Do not read yet, much much more to come... blogger posted it to soon, come back in a few days!

the blogger wars have been insane; i am trying to post this everyday, but i am losing the battle. I will keep trying, but it's getting to the point where it is not worth the effort. oh well, we will see

if anyone is checking this, i apologize. i have been having a few different computer problems and the tend to meet here on blogger! i will have this finished soon, i promise!

Please do not read yet, i am fighting with blogger.... I should be done with this by tommorrow afternoon...

Pigboy( one of my favorite students) you sassy thing, you....

Yes, it has been awhile since I have posted anything. There are a few guilty factors involved. First, The Chinese Government has blocked Blogger! I don't think I have talked about it that much for obvious reasons, but many of you probably know about The Great Firewall of China, which is the Goverments attempt to be able to filter what Chinese Internet users are viewing and perusing. When I first arrived here, I rarely ran into any blocked sites, but they are starting to get a little nuts. A important side note, the firewall has always been what i think has been best described as "creaky". Sometimes you can get to certain sites, sometimes you can't. Sometimes you can't access perfectly "legal" sites for a hour or two. I guess trying to provide service to a country with 1.3 billion people is a factor, there may simply be too many users. Also, I believe that while the goverment is scrambling to build up and maintain the Wall, a large number of it's citizens are quietly but continually chipping away at it; simular to what you see in Other countries with "illegal" downloads and PaySites. However, recently, the Wall has gotten stronger and more effective; I think that it will start to creak and chip away again. Anyhoo, they blocked You-tube, Blogger and many other sites. I was using some proxy servers for awhile, but they were only really good for sites where you just load and read things. Then, for a night, they blocked hotmail. I was livid; what damage could one out of many email providers do (turns out that the chinese goverment, like most people in the world, dislike Micrsoft!)? I had been looking for descent internet tunnels the entire time I have been here, but was unable to find one that worked right. Finally, last week, a freind of mine turned me onto a good one, and i can Blog again! I love living in China, but the interenet blocking thing not only is a giant pain in the ass, but also goes against pretty much everything I believe in. The official excuse seems to be to protect children from harmful things, which there are plenty of on the internet. Of course, this excuse is a time honored one when it comes to censorship. While it has some merit, the fact is that if you try hard enough, you still can find plenty of porn on the web, and other arguably malicious things! Since blogger is blocked, i feel I can speak my mind freely now. As I have stated before, daily life in China is surprisingly free; people seem to do what they want. There are strict laws for everything of course, but people seem to ignore the ones that don't make sense to them. Of course, there are other things in a big- picture viewpoint, but generally, it's fairly free here. I think that this rampage with the internet is a remnent of the previous China, certain element in power think backwards. But in my opinion, it is doomed. China is rushing foward with an American-based model of society, eventually, I feel, this will transfrom many elements of the culture. From what I have heard, things have changed drastically in the last ten years; The rapid assimulation, intiated by the Goverment, is moving faster than they can keep up. I think, I hope, that the changes for China have only begun; but only time will tell if I am right. Anyway, thanks to my tunnel, I can Blog, watch You-tube, and occasionally look at naked chinese ladies on the interweb! I hope that this blog being blocked means that I am safe from prying eyes: watch me log onto tommorrow and my computer blow up in my face!

Another reason that I have not blogged in awhile is that I have been lazy! The school year ends in June, and I am tired! This semester has been easier, I know what I am doing and am becoming much more adept at lesson planning, classroom control , yadda-blah, but teaching does tend to suck the soul right out of you. I am usually pretty tired after class; less than last year, but still tired. However, I think my stanima is growing, so hopefull I will be less lazy next semester. i think i have bloged fairly often this semester, anyway...

massiveammountofcrap

Ok, it seems that I have a massive backload of pictures, so I will post many of these and hopefully include some actual text also... remember to click on the pictures if you want to see a full size version...

The school pictures are all from Shiyan school; a higher ranked middle school where I teach two entire grades 7 and 8 ( which we call junior 1 and 2). I am at this school all day both Wednesdays and Thursdays. I have been teaching the eighth grade since last term and I know them very well. I just started teaching the 7th grade at the beginning of the term: I adore these kids. I have noticed a marcked difference between the 7th and 8th grades, the seventh graders are still interested in english and still kind of innocent. The eight grades, while still very innocent compared to most of their American counterparts, are busy with trying to get good grades, playing grab ass with each other, and sometimes are difficult. Still, It's not too bad...

In China, the students clean the school, or at least parts of it...


Ok, i am obsessed with these things...

This is at a Hot Pot restaurant. Hot pot is kind of a communal soup. You order meat and vegetables and cook it the pot yourself. Its very good...

Cleaning outside of the bathroom. This eight grade boy once showed me a small knife he has; he's kind of nuts, but he likes me.

As you walk into the school...

This is outside of Hutan Primary School; I liked the buildings and the way the sky looked. This is literally about 500 feet from the Yellow Sea...

I had never seen a Merry-Go-Round like this. Of course, big kid Winston could not resist. Little hans and a girl are pushing him...

Hans and I were both a bit drunk that night; Winston was sober as always( doesn't drink ever)

At the bottom of this blurry picture, a chinese person is brushing their teeth. I thought that was interesting.

This is the most awesome globe I have ever seen. In the Shiyan school's meeting room. They put me into this massive room during lunch because all of the old teacher's, who are women, take naps in the English office and you can see up there skirts. Believe me, in this middle school, I am much better off in the meeting room...

This is printed on the wall of one of the teacher's offices in Hutan. Oddly, it's not the English office and none of the teachers in this office speak any English...

Just a cool ass thing that decorates a Shiyan stairway...

that pole thing. these are somewhat common in Dalian. I have no clue what they are there for or why they are like that....I wish I did....

In the back, notice the women with umbrella's. It was a hot, not at all cloudy therfore sunny day. Chinese women( as well as other Asian women i think) hate the sun! Paleness is considered more desirable then being darker, so you often see sun umbrella's and why they are almost fully clothed at the beach( drat!). I happen to like the color of Chinese girls: yipin is very dark and I think she's the most beautiful Chinese girl ever ( and I think many of them are beautiful). It's ironic, in America, most women throw themselves into the sun trying to get dark, in china, they try to be white. Oh, humans, you're all so delightfully fucked up...

A few 7th grade girls saying Ni hao...

eight grader named " pretty girl"! it's a long story...

The big boy in yellow is nicknamed " King Kong". He's huge, but very gentle and intelligent... Chinese boys are weird, some are very small and almost underdeveloped and some are bigger than most middle boy school boys in America. I have mentioned this, but many Chinese people are quite big, especially in the north.

Speaking of Big, eight grader nicknamed Big Boy. Most Classrooms, have these windows into the hall, i guess for airflow or to see into the classrooms. Big boy is a good kid...

These Fish have been living in this basin as long as i have been at this school.

A peek into a Chinese classroom. Although all of the students are not in this one in this picture, you can see how cramped it is...

hahah... two very funny students, Shenma ( Chinese for "what") and Strange Boy. Shenma is sweet, but has very little English skills. He used to always say Shenme to me, so that's how he got his nickname. Strange boy got his when i looked over and seen him playing with his nipples...

This 7th grade girl is super super super smart. She never opens her eyes all the way, but she is sweet and so very fucking smart.....

This seventh grader hugs me ever day and will not let go. I tried to get free of him last week and accidentally flipped him over onto his hip! He was laying on the floor groaning and teachers were walking by! luckily, I am sure they have done far worse!

I don't know why he was squatting there, but it made a good picture....

speaking of Squatting... A Chinese toilet for pooping. yeah.... I have used these a few times, it was not pretty. You have to squat over them, and It just doesn't work for me. Luckily, some places( such as my apartment) have western toilets....

cute 7th grader cleaning. I had to take this shot about 12 times because she kept running away...many of the girls are extremely shy...

One of my many " monkey's. This one is the smartest and one of the sweetest.

A group of not so shy 7th grade girls. the one with both arms up is Betty, who is very friendly... don't ever call her unfriendly, becuase she will get upset and smack you even if you are her teacher and her elder....

awesome shot of shiyan outside. that boy was just there; he got mad and left when he noticed I was taking pictures...

Shiyan Grade 8 class five. One of my favorite classes. the girl on the right is clever girl, next to her is hair. Big boy is behind them to the left. the small boy in the middle waving is tomato

squatter

a model of Shiyan school. They are still building the glass encasement on the actual school...

Class five again, the girl in row 2 is Turtle, very nice. Two rows behind her is potato...

Class five again. in row 2 the boy on the left is big lizard. the girl on the right is Nihongo, one of my few Japanese students. she has been to hawaii... fourth row in the middle is jessica, who is probably going to grow up to be one of the most beautiful women in china. Jessica is sweet, but a bit of a princess. next to her is Simon, who is a very nice boy the class likes to pick on is a good natured way. Simon is "dating" turtle from the above picture. Jessica came to the board one day and big lizard tripped her. What commenced after that was one of the worst beat downs I have ever seen! She had kicked him hard and smacked him in the head about 7 times before I could even react. He should have known better...

These stickers are all over the place in china. on the sidewalk, on walls, on polls, all over Winston's door. I am sure they advertise a variety of thing, but some of them are for fake receipts for tax purposes!

Interesting Chinese Fact. All Chinese schools are gated and guarded by actual policemen, not rent a cops. You have to have business to get in. Even parents are barred, unless they have permission, probably because Chinese parents are very interested in their children's education and would be a massive pain in the ass if they could just go in. still, very strange to a westener...

Ah! not super common, but still, everyonce in a while, you can see a street barber. I think it's intersting. Get a haircut in the street; really, who needs a shop

Finally, This video is of Hutan's school exercise time. They were practicing for a dance competetion. I am sure you will notice the song...

Crap, i have noticed I missed a few pictures that I wanted to post. so I will just post this as it is and then do another post in the next few days with a few more picutes and more text... ( edit, actually, i think that's good for now, i will post again next week...)