Setting boundaries w/ Alfred...and tons of pics of my school

Well, I laid down the law with Alfred today. Hope I didn't break his little heart, but none the less I'm proud of myself for doing so. He messaged me on QQ this afternoon telling me that his company wants to transfer him to the Beijing office. Mind you, he had already messaged me earlier today and asked some rather personal questions...to which I finally had to start responding to in 'all caps' (something I don't do when communicating with another person). I couldn't believe he had the gall to ask me some of the things he was asking. And no, they weren't sexual questions, just personal and none of his business. So a couple of hours after the all caps incident, I get the QQ message about him moving to Beijing. Hmmm? Seemed a bit suspicious to me. Was it an attempt to get pity out of me? Possibly. I responded to him via text message while walking to grab some dinner. I told him that I was sorry to hear that. His immediate response? "Can I go to ur place now?" Umm, no, you can't. I responded back telling him no because I was out getting dinner. He responds back (and I'm using these quotation marks accurately), "ok, i c. if u dnt mind i would like to visit you everyday." Wow, I think to myself, this guy wastes absolutely no time at all and is also very shameless...or crazy and obsessed. I immediately respond to this with, "i don't know about that. that is an awful lot and i don't want to get in trouble with my school (security guard incident). we are friends, alfred. i am not your girlfriend." Ten minutes pass, ten long minutes, and I get this gem of a text..."i know. but i really love u and u dnt need to do anything in return. i know im not good enough to be ur bf, i just behave like a close friend. can i?" WHAT!? (sorry, all caps were merited just then.) I wanted to tell him that first of all, my close male friends don't simultaneously give me the creeps while I am enjoying their friendship. Second of all, I don't make 'good' friends in 14 hours. Wtf!? I tell him, "yes, but close friends don't hang out that much. its not normal to spend that much time together...we can hangout sometimes, just not everyday. u have to have what we call in america 'boundaries.' i hope you understand." He tells me, "ok, i c," and that was exactly one hour and 13 minutes ago. So that's that. My friend John (John the Brit), told me that it sounds like Alfred might have a little problem with possessiveness. I think I concur. 

On a happier note, here are some pics of my new school. There is a lot of construction going on right now in preparation for the kiddos coming back to school September 1st. It really is a lovely school. Has all the amenities of an American school. Not to mention that every classroom is equipped with a piano...which means most nights after a couple glasses of red wine, I sneak into one of the classrooms and go to town for an hour or so. It's great therapy. Also been dealing with a pretty gnarly stomach ache for the last 2 days. Went on to webmd.com and according to them I'm either suffering from viral gastroenteritis, giardiasis or food poisoning. Awesome! Like I've said before, every day in China is blessed with surprises, haha!

              I live on the 5th floor of this building. School is 3 different big buildings.

                    Thank God the construction is on 2nd floor.  I can't hear a thing!

                Inside some of the classrooms...and the piano I sneak down to play at night.

“For the perfect idler, for the passionate observer it becomes an immense source of enjoyment to establish his dwelling in the throng, in the ebb and flow, the bustle, the fleeting and the infinite. To be away from home and yet to feel at home anywhere; to see the world, to be at the very center of the world, and yet to be unseen of the world, such are some of the minor pleasures of those independent, intense and impartial spirits, who do not lend themselves easily to linguistic definitions. The observer is a prince enjoying his incognito wherever he goes.”   Charles Baudelaire 

Joe, Dane and I at the West Lake Youth House. Awesome hostel I stayed at for 11 nights, prior to getting a private room at my school. They are Australian and are traveling from Beijing to St. Petersburg, via The Trans-Siberian Railway. They're on it right now, pretty cool.


More pictures from Hangzhou...