMY.
It is Tuesday night here in China Hamilton Chicago 
always say the Asians will stare at Americans walking down the street but now with the six of us as a group we have a large black man (probably the only one any of these people will ever see in their lives) and a tall blonde girl (which people assume she is famous or a super model). WOW do people stare. It is actually kind of creepy sometimes. Yesterday in class we learned how to count and general greetings. Then we took the bus to a beautiful public park with a large statue in the sea called "The Fish Lady". There were amazing views of the sea and surrounding mountains/city/park/everything! Unfortunately I am having problems figuring out how to put pictures up on this blog so I might just have to put them on a general photo service for people to see. Today we learned how to bargain and then went to the market. INSANE!? I was picturing some guys with towels laid out on the concrete with some DVDs and cheap necklaces. No. Its insane. Its like a ridiculously intense mall the size of Camp Randall Stadium, with hallways the size of grocery store isles, and millions of tiny shops all selling really, really, really good rip-offs of clothes, electronics, watches, you name it, you can buy it. I bought X-Men 3 for 5 kuai. Do you know what that is in American? Ab
out 63 cents. Its a good copy and the movie isn't even out on DVD in the states yet?! I also got Nike rip-off running watch for about $6.25 American and the ENTIRE COLLECTION of James Bond DVDs (20 movies) for about 14 us dollars. ISN'T THAT INSANE?!?! Oh, and they are mostly recent movies. I'm talking came out in theaters last Friday. Pablo bought Miami Vice, I saw Pirates 2 and a whole bunch of other movies that are only in theaters. It was crazy. And sweet rip off watches. Will got a rip off Rolex for $20 US. And its a NICE rip off, it has running gears, a nice crank and the whole deal. I guess none of us are watch conesures (horrible spelling) but all the tell tale sings of a fake were not present. I think I'm going to go back and get the same watch he got and a couple others for myself. $20?!? That was the dangerous part though, even though its really cheap in US dollars, you can still add up a bill fast. And you have to barter! I'm really not that good at it but I tried and got some stuff knocked down from original asking price. I think that's it for today. Feel free to email me if you have any specific questions. Otherwise I hope to hear from everyone soon.
always say the Asians will stare at Americans walking down the street but now with the six of us as a group we have a large black man (probably the only one any of these people will ever see in their lives) and a tall blonde girl (which people assume she is famous or a super model). WOW do people stare. It is actually kind of creepy sometimes. Yesterday in class we learned how to count and general greetings. Then we took the bus to a beautiful public park with a large statue in the sea called "The Fish Lady". There were amazing views of the sea and surrounding mountains/city/park/everything! Unfortunately I am having problems figuring out how to put pictures up on this blog so I might just have to put them on a general photo service for people to see. Today we learned how to bargain and then went to the market. INSANE!? I was picturing some guys with towels laid out on the concrete with some DVDs and cheap necklaces. No. Its insane. Its like a ridiculously intense mall the size of Camp Randall Stadium, with hallways the size of grocery store isles, and millions of tiny shops all selling really, really, really good rip-offs of clothes, electronics, watches, you name it, you can buy it. I bought X-Men 3 for 5 kuai. Do you know what that is in American? Ab
out 63 cents. Its a good copy and the movie isn't even out on DVD in the states yet?! I also got Nike rip-off running watch for about $6.25 American and the ENTIRE COLLECTION of James Bond DVDs (20 movies) for about 14 us dollars. ISN'T THAT INSANE?!?! Oh, and they are mostly recent movies. I'm talking came out in theaters last Friday. Pablo bought Miami Vice, I saw Pirates 2 and a whole bunch of other movies that are only in theaters. It was crazy. And sweet rip off watches. Will got a rip off Rolex for $20 US. And its a NICE rip off, it has running gears, a nice crank and the whole deal. I guess none of us are watch conesures (horrible spelling) but all the tell tale sings of a fake were not present. I think I'm going to go back and get the same watch he got and a couple others for myself. $20?!? That was the dangerous part though, even though its really cheap in US dollars, you can still add up a bill fast. And you have to barter! I'm really not that good at it but I tried and got some stuff knocked down from original asking price. I think that's it for today. Feel free to email me if you have any specific questions. Otherwise I hope to hear from everyone soon.
Today I had my orientation sessions and moved into my apartment I will be staying in for the next five weeks and luckily, I have internet! I found out later that the only reason I have internet is because my roommate is a teacher at the school, so I scored pretty big with that one. My roommate is 32 and is a teacher at the school and he is originally from Ohio 
willing to help me out with any questions I have or anything I need. The apartment itself isn't too bad. Not super nice, but I have a/c and an internet connection in my bedroom so that’s all I need to be happy. I decided that I will be eating out all meals because David (my roommate) informed me that the roaches only come if you cook stuff. Seeing as how prices here are RIDICULOUSLY cheap, I think I will just eat out. The first week of my program is simply Mandarin Chinese lessons, which I am pretty excited about. We spend the morning learning Chinese and then the afternoons on "fieldtrips" to local sites to use the stuff we learned in the morning. It seems like a great way to learn and experience some of the city. By the way I am staying in Zhuhai (pronounced Jew-High). It is a "small" city in China China Hong Kong , raised in Canada Boston
willing to help me out with any questions I have or anything I need. The apartment itself isn't too bad. Not super nice, but I have a/c and an internet connection in my bedroom so that’s all I need to be happy. I decided that I will be eating out all meals because David (my roommate) informed me that the roaches only come if you cook stuff. Seeing as how prices here are RIDICULOUSLY cheap, I think I will just eat out. The first week of my program is simply Mandarin Chinese lessons, which I am pretty excited about. We spend the morning learning Chinese and then the afternoons on "fieldtrips" to local sites to use the stuff we learned in the morning. It seems like a great way to learn and experience some of the city. By the way I am staying in Zhuhai (pronounced Jew-High). It is a "small" city in
Well, I made it. I’m sitting in a pretty nice hotel room waiting for the air conditioner to kick it up so I can fall asleep. Its only 9:10 here but I’m spent. I definitely wish I had internet access so I could write everyone to tell them I’m here safe and sound but it seems like that is going to have to wait until tomorrow. The day started off not too bad, my parents and grandma kept the awkward, emotional goodbyes to a minimum. At the airport I found out that my bag weighed 83 pounds and if I wanted to fly with it that way I would have to pay $300 (the fact that it took both John and I to carry it downstairs and put it in my car should have been a sign). They gave me a giant plastic bag and I took out 13 pounds to make it down to 170 and then there was only a $50 fine. Then a pretty sweet thing happened and they offered to bump me up to business class for $500 (which is a retail price flight of $6,000), I of course didn’t have the money and didn’t want to pay but good old grandma wouldn’t say no. Business class is P.I.M.P.! I couldn’t touch the seat in front of me if I tried! My seat was like a reclining leather chair that went almost all the way back and legs almost all the way up! I ate like a king! I even got a little pouch with earplugs and one of those masks to wear over your eyes. I was definitely spoiled on the way over but considering that it was a 14 and a half hour flight it was worth it. Going through customs really wasn’t bad at all. I was pretty nervous because they had made some comment in Chicago Philadelphia Hong Kong . I think because of visa reasons I won’t get to go back until I leave unless I pay for some special visa but we’ll see. The ferry ride was crazy?! EVERYONE was puking, it was ridiculous?! There was a young boy on the left of me that had his head in a bag the whole ride and then an older woman on the right side of Michele that was dry heaving obnoxiously loud (it reminded me of a Solberg puke or that one time John was dry heaving at Toppers) and every time I almost fell asleep she would start back up again. We took 
another crazy cab ride from the ferry station to the hotel. By the way, if you think Asians drive crazy in the U.S. Asia !! They are pretty bad, and also, trunks don’t really need to close. They just shove all your stuff in and jiggle it around to “check” if its going to fall out. No casualties on our two cab rides today but it made me nervous. Now I’m in my hotel room for the night (we move in someplace tomorrow). Its really weird because the toilet is in the shower. Its just one big poop and shower room… kind of weird. And the bed I am currently sitting on and will be sleeping on tonight, definitely feels like a board. Well I am pretty tired and have to wake up for training lunch at 11. Hopefully I can find a way to email this to everyone tomorrow because I definitely already miss everyone.
another crazy cab ride from the ferry station to the hotel. By the way, if you think Asians drive crazy in the Thursday, August 03, 2006
Hell Yes!
Welcome friends! Sorry for the confusion with the second blog, but I think you can understand why. Don't forget that if your parents want to see what I'm up to, send them to my other blog: mikesadventuresinchina.blogspot.com. So anyway, I'm starting to finally get the hang of speaking Chinese and picking it up in class, just as we are finished?! I really hope that where ever I end up teaching I can take a Chinese class while I'm there so I can learn more. On Wednesday we took a class field trip to a waterfall. It was an hour bus ride outside of the city (we even had to change busses once). The ride there was pretty cool because we got to drive through a lot of Zhuhai and then outside of the city some. As we got further and further out we were all thinking, "Where in the hell are we going?" We were definitely out in the
middle of nowhere. I'm talking rice paddies and banana fields. It was actually very cool though to see rural China. It is amazing how some people can live on these little farms in wood shanties with pretty much nothing around them. Our bus dropped us off at a dirt road along the sketchy two lane road we were already on. It was funny because walking down the road to get to the waterfall there was a shanty with a bunch of dogs outside and at first we were joking about eating them. Then we started to get afraid of them attacking us and getting rabies. Because Michele had gotten the rabies shot and none of the rest of us had (she was attacked by viscous monkeys last time she was in China) 
we were trying to make her go first. The dogs didn't move a muscle and it was all just us being afraid for no reason. When we got to the waterfall park it was amazing! It wasn't just a waterfall, it was a waterfall the fed a miniature water park! It was absolutely beautiful. A swimming area made out of stone, fed by a waterfall with bamboo surrounding the whole thing. We then hiked up the waterfall and the view of the valley from the top was ridiculous. Its kind of funny in China because it seems like everything is a mountain or a valley, nothing in between. No hills. Flat, or mountain, that's it. It started pouring rain and we were told our bus wasn't coming to pick us up until 4 so we hid under a shelter. Michele thought we should start walking back at 3:30 so we did and luckily we did because we had to run down the road to catch the bus because it actually came at 3:40 and another one wouldn't be coming for an hour. That is the story of waterfall field trip adventure. (Picture below is of Pablo and Chi at the top)
middle of nowhere. I'm talking rice paddies and banana fields. It was actually very cool though to see rural China. It is amazing how some people can live on these little farms in wood shanties with pretty much nothing around them. Our bus dropped us off at a dirt road along the sketchy two lane road we were already on. It was funny because walking down the road to get to the waterfall there was a shanty with a bunch of dogs outside and at first we were joking about eating them. Then we started to get afraid of them attacking us and getting rabies. Because Michele had gotten the rabies shot and none of the rest of us had (she was attacked by viscous monkeys last time she was in China) 
we were trying to make her go first. The dogs didn't move a muscle and it was all just us being afraid for no reason. When we got to the waterfall park it was amazing! It wasn't just a waterfall, it was a waterfall the fed a miniature water park! It was absolutely beautiful. A swimming area made out of stone, fed by a waterfall with bamboo surrounding the whole thing. We then hiked up the waterfall and the view of the valley from the top was ridiculous. Its kind of funny in China because it seems like everything is a mountain or a valley, nothing in between. No hills. Flat, or mountain, that's it. It started pouring rain and we were told our bus wasn't coming to pick us up until 4 so we hid under a shelter. Michele thought we should start walking back at 3:30 so we did and luckily we did because we had to run down the road to catch the bus because it actually came at 3:40 and another one wouldn't be coming for an hour. That is the story of waterfall field trip adventure. (Picture below is of Pablo and Chi at the top)
