Almost done

So tomorrow I return to Wuhan. Today is a few things. First I must go buy a buss ticket, yea I'm paying 200 koai for a buss ticket. Oddly it is supposed to be faster and more comfortable than a train and still more expensive. Almost 2x the ticket price than a train ticket. Next I must go to the bank to buy this ticket. I also want to get another shower and stop at a computer store to check out what it would take to get a hard drive put into this piece of crap computer. At worst the computer breaks but I can use the parts and re-use the hard drive. Hopefully if it is not too expensive ill pick one up. It would be nice to have some space.

I was a little surprised on the reaction I got yesterday when I left the small village. I didn’t think I made much an impression. I thought the family didn’t care for me much, but nainai (grandma) said she didn’t want me to leave and it seemed that most of the family agreed. I didn’t think anyone rightly liked me. It was fun being there. It was quite an experience living in a village.
I had a fun experience talking with two girls in the village. Talking about boys and girls, dating, marriage and children. It was fun while they asked me about what I plan to do and my American customs. They were surprised that in America boys and girls both share the duties of cooking and cleaning. That women in America have power in that when they ask boys to do things they do it. Boys who ignore their women find themselves without girls. It was neat when the girls said they don’t like the system, or the smoking. But as this is really a side note that there is no choice. Apparently finding boys who don’t smoke, willing and happy to help and share the work. I am not surprised at all about the stories of Americans who come here to find a wife.
But that is all aside. What I must point out is that despite my confirmation that I have a girl back in America if I would like a Chinese girlfriend. That well, what wont she doesn’t know won’t hurt. She is in America she will never know. Pfft. I can barely handle dating one girl, I would fall apart if I tried two. I am too damn honest and would splurt something out yea… two girls is just asking for trouble.
So I guess it is time to go and hey! Soon to post all this to the net! This will be great!

More Chinese Village

Wow. I just went through and redid my color and gamma settings on my laptop with custom settings. Using windows guide to properly set up my screen. Good lord it’s like a new computer. The before and after is huge and I just can’t believe that before I thought the colors were correct. And that was just gamma. I don’t know how to properly customize and optimize the color scheme. I now understand why on photographer websites you can buy machines that optimize the color perfectly. This is like night and day. I am so glad I always save the original file of my photos; it looks like I will have to go through and re-edit almost everything. I almost want to wait till I can return to the USA where I can buy a big cheap clunker of a screen as I have read those are the easiest and best for photography work. They are “more accurate” when it comes to colors etc, also being easier to calibrate. I defiantly will buy a big heavy screen when I get home. Now they should be dirt dirt cheap.
This computer I think has almost had it. Turning it on or off is a real ritual now. Turning on is worse. I often have to wait a long time as the computer fans, processors turn on, I know they are on as I can hear them but the computer does not boot up. I have found that taking the battery out then putting it back in sometimes helps. Sometimes I just must wait as the computer attempts to boot up which can take up to twelve times. I think there are problems with the electricity. I would not be surprised if soon it completely short circuits and I lose this thing altogether. I need to get this back to Wuhan and back it up. I was thinking of buying a larger hard drive for it and just dealing with the slowness but if this thing is kaput I might just try to use it as long as I can and get a new one when I return to the use. Ill probably try to sell this to someone in the USA for maybe 200$ I doubt ill get much more than that for it. And well try to buy a new laptop. I can only hope I guess. Unless we still have a computer at home? I know then it be a lot cheaper to install some new specialized hardware on a machine like that than it would be to get a laptop with features. I will have to see what is available at home. I do believe however that nothing is rightly available. But who knows craigslist is always full of other people’s crap. Not to mention by the time I get home it will soon be back to school sales at all the electronic stores. I should be able to find something.

day 13

So today was New Years Eve. It was not at all like I expected. We got up quite early to clean the house. I believe it is Chinese tradition to clean the house, rid of the old etc etc. So we swept the floors. I have to wonder who taught the children how to sweep. They would fling dirt out the door but instead the dirt would hit the raised edge and just fly sideways into the nooks and corners of the doorway. But different ideas of clean I guess.

That is one thing I am still trying to get used to. The different ideas of what clean is. Its clean to use the floor as a trashcan because it is easily swept, so sunflower seeds can be spit on the floor, crumbs thrown down, cigarettes used or ash be tossed on the ground, its all ok. But to sit on a planter is dirty.

Afterward we made a quick trip to the hospital where I got another rabies vaccination and then we piled into the vehicle to the small village. I don’t know what I was expecting. We arrived and the boys set up the decorations for the home, which was 2 big red lanterns that in itself is not complicated but new wiring has to be made to a light bulb inside. Never are a plug installed and one cord made and stored, instead every year the entire doorway is just re-wired. The rest of the decorations were posters and ribbons to be taped to the wall.
The ladies meanwhile cooked. Once ready we all sat down for dinner. It was about 3 or four and as you can guess the guys (at the big table) started opening bottles of liquor. Dinner was good. The usual array of 5 or so plates of food from 2 or three vegetable dishes to a plate or two of just meats. Again at the end carp was served. Carp is an interesting fish to eat. I don’t know if you have ever tried it, in the use we don’t often eat it.
Afterward I was schooled in Mahjong by his cousins where I not only worried myself about my toes catching frostbite but I also lost about 10 koai… Luis and I retreated to a bed that had blankets and heating pad which what looked like was mint for 1 person. It was the first time I was happy to spoon with a dude as it was the only way to stay onto of the heating pad and under the blankets.
The next morning I slept in while events happened. Why I was not awakened for the “important” events of the morning is beyond me. It was thought I would prefer to sleep. Oh well, such is life eh? Lunch was served as leftovers from the previous day. Leftovers here are very similar to leftovers in my family but I think not the common way to eat leftovers for many people back home. Here after a meal all the leftover food is dumped into one big pot so the next day it can be heated up and eaten again.
The only difference in my family is dad adds a can or two of cream for a “stew”. Well with Chinese food the various dishes are all rather strong flavored. But this time the bitter pickled cucumbers teamed up with the sour sauced lotus roots to overpower the more subtle flavors of the other dishes of vegetables, meat and fish.
Again I played Mahjong as there is little else to do here. I don’t know why but I guess I expected more of a small hamlet of a village in the mountains surrounded by forest, fields or rivers. Here it is almost nothing of the sort. The land is flat and filled with fields yes. But all the fields look dead with grey dirt carved in neat rows. No forest exists except huddles of trees that scatter the road or distance. The village is much like the rest of china I have seen, crowded. I was amazed at how crowded the small village was. Narrow dirt streets lined with trash and piles of bricks, bamboo or what looks like a sort of hay. Dogs are scampering over piles looking for food while old men sit around smoking.
I think however on the game of mahjong I must be getting better for in the evening when I played with the older ladies I didn’t loose horribly. I only lost 1 of my 5 koai. So I almost broke even. For barely playing I think I am doing well. I blame my cursed luck more than my strategy.
The game is a rummy type game, played with tiles instead of cards. And the game is much like Jin rummy except for 4 people. Well in this game you must call “Uno” to signify you only need one tile to win. Well I would get to the brink of winning several times but often loose only to discover the tiles I need are in the possession of someone else… It is amazing how I can get so close to discover I never had a chance. They found it quite funny as 4 times in a row the same lady won showing her pieces were the ones I needed.
Another night passed and now it is the 27th. I leave the day after tomorrow back for Wuhan. There I must get all my money from the bank and get the transcripts for Texas state. It should only be a quick stop as hopefully Erwin and I are going to go down to Guilin where we will rent some mopeds and scooter around the country side taking pictures. He is leaving soon so it is our way of saying good bye and well doing what we love, taking pictures. Hopefully soon this will be posted on the net.

day 12

Yesterday was not terribly eventful. We went to Jason’s house where we meet his older sister (CUTE!) and we did some quick transfer of pictures and documents. The pictures of his family and my genetics paper to practice his English. Afterward we went to the internet bar. Yes we seem to do a lot of that but it is cheap entertainment and according to them there is not much else to do here. I can somewhat understand that. There is no forest, mountains or parks to go have a look about. Not to mention outside it’s about -10C almost every day so wandering around is not the best of ideas.
I discovered dynasty warriors and wow that game is mindless fun! I love it. If I can I want to try to find it here and buy a USB controller. I think it could be awesome fun. Afterward I picked up some chopstick and then we headed home to eat. Some mutton and bread. Afterward we went to the market to buy some food which turned out to be candy, seeds and some pork.
Afterward we watched the kingdom, sadly it was Chinese dubbed. This is odd to watch Jackie Chan dubbed… but even though it was dubbed it also had subtitles.

day 11

So it has been a very busy few days.
2 days ago we went to Luis’s friend Jason’s home. There we learned how to make dumplings. I will explain more on that in a separate post. That was a lot of fun however.
I learned I am not very good at it but have the basics down and can easily reproduce it but it will take some time to master the skill of.
We ate the dumplings with a good bit of drinking. Well I had maybe 3 beers. We played drinking games, the first being I’ve never. But being in the company of Chinese virgins the game did not take its normal dirty course as it does in America. But it very likely could have been a language barrier. Afterward we played dunk dice. A simple dice game which we had a lot of fun with as it is VERY fast and comical to watch someone have to take 5 shots in a row (beer).
Afterward we played poker and on the computer. The poker was like any other, except we played with peanuts. They all took to the game far too well and I was left with basically nothing several times… I’m not very good at poker, my best hand the whole night was a three of a kind. I am not what people would label as lucky.


The big event was that night. I for some reason here have the bladder of a two year old. Almost every night I have to pee. Well in the middle of the night I get up, put on a coat and make my way through the house. I remembered the stairs, the doors and where the bathroom is. What I did not remember was they have a HUGE ass dog. I was halfway across the courtyard before I heard the scrape of claws on concrete and felt the sting of teeth sinking into my leg.
Now being the brave young lad I am I froze screamed and tried to cover my face and head. I got another bite on my arm before the mother was out there beating back the dog. Luckily I was not hurt bad. Just one tooth sinks into my leg and penetrated skin. It was a clean hit, about the size of a Q-tip and only a few mm deep.
She cleaned me up and I was off to bed rather shaken up and well petrified. The next morning was a long discussion about what to do. I thought I would just need some antibiotics as well the dog (to my understanding) wasn’t rabid and was a home pet. I didn’t need stitches and didn’t really hurt. IT was not infected just a bit swollen.
So we head to the internet bar where I consult mom on what she would advise. Afterward we head to the local doctor which had a room apparently specifically for dog bites. If they are this common you think someone would establish a pound to start exterminating the wild dogs… they are everywhere…
They had me clean the wound with soap in a rather dirty shower; I’m still more worried about staph than infections… The doctor, a man in a blazer (no “doctor” coats, clothes or indication he had any real training. Really he looked just like the dude who owned the place than a doctor. I don’t know if he had any credentials or not, I like to assume he did and just feel no need to portray his training by dawning any traditional wear to publicly announce his position). He gave me the first of 5 rabies vaccinations. No antibiotics, not even a bandage or Band-Aid. I tried to ask for one but he said no need. I understand its no gashing wound but a Band-Aid to keep it clean??
Later that day we went to the public showers. That was an experience. I never had to do a public bath before. In my high school or middle school I was never required to shower. No one ever did. So to be honest I was a little nervous. I mean you always think the first time that everyone will stare but you tell yourself no one cares and no one looks. Yea try that when you are the only white person in a small town in china where white people are as common as honesty in the white house. I was looked at and I could feel many eyes taking more than an uncaring unnoticing glance. Yea that whole thing went out the window. Well it was easier than I thought to just not care. I guess being on display in this fashion wasn’t that different than walking down the street and noticing the heads turn at the white boy…
That evening I attempted to apply to my old resident assistant job at the university only to run into profound problems. The application was in a PDF which in china is unheard of and was difficult to download only to find it was not “set up” in such a way that could be digitally filled out. It required it to be printed and filled out by hand which in turn would require to be turned in by hand. Well as I am in china turning in a paper to the office is a little difficult. I could mail it but as that would take anywhere from 7-14 days and it also requires the addition of letters of recommendation it would be difficult to coordinate how to get many papers to come together all from a remote location.
So that is still an issue and I hope to get it sorted out. In the meantime I have downloaded some audio books from podiobooks.com which is an amazing website. Download audio books for free. No fancy popular books but they are good books none the less. Right now I'm working through two, Darwin or design a series of interviews about the ID movement. I personally don’t buy into ID in the current form and somewhat annoyed the interviews on the ID side have very little “data” in them and are more fluff talk. But as a biology major I want to hear about the protein structure in specific and why the amino acids cant be randomly selected for and how a flagellum is not as complex as once thought and the homology is started to be traced and discovered which from evidence thus far does not support ID.
The second is the spirit of education. An interesting book about a teacher and his thoughts of how the education system in America needs to be rethought. Not how new reform to the same system but question if the system itself is correct and what we need. Although it is good there is in my opinion way too much “spiritual” talk in it. Talk about the acorn of each individual as the potential to become the grand tree the universe has created. He uses tarot cards as imagery, the teacher being the wizard that dictates to students. While his imagery makes sense, I just want to hear his story and ideas; I could care less for the imagery heavy allegorical hippie talk.

day 9

Yesterday I made jambalaya with Louis. We went to the store to buy the food. This was an experience. Everyone was excited to sell to the American. We went shopping for sausage, pork, beef and vegetables. The recipe called for bacon but instead it came to a big slab of pork. That was my first time trying to cut bacon. It was incredibly exciting. And it was terrible. No meat was thin enough and ended up as pork bits.
The recipe also called for a bunch of special peppers and spices. Well in china the soul food spices are a bit hard to come by. So we made an Asian jambalaya. I must admit it wasn’t bad. It wasn’t great and wouldn’t fly in Saint Louis. But what can I say? It was enough to impress my host family. The only problem is in my guestamation game of cooking I ended up adding almost 2x as much rice as needed. So we have a HUGE amount of food left over. It didn’t help that when the family came home they had eaten before coming home.
The next day (today) was an early day. We went to the small village to visit Louis’s grandmother. She is like all grandmothers. Small, happy, and obsessed with feeding people. I was not 2 minutes in the door before I had a handful of oranges in my hands and a 15 lbs bag of peanuts in front of me. It turned out we were there so Louis and his cousins could grieve for a late grandmother. I was left alone with the family. It was quite fun to meet everyone and see the people. Everyone was very nice and excited to meet the white person.
I had an interesting time trying to talk with the family. The younger people understood to talk slowly and clearly. The older people tended to just have fun asking me something then repeating that I just don’t understand. Well I understood some. And I got better as time went on.
The day was fun. It was a bit slow and at times a bit dull. Sitting watching everyone have fun talking etc. but it was understandable. My toes got a bit cold but that is what happens in the cold.
Once Louis got back we all went to have lunch. This was quite an adventure. Louis and his three cousins and I were served 14 plates of food. I thought it was outrageous to eat so much. But this is Chinese cuisine. What made it harder was at 130 when we had lunch someone opened a bottle of Bijou. I did not partake much at all. I was glad not too. I did drink some beer. I still can’t drink on the Chinese schedule. Anything before 5 is just honestly too much.
So now I am backing home. Louis is taking a nap and I am here.

day 8

So what turned out happening is we all went out to lunch. This was somewhat special. We took two big bottles of bijou (freakishly strong liquor) and a bag full of beer to go out to a big big lunch. I believe there were almost 10 different plates of food. I was surprised that at 1pm my uncle and his friends were drinking several cups of alcohol. Even I got roped into drinking. After your entire host says I want to drink with you its bottoms up!

So afterward we went home where Louis his sister and I we had another English lesson. This time we used a genetics paper. I must say it was a great selection. The genetics paper has a lot of fancy words, big words, and most are outside their vocabulary. But I think it is a good thing that the words are outside of the vocabulary. This means that they learn how to read, not memorize words. The two are doing very well, and after 2 pages are doing very well. I am surprised how quickly they learn to read. They learn so much faster than I do when learning Chinese.

After the lesson Louis and I went to a computer bar. There I got a recipe for a jambalaya, today I plan to cook for the family. I also did the work to plan the Guilin trip and I looked to finish the application to be an RA at State. However I was unable to find it.

So it’s the next day, it’s almost noon. Today I must go buy food for lunch, shower and well have fun.

day 7

So yesterday afternoon we went out with his friends. We went to a small home where we decided it was time to have some fun. We hung out just talking away. I must admit I was a bit jealous seeing the girls and their boyfriends. But there is no problem. It was fun we talked, laughed, and they ended up playing with my camera.

Afterward Louis and I took the motorbike and took a quick tour of the village. Afterward we went to an internet bar. That was a fun 20 koai. For 3 hours or so Louis and I got on the computer. I talked to Alissa and he played war craft.

Right now it’s just after noon. Shushu’s friends have just come and well I guess they are going to have some fun. So I will continue to watch small Ville and watch what will be soon to come. Good bye for now.

day 6

So yesterday was a big day. After we played a while some games Louis got a call from some friends to go drink bijou. Very strong Chinese liquor. Yea strong stuff. So we zip over on the family motorbike. Defiantly something I think I can handle. But I will be wearing a helmet. We arrive at the restaurant where I am greeted by almost 15 other people. They are all very friendly but the common Asian shyness. No one knows what to say so for a bit no one says anything. Then it is the usual questions. How long have you been in china, how long will you stay. Do you like china? Then it easily progressed forward. I am doing better at just talking and getting my message across.

We got to the restaurant where we started to eat dinner. It was good. Corn, veggies, meats etc. there was a strange dish which was cold ham with a yellow edge. To me it tasted like a ring of fat that was dyed yellow… a funny incident was when Louis and a friend of his was fighting over food. The food is all placed in the middle of the table on a spinning plate. So you just turn it to get to the food you want. The problem is sometimes people don’t agree to which direction to turn it. Somehow it turned into a 4 on 4 battle of turning the plate. Louis started calling for me to help. Me in my wisdom of solving disputes took out my chopsticks and grabbed some food. People laughed and let go. It was funny if I do say so myself.

Now I did learn something that night. Alcohol doesn’t hit you right away. It takes a while for it to kick in. so you can drink a cup or two of liquor and not really feel it. But half an hour to hour later its like wow, 4 glasses of this stuff has a kick. Bijou is about 50% and each glass has about 3-4 shots each. Yea I don't know how many I had but I believe it’s about 4 or 5 cups. See I would have preferred to do beer. That is only 3% and well that’s easy to throw it back. Well I had fun and the pictures to prove it. Oddly I think my Chinese got better. At least I didn’t have a problem talking and conversing last night. Or maybe drunkenness is universal I don’t know. Well I ended up in a bed. I woke up much later with a need to pee and found myself in a strange room. Turned out we walked to a friends home to sleep it off. Or those of us who had a bit too much. There were 8 of us in 3 beds. Woo yea body heat! A bit later Louis came to pick me up where we went home. He instead went to a computer bar and played all night. So he slept and I watched star trek.
A bit later today meimei and shushu came home and we all ate. Now everyone is home and they are sitting around talking. So what happens next is to be determined.

day 5

So today was an early day. It was much easier. Louis’s parents got us a heating blanket. I feel bad because I made a comment in jest and he took it seriously and now there is a heating blanket. Well today we went to the city to meet his friends. A bit of a bus ride and we made our way to the city. There we walked around till his friends got out of high school. We went to eat and afterward we went to play pool. And then it was to return home. It is only 4 now. Louis wanted to try to play war craft together but we can not connect the computers. We only have an Ethernet cable, no hub or crossover cable. Why it’s overly complex I don’t know. It seems like it should be simple, Ethernet cable to two computers and they see each other. But no for some reason it requires networks, hubs, workgroups etc etc etc. seems one of those easy things that should just work…

So instead I am working on writing and editing pictures while watching small vile. I brought season three and nothing else. Yea way to go smart me eh? So yea I guess that is that. What else. Seems there should be more to report today.

Well in the city I saw 4 people beating on a big drum. I thought they were practicing for the spring festival but instead they doing it to get people to pay attention to them so they can pass out fliers.

Um well nothing else happened.

day 4

Today I got up a bit early. It was a bit warmer than the night before surprisingly. We lost our electric heater to Louis’s mother. Understandable but body heat really goes a long way to keeping me warm. I would not want to sleep here alone. Now that’s not saying sleeping with another dude is a hot night. Quite the opposite, it’s still cold but it’s a lot warmer than it would be otherwise… he he he.

So I got up and played on the computer. That was till Louis got up. We both awoke and played around, computer talked etc with his sister till their mother came from work for lunch. She made us manatou, some stir fried onions veggies and some meat. We also had another helping of preserved veggies soaked in sauce and peanuts. I’ve come to learn peanuts are like bread and butter for Americans. Its just food always there to nibble on and just a standard side dishes. The preserved veggies I saw are kept in a cabinet. Understandable as I assume they have been pickled and kept in a place near freezing temperatures so there really is no need for an electric fridge.

The food was wonderful. Their mother lives up to the Asian wife stereotype, sweet and a wicked good cook. The hot water was out so there was no shower today. Fine by me, the idea of stripping down naked in such cold water is not my idea of fun times. Besides I brought deodorant.

A bit later Louis’s friend came and we all went out to see his friends. This turned out to be a much better experience than I expected. There ended up being almost 10 of us. We first started catching each other at ends of the town before we migrated to one of their homes. It was a much poorer part of town and situation than Louis. It was very interesting. There I got a helping of Chinese chess. I won the first game but from the second game I think he underestimated me and let me win. The second time there was no contest and I was quickly and quite completely ass-kicked. This was apparently quite pleasurable to watch the American play Chinese chess.

Afterward we all again started to migrate toward the park. This was when the girls discovered I had a camera and become photo-fanatics after almost 60 pictures we made it to the park where I was introduced to the ‘playthings’. I call it odd exercise equipment but the Chinese love “exercise” for fun and health. We played basketball where I proved not all Americans can play the NBA.

We played limbo, dancing and other silly activities in the park. It kept us warm. There came to be a discussion over where to go next. The boys wanted to go to an internet bar to play warcraft and other various internet games. Obviously the girls were much opposed to this but as they were far fewer in number and dating the boys I wonder how much say they had in the manner. In the end we all went to eat instead. This was a fun endeavor.

The food came in the traditional Chinese style. Plates of food put in the middle and everyone else just went for it. Without plates, bowls of rice, or really anything to catch food it to me seemed a real life Asian version of hungry hungry hippos. People just reaching grabbing a bite and eating then going for more. It makes perfect sense it’s just a bit odd to a westerner. Especially when watching these girls who I can only describe as a rabbit incarnate smack their lips loudly or slurp. I have been here many months but still I am not used to seeing a girl make so much noise or show so much tongue when eating. I’ve wrapped my mind around boys but to me girls and such habits just don’t mesh…

But I skipped ahead of myself. We did not start with food. We started with everyone’s favorite game, KUAIZI. Well it’s SPOONS but with chopsticks as spoons are not the easiest to get a hold of. This game still proves to be popular and easy to understand no matter what the language barrier. It was glorious fun. We also tried to play BS but the Chinese rules got mixed in the American and somehow quickly I lost. This is my story and I stick to it.

After dinner came the drinking game. Well the boys drank and the girls ordered noodles (if we didn’t eat enough already. I find myself eating a lot less food than I used to. I can still pack it away when I want but I just try not to and I find myself easier to please. I have noticed this morning when I weighed myself I was only 77 kg. But that was with some coats etc on. I believe I came to china at about 85 kg. That’s almost freaking 10kg. I dont know what that is in real terms but that has to be a lot. And I lost more as right now I am wearing 5 sweaters and a winter coat with two pairs of long underwear. Yea I am that freaking cold, but back to the story)
So the drinking game started with a Chinese one. It has a toothpick for each player. So for 8 players there are 8 toothpicks. One person starts and randomly selects a number of toothpicks to keep in his hand while everyone guesses how many there are. The winner drinks. A bit slow but it works. The second game was a high card type game. Everyone gets one card and we gamble if it’s high or low. If we decide on highest then the highest card on the reveal must drink. This game got altered when we applied drunken Indian poker rules. So now instead of looking at yours you see everyone’s card but yours.
I attempted to teach my new friends “I’ve never have I ever” but this turned out to be too complex and the rules never understood which made the drinking quite slow.

I must note that during this process the role of the girls. They did not drink. I understand many girls often do not. However as they ate their noodles I found it quite surprising they willingly and seemed to enjoy feeding their boyfriend noodles while he played. And his reaction was more of cocking his head to the side to take the food but attention still on the game. I can only imagine this is Chinese tradition and the culture here. Because I don’t believe this behavior would fly far back home. Texas girls have too much of a pride going on to be someone’s little maid like that. Well I can only see Alissa smacking me for telling her not to play but to feed me… ahh would not fly. But this is a cultural thing. Quite understandable just hard to believe and very odd to see happen. At least I thought so.

After dinner Louis and I went to an internet bar where we played warcraft. We are getting better but we are no where near being any good. Warcraft 3 is very popular here. Warcraft, counterstrike and world of warcraft are huge here. Boys will go to internet bars and spend quite a bit of time playing. It is really quite amazing how popular these games are. I was able to talk to Alissa but this ended up being a 5am wake up call…

Oh in news I found surprising and don’t want to forget. Fake drugs are apparently a huge problem. Most drugs bought online are fake and possibly poisonous. Very very dangerous. So never buy drugs online. At leas tthat is what the lesson seems to be from the news article. Also in India some slums were destroyed by the city. I understand the city wanting to clean up and move people from slums of shacks to decent minimum housing but they destroyed tons of slums but no housing is available. It was a little preemptive. Also gaze and Israel are pissed off again so yea… more of the same.

Oh side note today I had a real scare. The computer turned on then turned off. It turned out to be a bad port on the power strip but for 2 min I thought I had fried the computer and everything was completely broken and lost!! Wow real scary. Means I want to know double check that everything is backed up and when I get back to Wuhan I am backing everything up on DVD

no updates for some time

i am in my friends small village.
the semester is over and now it is time for chinese new year. louis has graciiously invidted me to his home. so this is wehre i will be for some time. i will try to update when i can however do not expect much. most pictures and diary entries aer being done on my personal computer and most likely be uploaded all at once at the end near febuary.

happy new year yall see yall soon

Day 3

So today is when Louis’s sister comes home. The morning was a bit cold. Well obviously mornings are never warm and the weather doesn’t help. I attempted to shower today but this was quite difficult. The thought of being naked in cold weather means for a very quick shower. I was too chicken to wash my hair so I ended up just washing my body. All is well I have hats. Hah ah. So Louis and I spend much of the day on the computers in the main room with the heaters. We played some games; I did some photo editing and watched smallville.

It was a bit later when it came time to go fetch his sister. Well let’s just say that evening. His sister came and I can only describe her as the typical true blood Asian teenager. She is very cute, very spry, and giggly. I don’t know if the girl is capable of frowning or of being still. She and Louis are very close. It was quite something to see them and how close they were. The jumping hugging and overall excitement was my clue and overall show point of how different they are from my sister and me. We took her things inside before we piled into the car and went to a restaurant. This was a fun experienced and I really got to see a side of the father I didn’t see before. He loves to make jokes, laugh and just overall have fun. This is not what I hear of Chinese men, and it was quite a relief. I almost never understood the jokes but I think we learned to make jokes together. It ended up being over pronounced words of Chinese or English to show how little we understand. It was quite fun.

Upon coming home I presented gifts of chocolate to the mother and sister and a bottle of alcohol to the father. Meimei was excited of course. I taught the two spoons, king’s corner and crazy eights. Then it was to bed.

Day 2

So today we went to catch the bus. Well that was in the afternoon. The morning was spent seeing the city. We went to a temple which I think was more of a museum of two large towers. Oddly we needed identification to go inside. I don’t know the reasoning behind that. Afterward we went to explore the university.

But the real adventure starts with the bus ride to Louis’s home village. Well it’s more a town than a village. The bus was several several hours. I half slept half watched movies. I wish I would have downloaded more of the audio books. There is one book about a man who sold real-estate on the moon (true story) that was very interesting. But I only had the first 5 chapters and I only have the first 3 of an intelligent design vs. evolution debate that I personally love but I know Alissa would never sit through or understand. I think only j would listen but not get my fascination with how religion and science play off each other.

The bus ride was comfortable enough. Well the seats were too small, a bit cramped and I sat alone. The scenery was of endless fields and I swear we hit almost 9 different tolls. I thought Texas was bad…

We did not arrive in the city till very late. Well it was dark to say the least. I did not really believe Louis when he said his town was poor. I don’t know why but I was surprised to see yes it was a poorer town. It was not at all like the poor town I expected. I mean people say poor village in china I think shack, no electricity or running water. I think of one room where 5 people live and chickens sleep in a corner. But this was listening to too much American media. His home town was very much a town and yes it was poorer but not at all like I feared or expected.

His mother is a nice woman, petite and quite gentile. His father is a bit of a larger man by Chinese standards and what I thought somewhat silent. (I learn later his true nature but that is later) the home is very nice. It s a small compound. Well I don’t know if compound is the right description. There are three buildings around a small courtyard. One is the outhouse, another is the kitchen and shower and the third largest is the house. The first room is a hallway and living room. Branched off are three different bedrooms. Louis and I share one room and a bed. I am more pleased than anything as this is a cold climate and sharing a bed means body heat. He is no cutie by my standards but body heat is body heat.

That night we went out to eat for hotpot. This was when I truly realized I was not in Kansas anymore. I can not tell you the amount of stares and double takes I got. I don’t think many folk like me come out this way. It was quite fun to have people ask me who or what I was doing here but I must admit the language here is very difficult than what I learned back in Wuhan. It borders on not being a different dialect but different language. Yea doesn’t help. I personally was not overly hungry but being on a bus after many hours I was just thirsty and tired. They asked what I wanted and I just said as long as there are vegetables I am ok. This to me meant anything as there is always loads of veggies in Chinese food. This was take not mean order veggies. The amount that came was staggering. Luckily Louis was a ravenous wolf with the food and quite made up for what I was unable and unwilling to eat. Don’t get me wrong the food was good, I just was not hungry.

It was home and to bed.

Day one new Year adv

So today I had my final exam. It was difficult to say the least. What else is to be expected? It was the big test. Of course I was not prepared. I am almost never prepared for an exam that is not biology. But this is life. I think we work for things we really want. Sadly Chinese is not one of them. It is just a requirement so sadly I don’t have the interest I should. But that beside there is more to life than test.

So this afternoon I went to go buy batteries and prepare to leave. It was not as difficult as I expected. But as always I always expect the worst. After all being who I am I must expect the worst because often times that is what I get.

The trip to the train was worse than the train ride it. An hour and half bus trip to the train station was uncomfortable and awkward. Uncomfortable only because it was crowded, hot, and well uncomfortable. Awkward because for some reason every time I end up an a very crowded bus I often end up face to face with a very very very gorgeous Chinese girl. And well in Chinese crowds you barely have room to look anywhere but strait. So being forced to look at someone face on can be awkward. It gets worse when the girl is so attractive you find yourself staring at the plain beauty.

No I still love alissa and don’t confuse or forget tthat. But I am still a boy and sadly the boyness in me kicks in and then it’s, does my breath smell? Better yet just don’t breath. Don’t stare, yes she is beautiful try to look away. Great looking strait up is much better. Now don’t try to steal a glance, because looking strait up then forward is not obvious at all….

I mean it’s that stupid man stare when we just watch/stare and think wow. Then someone says our name and we realize 130 seconds have gone by and we try to act as if nothing happened. Of course everyone can see us staring no matter how we try to shrug it off. Then I am left with hey I’m still right in front of her. Great now what? I just came off as a pig, I feel like dirt and still she is standing right in front of me. Stop staring, yes look at the boy. Stare at the boy beside you, better to be gay than a creep...

This is why busses can get awkward. The train was much nicer. I was expecting a train ride like I had from Guangzhou to Wuhan. But it was much nicer. It was a double-decker train. My seat was better than southwest airlines and 2x as much leg room, if not 3x as much. The seat reclined far back, the temperature was nice and it was relativity quiet, except for the obscure music, news and salesman.

I watched some movies, listened to some podcast and started some audio books. The 6 hour train ride went very fast. I saw mission impossible and space jam. I must admit that was the first time I saw mission impossible. I now want to talk about it but really who do I talk to?? Sad I know….

So we got to Zhengzhou and I am very much surprised and pleased. The city is a real city except we can see the stars, moon and sky. Sooo nice!! Louis’s friend came to meet us and we went to his house. Then we went downstairs to eat.

Afterward was a long talk with his father or as I am instructed to call him uncle. We smoked cigarettes; I could only stomach one honestly. I must admit I thought we were loud and afraid to awake the sister or mother but I guess it was/is not a problem. Manners are different. I was told that using a bathroom is ok but if you must do #2 you use the public toilets. This is Chinese manners. I was told this is because Chinese like clean homes. I understand what was explained to me but why totally escapes me. So I will accept this as Chinese custom and not try to understand.

So tonight we talked with my new uncle and friend. We talked about an interesting device. I gather my uncle works in A/C because he asks if a machine that creates its own electricity to work would be popular. But it is explained that this machine makes electricity, not converts it. So if he has discovered a way to bend the laws of physics I may be looking at the world’s soon to be richest man. We also talked about job opportunities for surgeons, A/C repair men and how much it cost to start a business in America.

I tried to answer to the best of my ability but sadly I don’t know a lot about A/C systems and about business law.

So now my friends are playing street fighter or a Chinese version, (same characters but they change the name slightly). I think I will sleep because well I’m a wuss. Good night good night.

A Year In Review Good Bye 2008