Chronology part II: titanium cupie dolls in a moving scene and the motto of this blog- anything can change at any time!

So, i am sorry if i have not been posting much. This week was a bit rough. I am still working out the kinks of teaching, and i have been very tired. Today marks my first month in China. It is very hard to grasp that, as time has gone so fast, and i still have very much to learn! This week has not been the greatest week for me, as it is very hot and muggy, and i am still trying to learn how to be a teacher. I have also had some minor personal problems. but everything is OK... However, you will have dips in mood and luck, that is life anywhere. I still love china!

So the long awaited continuation of the Chronology. I stopped with the arriving in Dalian. When i arrived, i was put into a crowded hallway that was essentially a shoot( in the cattle sense, not the wrestling sense!). I was a little shocked at the amount of people. This was my first taste of the fact that everything in Dalian is usually crowded as hell; you get used to it. Then i got my luggage, in which people would just push you out of the way. I thought that this was isolated, but it is another part of china. I will probably discuss this further very soon. I was extremely tired from the long plane ride. At the gate waiting for me was Ed and April. Ed is an American teacher from Indiana. In his twenties, but very level headed and cool. He is an interesting mix; He loves to drink, and is very laid back, but still is very responsible and gets things done. He works for the company as the Human resource director or some such thing. He teaches also, but he helps us with many things that are part of getting used to being in china. I have ( and still do) call) called Ed with the most ridiculous questions and he never gets annoyed. April is Chinese and also does similar things. The Chinese staff are all very hard working and help us out alot. They work very long days and often weekends and are payed relatively little. They are all very nice and helpful. They all speak some English, and some speak very well... although language can be a problem sometimes. However, they have to look after eight teachers here, plus others in other cities and also various other programs that the company runs. They do an amazing job. April does alot to make sure that we are legal, happy and safe, as do all of the others in the company. I really like April, btw, but i think she is taking some time warming up to me, which is the usual case.... Ed and i get along really well, i think.

Anyhoo, so they have a sign for me, which is good because it was just starting to dawn on me that i was in a foriegn city and would have no way to know what to do if i could not find them. They were waiting for another teacher, Stephanie, who did not show up, her plane was detoured due to a hurricane somewhere in Asia and she ended up staying in a hotel in Seol or Hong Kong, i forget which. we waited for her for awhile and then figured out that she was not coming. We left the airport when Jonah showed up. Jonah is the boss of this branch of the company( There's a head boss, Frank, but i rarely see him) and she is a true entity. A Chinese fashionista, a very hard working business woman, and a strong Chinese woman, she is like an American businessmen put in the body of a Chinese playboy bunny! Amazingly pretty, sexy and charming, she has also focused that Chinese will and ability to get things done, in other words, while she is nice and looks like a doll, she is not the lady to fuck with! That is kind of a vague cliche, but its the closest i can come at this point. We leave the airport and cross the street. Now, this does not seem like an important event, but it was! They just walked between moving cars while I waited for cars to stop. Cars in china rarely stop. I have a whole entry that I want to devote to this one subject. Eventually, Ed helped me cross the street and we got into the car. I don't remember much of the details because i was getting sleepy again. I remember going through the city like it was a series of tunnels. I tried to get an overall impression of it but i could not. Ed said many important things, but most of them did not register really. We got to my apartment. Oh, it should be stated that until i talked to ed I was under the impression that i was going to be sent to another city. My first choice was Dalian, simply because Xiarou had talked it up so much, and i was sad to simply be training there. Well, the first lesson that i learned in China is that anything can change at any moment. I was told that I was going to stay in Dalian and that i had an apartment waiting me. I was very happy about that. When we got to the apartment, I took my bags in. I will continue this tomorrow....

Weekend:ClubLove,oldmanassonthebeach,englishcorner,andGermanyinChinese

(disclaimer-- all the pictures used on this site where ripped off from google images as I was too dumb to invest in a camera. well, hopefully soon... You can click on them to get a better view)

My three day weekend was pretty eventful. Today was tied up in teaching and trying to figure out how to use a international phone card( i did not succeed). The corporate bureaucracy in china can get a bit brutal. That being said, this weekend was good...

I have already described the concert for Mid Autumn festival on Saturday. On Sunday, I went to English Corner as I always do. English Corner is held in Zoogshan Square, which is the pictured in the last two images ( the buildings around the park are pretty cool too). I have not mentioned muchabout the city, as was pointed out by my father, but i plan to. For now, It's a very modern city with much to do. Its similar to an American City, but with a Chinese flavor. As I said, more to come about Dalian( which leads me to a digression: there is so much to write about that I am waiting for the right time to do so). Anyhoo, Zoogshan park is small, but very nice and clean. The center part is kind of a raised circle which they let kids roller blade on! Ironically enough, you are not allowed on the grass! The park is in the center of the city and is very popular: The Chinese take full advantage of their many parks. On Sundays, this park hosts English Corner, which is very informal( meaning if you want to participate, you just show up and start talking). English speakers( unfortunately, not very many lately) come and the Chinese who can speak English talk to them. For the Chinese, it's a chance to practice their English and meet someone from a ëxotic"country ( and some of their ideas about America are pretty interesting). For myself, it's a vital activity that allows me to actually converse and form bonds with the people from the city that i live in. English speaking does not happen very much outside of school and the Corner, so this is a chance for me get to know the people that I am surrounded by. While Chinese children must learn English in school, and they start very young, its still not commonly spoken in the city. So i get some attention and also get to not feel like a complete idiot who cannot speak with anyone. And I love the people at the Corner dearly. The Chinese are a very friendly, curious, interesting people. As soon as I show up, I am mobbed by people who surround me and ask questions. And they Ask about everything: America, Politics, Economics, My personal life, am I married, Movies, books,drugs, race relations, language, Education... everything. They are very polite, but they áre not afraid to ask a question! One of my favorites is a ten year old named Fairy, who speaks nearly native level English and is very cute and precocious( she always brings me a gift) Fairy speaks Chinese of course, English, and some Japanese( she calls me Sensei sometimes!) The children are very cute. Everyone wants to ask questions. English is considered a very valuable skill in China, so they like to practice. I will undoubtedly talk more about the Corner in this blog, but that's enough background for now.

While I was at the corner, a teacher who is my handler in one of my schools( makes sure that I don't get lost, find classes, ect.) came to take me dinner as per our previously discussed plans. Her Husband, her son ( the biggest five year old that i have ever seen) and her took me to a Chinese Version of a German Beerhall! I truly wish that I had pictures of the chinese waiter boys in linderhosen! They( the teacher and her husband) were so very nice and insisted on treating me. The place was a buffet and must have been expensive because I ate so much food( and especially German style meat) that i nearly puked! It was huge and the linderhosen boys kept coming and cutting off different meats with giant ass knifes of of these big racks. Waitresses dressed kind of like Amish women brought us big mugs of dark beer brewed on site! It was a very cool place and the teacher( ms. Su) and her husband were very kind and generous. Her husband works for a company that builds ships and was a very interesting guy.

So i met Winston at the corner again and talked to some more Chinese. We eventually met Ryan and Miles( incidentally, Miles is from Monongahela Pa, right down the road where i grew up and went to a Chinese night club, Club Love.A club is a club, and i usually loathe them, but it had that relaxed Chinese vibe( the clubbers, not the staff. the Chinese take making money extremely seriously and business like). Full of pretty girls, i had a few drinks and left, as I am in love with a Chinese girl already and don't think that I can handle more than one( joking, Yipin!). There were breakdancers and club dancers. it was fun. they dropped confetti from the ceiling, played American hip hoppish type music and it was a fun time. Again, not really my scene, but still cool. Many Russians, and there seems to be a instant dislike between Russians and Americans in china. I don't know why, and it's unfortunate because they seem to outnumber us by like a hundred or so to one! There are many Russians in Dalian, and very few Americans.

The next day, Winston and I went to the beach, which is like five minutes away from my apartment! it was nice and the pictures above where taken at the same beach we were at. I love to see the Chinese having fun and they were. The only thing bad about the beach was that there were hardly any girls in bathing suits. Unfortunately for Winston and me, there was an army of older Chinese guys in Speedos. I have seen too many wrinkled old Chinese male asses! There are cliffs you can walk on, and the islands in the picture are beautiful. The water was clean and the beach, while rocky was nice. We had a good time. Winston almost got picked up by Fat Middle aged Russian lady, but managed to escape( ladies love Him, Chinese too).

Well, that is all for now. So much to write about. I will continue this soon...