King in China

2006-06-20T05:10:00.000-07:00

Heading home

Well I have had my last lunch at lo mien. I told the family that I was going back to America and they gave me a friendly goodbye and wished me well. I have enjoyed their restaurant ...it has been one of my favorites.

As for tomorrow, I take a bus to Shanghai, then catch a plane home to Chicago and then on to North Carolina.

I really wish I could write a closing blog entry to really tie it all up together, the experience, but I think it would take too long and I wouldn't know where to begin. Kind of a cliche answer, I know, but I'm okay with that.

Well time to go pack.

2006-06-20T05:05:00.000-07:00

Last Call

Well we all knew it had to come to an end and some were actually more excited about the end than others. The Brandy Club held it's last meeting. Toasts were made and faces cringed as the weekly tradition came to an end. It was a time not to be sad but of celebration. The Brandy Club got us through this semester.

Profe (proud winner of the attendance award) came up huge when he shocked us all with some private stock. After our meeting we made our way to the "In Club" to watch the soccer games. Good times.

Speaking of soccer, people were giving me grief because I am from America and supposedly don't know much about soccer. I proved them wrong when I guessed the score of the Mexico v Iran game. I won a Brazil Jersey.

That's all I have, kind of a fade out ending, sorry.

2006-06-16T11:23:00.000-07:00

It's been a while

Well it's been a while, partly because I think this page has been down. All is well in China as I prepare to go back home to the states. Some good friends left earlier today and that's just part of the process. I don't think that it's necesssairly sad but kind of happy, happy that we all got to come here and share the experience.

I would like to make something clear though. I know sometimes I post entries about the times that I am treated like an outsider here and sometimes maybe that caries a negative undertone to the readers. The truth is that yes, I have had negative experiences but I also have had wonderful experiences here and maybe I don't write about those because they don't stick out as much. I guess what I am trying to say is that there are going to be people everywhere who will make you feel uncomfortable, but there are also those people who make you feel very welcome. I do appreciate all of the kind peopple who have helped me out here in China.

Well I need to go to bed because I'm being attacked by mosquitos now.

Todays random friend is Dave. Dave comes from the land down under. The self proclaimed China's favorite Aussie is known for his love of Choclolate Soy Milk. The co president of the Brandy club, Dave has been the glue of many of my friends here and is the king of networking. I am excited about his trip to NC in a few months and look forward to showing him a good time and help him learn how to speak standard American English. I might even introduce him to sweet tea but I hope he doesn't go into a coma. Dave this one's for you, AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE.

2006-06-06T06:56:00.000-07:00

Pearl Market

Today I went to the Pearl Market in Zhuji which was about an hour away from Hangzhou via train. I went with Katie from Tennessee, so the Dirty South was well represented. The train ride was interesting. My favorite part was boarding because it was like everyone was rushing even though we all had different seat numbers. I don't know why but it was crazy.

I enjoyed the Pearl Market. I was buying presents for people at home and got some good bargains, I think... They were all wholesale so that was interesting trying to tell the vendors that I didn't want thousands of dollars worth of pearls.

Yesterday's class was entertaining when we had a question answer session again. This time I somehow was tricked into singing. I chose to sang the refrain from Biz Markie's You Got What I need. The students were entertained to say the least.

Today's friend is Daisy. Daisy also comes from the land down under. She has a passion for making Scrap Books. I will have to say that I have probably tried more cheesy pick up lines with Daisy than I can count. Although, I am still batting 0 .... I am sure one day she will fall in love.

Well that's it for today, to all of you that are out there, the 7th is my Birthday and although I may not be on your continent you can still buy presents, I will accept them.

2006-06-05T06:13:00.000-07:00

a good weekend

Well this past weekend was nice, the group from Barton came to visit and I was able to show them around Hangzhou. It was nice to see people from home. It was quite funny though to see their reactions to life in China. I guess I was the same way when I came here but seeing people experience culture shock for the first time while being used to it was a little different.

I got to do a bunch of tourist sites with them while they were here and that was fun because I sometimes forget about the tourist sites here. I guess when you live in a place you don't think about the tourist stops. It was nice to have somebody who could relate to the joys of drinking sweet tea.

The Brandy Club threw a party on Friday, we put up signs in preparation for the party and overall had about 70 people show up which was crazy. Brandy was there and many people were inducted into the club. It was good times, overall the weekend was a lot of fun.

Today's Friend, Tom. Tom comes from a place called New Zealand. Contrary to belief by some, it is not an island of Australia. Tom is a religion and philosophy major and a Chinese major. Willing to debate about anything, politics and religion are among his favorite topics. Be warned a simple conversation can turn into an intense debate before you can say, "Holy Sheep!" Tom is the go to guy when I need someone to go get jaozi with or when I am just bored. In the end Tom is just a good guy all around. I am lucky to have made friends like Tom here in China. So Tom I raise my glass of tea to you (I am probably going to raise yours too because I am afraid you will spill it on yourself).

2006-06-02T06:25:00.000-07:00

Wait! Don't Shoot!

The other day I was walking down to the gym which is located near the Dragon Stadium. As I get close to the Dragon Stadium I noticed that there are soldiers at the end of the street. They were practicing formations and had guns with them. I then noticed that they were crouched down, some lying down, some crouched and they had their guns pointed towards me and my friend.

The formation they were practicing was meant for firing. The eerie part about the experience was as we got closer we could hear the click of the firing pins. It's a weird feeling to have guns aimed at you and then hear the clicking sound.

This was done in a very public place and there were other people around so it's not like I was somewhere I should not have been. I made it to the gym unharmed but it was definitely an interesting walk.

Today's Friend: Today's friend is Erin. Erin comes from the other side of the Mason Dixon line...a little place called Pennsylvania. Erin is an art major and fortunately for her I have not shown her any of my paintings that I did in Mexico with some five year olds. They don't call me "King of Watercolors" for nothing. Erin was the one who helped Rusty and I get through customs when we first got here and who has done her fair share of translating for me. Not as much of a fan of the Kareoke as I am, Erin has probably embraced more of Chinese culture than most people I know. She is a hardcore traveler. Even though she says "youse guys" and I say "ya’ll", we have broken through our own language barriers to become friends.

2006-05-31T07:01:00.000-07:00

Questions

Whenever I teach or talk to groups of Chinese students I'm always amazed by the questions I get. I usually always get the questions, What do you think about the food here? What were your expectations coming to China and how has it been different from what you thought it would be? There are always some kids who are very interested in coming to America and want to know what type of scholarships are available. When I talked about dating in America, one student asked me how Americans felt towards gay marriage? One student asked me whether Western Culture was better than Eastern Culture?

People ask me if I like George Bush. People have even asked me if Americans liked Bill Clinton. People ask me if I want to get a job in China and live here.

In my last class, a girl who sits on the front row took out her camera and snapped a picture of me and then I think she took a video clip. I wanted to tell her that most people had to pay for my picture but I was afraid of how it might be lost in translation.

Sometimes when I talk to students I get a mixed response somewhere in between them being amazed, scared, confused, and just in awe. The novelty of having an American talking to them in class is cool but at the same time they are very shy.

Today's friend is Rusty. Rusty is from South Carolina. Always wearing something with Carhardt on it, Rusty is a good ole Southern boy and reminds me of home. Whenever I am in the mood for some American food, I always know I can count on calling Rusty and no matter where he is he will meet me in the restaurant. Carnival games are his weak point and where I get my victory (I owned him in the coin game in the Sung dynasty park) but he has skills on the ping pong table. So Rusty when we get home the first bowl of grits is on me.

2006-05-26T05:35:00.000-07:00

No, Mom loves you more

I was in history class the other day and we were discussing ethics in China. The conversation soon turned to the idea of duty and loyalty to family in China and how important it is to the culture. I was exposed to several stories that the Chinese are taught at young ages to build an idea of family.

The first story is about a family that is poor and the mother is sick. The family is so poor they do not have enough meat for the soup to feed the mother so that she will gain strength and return to full health. The child sees that his mother is sick and because he is so loyal to his parents he decides to cut a piece of his own flesh for the soup and gives it to his mother in a soup so that she can get well.

The second story is of a man who has a family and lives with his parents. The man's mother is sick but the family does not have any food. The man therefore kills his five year old son and shares the flesh of his child with his parents so that they can eat.

Now, I am not sure that this has ever happened and I want to say no, but the fact that these stories are told to children as an ideal of how to honor your parents scares me. Being that I have an older brother and a younger sister all I would say in that situation is, "No, Mom loves YOU more".

Today's random person from China is Michael. Michael comes from the land down under. Notorious for being able to keep the rave ball going for an hour by himself Michael is a club favorite. Whether performing a striptease to his adoring Chinese fan club of screaming women from atop the bar or just kicking it back at the local lo mien place, Michael keeps it real for Aussies across the world. So Michael I am throwing the rave ball your direction.

2006-05-24T05:36:00.000-07:00

Yard Sale!

Well the last class that I taught about American Culture was on the topic of Yard Sales. I have to admit that this class was a stretch for me because the only time I have ever driven past a yard sale in America I saw just three boxes out on a front lawn. I don't think yard sales are as big now with Ebay and thrift stores gaining market share but I had to prepare a lesson plan.

I ended up preparing a lesson plan that was shorter than what I usually prepare. Usually I have 7 pages of notes going into class and this time I had 4. I ended up doing what most teachers do when unprepared, just BS and let the conversation or topic stray from time to time.

I like teaching. I enjoy the questions that the students have and being able to answer them and give them an inside view into American Culture. I really like the kids who pay attention, and appear to be enthusiastic about the subject matter. I only had one kid who went to sleep this past week. My first week I had about 7, second week had 3 and the third week I had 1. I think that's an improvement.

I am really enjoying myself here. Now that I am through with my Chinese classes I live a slow life and I have more time to appreciate the people and the culture here. Yesterday for example, I woke up at around 10:30 and went downstairs to check my email. I then went out, grabbed a cab and had lunch with Anna, who cooked a very good lunch with dumplings, rice, and chicken wings. We sat and talked after lunch, had a coffee and then I left. On the way home, I went to the gym, worked out, took a shower and then went back out. I had dinner with Florian, Vivian, Ashley, and Leenah. We went to a Chinese place that had good shrimp and all the other Chinese dishes, including rice. We then went back to their place and played cards until 12:30. After that, I went home and called it a day.

It's nice here because I don't have the obligations that I do in the US and all the other stuff that comes with it. I have time to sit back and enjoy a cup of coffee or tea. I never would have imagined it would be like this.

Today's friend: After lunch yesterday I can't help but to write about Anna. Anna comes from the country of Mexico and the same town as Kello. Now, I can't pronounce it so I am not even going to try and spell it. If Kello ever needed a back up singer for Smelly Cat, Ana would be it. Her Achilles Heel is tequila for which I am told that all Mexicans have had a bad experience with at some point that scars them for life. Anna is that girl who can turn a casual night at a bar into a crazy night in three seconds. Beautiful and charming, it doesn't matter what's going on at the party because when you are with Anna you feel like you are the party.

2006-05-22T05:14:00.000-07:00

General Update

Well time is flying by here in China and I have just under seven weeks here before I pack up and head back home to the USA. It's kind of a weird time in the experience because the end isn't quite here but there is definitely a feeling that things are starting to wind down. Exams are within a month and the teachers have been telling the students to prepare.

One of our good friends Mathias left this past Friday and left us all with the sober reality that at some point we all will leave China and we all know without discussing too much that it will be the lasts for a lot of things. It will be the last time we all see each other and the last time some of us will be here in China. You have every intention of keeping up with people but sometimes people drift in different directions. It's just the way it is.

To combat this I sit in my room crying about it all day and dreading going home, Psych! I have been trying new restaurants around town and going to new places. The end of the trip is coming but there is no need to dread, worry, or fear... just sit back and enjoy the ride.

Someone from back home recently asked me when the suffering was over and when will I be back in the U.S.A. I was confused by the remark because I haven't suffered here. The experience has been enjoyable.

One of the weirdest things about coming to China was a few weeks ago after a visit to Beijing I felt relieved about coming back to Hangzhou. It feels more and more like home here every day. It's weird but I enjoy the day to day struggle of trying to communicate and just doing simple chores like going to the store, ordering in restaurants and so on. What is it going to be like when I go back home and things are much easier?

China is crowded and I have no idea what the people are saying so I just tune out the noise. What is it going to be like when I go home and I enter a restaurant and I can understand what the people are saying? Sometimes I think it is easier to be patient with people who I don't understand than it is to be with people who I do understand.

I think that the next language I would like to give a try is German. Maybe I should improve my Spanish, especially my vocabulary and then take up a little German.

Well as I promised my friends, I would give them each a bio on the blog and describe them one by one to the entire world. This entry I think I will start with Kello.

Kello comes from Mexico and brags about being older than the rest of us in our group. His line is always that he is older than all of us and if he can stay up and party later than we should be able to. Kello is an ancient 24 years old. Known for his love for Lisa Kudro, Kello is a huge fan of the television show friends. I am pretty sure he knows all of the words to the hit song Smelly Cat. I would not doubt it if he also knows the moves to the dance sequence from Rhomie and Michelles High School reunion. Kello's catch phrase through the trip is "Jeeeeeeezus". Kello is a class act and a hell of a cook from what I hear. He also is teaching me how to offend people in Spanish. It's been fun having Kello around because he always gives an honest response to what you say.

2006-05-18T05:32:00.000-07:00

Team Chicken Head

A few days ago I went back to the tea valley with my advisor, Min Li, her husband, and Erin. We went for lunch and played a card game and Badmitton in the afternoon. It was a pleasant day to say the least.

One of the more memorable moments was when we arrived at the tea village and sat down. People were ordering lunch and then they were doing some of the cooking outside. Well somebody must of ordered chicken because not five minutes after we sat down the cook comes walking by our table with a live chicken in her hand. She then proceeds to nonchalantly cut the chicken's head off and drops the body into a bucket where it flops around for a few minutes and then makes it's one last movement with a thud as it hits the ground.

Erin and I were quite shocked and the whole process and our advisor and husband merely laughed at our responses. We did not order the chicken for lunch for fear of having to watch another chicken loose it's life.

After lunch we played a few card games and drank our tea. The cook who was not preparing food was walking around and saw me struggling with the card game. She stopped and started to help me (I have never been good at card games) and I did not protest. I don't know if I did not protest because we won every game or if it was because her hands were stained with chicken blood and guts or a combination of both. Anyway, I thought that I would ask her if she would have a problem if I named our team, "Team Chicken Head" in honor of all those little guys who spent their last minutes flopping around in a bucket. I decided not to because I didn't know the words and there was no need to ruin a good thing.

Well that's about all I have. I hope everyone is doing well around the world.

2006-05-15T08:59:00.000-07:00

2nd day of Class

I taught my 2nd class today. I think that it went really well and I was pleased. Today's topic was money in America. The students wanted to hear about banking and what Americans spent there money on. Some students were very interested in how the tax system works and what programs the government pays for.

I have come to a realization that I act like my parents and some of the teachers I have had in the past when I am in the classroom. Some students have been sleeping in class and that has bothered me... so today I decided that every time I saw a student who kept his head down for longer than thirty seconds I would ask him a question. After I made an example of one student they all paid attention.

It is aggravating to spend long hours on lesson plans and then have some students not pay attention. I think that it is appropriate to ask the student a question and get him involved but I'll stay away from snide smart ass power trip comments like, "I didn't spend three hours of my life planning this lesson so that you could take a nap." I now understand why some teachers ask students to leave when they are sleeping.

Another thing I find rude is when students text messages during class. I noticed that the real teacher of the class was doing the same thing so I decided to just let that issue go without acknowledging it.

I found out that the college professors in China are slack in some sense. The students fill out evaluations at the end of the year and I was informed by one professor that it is embarrassing if the professor receives a bunch of bad evaluations so some professors play to the evaluations.

Overall, I was enthusiastic about the students who paid attention and the students who kept asking questions throughout the class. On the bus ride home I was thinking that my two days of teaching have probably been two of my most productive days here.

All is well here, as the days continue, Fast Times in China.

2006-05-15T06:06:00.000-07:00

A Night In America

So the other day for Rusty's birthday we had an American night out or something close to it. For starters we ate dinner at Pizza Hut which was awesome. I don't think that you can put a price on Pizza sometimes. I split the "American Special" with a friend. The "American Special" is nothing more than a pepperoni pizza but sometimes it's good to not ask for too much.

After a superb dinner we went to a mall where we found an Arcade. We played such games as The House of The Dead 1 and the House of The Dead 3. I also was fortunate enough to find a very old friend of mine, Street Fighter. It was good to loose my mind to the joy of video games, some will say that I never had a mind to lose. We also played those games where you can win tickets. We all gave our tickets to a Chinese toddler. It was nice to see him get excited about the tickets.

After the Arcade we went downstairs to the Starbucks and all ordered Frapp's. It was great and the caffeine was the perfect pick me up for a rainy night. Most of the time I will make a stand against Starbuck's and Corporate America but this time I let down my guard and paid high prices for coffee and I would not have traded it for all the tea in China!

With a caffeine buzz we headed over to the Raddison Hotel and went Bowling. I started the night out hot with a 158 and simmered down to 144 and 140 for the night. I have to give props to Mattias who rolled a 191 capturing the high score for the night.

Overall it felt like home, well... home with lot's of Asian people. The good times continue over in China.

2006-05-12T05:38:00.000-07:00

8 and a Half Friends Meeting Club

Here in Hangzhou, there is a club where you can go to meet new friends. True to it's name, 8 and a Half is a friends meeting place, well sort of. The point of the club is that you sit down at a table in a room full of tables. Each Table has a phone and above each table is a phone number. If you see someone who you think you would like to get to know better then you call them and talk for a while, tell the other person what table you are at and then they will come and check you out if they are interested.

Well, one night during the May Holiday a group of my friends and I went to the 8 and a Half to meet friends and maybe the slight possibility of finding a soul mate. Unfortunately we left disappointed and the only thing that kept us from leaving 5 minutes after arriving were the beverages we ordered.

For starters, the place was empty...how can you find a soulmate in an empty room? This is time for me to bring up that for the most part, night life in China is not as popular as it is in the West. The club was filled to one fourth of it's capacity and mostly with guys.

Secondly, the phones on our table were dead which completely prevented anyone from calling us or giving my table the chance to harass unsuspecting people. I hated to see the look on Dave's face when he found out that he could not call up somebody and just breathe loudly into the phone.

Note: The word around the streets is that Hangzhou is getting a Mexican Restaurant soon, I think that a Mexican Restaurant in China is another entry waiting to happen.

2006-05-11T05:49:00.000-07:00

The Temple of Heaven and La Messa

When I was in Beijing a few weeks ago with a group of friends from Mexico, we visited the temple of heaven. One part of the temple has three clapping stones. The idea is that if you stand on one stone and clap and you hear one echo. If you stand on the second stone and clap then you hear two echoes. If you stand on the third you hear three echoes and unfortunately that is as high as it goes because the fourth stone fails to produce any echo.

Now because we were there on the last day of our trip we were all becoming tired with Max, the tour guide, and even the Fonz and his bus driving skills were losing their charm. So we hear about the the clapping stones and different people stood on different stones and started to clap. Now in between the claps and the echoes of the claps there was this faint feeling that moved us all.

What was this feeling, well it was the dramatic slow clap like when a round of applause is started at a time that might not be appropriate but you still do it for lack of anything better to do. So one by one we all joined in and the slow clap grew to a small roar in the middle of the Temple of Heaven on the clapping stones. By this point our guide, the famous fearless Max was hiding.

After the roar of the clapping was in full effect someobody bursted out with the first few words of La Messa. This is a song about a strip club and the message behind it is that the table that claps the most gets a free table dance. You now understand how the slow clap can easily lead into this song. So there we stood, 23 of us without shame singing a song about a strip club and receiving a lap dance in the middle of the Temple of Heaven. good times...

2006-05-09T12:02:00.000-07:00

First Day of Class

Yesterday I taught my first class ever. I teach two one and a half hour classes about American culture with a fifteen minute break in the middle. Overall it was a very interesting experience and gave me an introduction to the academic world that I had never known.

It's amazing how much a teacher can tell about the students from standing up in front of them. Being a student for all of my academic career, there have been times when I have thought that the teacher has not caught me sleeping or day dreaming but I now see I was wrong. Within fifteen minutes of the start of class I could immediately tell who the good students were and who didn't care at all. I can also understand that it is pretty offensive for a student to sit there and check their cell phone during class. Also, I wanted to kick out the kid who was sleeping while I was talking.

I lectured for 40 minutes about dating in America and then for thirty minutes the students had to come up with examples of different kinds of dates to go on. For the last fifteen minutes each group of 4 to 5 had to present what they discussed. There were 8 groups so I found out how hard it can be to get through assignments because there were some students who wanted to talk the entire fifteen minutes about their own personal experience. I hated to do this but I had to cut them off and move on.

I found that dating was a subject that most of the students were shy and reserved on, preferring not to talk about it. As I stated at one point in class, it was like pulling teeth to get them to talk.

Overall, it was a great experience and an educational one on my behalf. I am looking forward to planning my lessons for next weeks topic, "money and managing finances in America."

On a side note: I went to dinner to a restaurant that served a hot pot and it came with big bones in the middle of the pot. They gave us a plastic glove and a straw. I then noticed from looking at the other table that you were suppose to stick your straw into the bone and suck all of the marrow out with the straw. I politely declined to do this and just ate the other vegetables and meat in the hot pot.

and another one... I woke up today to torrential down pours, the type that only Forest Gump could describe.

2006-05-09T11:53:00.000-07:00

The Myth Cafe

Here in China we have managed to find a pretty good Western Restaurant that isn't a fast food chain. It is called the Myth Cafe (hence the title of this entry). Now the Myth, as it is so affectionately called by it's followers, is the one break from Chinese food that I have found that gets about as close to Americian cuisine as you could want.

For starters the menu is in English and only English. There is no Chinese to be found on the menu and that makes me feel like I am at home.

Secondly, the Myth serves breakfast food like eggs and omelets. It also makes one of the best grilled cheese sandwiches I have ever had. They also serve good coffee and that is hard to find over here in China. There is plenty of tea but not much coffee here in China.

The Myth also makes a good steak. It is a thin piece of meat but it is served with a great sauce on top and garnished with home fries. The Myth has a good selection of potatoes from crockets to mashed potatoes. Because the Myth is mostly meant for Westerners it is usually not packed with screaming Chinese people which makes it easier to have a conversation.

One thing they kind of missed on was the hot chocolate which is hot water and chocolate syrup. It's not bad but it isn't up to Myth standard.

Well, that's all I have today. Happy Mothers Day Mom!

2006-05-05T05:36:00.000-07:00

Ice Ice Baby

One thing that I am missing over here is ice. I think that the Chinese people view it as wasteful and coming from a culture that spends most of its time drinking tea, I understand that. For us foreigner though, we miss ice. Not only do we drink a majority of our drinks cold but we even have drinks like slushy's, smoothies, parrot ice(my favorite) that are made up of mostly ice.

I have been around Chinese people at restaurants and who have asked for their drinks without ice. I asked them why (these people spoke English so that's how I asked) and they said that the ice was too cold and hurt their teeth.

You don't know what you have until it's gone and as the weather heats up I don't have an abundance of ice. Most of my drinks are tepid at best (sorry, always looking for a good time to through tepid into a sentence). There is no going to the store and buying a bag of ice here, no filling up a cooler with ice and your favorite beverage, mine being Dr. Pepper of course. All in all there is no ice, only the occasional drink at Pizza Hut or McDonalds.

Well, that's all I have today, but I would like to send out a good luck to all of those taking finals and a congratulations to all of those graduating.

2006-05-05T05:28:00.000-07:00

Bowling in China

The other night some of my friends found a bowling alley here in town at the Raddison Hotel. The Raddison is one of the nicer hotels and therefore has a bowling alley. So Saturday night, this past one, Tom's birthday (shout out!) we packed into cabs and hit the lanes for some good times.

Overall the experience left me frustrated and somewhat dejected. First of all, the shoes were not slick and stuck to the lanes preventing that graceful slide. The first time I threw my ball down the lane I almost tripped face first onto the plastic. That brings me to my second point, there was no oil on the lanes, just a plastic cover that was shiny but did not provide that slide for the ball that can totally change the game.

Besides for the technical aspects of the game, there were other mistakes. The music did nothing to help set the tone for a positive bowling experience. Only Chinese pop was heard throughout the entire building. How was I supposed to get the magical 300 without Shakira and Usher blaring in the background.

There was no black light bowling which is just crazy. Black lights and bowling alleys go together like strip clubs and stripper poles. One without the other is just out of place.

Now without black lights and without Usher, the bowling alley isn't one tenth as romantic which brings me to my next point. There were no nervous teenage kids making out in the middle of the bowling alley. We didn't have anything to make fun of and therefore were forced to watch the other people in the group bowl and nothing is more boring than watching someone bowl.

All in all I survived but not without some stories that began, "Back at Westview Lanes in Wilson..."

I would like to say thank you to all of the people who held candle light vigils and said prayers because the kebob restaurant has reopened, Thank You!

Well, that's all I have, Happy Cinco De Mayo!

2006-05-01T05:41:00.000-07:00

Max and the Fonz

On our trip to Beijing we had a tour guide named Max and a bus driver whom we will name later. After day one it became evident that we as a group were getting on Max's last nerves as several people thought that they saw him cry. Apparently in China it is important to be on time.

Bets were placed on what day Max was going to have a nervous breakdown and cus us all out in Chinese. Apparently he told the Chinese people that we were troublesome and so we knew it wasn't too far away. It never happened but we all had our camera's ready.

As for the bus driver, he was lovingly given the name "The Fonz". Every time we passed by him we would shout, "Heyyyyyyyy". Since the Fonz has never seen Happy Days and doesn't understand the word hey, it was quite funny. Oh yea, the bus driver had a bad habit of leaving the keys in the ignition when he would go on lunch breaks. One time Aussie Dave took the keys and turned on the bus and started screwing around with it. Another time when the bus was in the parking lot and the group went out on an excursion, the Fonz decided to take a nap. This provided some good photo ops and well it was also funny to see Dave scare the Fonz out of a deep sleep.

As for Max he gave us his phone number (big mistake) and will probably receive a text bomb this Friday night (All 20 of us are going to send him text messages at the same time.) Good times here in China with Max and The Fonz.

2006-05-01T05:33:00.000-07:00

Spring Break Beijing 2006

Well, I just got back from Beijing for my Spring Break. I know that this is weird because most people are about to get out for summer in a week or two but Spring Break is always Spring Break. I will write more in detail later but I just wanted to go through a few overviews of the trip.

The Great Wall was incredible. The most amazing thing was the fact that it was built all along these mountains and not in the easiest of terrains. I was tired after hiking up to the third tower of the section that we visited. Since we went with a travel agency, we went to a tourist spot. I think next time (hopefully in June) I will try to go to a non tourist part. I did manage to get some good pictures though.

Tianamen Square was bigger than what I imagined. The cool thing about that was there were people from all over the world there. I probably saw more foreigners in the past week than I have in the previous two and a half months.

The Forbidden City was under heavy reconstruction so we didn't get to see most of it but the parts we did see were nice.

I bought Polo shirts for the equivalent of five American dollars each at one of the night markets. It is different to be able to bargain with the vendors in the markets. I will describe more of this later.

Well that's all for now, I am about to go celebrate Tom's birthday but if anybody has any questions about Beijing, leave a comment or message and I will try to get back to you about it. There was so much to see and I am sure I am leaving out parts.

2006-04-19T05:13:00.000-07:00

East vs. West

There is always a discussion going on between the students from the West about the comparison of students from Korea and Japan against the rest of us. Students from Korea and Japan almost have a one up against the students from the west.

The students from Korea and Japan are familiar with the idea of characters and writing them which is completely foreign to the people from Europe and North and South America and Australia (yes, this includes all Kiwis too). With this said, it may take a Korean or Japanese student to copy a new Chinese character five times to memorize it while a student from the west might copy the character ten to fifteen times.

The study methods are different too. It is more common for students of the East to have better memories and be able to memorize characters, dialogues, or passages faster than a student from the west. These kids have grown up on memorization as being one of the primary tools of studying. Also, the students from the east are more eager to practice their spoken Chinese outside of class. Western students usually stick to their native languages. It's probably because we are less motivated and a little lazy, but it doesn't mean we are bad people or at least I am going to tell myself that.

I would not be surprised if Western students were better at reading comprehension. A student from the East can recite a passage but I am not sure if that student understands the story as well. I think that the students from the West are more apt to succeed in assignments that require creativity. Not to say that people from the East are not creative, they are. Western schools and universities bring more creativity into the classroom.

These are just my opinions from what I have gathered here. I am not saying that they are correct but just observations. There are no winners or losers, just students trying to graduate so that they can get a job and make that dolla, holla!

Random Chinese fact: People here eat ice cream which proves that ice cream is a force of good.

2006-04-18T05:16:00.000-07:00

Random tidbits

Today in class we were doing a review for the midterm coming up in two days. As we sat studying, Florian, my German friend asks the teacher what one of the characters on a handout was. It turns out it was the character for cake. He asks the teacher if we have had this character in our lessons. She responded no. He then asked her how he was suppose to know what it was. She responded that it was cake and that he now knew. Florian asked her how he was suppose to have known this in the past. At this point the teacher asks him, "Have you ever had cake?" He said yes and then she said, " Well then you should know what the character is." I laughed and turned to him and asked that since he had eaten cake before he was automatically suppose to know what the character for cake was in Chinese.

The first of my classes that I will teach about American Culture will be about "dating". I thought that many of you would have comments about this.

This Friday and Saturday I am going to meet diplomats from America and all around the world as they come to Hangzhou for a Chinese expo. To prepare, I have been standing in front of the mirror practicing my delivery on one liners like, "I don't know if you know this but I write for the Barton Collegiate."

Well that's about all I have. I am going to go study and memorize words only to forget them within five minutes. I hope all is well around the world and until next time, don't put the chopsticks up your nose.

2006-04-17T05:25:00.000-07:00

Shh, I am studying

There is a big difference between studying in China and in America. In America most of my studying is focused on reading and then creating an essay or a free response test. Since I have been out of high school, a lot of the school work I have done has had me trying to come up with an idea and then expressing it on paper.

Here in China, I am being asked to memorize characters and to write them out on tests. It is sort of like a spelling test. I go to class and am asked to not come up with my own dialogues as much as just recite a dialogue from the book. There is more of a focus here in China on memorization. It is common for Chinese students who are learning English to know many English words but not know how to use them. A student may know the word "minute" but that person would not know how to use it in a sentence in comparison with small.

It's completely the opposite of how I would prefer to learn but I think that it may be good to have a mixture of both. I have had a difficult time learning the Chinese characters. The Korean and Japanese kids go to the study room and will stay for hours. It is not uncommon to see a kid in the study room passed out on top of his or her book. I guess they are practicing Osmosis.

I guess maybe I am surprised because I am learning more about "learning styles" than I am learning Chinese Characters. Soon I will be able to answer questions like, "If a tree falls in the wood and nobody is around, does it make a sound?" and "What's the sound of one hand clapping?"

Until then, I'll continue to learn how to write, "Do you like apples?" in Chinese.

On a sad note: The kebob place has been closed for a week and a half. I don't think it is going to open up any time soon. This is sad because this was one of the few meals here besides McDonald's and Pizza hut that did not require chopsticks to eat.

2006-04-17T05:18:00.000-07:00

Dinner at Lo Mien

The other night I went to my noodle place again. I went for a late dinner and for the most part the little restaurant was empty. When I walked in the family looked at me and recognized me and made some jokes that I could not understand. I just shrugged and smiled back and they laughed. They took my order and I sat down and watched as the youngest of the three sons there started to manipulate and play with the dough, slowly turning the glob into some of the best noodles in China.

The other two sons and the father were jokingly giving the youngest son a hard time while he made the noodles. I took advantage of this and laughed along with the family as they teased the youngest son. The youngest son passed the noodles to the oldest son who put them in the pot. The wife went into the back room to tell the cook to get the stove ready. I heard her shout, chou lo mien which is what I ordered. In a few minutes the middle son took the noodles back to the stove and shortly after I had a fresh hot plate of chou lo mien.

I sat there and ate while drinking my Lipton ice tea. The family continued ragging on each other and the oldest son sang while making more noodles for the others who walked in. After I finished I stood up and paid. On my way out I heard the mother shout at the youngest son something. He ran over and picked up a handful of napkins and gave them too me. I wiped the layer of sauce off of my face (eating noodles is no easy task with chopsticks, well eating them without making a mess) and was on my way.

I am not saying that we had a truly great experience and that we learned the meaning of life from it but in a country where I don't speak the language well and where so many people are always running around busily, I don't get experiences like that often. For that short moment I got to sit and watch as a family operated a family owned restaurant. I guess it's just different here because I finally got to understand what was going on. I broke through the language barrier. I have learned that when go for long periods of time without understanding a sense of family or community, when you do pick up on it, you appreciate it more.

Random Chinese Fact: Easter is not a major holiday in China and so therefore Peeps are not sold in stores.

2006-04-13T05:31:00.000-07:00

Cake

So last night I wanted to go type on one of the computers in the second floor lobby. When I got there I noticed that about 20 Asian students were in there celebrating a birthday. Evidently it was some girls birthday and a large group of the Korean/Japanese students migrated down from the study room on my floor to the Lobby. Well it supposedly started out as a nice party and ended up in a cake throwing fiasco that had people taking cake to the face. The wierdest thing was that the birthday girl was standing in the middle taking the blunt end of it. She pretended to be upset but you could tell that she enjoyed it. It then dawned on me that Korean students covered in Birthday Cake pretending to cry does not shock me as much as it once may have.

To give you all a flash picture of what China is like I will describe a scene earlier today: I walk up to the cross walk as the green light is flashing and I decide to stop. At this point a driver comes flying past me while the cross walk guard starts yelling at him. I was happy I didn't cross. It was a blatant red light that the driver ran. As I stood there and about 50 of my chinese contemporaries gathered around me the light turned again and we began to cross. As we got to the middle another car came racing past us, only slowing down to about ten miles per hour. It was kind of scary in a way because the driver ran a red light where there were 75 pedestrians crossing during their lunch break. It was his blatant disregard for the safety of the others and the traffic laws. That's how people drive around here. People don't abide by rules or laws in the streets. They kind of all merge together. If you stop and let one person in then what seems like the entire country will follow them and then you have just waited to let all of China go in front of you. To cope with this you have to take the theory that every man woman and child is fair game, i.e. equal opportunity. You have to cut others off because they are going to do the same to you. It's not rude, it's survival.

Today's random Chinese fact: Cigarette's cost 2 American Dollars. I was wrong earlier and I felt obliged to correct myself for the smokers who read this.

2006-04-11T05:31:00.000-07:00

MSG makes me a better person

Here in China I am pretty sure that I have eaten some MSG. For those of you that don't know, MSG is a chemical put on food that brings out the taste of the food. It would be ideal for a restaurant who is using bland foods but does not want to pay for spices or other sorts of flavoring. The only downside is that it supposedly can cause cancer and memory loss but what doesn't.

Since I have been in China, where MSG is popular, I feel that I have become a better person. I can now run faster, jump higher, and I am a lot stronger. Is this because I am working out more, hell no, it's MSG.

I can hear, see, and smell better. Sometimes I feel things that aren 't even there, is this because I am psychotic, hell no, it's because MSG has made me a better person.

All of a sudden my jokes are funnier, I can solve scientific equations that others have not thought of. I have found the meaning of life. I have gained use of that other part of my brain that people said I could never use. Basically I am like a Chinese Super Man.

All of this would not have happened but thanks to MSG I can do things I never thought were possible. So, to all of those people out there who want to improve their lives, I strongly suggest MSG.

Oh yeah, if your name is Dave Hagen, please leave a message that has your email address on it.

Random Chinese Fact: In China, a pack of cigarettes costs the equivalent of 50 cents in America, I think. That's what I heard the other day but it could be wrong because I don't smoke. Cheers!

2006-04-10T05:43:00.000-07:00

I don't know??

Being a junior in college I am supposed to have some sort of clue about my career track. Traveling abroad is supposed to help my find what I want to do with the rest of my life. This is what I have been told. Some people have told me that traveling abroad will make it easier to know what I want to do after I graduate. Some people have told me that studying in China is one of the greatest things I could do for my resume.

The funny thing is that it has all gone the opposite way. I am a junior in college and I still have no clue about what career path I want to follow. Instead of going to China to find myself I have merely lost myself in the world. I have not found answers here in China but only more questions. I don't want to go back home to settle down, I want to go home and prepare my next adventure.

It's so weird because here in China I have met people who are my age and some who are a few years older and many of them have no idea when they want to settle down or what they want to do with their life. I did not travel to China to run away from anything but, instead, to find new challenges and opportunities.

So when people ask me what I am going to do when I graduate, what career I want to chose, or if I have found meaningful direction in my life, I will respond, "I don't know."

2006-04-09T04:30:00.000-07:00

Busy weekend

Well it's been a busy but great weekend for me. It started on Thursday when my friend Jim came into town with his friend Jess. They arrived just in time for some noodles at the same noodle place where I feel I am an American celebrity. Later that night, Jim, Jess, Ausie Dave and Ausie Michael, and I went out to the Max club. We had a great time and stayed pretty late dancing and just acting up. We impressed the Chinese people with two hours straight of nothing but the rave ball (this is when you pretend you are throwing around an imaginary ball and you can do what ever you like to do with it, throw it, catch it, kick it, basically it's wonderful exercise for the imagination).

We left the club and then made our way the 24 hour McDonald's and embraced our American heritage. The thing is that Australia is just like America, George W. Bush called them our deputy sheriff. After that, we each made it back to our homes and into our beds.

The next day was an adventure. I met Jim, Jess, and Kiwi Tom for an adventure to the tea islands. We took a cab out to the tea field and drank tea all afternoon. It was good times. This one women talked to us about the tea and why it was so special. I didn't understand her but I sure did appreciate the tea. After tea we walked around a bit and took some good pictures.

Later that night I took Jim and Jess to the Argentinean barbecue for good times and lot's of meat. It was a long day but the night was about to begin. The three of us met up with my international group for the Brandy Club. Congratulations to the newest member, Jim. After the Brandy Club meeting, we went to the Forest Club where there is the bouncing dance floor. We left and then went out by the lake. Jim and Jess walked with Ausie Michael by the lake and I decided to take my dancing skills on to the Inn Club.

I sent Jim off the next day with lunch at the train station. It was good to see Jim and I am looking forward to going to Beijing to hang out there in a few weeks. Saturday afternoon was semi productive. Saturday night Katie and I headed over to have dinner with Florian and Vivian from Germany. They have the coolest apartment in a hotel that is about as nice as it gets. Florian made some great Spaghetti that he learned from a Chemical Brothers movie. After dinner we watched Andy Warhol's Frankenstein and then The Life of Brian.

Today I have done my laundry and I will do some cleaning and studying in preparation for the upcoming week. I feel very lucky that I have so many good friends here in China. It was also good to introduce Jim to all of my friends here.

My friend Ausie Dave has started a blog at www.modsey.easyjournal.com and I think most of you will enjoy it.

Well that's all I have today. I hope everyone is doing well at home and feel free to leave me a message to catch me up on what's going on back in the states. Later.

2006-04-03T05:38:00.000-07:00

China is Hot, Hot, Hot

Today's weather is pretty warm outside which I actually prefer to the cold. I have always liked hot weather because I associate it with school being out, my birthday (two months away, go shop now!), and the beach. I always forget though how the sun can just zap the energy from you in a good way. It usually takes me a few days to get used to the heat and for my body to adjust.

The public transportation system is very important here in China because so many people do not own cars. Being one of the hundreds of thousands of people in my city who use the busses around town I have come to notice that they heat up fast. A typical bus probably has seats for 25 to 30 people at most. With that said, it is not uncommon to see a bus with 60 people crammed inside. The busses do not vent very well and can become unbearably hot at times.

The other day on my way to the theme park I noticed that there was a fight almost about to break out. There was a woman and her young son who was about five years old taking up two seats. Another mother came onto the bus holding her three year old daughter and was searching for a seat. There was no way that the woman could have held a grip on her daughter and held onto the pole so that she wouldn't fall.

Noticing another mother with a young son, the mother who was holding onto her daughter approached the mother and asked her (now all of the story's dialogue is straight from body language and facial expressions) if she would put her son in her lap and if they could share the two seats. The mother who was sitting down with her son said no and did not move. The mother who was holding on to her daughter pleaded as the bus started to move. At that point a man got the attention of the standing mother and let her have his seat.

A woman who was standing beside me started shouting at the woman who sat with her son. She was obviously mad that a fellow mother did not help out another mother. As the sitting mother protested a man in front of her turned around and started to lay into the sitting mother. About two other people joined in and I just stood there watching.

Now being that there were other people more cramped and crowded on the bus than the small child in the seat and that it was hot I began to get agitated with the mother too. Would it have been so hard for the mother to have had her son sit on her lap? The son just sat and made faces at all of the people who were yelling at his mother and at this point I began to think, Who in the hell does this kid think he is, the prince of China?

The incident blew over and did not really ruin the day but just pissed people off for about 10 minutes. Reflecting on what had happened later I thought to myself that this was the first time in China that I had picked up on any sense of community. Most of the time, the people are more focused on their individual needs. Granted the mother in the seat was still focused on that but the other people who decided to yell at her were doing this not because they personally wanted the seat but they saw the need of the mother who was standing. It was interesting to watch. I hope I haven't lost people with the story of mother and son and mother and daughter. I thought about making up names but that would have been too much.

You Might Be in China: If crossing the road can be considered as an extreme sport, You Might Be in China!

2006-04-03T05:32:00.000-07:00

Disney World in China??

Well today I went with my group of Americans to a Chinese theme park that is supposed to be themed like the Sung Dynasty (not sure if I am even close to the spelling). It was a lot of fun. Some highlights from the trip would have to be the different carnival games around the park. There were darts, throw a bean bag at wooden blocks to knock them down, and a sling shot game.

My favorite game was throwing coins into a hole in the middle of a small fountain. You stand on the pedestal and throw the coins into the the hole and then music plays and the fountains turn on. Rusty and I stood there and played three back to back games which cost ten kuai each. I won the first game and Rusty won the second. The third game came down to the last three shots and I eventually won but it was a good match.

We had a crowd of about fifteen to twenty Chinese people watching us and they gave a pretty good commentary. It was kind of cool because every time we came close they would gasp. Every time we would make it they would cheer. It was like having cheerleaders and you don't know who they are cheering for but you assume that they want you to win.

That's about all I have today. I must go and do some studying for my test tomorrow. Midterms and my finals are a little more than two weeks away. Then it's no more Chinese classes and I get to teach English.

Today's You Might Be in China: If you have ever been to a restaurant and seen the waiter throw down two fish in the middle of the restaurant floor and watch them flop around to prove to the customers that the fish are fresh then You Might Be In China. (You Might Be In China was completely stolen from Rusty but I like it so I will continue to use it.)

2006-03-31T05:29:00.000-08:00

Good Times

So as I am sitting in the internet cafe listening to the gamers shout at each other and trying to read about sports, the news and other American things and my phone vibrates. Holly hell, it was Jim straight out of Beijing. It turns out that he is coming down to Hangzhou soon. We are going to rock China, wide awake Wilson style, shout out to the boyz back at home.

Anyway, I am really excited because I know someone from America is coming to see me. Today has been a good day. I went to my lo mien noodle restaurant by myself today, ordered, sat down and took off my headphones. For my entire lunch I sat there by myself and picked up on the words I knew from other peoples conversations. I was not speaking English so I didn't really stick out.

For that moment, it was like I was a local or as close to it as I will ever be. I mean, I just was there and not ostracized. It was nice and I really enjoyed the experience. Thousands of dollars and a lot of time spent getting here and learning Chinese and for thirty minutes today it all came together. I felt at one with China. More importantly, I felt at one with who I am and where I am. It was so cool. It was the type of experience you don't get in a text book, movies or from teachers. It was a learning experience that didn't have a grade on it. There was no passing or failing but just being. It was learning about people with out asking and without them telling you. It was learning on a level that I never knew existed.

Random Chinese fact: The video game Warcraft is big in China but NFL football is not.

2006-03-29T08:06:00.000-08:00

Tea time in china

Today I went out to a tea field with some friends from class. We ate lunch at a nice restaurant. For the first time in my life I ate snail. It wasn't that good or that bad. One of the weird things was having to suck the little guy out of his home in his shell. It was a dirty process that had little to no pay off in the end.

The tea was very good. In the cycle of the tea season, this is the best time of the year for it because the first of the tea crops are being harvested. Supposedly these are the younger baby tea leaves and will be the best of the season. It was a good time and I enjoyed drinking the tea and eating snail.

We went for a walk through the valley after lunch and took pictures of all of the workers who picked the crops. While crossing a stream I decided not to use the stepping stone bridge and just make my own bridge. That was all good until I got to the middle of the tiny stream and realized that these stones were covered with moss and were very slippery. At the time I finished my thought my feet were parallel to my head and I was testing Chinese gravity.

Gravity works well here and I slammed down into the stream landing on rocks. Fortunately I only got wet and did not break my camera or my cell phone. My wallet and belt got wet along with my clothes but all in all it could have been much worse. It was actually quite funny. We finished the walk and I took a shower when I got back to wash of the smell of dirty water. I am well now but I have some really smelly clothes so it's time for laundry, yay.

Today's random Chinese fact: With one serving of tea leaves you can get about four or five cups worth of tea. Well that's all I have. Later!

2006-03-28T06:03:00.000-08:00

Sports Jacket Tuesday

So after going through my closet and finding out that some of my clothes were not getting worn enough I decided to come up with a theme for every day this week. Monday was "Business Casual Monday" and I dressed as if I was going to a meeting. Today is "Sports Tuesday" and I wore my sports jacket and looked as if I was going to a yuppie cocktail party. Tomorrow will be "Work Out Wednesday" and I plan on wearing my best athletic apparel topped off with my headband.

I can do this here because I have come to the conclusion that I will be stared at every day no matter what I am wearing. I have chosen to not shy away from this but to run with it and say, "Hell, if they are all going to stare I might as well give them something worth looking at."

Being a Westerner here is different because almost everything I do people will tell each other how weird it is. The joke with the local people is that white people aren't very smart because we smile more often than the Chinese people. In China it is important to keep face and to not show much emotion. Therefore, if I laugh at a joke or talk loudly it always draws the attention of other people and they will look at me and wonder why I am laughing.

today's random Chinese fact: You should always rub the end of your chop sticks together as if to start a fire to get the splinters off the chop sticks. Remember, safety first!

2006-03-25T05:59:00.000-08:00

DVD's

This past Friday I went and bought 56 DVD's at the Electronics Market. They probably only cost me twenty five American dollars in all. I got some really good movies and some box sets. I got the Godfather series, All of the Harry Potter movies, and season five of Twenty Four Hours. I got some great individual movies too, including Seven, Candyman, and a Charlie Chaplin collectors series. The only thing that I am worried about is whether they will work but I think it's worth the fifty cent investment.

I have done some major cleaning lately to combat the battle of the mold in my room. I think that I am winning but it's too early to tell. I found out that I am not the only person with this problem. Evidently one guys room was so bad and that his allergies got so bad he had to switch rooms because his throat would swell up when he was sleeping and it was difficult for him to breathe. My room is nowhere close to that bad and I am not trying to be overdramatic because I just have a little mold. Hey if mold is my biggest problem of the day then I think I am living a good life.

Now to Answer some questions for my good ole friend Pimberton. McDonald's does not have the quarterpounder I don't' think. I have not seen the McFlurry here but the ice cream is quite popular. I am not sure what the toys say and if they say they are made in China. There is no McRice but McCorn is quite popular.

Well that's all I have today. I am about to go grab lunch at the kebob place down the street from my internet cafe. I then will go study for two hours, get dinner and then study for two more hours and call it a night. Fast times in China.

Today's random China Fact: Chinese or Asian people who live in the Western world are called the word banana in Chinese (I can't remember it at this moment) because they are yellow on the outside and white on the inside. Although my teacher said that this was not offensive I have heard that it is very offensive and so I will chose not to call anyone by this name because I did not come to China to step on toes. Well, that's it, Later!

2006-03-23T05:54:00.000-08:00

Fight the mold

So I think I have formed an allergy to mold over the past three years of my life. Now, I must fight mold in China. Where I live is very humid and mold grows quite well. I have been breaking out into hives recently which really isn't one of my better character traits. To fight this I am going to go to the drug store to see if they have any medicine. The trick will be to explain to the people at the drug store that I have an allergy, a word that is not common in Chinese and is translated into hypersensitive. This is another adventure so wish me luck.

I am also going to actually clean. For what might seem to be the first time in my entire life, I am going to clean the shower and the toilet in my room. I can not cop out on roommates, family members, or the dorm cleaning people. I will take matters into my own hands.

So more motivated to do this new thing called cleaning than I have been in a while, I am off to the Trust Mart to buy some cleaning stuff. I guess I will need brushes and some sort of cleaning solution, preferably one that is strong enough to kill mold but that will not eat through my skin.

Today's random Chinese Fact! McDonald's does not have the dollar menu but it works out well because a value meal is no more than $2.50.

2006-03-22T09:36:00.000-08:00

Noodles

I have found a new favorite restaurant. It is a lo mien restaurant and serves many types of noodle dishes. I can go there and order stir fried noodles and it's only 7 kuai which is less than one American dollar. The restaurant is very good and today when I walked in there with Tom, the guy already knew what I wanted.

It's good to get noodles instead of rice sometimes. I eat a lot of rice here and well sometimes steamed rice gets a little redundant. I can see why it is popular here. It's such a great filler food. If you have a meal and you are going to eat a bowl of rice no matter what then you don't have to spend more money ordering anything else.

That's about all I have today, I need to go study for my test tomorrow.

today's random Chinese fact: Coca Cola is more popular than Pepsi in China but they do not put as much carbonation into the soft drinks here and they taste flat in comparison with soft drinks from home.

2006-03-21T05:39:00.000-08:00

titleless

Well I have caught the next big cold that is going around town. This one strikes the throat and makes it difficult to talk and swallow without intense pain. To combat this I am taking some Chinese medicine. One is in the pill form and goes down smoothly. The other is in the form of a Chinese cough syrup which is very thick and goes down worse than the $2.50 bottle of Brandy.

Besides for the pain in my throat, all is well here in China. The weather is getting nicer every day and I have learned how to make a mean cup of tea. Not much else to say but just wanted to get my whining out on the internet so that I could receive a little sympathy in English. Please feel free to lavish me with messages of how important my blog is to your very existence and if it stopped because of my illness that your mornings would lack joy.

Well I am off to go get a bowl of soup and then back to bed for a while. Take it easy.

Random Chinese fact: I can't find cough drops over in China. A plug for more pity and shameless praise is more than welcome.

2006-03-21T05:36:00.000-08:00

Seat not Taken

So the other day I was with a friend,Katie, in the cafeteria on the bottom floor of my dorm eating beef and green peppers. We were sitting at a four top table and in China it is common for people who do not know each other to share a table because it is a good use of space. Now at times it can be weird but you get to make new friends. The way this cafeteria works is that people order their food at the counter in the front and then they go to a table while the servers take the sheets with the orders written on them and they go and bring the food. Katie and I are eating our dinner and we start to notice something, nobody wanted to sit beside us. Now, I had bathed that morning and I was pretty sure I didn't smell bad or anything like that. Several times throughout our meal the servers would wave people over to our table and gesture for the Chinese people to sit there and each time the Chinese people would politely refuse. One couple even had a discussion about how the girl didn't mind sitting there and the guy did not want to share a table with us. Now the situation finally ended after a gentleman took his plastic bag and set it on the table and stood by the table until we were finished. When we left the table he sat down.

I will say that I have been rejected, dissed, shunned, turned down, and had people refuse to associate with me before, but those people at least knew me. It was ok to be dissed like this but I wanted to tell the people, "It's ok if you don't want to sit beside me but at least find a character flaw first. They are there, so don't worry. Using my nationality and skin color is just a weak excuse."

This was in it's own weird way, a learning experience for me. What did I learn from this? Don't judge people by their skin color, get to know them so you can make personal assumptions about their character or lack their of. Also green peppers may make your breath smell bad so watch out and always cary mints or gum to help neutralize the grose smells that come from your mouth after you eat dinner.

Todays random Chinese Fact, Yay! Don't know if I have put this one up yet so here it goes. If you stick your chopsticks directly down in your bowl of rice, it is very offensive to people. It resembles a bowl of sand and insense burning which is used at funerals. I have not tried this, but I would imagine that sticking your chopsticks up your nose and walk around saying I am a walrus might be offensive too. So it all goes back to the saying, "Don't play with your silverware, woodware, eating utensils!"

2006-03-21T05:33:00.000-08:00

Agentina in China?

Well the other day we went to an Argentinian buffet here in China. It was the first time I had seen steak on the menu since my last meal at Outback in America (tear). It was great. You could just keep going up and help your slef as the chef cut the meat off of the skewers right there in front of you. They also had some good green beans.

Well I really haven't done much this weekend except for sleep and study. All of my friends went to Shanghai for the weekend and I thought that it would be better for me to stay home and get better. I think that was a good call in the end as I am feeling better no thanks to my ploy for sympathy messages which crashed and burned.

So I guess everyone at home is getting back from Spring Break 06 which must have been fun. I don't get my spring break until May 1 and then I will go to Beijing and hopefully make my way to the Great Wall of China. Well I know that March Madness is going on and someone let me know how the Barton Team does up in Mass.

Well thats about all I have for today, it's a pretty lame entry but I really haven't done anything cool lately. I do have a few questions for someone at home that can help me. First, How do you make Jello Shot's? Second, when do the course listings for next fall come out? Third, What are some new movies that are coming out this summer? I would appreciate any messages about just what is going on in America.

Well for a Random Chines Fact: This isn't a fact but I was walking in front of the Trust Mart the other day, it's like Wal-Mart, and I see a lady who has a net and in the bottom of the net is a turtle. I look at the turtle and think well she has a new pet. Wrong! I looked down again and noticed that the turtles legs were out of the shell but that there was no head to be found. I then noticed that the turtle looked a little dry and wasn't moving. I then thought that the turtle wasn't a pet but lunch.

2006-03-14T05:46:00.000-08:00

A little more info

So I had a few questions that I would like to answer and I thought, "Hey, I can't think of anything creative to write today so I will answer all of these questions that people have asked me." It's kind of a cop out and I apologize to the readers but more importantly I apologize to myself.

Question #1: Do you have a roommate?
Answer: No, I live in a single room in an International Dorm and with the program I am in I can not get out of the dorm. If I could get out I would get an apartment with some friends but let it be known that I like my cozy little room and I enjoy the International college and the only reason why I would want an apartment is because it would be cheaper and a pretty cool experience I think. I also have my own personal bathroom which is good because if it is ever dirty I only have one person to blame and that is myself.

Question #2: When are you going to put up pictures?
Answer: I would put up pictures but I can't get my computer which is from 1999 to get online, so I use the computers at the internet cafe and that is not the computer that my pictures are on. So it may be a while until I can put pictures on somebody else's computer and up load them to webshots or even this place, but who knows.

Question #3: Have you found a wife?
Answer: No, the whole language barrier is kind of getting in my way and even without it, I don't think I am ready for marriage. I do carry around an emergency engagement ring in case I ever meet "the one" and I am prepared to just go out on a whim and propose. I have yet to break the seal on the box to open it but I have reached in my pocket for it.

Question #4: Do you ever get homesick?
Answer: I am living in China and I don't speak Chinese. Sometimes I get homesick, not that cry yourself to sleep while cuddling with your pillow and listening to the song All by Myself on repeat homesick but the more of hey this is kind of awkward here and I wish someone understood me when I spoke to them. Also, even though I am a big deal wherever I go and people stare at me in awe and amazement of how cool I am, I would occasionally not mind sticking out in a crowd. By not sticking out, I mean not being one of only three white people in a restaurant or just a lou wei, that's Chinese for foreigner although I think I misspelled it.

Question #5: How does the cat taste?
Answer: I am on a strict don't ask don't tell policy about food. I order meat and I don't ask what kind it is a lot of time because I don't know how and they don't tell me because I wouldn't understand. I have had some very good variations of beef and how much of it is beef I couldn't tell you but you just sometimes have to go with it. I have also been eating my vegetables because they are really good here. Something else that is really good is the plant life, like bamboo, or this other plant that I can't remember the name for but is pretty good.

So that's it, I hope I have answered some questions for some of you and for everyone else I hope I have enlightened and inspired you to become a better person.

today's random Chinese Fact: It is offensive to walk around the streets of China barefoot or just walking anywhere outside of your house barefoot. I don't worry about that because I always ware my shoes. I would hate to step in a big glob of spit somewhere.

today's random Quote: This one comes from Michael and it made me chuckle. In conversation it came out...I hope I do it justice. "Yea, youÂre like twins separated at birth. One of you was raised by Hitler and the other was raised by Churchill and I am not sure which one you are." This wasn't directed to me but it still makes me laugh.

2006-03-10T11:53:00.000-08:00

A typical day in China

So some of you wanted to know what a typical day here for me is like. Here it goes.

I wake up at 7 in the morning and get ready for class. I walk across the street to the little store and I buy Orange Juice and a little packaged cake. After my experience with the breakfast pork/bean curd/not sure what it was rolls I don't try anything new for breakfast. Sometimes I grab a pineapple stick. I then go back to the dorm and sit in the lobby on the second floor until class starts. I go to the sixth floor for class. I have grammar and writing 6 times a week. Speaking twice and listening twice. I go to class for about an hour and a half and then get out for a thirty minute break and then go back for another hour and a half.

I usually get out of class at 11:30 and I go out to the front of the dorm on the nice days or into the lobby and find some other International students. I either go to the cafeteria in the dorm, the kebob place across the street from Campus, or some other random restaurant. In the afternoon I usually go for a walk around town to explore for about an hour. I check my email and then go back to my room to study my Chinese characters for about an hour to an hour and a half. I find some friends and then it's time for dinner where we go to a few different places around campus. I spend a lot of time going to the Trust mart which is like Walmart because there are restaurants all around that. It's a mile walk one way to the Trust mart. I then go back to the dorm and study for another hour to an hour and half on average and then see what my friends are doing. Sometimes we go out to a bar or to a club during the week and sometimes we don't do anything. I try to be in bed by 11 every night because with all the walking and being confused for most of the day I am usually pretty tired.

My schedule varies. Tuesdays are laundry days. Wednesday afternoon I have my history class which lasts for a while. Fridays are usually good days for Pizza Hut because pizza's and Fridays go together well. My weekends change all of the time but most of the time I enjoy sleeping in.

So that's it, that is what is going on in China. I enjoy my days. Sometimes they are frustrating but they would be like that most places. I will say that almost every day has some new adventure to it. It's exciting and at the same time I am getting into a routine.

Today's random Chinese fact: the word for mother is mama with a first tone over the first ma. It's character is the combination of the two characters for female and horse. It's not the most flattering if you think about it but I don't think the characters are going to change meanings any time soon.

2006-03-08T05:28:00.000-08:00

ACC Basketball

Tomorrow which for some of you might be the day after tomorrow when you read this will start the beginning of the ACC Basketball tournament. For the first time in my life, I think, I will not be able to watch a single game. Being an huge Carolina fan this is going to be tough for me and what is going to be even worse is the NCAA tournament. If you are one of the lucky ones who will be able to see it then I congratulate you and I want to remind you to never take it for granted.

While on the same subject. I was at a bar getting dinner last night, four dollar pizza night at a favorite bar, when all of a sudden I noticed that there was basketball game on TV. I think it was part of the Chinese Basketball Association, CBA, but I was not sure. It was a pretty good game as the Red team stormed out to a twenty point lead in the beginning of the second half only to have the white team make it a seven point game in the end. It wasn't a Carolina Duke game but it filled a void.

Not much else to say, I am about to go take a walk around town and see some new places. Yesterday I found out where the golf driving range was. It's only two hundred yards long and there is a huge net to stop golf balls from going into the road. Ironically there was a drivers education class going on on the road adjacent to the driving range.

Today's random fact from China is that it is common to share the dishes with other people at your table. For example if I went out with three friends for lunch then the four of us would get about five or six different dishes and we would share them but we would each have our own bowl of rice. Now if one of us was sick then chances are the rest of us would catch it within 24 hours. I think by the end of this I will probably have an incredibly strong immune system but not strong enough to go and hang out with the chickens over here.

2006-03-07T05:32:00.000-08:00

I'm back?

Well apparently easyjournal has been down for a while and so I haven't been able to post for a while but I am back now thanks to their hard work.

A lot has happened since my last post. I found out that my class has been called an experimental advanced class with new ways of teaching Chinese. This means that we have more work than the other class in effort to see if they can boost our test scores.

I have had to stop writing from the computer in the dorm so I now write from an "internet cafe" that is a room with me and forty other computers. Most of the people here are gamers and can be rather intense at times. They sometimes yell at each other in Chinese and I don't really know what they are saying but body language let's me know that it's not very good at times.

I did my laundry today and somehow it came out dirtier and with more lint than when I put it in the washing machine. This is the third time this has happened so I now I am on the quest for a lint brush. I don't know if that term is going to be in my pocket dictionary but it won't hurt to look.

Things are going well and I can't really think of anything special to post. I am just in that school flow. The weather here has warmed up and we are all using the short spring to brace for the up coming summer months that promise to bring grueling heat. Oh, there is a fruit stand by my dorm and they serve the best pineapple on a stick. It only cost one Chinese qui and there are 8 Chinese qui in one American dollar.

So if someone could let me know who finally won the flavor of love, that would be great. That's all I have. I will write about my daily schedule another day because several of you have asked about it. I hope all of you are doing well and leave me messages from what's going on the US? What's the hottest song right now, and all of that. I would be interested to know.

Today's random Chinese fact; DVD's are sold in the electronic Market for 5 qui (8 qui to the American dollar) and supposedly they have quite a selection that includes the entire box set of friends, family guy, and so on. They also supposedly have an variety of movies from Indiana Jones, You got served, and movies not released in America. Thought you would like to know.

2006-02-27T08:38:00.000-08:00

Sick in China

Well it finally hit me. I couldn't make it two weeks. I am finally sick. The whole international dorm has a cold it seems like. It's like we are all adjusting at one time to the weather over here. It's not too bad, mainly a sore throat and a runny nose. I think this happens to everyone when they travel and adjust to a different country. I think I am going to go back to my favorite Japanese restaurant for dinner and order the chicken curry soup thing. It has some of the best noodles in it.

Besides being sick in China, all is well. I think that it is going to hopefully start to warm up here on about Wednesday and that will be nice. Not much else to say. I have been feeling jumpy lately and I finally realized that it is because March will be here in two days. We all know what March means, Basketball season and I am going to miss the tournament. I hope people will email me to keep my updated. I hope all of you are doing well back in the states, I am just living my life l-i-v-i-n.

Today's random Chinese Fact is that the Television Show "Friends" from America is very big over here and from what I have gathered Jennifer Anniston is one of the biggest celebrities. This past weekend at a party at the German guys house a group of people were singing different English songs and all of a sudden the Friends theme song started and the entire room went up in a roar.

2.26.2006

A weekend in China

Well it has been a fun weekend to say the least. Friday afternoon started off with an American gathering at the Pizza Hut for "The American Special" which is a pepperoni Pizza. The day slowly progressed quite well into a two hour afternoon nap. As I awoke it was on to the email and then to dinner for a pregame meal. Then a group of about twenty of us moved the pregame into the middle of the dorm lobby where the festivities started.After we had all warmed up a group of about twenty of us went out to the Max's Club where we got a table. The techno was flowing and the the strobe lights were flashing very quickly. It was different to go to a club here. One thing that is different is that in China there isn't that bump and grinding dancing that I have become quite good at but it is more of a group dancing where people do a lot of jumping on trampoline type floor.

Saturday was pretty laid back. I went with my two American friends to a Chicken Restaurant which I thought was going to be the Chinese equivalent to Bojangles but was not. The chicken was cooked in a big pot in the middle of the table and when it was finished, everyone would grab pieces of it with their chopsticks. Something that was quite different was that they put the whole chicken into the pot except for the head, thankfully. It was definitely a little culture shock when I looked down and saw the chicken legs and feet floating in the pot. I haven't completely adjusted yet. After Lunch we went to McDonald's where I enjoyed the McChicken which probably has chicken feet in it too but I am not thinking about that. I then spent two hours trying to learn how to write 14 Chinese words.

Saturday night our group of twenty went to a party at the apartment of three German guys. It was cool and I got to hang out with people from all over. It's kind of weird when you just show up at a German guys apartment in the middle of a huge Chinese apartment complex. On the cab ride over, the driver got lost and we pulled two u-turns in the middle of the four lane road and completely stopped traffic for a moment. I tried a Chinese stout beer which wasn't that bad.

Today I went to a Buddhist temple and looked around at all of the different temples and statues. It was all very impressive. We ate lunch at a traditional Chinese restaurant and spent the afternoon getting cell phones. I am looking forward to cussing out my new Motorola phone on an entirely different continent. I am not going out tonight but I think I am going to make some green tea, study, and go to bed early. Tomorrow starts a new week and I want to be on my A game.

Today's random Chinese fact is that in the Trust Mart, the Wal-Mart here, they sell eggs that are filled in the middle with some type of black goo. The commercials show the egg and then all of sudden the black goo comes oozing out of the egg. I don't think I will try them quite yet but who knows when it's all said and done. They seem to be quite popular.

2006-02-24T11:24:00.000-08:00

You can find me in the club!

Last night I went out clubbing with some students from Mexico, Germany, and Australia. We went to a club called the West Lake Forest. It was a Chinese techno club that was designed like the underneath of a tree. It was exactly how I pictured the inside of the Tree house in the game of Zelda for N64... if that helps, Biggin you will know what I am talking about. The beer was cheap, about two and half dollars for two. It was served at room temperature and all of the Chinese beers are no more than 4% alcohol and this one was only 3% so we all felt like the drinking champions of the world, sorry mom.

The best part about the club was that the dance floor was like a trampoline and it bounced up and down like a trampoline when people danced. It was kind of cool. I have never been a big dancer but that was more like jumping. We had a good time and I think I am going out with the same crowd again tonight. It's really cool when you are sitting at a table and you realize that you are hanging out with people from 4 different continents or when you realize you are in the middle of a dance floor in China. Sometimes it is all very surreal.

Last night I had Japanese food for dinner and it was incredible. I had the curry noodle soup with chicken. The food here is incredible and is cheap by our American standards. I am having a good time just getting to know people around here and just experiencing what is China.

I think now I am about to go on a walk for about thirty minutes and do some studying before I go to dinner and get ready to go out again. I hope all is going well at home and I am a little disappointed that nobody has let me know who Flavor Flave is picking on his show.

today's random Chinese fact is that when you are at a restaurant and a waitress refills your glass instead of saying thank you, you can knock twice on the table to show appreciation.

2006-02-24T11:20:00.000-08:00

Hitch Hikers guide to China

All is well here in China. Not much new to say but yesterday I went on a bus ride that me and my friends thought was around town. It ended up dropping us off on the other side of the city and we ended up hitchiking a ride back to campus. I wasn't sure if it was safe but a girl who I was with said that it was a common thing around China. I will admit that I was apprehensive for the entire ride. It was definitely an adventure but I plan on never doing it again.

It's still kind of cold here but I am hoping that it will warm up next week. I went to a Kabap restaurant the other day and tried a kebob which is a Turkish sandwich with lamb that I had never had nor heard of before. It was very good. The cool thing about living in a big city is that I get to try things that are new and different. Most of the time it's hit or miss to the extreme but this time worked out in my favor.

Classes are in full swing. I am taking 24 hours until mid April and then I am only taking 8 so it averages out to a pleasant 16. The coolest thing I have done today was go to my listening class where we got to wear headphones with microphones and practice our listening to the tones of Mandarin. I was kind of distracted because I pretended like I was in Top Gun the entire time.

A random fact from China is that the restaurant Pizza Hut is the nicest chain restaurant around town. Because it is all imported the prices are almost ten times higher than other restaurants. McDonald's does not completely import and neither does KFC but Pizza Hut definitely does. It's kind of weird living in a place where taking a girl to Pizza Hut would be the most expensive date imaginable.

Well I am out, gotta go study before I go out to the clubs to night, going to go check out one called SOS with some students from Mexico. Later

2006-02-21T13:26:00.000-08:00

The Sun is Out

The sun is out and all is well in the PRC (People's Republic of China). Today was review over your syllabi day and get prepared for classes. I used today wisely by doing some exploring, a little studying, and doing my laundry.

First of all, it took me nearly two hours to do my laundry. I went down to the machines and put the laundry in and turned it on. A guy who was from the Netherlands informed me that I had not bought detergent but a softening soap. He let me use some of his detergent, which was very nice, and then after my laundry finished washing he told me to not use the dryers because they would take too much time. He told me I should buy hooks for my room and hang my laundry up there. Therefore, I took my wet laundry up to my room and then went to the supermarket where I bought a bunch of hooks and then went around my humble room and put up hooks. Right now I have laundry sprawled all over the walls.

Earlier, after noticing that the sun was out, I went for a walk by myself along the the campus and into town. I turned on my headphones and was jamming out. I walked through a park that is beside the campus and then I made my around campus before finally making my way back into campus. I ended up walking for about an hour. I couldn't remember the last time that I just went on a walk, to explore, and just for the fun of it. It was quite exciting and I look forward to do more of this while I am here in Hongzhou.

For lunch today I went with a friend to the restaurant in my dorm. We had a beef and green pepper dish, green beans with some sort of plant cooked with them, and an egg and tomato dish. Oh, we also had the staple food of all Chinese meals, RICE! I didn't eat the eggs because I have always hated eggs but everything else was great. I especially loved the green peppers and beef dish. I have learned that to give the rice more taste that you pick up whatever piece of food you are going to eat out of the serving dish and then you sort of drag it through your bowl of rice to give the rice flavor. One thing I am not accustomed to yet is that most people only drink tea with their dinner and the tea is served in small cups. In America I am use to drinking a tall glass of water, sweet tea, or whatever I chose.

The temperature has risen significantly and I for one am hoping the hardships of Winter are gone. I think more than anything it just took me a while to adjust to the temperature and the lack of central heat. Central heating has spoiled me for a while and now I am trying to learn how to live without it and not using up enough power to supply a NASA space station for a year. Everything is going well here in China.

I am ready to start studying where someone can actually hear my pronunciation of my pin yin (Mandarin spelled out in letters). I hope all is well back at home.

Random fun Chinese fact. The Chinese word for Coca Cola the drink, it sounds like "cola" sort of, means happy and fun. I thought that was great marketing. Oh, and by the way do you think somebody could inform me who Flavor Flav is picking in his show the Flavor of Love. I was just curious.

2006-02-20T05:40:00.000-08:00

My email is not working!

To everyone who has emailed me, I appreciate it and I am not being rude by not responding... I can't get my email to work. I can read it but I can't respond. All is well and I have a had a busy weekend. It has been cold here and none of the buildings have central heating which I realize I am addicted to. There are just a few minor inconvenient that most of you have pointed out but that is why I am here, to see the different culture and to appreciate it.

On another note, I went to the newest campus of Zhejiang yesterday with the other two Americans and four Chinese students who took us around. It was incredible to walk around this new campus which has all new buildings. I saw the building where I will hopefully be teaching an ESL class once a week or twice a week depending on my schedule. After we finished walking around which was a long walk, we had dinner in the largest cafeteria in China. It has two wings with three different floors on each wing. The Chinese students took us to the third floor which is the nicest of all of the cafeterias. There, we ate like kings, no pun intended, and had a good time getting to know each other. The students who are from China were very gracious hosts and my group appreciated them tremendously. There are so many different great foods here in China and the people have been very generous with sharing their customs.

Well, I have to go clean my room right now and get my books ready because tomorrow is the first day of class. The funny story of the day is that sometimes they misunderstand me when I say I am doing an ESL internship and they think that I am a teacher back in America or that I have some qualifications. When asked if I was a linguist, I responded that no I wasn't but I did make an A in my class with Dr. Montano.

2006-02-20T05:32:00.000-08:00

Snow Day!

alright my loyal readers and fans. I have made it to China and it is Sat morning. When I woke up and looked outside of my window I couldn't help to notice the abundance of snow falling on the ground. Now since I am from NC and this Winter has been pretty mild there so far, I am freezing. Every part of my body is cold, to the bone cold. That said, I don't want to move, just sit me down somewhere warm. It has been so cold here that I and another American have already used our electricity for the rest of Feb. Apparently you can't sleep with the heat on or leave it on when you are out of your room because it uses your electricity up.

I went to the Chinese stores yesterday and mainly looked around to find things that I would like to come back and buy. I think, and mom and dad get ready for a package, I am going to buy a huge ninja sword. They are so cool and are not as expensive as mailing it back home will be. One interesting thing, here in China, teas are very popular and you can buy aged roots of Ginsing that cost in the thousands of dollars. I thought that was cool.

I went to my first tea house yesterday with my American friends and a girl who we met that is from Germany that speaks English better than I do. We got the local tea and it was pretty good. It definitely kept me warm.

On a closing note, I want to leave you all with this thought. For breakfast yesterday and today I have ordered what appears to a sweet roll, muffin, or something of that sort. What someone didn't tell me was that in China they put pork, a soft almost gooey pork in the middle of their breakfast treats. It's like taking a bite out of your doughnut only to find gooey pork in the middle, now that will wake you up. It's one of the customs I have not adapted to yet. I will say that I enjoyed the locust soup, which was more like jello with dried flower pedals in the middle.

I know that it is Friday night back home and to all of you that are going out tonight, pour one out to the homies in China.

2006-02-20T05:29:00.000-08:00

Finally here

Well after flying across the pacific I finally made it to China. The weather here is cold and rainy. So far it has been amazing. As I was walking down the street today I thought, "I am walking around in China." The coolest thing that I have done so far is probably go to the Trade Mart which is the equivalent to Wal-Mart. It's very interesting to see how the ways of advertising are the same here and also how they are different.

It's kind of weird going around town and never knowing what people are saying. I am actually ready for class so that I can pick up some Mandarin to communicate with the people here and at least make my way around town. For all of you that were wondering, I passed a sign for Hooters when I was riding down the road last night.

Anyways it is late here and I am going to go to bed and get rested for tomorrow has a lot in store as I will be going to Commencement and getting even more acquainted with campus and the town. The campus is pretty big and the town of Hongzhou itself has 2 million people. There is a lot more exploring I have to get done. Until next time.

2006-02-15T12:49:00.000-08:00

Going to China

Well this is it everyone. I am off to China. I hope that you all will continue to read and tell your friends about the fish bowl. Feel free to leave me messages or email me. I hope to be able to post frequently on this page. I am nervous but excited and I think China will be a good opportunity for me in many ways. I am out.

2006-01-27T14:13:00.000-08:00

Mandarin Lesson One

So after my first 30 minute lesson of Mandarin I am learning how to say in Mandarin , "I can speak a little Mandarin." I guess this is what positive reinforcement is. Mandarin is more tonal than English and I know this because other people have told me. If it is tonal then I will learn it where I can sing the best, in the shower. I will dedicate my daily shower time to learning Mandarin . The only negative effects I think this will bring is that the water bill might go up. I am still waiting on how to say, "Where is the bathroom?" and "I'm kind of a big deal around here." I don't think that these phrases are until lesson 15.