TheBalladofCrazyLiu

[thankfully I have not photos of crazy liu, as he is not appealing to the eyes]

So... I have been posting tons of stuff to make up for the fact that I did not post for a long time. There are a total of five new entries up, so check them out if you haven't already. And If you are new to this blog, make sure to go back and read the long winded, hard to follow, and mostly inane stuff that I have posted since late August. It turns out that I have another week off ( I am fine with money; I make enough to get by during the break), so I am looking forward to another week of just getting caught up with shit and ready for the coming semester. After this post, I will post once or twice a week. A word of warning, this post is a bit darker then the majority of them.

My experiences in China would not be complete without some Crazy liu stories. We met liu a few months ago while waiting for the bus. He just came up and started talking; his English isn't that bad, but has holes in it. Now, from the moment I met Liu, i had a funny vibe. Given my past, and the sort of characters that I have met in my life, I seem to have developed a "spider sense" when someone may be not good to hang around with. But in China, a foreign culture with people who act in ways you may not fully understand, its hard to know when to follow that sort of impulse. However , i have learned that lesson. Anyway, Liu was very friendly but there did seem to be something off about him,, nothing i could really put my finger on. The fact that two Chinese people came up to us while we talking to him should have been a clue! ?That doesn't happen often! They just came up out of the blue, a middle age teacher and a younger student guy, looked at Liu sideways, and left when we said we ok.But if your American, its very normal for someone to just talking to you on the street. They might be curious or just want to practice their English. The vast majority of them have turned out to be very nice people; well , all but one. Anyhoo, Liu got on the bus we were getting on, the dreaded 501 that I hate so much, and i kind of got sick of talking to him ( he really doesn't listen to everything you say and talks over you, and then says," I don't know your words"while you are still trying to explain something to him). I mentioned to winston that i got a weird vibe off of liu, but Winston's strength and weakness is that he tries to see the good in everyone. i even named liu "crazy liu"" right off, becuase he seemed different than the other chinese, which turned out to be foreshadowig. I now know to trust my "spider sense". I guess I gave Liu my phone number ( this is not uncommon, i have given my phone number to tons of Chinese, most who have never called me), and that was that.

Now, in the following , I am going to get the actual events and days and such confused, I am sure, but the gist of what happened is true. About a week later, liu called me and said he wanted to go to the English corner. I said sure. It turns out he live about two blocks away from me! So we made plans to go, but when the time comes, he doesn't not show up. A few days later, he calls and says he wants to take Winston and me to dinner. Again, this is not uncommon; I have had many dinners with Chinese people who want to befriend and talk to me. So we go to a local place on Ba Yi Lu, cheap but good. Liu orders a good amount of food for W. and I but does not eat. He drinks. i also have a few beers. liu stats to act strange after one beer, which we thought was funny. He starts singing ballads; one of the funniest things about the chinese is that they really love soft rock. So you get a guy who thinks he is manly, but he will be singing richard marx or something like that. Liu kept singing "can you feel the love tonight" the way a redneck will sing Tuesday's gone or some college kid will sing dave matthews. Anyway, he really didn't act like a normal chinese person. Yeah, getting drunk fast is normal, and singing is a bit accepted, but Liu just seemed to stand out. Some real manly middle age guys actually told him to pipe down with the singing (it was starting to get annoying). After about three beers, he was pretty drunk. He was pretend fondling winston as a joke( which was funny), he called Winston a boy because he does not drink and smoke( which actually happens alot; the chinese love winston, but many of them make it their mission to get him to drink). He won't though, and I admire his sticking to his values)he offered to have sex with me for 100 yuan ( a joke, i was hoping!), and told us about his life and such. Essentially, he reminded me of alot of people i knew back home. He feels that he does not fit in with the chinese. He is generally creative and funny. he is smart(BUT NOT AS SMART AS HE THINKS HE IS) but not disciplined enough to get fully educated. He is supposed to be a wiz at chinese( think like english as a subject and not a language) and japanese, but struggles with english. He went to university but dropped out. In short, he was not that different than i was at his age( 24). And he could be really fucking funny. He had a girlfriend, but he said he didn't like her because she was fat and ugly... but she was the only girl who liked him. In other words, he was a lost soul, and since i have been one myself and am fond of many such people, we did bond.
Any after that night, Liu started calling alot. he would usually just want to hang out, but then it would turn into drinking. I was pretty burned out from teaching and maybe the stress of adjusting to a new life, so i would usually go along with him. He lost his job after that night at the restaurant due to his boss getting sick of him being drunk and or hung over. I would resist him in the beginning, but began to hang out wit him more and more. Since he had lost his job, i would offer to pay for dinner and drinks usually. We would go to very small places that had food and beer and usually are very cheap. Although bars are very common here, most chinese prefer to go to restaurant , drink while eating, and then stay and get loaded! It is not uncommon to be in a restaurant and have a table of about four Chinese men that have about 20 to 30 bottles sitting on their table. Winston says that he is always seeing groups of them stumbling out of places in to cabs. its a pretty common thing. And, while i plan to address this in a later post, our image of the average chinese man is wrong. The average middle age dude is fairly big physically, tough looking, and loves to drink and be manly for the ladies! Anyhoo, liu did teach me that its better to drink at restaurants then at bars.
At first, he would put up a fuss about me paying, but as time went on, he began to get braver. It would start out with going to place and saying that he had no money, then he would add things onto the bill without asking me or winston for money. I would get pissed off and bitch at him, and he would say it was a mistake or some shit, but then he would do it again the next time. a few time, i got stuck with his bill from previous occasions. At this point, He was seriously pissing me off. We had been warned about chinese users , but i still feel that liu generally is a good person, but he has serious problems. I began to get the feeling that you get when someone is about to go down real hard, and many of you know enough people that have to understand what i mean. I think i kept hanging around liu becuase, even though he was using me and I knew it, he reminded me so much of myself at certain points in my life. He has a good soul, but no idea how to live. The difference between us is that when i go down, i try my best not to take anyone with me. Liu, on the other hand, will grab as many hands as he can and hold on as he sinks down.

There were many little fucked up instances in a short period of time that i don''t want to get into, but i knew i was going to have to cut him off at some point. he just didn't get that he was going down a bad path. I think having American friends who he thought were rich made him cocky. He was on the path down before he met us, but he got worse as he hung around us. He had many Enemies in the neighborhood ( one of the DvD street vendors hated him becuase he borrowed porn that he never returned!) because he had fucked over someone with money or such. He is a very nice, charming guy, but he doesn't have certain values when it comes to fucking someone over. It was all small shit, but it was alot of small shit. Anyway, He was was always trying to get me to drink and started to ask both of us for money. We met his parents, who are very poor and live in a very small apartment. My apartment is about twice the size of theirs and much nicer. They all sleep in one room, liu sleeps essentially on what is a very big shelf. His parents are very nice and have had hard lives. Liu, i am sure, does not make their life easier. Liu was also obsessed with women and sex. He knew every place that had prostitutes in china and changed my view of this place considerably. Prostitution is highly illegal here, but is also part of the culture. There are many places that you walk past that you would never think had them if you didn't not know, but they could be right next to a legitimate business. Its sort of interwoven with the regular society, if you are not in that world, you just walk right past it. But you can find it everywhere. I had no clue of this until i met liu.

Well this had proven to be liu's downfall. I had decided to cut him off but was having trouble doing so. i didn't not want to get into that dark world. i was curious about it, but had had my fill of dark worlds in pgh. I prefer normal china... Plus, as i said, liu gave me that feeling that you get when someone you know is using heavy drugs; they are going to go down and hard. I told Winston this, but hes so damned nice, he didn't believe me. the drinking and other things had caused serious problems with Yipin that i have already talked about. At the end, i was just yelling at liu and trying to tell him to straighten up and he would agree and then ignore me. Liu has the problem that alot of people do; he just assumes that he is smarter than everyone else. The chinese all think that they are very clever, and they are. Many of them are wicked crafty and cunning. liu really wasn't; he thought he was manipulating us, but we knew he was doing it the entire time. We just let him because we could see his good aspects. However, i was getting very sick of him.

He invited us to a restaurant to meet his friend andy. Andy is a good guy and I still see him occasionally. Liu was a complete ass; very drunk, obnoxious. I yelled at him and felt bad about it afterwards. I decided to come home and have a few drinks and invited liu. this was very stupid. Liu was so drunk, he spilled coke everywhere. he kept saying "i like the coca cola."i was sort of drunk myself, and i think i hit him a few times because he was so fucked up and insisted on sneaking coke and rum and then spilling it everywhere. eventually, he passed out on my floor. The next day, i woke up and he was at my computer, listening to chinese music and eating tons of my food. I had already decided to cut him off for good, so I threw him out of my house physically! He called my many times that day, but i told him to fuck off. He called winston. I told winston to hang up on him, but winston is too nice. Anyway, Yipin doesn't believe me, but I was done with that fucker from that point on.

So the next morning, Winston calls me. He said that liu had called him and was in a bathouse in ba yi lu. he owed them 25 yuan and they would not let him out until he left. I told winston to let him rot, but winston went down anyway. I told wisnton that he had only insured that liu would do the same thing again. Anyway, the next day, Winson left with his girlfriend maria to go travelling. I started tutoring that morning. On the way to work, i got two phone calls from liu, i just answered fuck off and hung up! then Winston call me while Ed and I were having breakfast. he was on the train and liu had called him from a bathouse again; most bathouses are legitimate places that are enjoyed by all of the chinese, but many of them offer prostitutes. again, its that shadow world that exists in the open. It's not there if you don't want it to be. Liu said that he owed 1200 yuan! In nearly spit out my orange juice. I think that the bathhouse girls usually charge about 200 yaun and i still have no clue what the hell liu had done to ring up such a high bill! i don't think Iwant to know! I told winston that their was no way in hell i was going to help liu and he should just not think about it and enjoy his vacation. It turns out that Liu did call wisnton again and asked him to get off the train and transfer money into his account! Maria pretty much told winston no, which is good, because i think he might have done it. Liu called me thourghout the day and i told him several times to fuck off. around the evening he called again, and I listened to him. He said that they had beat him up ,and that they were threatening his life. I almost caved but then told him that i could not help him. I was worried for him, but had a feeling he was bluffing in some manner. He said he had a credit card at home and would pay me back but of course that was bullshit. Anyway, I woke up the next morning and he called again. He again begged for help; again i told him that i could not. So he hung up. a few hours later, he called and said that he called his dad and he came and got liu. He could have done that the entire time, but he knew he would be in serious shit with his family.He was trying to be liu, do what he wanted without having to pay for it. So he was in not real danger, he just didn't want to make that phone call to his parents. His dad took him to a mental hospital directly and he was there for a month. He called while yipin was visiting and of course, she went mental on me, understandably. i have told her that i am done with him, but she is worried about me. nothing to worry about, lesson learned. The funny thing is that he has not called since that weekend. I think that he got out of the hospital, went straight back to his old ways, got into some sort of absurd mess again and ended up in jail or the mental hospital again. I just can't see him not calling me and winston so abruptly. Winston thinks that he is just laying low, trying to get back on track. time will tell who is right, but i know that i am!

So ends the ballad of Cray liu. its not a particuarly happy chapter in my journey, but its real life. I learned alot, especially about not slipping back into the darkness. Liu had his good points. He was a user, but if he had money, he would help out his friends. He was very funny. hearing someone say "i like Satan, Satan is good"in a very thick chinese accent is hilarious. But he , like many people i have know, could not stop the bad shit in him from overcoming him. I am lucky, i went there and came back stronger. this time I went to the border of that world, but stopped before the point of no return. It was good in the way that i feel that i have finally conquered my attraction to that world. maybe liu was neccessary in my process of self transfomation, the path of drunken dishwasher to academic that I have been on for the better part of this decade. And before any of yuu write; don't worry, i am fine. I was never in any real danger as long as i stopped it before it got to far. and while i came close, i did. It really was an educational experience. But to be honest, I prefer my normal chinese life. Being a teacher, talking to hard working chinese who actually know how to behave in public. I guess i owe liu if only for showing me that I like living in the light much better than the shadows....
please forgive my mad metaphors!
anyway, next entry, various observations. much more upbeat and postive, i hope! things are great here; don't worry about me!

AVisitFromTheTofu

Ok, this is the fourth entry this week, so I hope that satisfies all of you that have been bitching at me for not posting. I will probably post one more this week( featuring some other interesting things that happened over the break. maybe the crazy lio stories) then, if I go back to work next week( still not sure if i am , that's China ), I will probably post about once or twice a week.

So another significant event that recently occured was the visit from Jessica. This should be put in context. Around the beginning of Jan, our relationship hit some very serious troubles. This was due to distance and not seeing each other, but also largely because I am an ass. For reasons that I am unsure of, i began to slip into some old behaviour: drinking to much, not doing anything productive, hanging around unsavory characters (crazy lio) and doing stupid things. Not to the extent that i once did, but still, i was just starting to head in that direction. This sort of thing caused some very serious problems, ones that i am not going to detail, but lets just say that she was essentially right and i was essentially wrong. These problems, compounded with long term issues such as my age and place in the world( which would not be very attractive to her parents-- approval from the parents is a very serious issue for most Chinese people, even one as independent and free thinking as Yipin)led to what i most did not want to happen. Essentially, we broke up. I of course, was completely devastated but had no one but myself to blame. Of course, i could not give up on her, even if i understood and respected her position; we maintained communication. I have never loved anyone as much as i love her, and this was a difficult time for me. However, in a way, it was a positive thing. I realized that i was slipping down a old path that i did not want to follow. If i don't push my self toward some goal, i tend to slide backwards. so now, i am trying to set small goals for myself so i can keep moving forward.

Well, anyway, towards the end of January, i started to have a strange feeling. Even though it seemed very unlikely, i began to suspect that she was planning to visit me. She was still somewhat cold to me, but still actively communicating to me everyday. She asked me for my house address, which she does not need to mail things to me as I receive my mail through the office. Yipin is also famous for "surprising", which is the term that she uses for when she shows up when i don't expect her and am the least prepared for her visit I kept on having this nagging feeling that she was coming; I even began to clean my apartment so that she would not bitch at me for it being dirty! Well, it turns out that she was planning on surprising me, but had to call me a few days before to help her with a traveling problem. That was good, as it gave me time to fully prepare for her visit.

Now, before i get into the visit, i know this is very strange. We broke up and then she comes from New Zealand to visit me. Yes, we are a strange couple! Even now, she says that we broken up. However, that seems to be a classification, i am not concerned with it. We still talk to each other everyday, and are a couple in all ways except her classification. I am happy with how are relation hip actually is, not what we call it. right now, despite her name for it, we are doing probably better than we have ever done. Having a Chinese girlfriend is a strange experience!

So anyway, lets leave all of that crap behind. While she was here, we acted as boyfriend and girlfriend. We were together the entire time( i had the week off, thankfully),we did everything together, we fought about once a day, but we made up everyday also! She drove me nuts, but it was my best week in China so far! It was so great to have my chinese girlfriend in China. She showed me many things( even though Dalian is not her city, she knows infinitely more about anywhere is China than I do) and it was a fun and enriching experience. Anyway, so what did we do when she visited. well:

Monday-- She flew in from New Zealand and W. and I went to the airport to pick her up. Me being me, i was afraid that I would not recognize her( i am really paranoid in strange ways) and she would belt me one! But of course I did. I was so happy to see her , and she was as beautiful as ever. so Monday, we pretty much got settled in. She took over the apartment essentially, even moving around where i had kept my food and trash buckets! It's strange to have a person living with you when you are used to being alone for 39 years( well, you know what i mean) but i liked it. We both have some adjusting to do in that area, but all in all, I really loved having her in the apartment. Most of the changes that she made were good and I kept them. Not all, but most. The place is a bit more homey and comfortable now. Anyhoo, we went grocery shopping at Youhome, and she showed me new foods that i could buy. She also showed me places to get things cheaper, which is cool. She bought these little snacks, made of duck liver. They smell like hell but are actually very good( like beef jerky) if you chew on them for awhile. Many Chinese snacks are like that. Yeah, they have candy and cookies and such( usually not as sweet though, but some are) but the also like to snack on some things we would consider weird. Yipin is continually eating some sort of fish jerky. We have been offered things that seemed to be candy but turned out to be some sort of weird fruit, vegetable, or seafood ( think squid candy) product. Anyhoo, then we had dinner with Winston near my apartment. Yipin loves seafood, and Dalain has much, so she ordered some of that kind of thing and we also got Kung Pow chicken for Winston( he eats it every time we go out). Then we came home. Yipin was pretty tired due to New Zealand being 5 hours ahead of China.

Tuesday--- Tuesday was our first full day together. We went to downtown Dalain. Under the main part of the city is a huge underground mall, Victory Square-- every big public place is usually translated has Square, which seems to imply park or plaza. it has about 6 floors that are all each very massive. it has many different types of stores and shops, but seems to cater to younger women, as many malls do. Its a pretty impressive place; i get lost there very often! It has exits all over downtown, so i often come out and wonder where the hell I am! We had a pretty good time there. After we ate, she wanted to see a movie, so we went to a close by theatre. We couldn't find an English showing, so we just went to a Chinese movie that she wanted to see. Even though it was all in Chinese, it was a zany comedy-- which generally make use of familiar plots, expressions and film language, so i understood and enjoyed it. It was sort of a romantic comedy, but the comedy was more important than the romance and the female lead was a real bitch so it was enjoyable to me! It was pretty good. The theatre was smaller than American ones, the room was small and the seats were like padded booths made for two people. It was much more comfortable than an American theatre, the seat had lots of room, didn't kill your ass and didn't put your neighbor right touching next to you. This is kind of strange to me because almost everything else in china crowds many people into a small place right on top of each other, buses, schools, ect. However, I don't know if it was just this one theatre that is like that or all of them. However, it was a pleasant change of pace. After the movie, we went shopping at another grocery store and then came home and went to bad, as the girl was starting to get crabby.

Wed-- She decided that we should check out the marine park at Tiger Beach. We had a really good time there, as you can see from the picture posted and linked to below. W. went with us and he is a really good person to take places to. He enjoys everything and has a positive attitude about everything( which can counter my sometimes negative attitude!) Since it was winter and during the holiday season, we got in for about half price, and all of it was worth it! The park is next to the sea, has alot of land and exhibits, and is very modern and well kept. All of the animals seemed to be well taken care of. They had alot of animals; many types of fish, sharks and marine mammals. There was a dolphin show and a bird park also. It was really great. The funniest part , i think, was when we went in, we saw this little beat up looking dog. Well, whenever we went outside, and we were inside alot, we would see him cruising along. He seemed to be on his own holiday, enjoying the park( although he went into the seal house and the chinese dudes chased him out, maybe because he didn't have a ticket!). When we left, we saw him walking towards the gates; his day was also over. W had diner at a place that W. and i call the spot, its cheap and everyone knows us there. Yipin was freaked out when the entire staff came and watched us eat, but i told her that they always do that. It happens when you are an American in China sometimes( although not all that often). When we went home, My landlord was there fixing the toilet. Yipin and her had spoke together on the phone before and Cindy made plans to take show us the city the next evening. I have a really nice landlord, which i am told is uncommon.

Thur-- We had some errands to run, as yipin has been accepted to a post graduate school in Australia( ranked 54th in the world!) and is scrambling to get her Visa situation settled. She is working very hard and i hope that it works out for her. We screwed around downtown again, visiting victory and other shopping areas. We went to one of those very Asian photo booths and took pictures. We went to a very high end mall, new mart and a korean place( that we almost got ripped off at, but luckily did not buy anything). We got into a fight at new mart because lio called ( more about that some other time) and then went home. Cindy, the landlord came at six and we went to a more high end area of the city and saw a nice park and a higher end mall. Cindy bought dinner for us as the chinese like to do. I had curry and winston had kung pow chicken! It was a nice day. I help cindy with her English, but she is really shy about speaking it so Yipin mostly translated. Winston always fights with the Chinese about paying, but i don't like to insult anybody's customs!

Friday: during the day we just walked around the neighborhood. we had a stupid fight about crabs( the food) and then went out with ed and sarah. We had hot pots, which is where they give you a little boling pot of soup and then you add whatever food you like and cook it. It was very good. Winston had Kung Pow chicken. Ed and Sarah are really great people and Yipin got along with them fine.

Saturday: I was exhausted. the plan was to head out to big black mountain because they have temples and such out there. Dalain is pretty modern and I wanted to see something that was connected to ancient china. As detailed in the photobucket pictures, Winston had other ideas, make me climb a huge ass mountain which was difficult and beyond exhausting and almost got thrown off the mountain several times! However, i am very glad i did it, it was an amazing experience. The temples where beautiful they are part of the mountain. While i am not into any religion, you can really see the beauty of creation there... To think the ammount of human toil that went into it is amazing. It was wonderful. After ward we went back ( a long walk, a bus, lightrail, bus) and went to resturant near my house, Yipin had seafood, Winston had Kung pow chicken....

Sunday: Her plane was scheduled to leave at 1 or so, we left at 10 for the airport. She had some trouble with customs( she always, always overpacks), but then got on the airplane. Afterwards, I tool a bus to the english corner and she called me to tell me she got to her parents home fine( they live in Tian Jin, which is only about a hour away by air). When i got home, the apt. seemed empty and quiet. Its strange how someone can transform a place in such a short time. I miss her still; she is a great girl. She is intelligent , loving, stubborn, open minded, .... i can never explain her well. you just have to meet her , and even then, there's always more to learn. mytrying to dexcribe her is like going into a huge mulit floor builindg and trying to explain it room by room. she is simply the greatest person i have ever met. It was a wonderful week

Anyhoo, one more entry this week, maybe, and then hopefully one or two a week afterwards.

ChineseNewYear--BlowingShitUp!!!

This is the year of the OX

a traditional Nian, bringer of bad luck and the kind of guy that usually pisses on your toilet seat

a non-traditional, but awesome, representation of the dreaded Nian..

" Last year, my wife left me, i lost my job, my prostate fell out, and some bastard pissed all over my toilet seat last new years eve! I'm not taking any chances this year; I bought 200 boxes of firesworks and 50 fire cracker chains. I am blowing shit up... ! Fuck you, Nian and bad luck!!!!


Happy new year--good luck, come in here! These things are pretty much on every door you can imagine...

{note-i have posted three new posts this week, so check out all three if you have not yet!]


"Chinese New Year or Spring Festival is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. It is often called the Lunar New Year, especially by people in mainland China and Taiwan. The festival traditionally begins on the first day of the first month (Chinese: 正月; pinyin: zhēng yuè) in the Chinese calendar and ends on the 15th; this day is called Lantern Festival. Chinese New Year's Eve is known as Chúxī. It literally means "Year-pass Eve".
According to tales and legends, the beginning of Chinese New Year started with the fight against a mythical beast called the Nian or "Year" in Chinese. Nian would come on the first day of New Year to devour livestock, crops, and even villagers, especially children. To protect themselves, the villagers would put food in front of their doors at the beginning of every year. It was believed that after the Nian ate the food they prepared, it wouldn’t attack any more people. One time, people saw that the Nian was scared away by a little child wearing red. The villagers then understood that the Nian was afraid of the color red. Hence, every time when the New Year was about to come, the villagers would hang red lanterns and red spring scrolls on windows and doors. People also used firecrackers to frighten away the Nian. From then on, the Nian never came to the village again. The Nian was eventually captured by Hongjun Laozu, an ancient Taoist monk. The Nian became Hongjun Laozu's mount.
The period around Chinese New Year is also the time of the largest human migration, when migrant workers in China, as well as overseas Chinese around the world travel home to have reunion dinners with their families on Chinese New Year's eve. More interurban trips are taken in mainland China in this 40-day period than the total population of China. This period is called Chunyun (春運 or 春运).
On the days before the New Year celebration Chinese families give their home a thorough cleaning. There is a Cantonese saying "Wash away the dirt on ninyabaat" (年廿八，洗邋遢), but the practice is not usually restricted on nin'ya'baat (年廿八, the 28th day of month 12). It is believed the cleaning sweeps away the bad luck of the preceding year and makes their homes ready for good luck. Brooms and dust pans are put away on the first day so that luck cannot be swept away. Some people give their homes, doors and window-frames a new coat of red paint. Homes are often decorated with paper cutouts of Chinese auspicious phrases and couplets. Purchasing new clothing, shoes and receiving a hair-cut also symbolize a fresh start
The biggest event of any Chinese New Year's Eve is the dinner every family will have. A dish consisting of fish will appear on the tables of Chinese families. It is for display for the New Year's Eve dinner. This meal is comparable to Christmas dinner in the West. In northern China, it is customary to make dumplings (jiaozi 饺子) after dinner and have it around midnight. Dumplings symbolize wealth because their shape is like a Chinese tael. By contrast, in the South, it is customary to make a new year cake (Niangao, 年糕) after dinner and send pieces of it as gifts to relatives and friends in the coming days of the new year. Niangao literally means increasingly prosperous year in year out. After the dinner, some families go to local temples, hours before the new year begins to pray for a prosperous new year; however in modern practice, many households hold parties and even hold a countdown to the new lunar year. Beginning in the 1980s, the CCTV New Year's Gala was broadcast four hours before the start of the New Year.


Bamboo stems filled with gunpowder that were burnt to create small explosions were once used in ancient China to drive away evil spirits. In modern times, this method has eventually evolved into the use of firecrackers during the festive season. Firecrackers are usually strung on a long fused string so it can be hung down. Each firecracker is rolled up in red papers, as red is auspicious, with gunpowder in its core. Once ignited, the firecracker lets out a loud popping noise and, as they are usually strung together by the hundreds, the firecrackers are known for their deafening explosions that are thought to scare away evil spirits. See also Myths above. The burning of firecrackers also signifies a joyful time of year and has become an integral aspect of Chinese New Year celebrations.[6]" Wiki wiki wiki...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_New_Year



So thats alot of information! Chinese New Year is a huge deal here; as big as Christmas is back home. It lasts forever and the Chinese really go all out. This year is the Year of the Ox( fairy's year!); last year was the year of the pig! You can see little oxxes ( stuffed animals, pictures) pretty much everywhere. I thought the Myth of the Nian was pretty intersting; especially when you consider that Nian mean year. Yes, the Chinese travel all over the damn place during this time of year; the busses, trains and planes are packed! I actually did the spring cleaning thing: for new years, I had extra time, and Yipin was coming so i had to clean as anti being bitched at insurance! It took about three days! The guy who lived here before me must have never cleaned, so i kept finding grime and crap on everything. It was exhausting!
Yeah, the color Red is big here! People whose zodiac sign is ox are supposed to wear red pretty much all year( i don't think that they do). Also, it is important to change your hair style and wear new clothes on the new year( W. said that he went down to the office when they all came back from holiday and all the girls had new hair styles!) Its a great time to be in China; I hope to come and visit every Chinese New Year!


So School ended in late Dec/ early Jan and i was exhausted. I had never tuaght before and to say it was a learning expereince is a understatement. Still, i learned alot and was a better teacher by the end of it, but I was very tired... I have been off since the first week of Jan., but not totally. The company has given me tutoring jobs; just a few kids who i taught in the YouHome building, which is about 10 minutes from my apartment. So it's been alot of work, break, work, break.... But i finally feel relaxed and normal. This time has given my the chance to see much more of the city and just take it easy. I am off this week; i start again next week or the week after that( the company is not that great with giving you time to prepare, but i am pretty much ready at this point) the spring semester. I feel that i will be a much better teacher and will be able to handle new challenges.

So, while many people have chosen to travel( which is a great thing to do and i plan on doing it before i leave), I chose to stay in Dalian. This was not only due to economic reasons and the desire to rest, but also to see this city. Dalian is really a wonderful city and i love it more everyday. Becuase I was not travelling, I was alone for most of it( winston has been travelling to inner Monglolia to see his wonderful girlfriend Maria). I had heard of spring festival but was not sure what to expect. The week before it really started was a little spring festival<>. On that day, i noticed alot of candy being sold on the street. This, i was told, was candy for the ancestors and would give you good luck( luck is a big thing in this culture). By night, however, the candy was gone, and was replaced with big tables selling fireworks. For about 3 weeks, there were tons of fireworks "shops"everywhere. you think rednecks like fireworks, they have nothing on the Chinese. Everyone buys them and sets them off. They set them off from their apartment windows, on the street, from roofs, everywhere. Its complete anarchy. it also dangerous, but luckily I did not witness anyone getting hurt. I am sure people do. They were lighting off fireworks all night. I thought it was pretty awesome; little did i know what was to come. So it died down a little bit that week. People were getting ready for the Holiday; buying food or leaving for wherever home was. Fairy had invited me to her house for New Years eve; I wanted to see how the Chinese actually celebrated. So the big day came; and there where a good bit of fireworks going off. Fairy is the 11 year old english prodigy who i made friends with from the English corner. I went to her house; her family was very nice to me ( many Chinese are honored to have an American guess; they make you feel like a rock star. I was honored to be their guest.)
Fairy's family didn't speak much english( here father did speak a little, but only after he was fairly drunk). Fairy acted as an iterpreter and did a very good job. She is so young but her english is excellent. Her fathers parents( traditionally, the fothre's paretents are the ones you are closer with, but there are many exsceptions to this in modern China) were there also. they offered me tea and soon we had dinner. Dinner was crazy;they had all kinds of food, mostly sea food. Fairy's family is fairly well off; they have an extemely nice apartment. It was only the 2nd time that i had been in a chinese living place; I had been in crazy lio's families house. they are poor and live in very very small aprtment. they are good people; despite lio being a shit head-- but thats a story for another time). Anyhoo, the dinner was great. many chinese dishes, lobster, snails( yes i ate them, not bad), sea cucumber( a rare and exspensive delicecy here, but meh... and crab legs. The father was intent on getting me to drink and i ended up drinking beer and Baiju( chinese "wine"but more like moonshine in taste!) We went out to the patio type area and drank and smoked. He did speak some english, but mostly we kind of fumbled through converstaion. Outside the chinese where really starting to get into it and we saw many great firworks. He shot some bottle rockets out of the window, which is not uncommon here! It was a pretty good time. then the mother, who is very cute and quiet started to make dumplings, which is traditonal new years food. The father had a bit too much to drink and passed out; Fairy was Pissed, but i guess this is another new years tradition! We watched a bit of the New years teleiviosn broadcast, which is also a tradtion, albiet a more modern one. It was ok, i cod follow much of it, but was lost sometimes. Then around 10, i started getting tired. Itold fairy i was going home, she was a bit upset. it turns out that the chinese stay up all night on this night, but she had not told me. I felt bad for dissapointig her, but i was very tired, having spring cleaned that day. So i felt bad, but left. it was still a very cool experience.

The cab ride on the way home was exciting, as the chinese were blowing shit up! Everywhere we went, there were fireworks in the sky and chains blowing up on the sidewalks! it was one of the coolest cab rides i have ever had. We get back to Ba yi lu and shit was going nuts. I waited until about 11: 30 and then went out to check things out. it was spectacular. people were lighting ghost fires, chains going off everywhere, and boxes and bottle rockets everywere. They buy these boxes and you just light them and run! they can set off a display that rivals anything we have in america! They don't usually have all the shapes and fancy effects, but just gorgeous standard high in the sky fireworks( well sometimes they pop off a few feet over your head!); about ten boxes rivals the displays you see in most american small towns during the 4th of july. It was kind of like being in a war zone! at midnight, the entire sky was full of color; the ground was thick with smoke. I stayed in a one block radious and seen the greatest firework display i have ever seen in my life! The chinese just come out of woodwork with boxes and chains( which are really loud and bright and cool). I saw them light them on the yellow line of Ba Yi lu with traffic going right next to about ten shooting boxes. You really have to see it to believe it! It was one of the best experiences of my life! I watched it until about 1:30 and then somehow passed out, despite the fact the the city was blowing up outside my window. The fireworks continued, at a lesser level, pretty much for two weeks, until lantern festival. And then that night, they were pretty intense again, with fireworks going off everywhere and people lighting some in the middle of the street. The tradition is that the fireworks scare off bad luck and the Nian, and the chinese do not fuck around when it comes to bad luck! Picture a city bigger than Pittsburgh where everyone is lighting off boxes that contain form 10 to 30 big blooms! its simply amazing. thats what it was like during the big nights.

All in all, the Spring festival was amazing and alone was worth coming to china. I enjoyed every asspect of it. During this time, Yipin came to visit. that will be the subject of my next post, which should be up in a day or two so check back soon!

Finallysomephotos

Hello Everyone,

You know the drill. Sorry i have not posted...blah blah blah... been busy... blah... goats and sheep...blah

Lots going on lately. lots

But its late and i am exhuasted. The big thing is that I have pictures up on the internet. Jessica visited last week, and i finally had use of a bad ass camera! I went a little crazy with the pictures, actually. But, people have asked about photos; i know its better to see some of the things i am talking about...

My photobucket page is here; the general albulm has some old crap in it. For those of you who don't know how to access the albulms from the home page, I have provided links for each individual one that you can access from here... but scroll down here first to see how to get to the new pictures...

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v494/anjelfk/

I divided up the pictures that i took last week and commented on some of them. Each first photo in each album essentially gives a brief overview of the album, so make sure to click on the first photo and read the comments. Many photos have titles and comments, read them if you wish. The album below contians pictures from when we climbed a chinese mountain, big black mountain(translated). Very cool pictures; many of nature and mountains and such.

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v494/anjelfk/Big%20Black%20Mountain%20China%20Feb%202009/

The next album is just pictures of Dalin. these can give you and idea of what its like in a modern chinese city.

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v494/anjelfk/General%20Dalian%20China%202008/

WE went to this kick ass marine park. lots of pictures of fish and such things.

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v494/anjelfk/Marine%20Park%20Dalian%20China%202009/

Some people are curious about my street and apartment. here are photos of that!

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v494/anjelfk/My%20apartment%20and%20street%20Ba%20yi%20lu%20Feb%202009%20China/

Finally, i wanted pictures of something unique to most of you. In big black mountain, there are many temples. its really very cool and very chinese( well, there are other historical influences, but you know what i mean". This place is incredible and i hope that i did it justice.

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v494/anjelfk/TEmples%20on%20Big%20Black%20Chjna%20Feb%202009/?start=0

I know that there are alot of photos and you might not have time to check them out. i understand. these are all just here if you want to see them...

I am def. going to write in this more this week. i have to talk about jessica's visit, chinese new years and much more. so please check back in a few days....

Patrick