American Amenities and first dates...

Yesterday was a great day. I had an iced vanilla soy latte at Starbucks, ate a 6" sub at subway, discovered a SEPHORA and introduced Widespread Panic to 2 of my Chinese friends. I also spent exactly 14 hours with Alfred. Alfred, the 24 yr old electrical engineer who befriended me on 'QQ.' (QQ is Chinese version of Facebook.) I agree to meet Alfred, face to face, for the first time yesterday. In my mind, its nothing more than meeting some locals, them getting to practice their English, me getting to practice my Chinese and socializing over some authentic Chinese food. However, in Alfred's mind, I'm pretty sure he thought it was a first date. Bless his heart. How do you tell someone that you are in no way, shape or form attracted to them, never will be and want nothing more than a platonic friendship? I suppose by continuously dropping subtle hints...like the one I just now dropped on QQ telling him that I didn't want to send him the link to my blog because its very private, like a diary and that I only let my family read it. Yes, maybe I'm going to hell for telling him that, but come on? It would be a major hindrance to my writing and writing style. I'm very straightforward and aware that sometimes my writing might sound unethical and lacking in diplomacy. I write from the heart more so than the head. He also just instant messaged me that he tried to set up a Facebook account just now but that for whatever reason (China) didn't let him. Thank God, is all I have to say about that. Boundaries are essential and I have my reasons for not wanting my Chinese social networks to ever intersect with my American ones. Ok, so back to yesterday with Alfred. He told me that I am his new idol. Very sweet. A bit creepy, too. What's more interesting? Him telling me the first day we meet that his dream in life is, "...to marry a blonde American girl and have family and live in China." And just to clarify, I was absolutely NOT giving out ANY kind of vibe or signal that would make him think I am interested in him like that. I swear the only thing I am guilty of is being kind to him. Being myself, nothing more, nothing less. He told me last night when he left my school ( I live at my school for now) that the security guard yelled at him for being here since 'its a girls dormitory,' and told him that next time he will not let him in and we can just talk 'through the gate.' Although that is completely ridiculous, at the same time I'm almost grateful for the 'curfew/locked gate' thing. Otherwise, Alfred might very well set up camp outside my door. I am not and will not lead the poor man on. If he continues at this pace I will absolutely tell him, sometime this week, that I just want a friendship with him.

Alfred and I at sushi last night...in the 12th hour of our 14 hour hangout marathon, haha! His face is beet red from drinking a small glass of soju and mango juice. I couldn't believe how low his tolerance was, so naturally I had to snap a picture.

a link to my new city, Hangzhou. Check it out, its beautiful!

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hangzhou-China/110339342327129#

I got the job, pay is way better than last school, got an abode and got peace of mind~

ok...so things can change pretty quickly. i went from going up shit creek without a paddle, to having a secure job, a secure place to live and finding a place that sells both 'tobasco' AND 'franks red hot sauce,' in merely 3 and 1/2 days. maybe my new coined phrase should be "what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger." Im going to bed right now, but wanted to drop this short line. things are good and happiness is abound. pictures soon to follow.

Tons of typos, grammatical and spelling errors. i wrote this on my tiny android phone, in my tiny room, at my hostel..more to come, justgot VPN working today

where in the heck do i even begin? I have not written in my blog for almost 2
2 weeks. and while sooo very much has happened, i really haven't the
faintest clue as to where I should begin speaking about it all. i am at a hostel in
hangzhou, zhejiang province, china. I have been homeless for about a week (they have become extended family at this point). because I have lost my American bank (ATM) card, I am sleeping on the couch at the hostel, free of charge.  i am safe, i am not hungry, i have friends, i am poor, but i am happy. (happiness and positivity;  must consciously excercise; it's ridiculously hard.) And as i have found through experience, at the end of the day, being happy (or alive) is truly the only thing that matters to me. i hate to complain, and i will really try not to. but for sake of
storytelling its only fair that i voice some of the many hiccups i continuously encounter on a day to day basis here. the phrase "if it ain't one thing its another," at this point, in month 2 of my excursion, i feel that i could have been the individual to coin this phrase. seriously. so, i leave my last city Taizhou and travel with my friend John, to
Shanghai. while in shanghai, i commence looking for another teaching job
because i loathed the one i had in taizhou. not to mention i got
fired *because I loathed the job. i hated my boss and safe to say the feeling was mutual.
i hated the way they treated education. there WAS no education. rather,
they herded them, the students, like sheep through the gates of our school
all the while only caring about the student 'clients' checkbook and how much money they could contribute to our school via registering for classes.
bottom line, education not important, money very important. it disgusted
me. and when i found out how our chinese male boss spoke about us foreign teachers to the other chinese staff it nearly made me sick. i couldn't fake
working for a man like that. i had to get out and boy i sure did.

Which brings me to Shanghai w/ John the Brit...
Shanghai was a comedy of errors if ever there was one. ipod stolen by cab
driver, computer screen broke (by yours truly), effed my bad knee from
ski injury AGAIN, and was recruited for the so called 'kindergarten' job
that brought me to where i am right now, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China.

Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China...
all the promises of a fruitful kindergarten. recruiter told me about job. wild and unwise i jumped at the opportunity and before long, i found myself with a one way first class ticket to Hangzhou. at station in Hangzhou, after realizing i have lost my bank card and now officially BROKE, i phone my head teacher at kindergarten, actually thinking that i am going to get a slice of sympathy from her. i was wrong. the kind woman texts to me, and i quote, "you can just stay the night at the Mcdonald's by the school." I shit you not, the woman actually had the audacity to text that to me. really?! i get to the school Tuesday morning. this is after attempting to get there Monday morning but throwing up in the middle of the street after trying to hail a damn taxi for half an hour. i literally puked, all over the place in the middle of the street, from heat exhaustion. (inside scoop...the Chinese are perhaps the most racist race i have EVER encountered in my 33 years of life. i don't say that out of any kind of
resentment either. and not ALL fit this label, just most.) its totally normal to be waiting for a taxi and for a taxi driver to pass me up as if I'm invisible and move on to pick up the next Chinese that is also waiting patiently for a cab. so i get to the kindergarten, i get the tour, i get
what i believe to be all the necessary details. in my best american form, i
save asking salary details for last. because like we say in the states, you
never want to appear too money hungry, you always want to appear as if the
job itself is of more value to you than the pay. turns out that the witch, caroline (mcdonalds suggestion beeatch) also believes in this theory. she tells me that we will discuss pay last. ok, i think to myself, whatever she wants. we get to pay and i am satisfied. i am also satisfied with the other foreign teachers. another texan, a mexican girl and her husband, a french, an italian and tami, my now great friend from zimbabwe. i meet tami on day two at the kindergarten, where she proceeds to tell me that my start date would not be until september 1st. what?! really?! im broke and staying in a youth hostel...I NEED MONEY! ..and i dont need to wait until october 1st to get it.
--today i went to church with tami and paloma, the mexican girl. god (no pun intended), it felt good to be in a room filled with other westerners (the police come through, unannounced, almost weekly in order to check passports and make sure that no Chinese nationals are in a 'Christian' church. If they are, they are sent to jail). I actually broke down in tears at least 4 times during the 2 hour service. i dont know what it was...the loneliness, helplessness, struggle, despair, love, longing..who knows. but whatever it was, it was heavy and it was real. so it was at this service today, that tami and paloma both began to tell me what an asshole caroline, witch lady, is and how she could give 2 shits about any of our welfare. being that i am homeless and running on empty, as far as funds are
concerned, getting an abode of my own is of upmost importance. there is a
room at the school with a private bathroom that no one lives in. if the
school does not agree to let me stay here, i will find another school. Its principle. This country is insane.

I'z be just a whistlin' dixie~

In lieu of the sh*t for luck week I had last week, I must say that things are starting to look up for me in the good 'ole People's Republic of China. After summing up my existence this past week as that of a hermit (something anyone who knows me knows I am definitely NOT), I have slowly but surely reimmersed as my usual self. Walking to and from with a smile on my face, bobbing my head and singing along to my ipod and not having to turn around to look behind me every second for fear that I am being followed or on the verge of having some sort of physical confrontation. Yes, the skies are blue again and my merited paranoia has slowly dissipated.  I have returned to a lollygag world, not limited to: my 40 hr. a week job, socializing, learning/studying Chinese, taking pictures of my food, registering for 'QQ' (Chinese equivalent of Facebook...you all know that Facebook and YouTube are banned by Chinese government, right? My VPN is my baby.), learning how to communicate with my newfound housekeeper (still can't pronounce her damn name) and trying a different part of the pig or cow each time I eat one of the two. Its to the point now where I prefer not knowing exactly what it is I'm eating for fear that if I actually knew what was being grinded up and chewed in my mouth, I'd probably spit it out thus not being able to say that I actually tried it. 'All's well that stays in(side of me) well,' might be my new mantra. Although I must say I am proud of myself for deciding to have my doctor at home write me a script for Cipro. Let's just say that I've had to take it on more than one occasion. But I find it amusing when I tell my students what my favorite meals are here and they say to me, with complete candor, "You shouldn't eat that. Its disgusting, dirty and could make you sick." That's when I pat myself on the back and tell them that as long as it can stay in my body without coming out of  either end, I will continue to indulge!

Elaine and I on a tuk tuk ride to dinner. The pic above this is the poor bastard that had to peddle us there, ha!  (Elaine is a 20 yr. old student of mine.)

The pics above are from the 'Peoples' Square.' This is basically a huge area with a ton of people, walking around aimlessly, eating food, feeding pigeons and basically just having a good time. I don't know if you can really tell (in juncture of my Annie Leibovitz-like photo skills), but there are hundreds upon hundreds of people in these pictures. Look at the right hand side of the middle picture...this gives an idea of the amount of people we're talking about. Hell, for all I know its easily thousands of people.

 Ok, so although I could not summon myself to eat a shrimp's head, I did muster up the cojones to eat the shrimp's skin...and maybe one or two of his little shrimp legs. Baby steps, my friends.

 Cold beef and traditional Chinese seaweed. Delish!!

 

Some noodle dish with A LOT of peppers and mushrooms. Anyone who knows me well can guess that I had this one 'special ordered,' so to speak. I knew I wanted noodles, veggies, lots of mushrooms and very spicy (Ha! Emily Foster Vega..soo spicy). I definitely got what I wanted. I could live on just tofu, veggies and hot peppers...and as it turns out, now I get to!