Today I went ice skating with Ariel and Lily. Ariel knows how to skate - she grew up in a smaller town in Northern China, and Northern China has no shortage of ice during Winter. I've only been ice skating once before, but that was enough to know it is similar enough to roller blading that I am able to do it. Lily has never done either before, so for a lot of the time Ariel and I took turns teaching Lily how to ice skate. She was able to make laps on her own, without holding on to the wall, by the time we had to leave.
Then the three of us went to get lunch, and then play pool - which it turns out all three of us suck at, but I suck considerably less than either of the girls. Ariel didn't play much - she wandered off for most of the time, but it gave me the chance to show Lily how to shoot properly. No, I don't mean the sleazy way you see in movies. Then we waited for a while in an internet bar, which mostly involved discussions about how good Lily and I were at breaking our computers - they both ended up needing a reset. Then Lily had to go, so I escorted her to the bus stop, and she said how much she enjoyed herself today. That kinda hit me in my soft spot, and I've been a bit dippy ever since.
Finally, Ariel took me to her yoga class, and I was the only guy there. Also the only foreigner, but I think being the only guy was more worrying. I'm used to not being able to understand people over here now. It was very relaxing, I have to admit, and the teacher has a hell of a voice (she's also beautiful and graceful, but you kinda expect that - it's the voice that struck me, even if I only understood maybe six of the words she said during the whole class). I'll seriously consider joining the yoga class, although it's not so close to me - I'd have to take a bus every morning to get to the class. I'll make a decision once I've slept on it. I'd rather join that one than one closer to me because I can go with Ariel; plus that was the class that impressed me, I'd have to go and be impressed all over again if I went to another.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Kiss the Sun
On Monday, Vera and her friend Frank came over to make dumplings. In theory I was going to help, but in reality I was kicked out of the kitchen most of the time. The dumplings were good! Alex and Linda were still here, so we all ate dumplings for lunch. Frank had to go earlier than Vera, so the four of us that remained went up to the rooftop to take photos. Alex just bought a new camera and was eager to try it out, and I took mine, too, so there were plenty of photos - it was a good time for it, too, with the sun setting. The photos are at the end of this post! But first...
Yesterday Linda, Alex and I went to a nearby gym, and talked to the manager about me teaching some capoeira classes. It seemed to go well, and tomorrow I'm going to do a demonstration class, just to the staff. If that goes well, I guess we'll discuss regular classes.
So, all today I've been preparing for it. I have a lesson plan set out, I have a CD of capoeira music, and I have a brief resume and "what the hell is capoeira anyway?" typed up. Here's hoping it goes well! Even if it doesn't, we can use this as a template to approach other gyms about it.
Enough of that. Photos!
These two are just nice photos of buildings silhouetted against the sunset.
This one is Vera and me.
This is Alex, and -
This is Alex and Linda.
This is Linda, kissing the sun.
I thought the sun looked so tasty, though, that I ate it. I didn't eat much dinner after that, I was so full.
Yesterday Linda, Alex and I went to a nearby gym, and talked to the manager about me teaching some capoeira classes. It seemed to go well, and tomorrow I'm going to do a demonstration class, just to the staff. If that goes well, I guess we'll discuss regular classes.
So, all today I've been preparing for it. I have a lesson plan set out, I have a CD of capoeira music, and I have a brief resume and "what the hell is capoeira anyway?" typed up. Here's hoping it goes well! Even if it doesn't, we can use this as a template to approach other gyms about it.
Enough of that. Photos!
These two are just nice photos of buildings silhouetted against the sunset.
This one is Vera and me.
This is Alex, and -
This is Alex and Linda.
This is Linda, kissing the sun.
I thought the sun looked so tasty, though, that I ate it. I didn't eat much dinner after that, I was so full.
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Gravity Anomalies
This morning was pretty crazy. Ever since the earthquake there have been stories of "gravity anomalies", which I ignored just as much as all the aftershock warnings we used to get. More so - at least aftershocks really happened, even if they didn't happen when anyone said they would. Anyway, I don't have class this morning, so I stayed at home, and about quarter of an hour ago something weird happened in the kitchen. It only lasted a few minutes, but fortunately that was long enough for me to grab my camera!
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Another Long Day
Why is it that the really long days seem to involve girls I like?
This time, the cause of the long day was being triple-booked. First, Ariel invited several of her students to her place for photos and hot pot, and invited me too. The main reason for me going was a girl called Lily, who I'd met once before when Ariel brought her to work - she was interested in seeing what teaching children was like. She's a lovely person, very beautiful, and seems to be interested in me.
I didn't have much of a chance to talk with Lily, but I did have a great time with Ariel, Lily, and Lily's friends. We managed to get the hot pot going despite not having any water, by going downstairs and washing the vegetables in the building management office - which did have water. Afterwards, we went to a nearby park to take photos with each other, and we had a lot of fun with that. All the other girls didn't have very good English, so even when I was talking to someone else it was usually through Lily, since her English is pretty good for a university student, and much better than any of her friends.
That was what I did in the morning and afternoon. At this point it started to rain, we all parted ways, and Ariel and I went to Kiko's new apartment for a housewarming party. All the teachers at school were invited, but neither of the other foreign teachers turned up - I don't know why Ivy wasn't there, but she must have had an excuse, since no-one was asking where she was. Alex, on the other hand, just wasn't there, despite saying he would be. However, it was a great party - Kiko and her husband cooked a whole lot of food for all of us, and it was really good. I even tried chicken feet for the first time! They're not as bad as they look, but they still creep me out. Also, her new place is really nice - but the price you pay for a nice place (other than large amounts of money, of course) is being a long way out of town. It took us an hour to get back by bus, and apparently it takes Kiko two hours when she goes to work in the morning during peak traffic.
After that, Ariel and I left to go meet Yoyo, and we went to KTV for Yoyo's going away party. Yoyo leaves for another town this Sunday, so we had a small goodbye party - just the three of us. Although karaoke in a more familiar setting does exist over here - normally in outside drinking places, rather than bars - KTV is very popular, and is very different despite using the same basic notion of singing along (badly) to songs you know. First, the KTV place we went to was huge, and was very well presented. It looked more like an upper-class hotel than a karaoke establishment - polished stone floors, high ceilings, the staff all dressed in suits. Second, you don't sing in front of a bunch of drunken people doing the same thing as you in a place like this - you get a room to yourself, just you and your friends. Personally, I think that's cheating a little - it's not the same unless you demonstrate how badly you can sing in front of a room full of strangers. Third, although you can get drinks, they're not the primary focus here (since you don't need to be quite so drunk to sing in front of your friends as you do to sing in front of strangers), and instead they have a small buffet service out in the hall.
We booked from 11pm to 6am, but we were all so tired we started falling asleep at 3am; so we left and went our separate ways back home instead of staying. It was fun while it lasted, though, and they had a healthy selection of English songs so I could play along, too.
Okay, enough of that. Time for photos!
All the photos are with Ariel and her students. I forgot to take photos at Kiko's place, and the photos from KTV are dark and not very good. The first few of these are group photos, and have almost everyone who was there in them, except for whoever was behind the camera.
This one does have everyone, though, because we got a random bystander to take the photo.
These ones aren't group photos.
Neither is this one.
This time, the cause of the long day was being triple-booked. First, Ariel invited several of her students to her place for photos and hot pot, and invited me too. The main reason for me going was a girl called Lily, who I'd met once before when Ariel brought her to work - she was interested in seeing what teaching children was like. She's a lovely person, very beautiful, and seems to be interested in me.
I didn't have much of a chance to talk with Lily, but I did have a great time with Ariel, Lily, and Lily's friends. We managed to get the hot pot going despite not having any water, by going downstairs and washing the vegetables in the building management office - which did have water. Afterwards, we went to a nearby park to take photos with each other, and we had a lot of fun with that. All the other girls didn't have very good English, so even when I was talking to someone else it was usually through Lily, since her English is pretty good for a university student, and much better than any of her friends.
That was what I did in the morning and afternoon. At this point it started to rain, we all parted ways, and Ariel and I went to Kiko's new apartment for a housewarming party. All the teachers at school were invited, but neither of the other foreign teachers turned up - I don't know why Ivy wasn't there, but she must have had an excuse, since no-one was asking where she was. Alex, on the other hand, just wasn't there, despite saying he would be. However, it was a great party - Kiko and her husband cooked a whole lot of food for all of us, and it was really good. I even tried chicken feet for the first time! They're not as bad as they look, but they still creep me out. Also, her new place is really nice - but the price you pay for a nice place (other than large amounts of money, of course) is being a long way out of town. It took us an hour to get back by bus, and apparently it takes Kiko two hours when she goes to work in the morning during peak traffic.
After that, Ariel and I left to go meet Yoyo, and we went to KTV for Yoyo's going away party. Yoyo leaves for another town this Sunday, so we had a small goodbye party - just the three of us. Although karaoke in a more familiar setting does exist over here - normally in outside drinking places, rather than bars - KTV is very popular, and is very different despite using the same basic notion of singing along (badly) to songs you know. First, the KTV place we went to was huge, and was very well presented. It looked more like an upper-class hotel than a karaoke establishment - polished stone floors, high ceilings, the staff all dressed in suits. Second, you don't sing in front of a bunch of drunken people doing the same thing as you in a place like this - you get a room to yourself, just you and your friends. Personally, I think that's cheating a little - it's not the same unless you demonstrate how badly you can sing in front of a room full of strangers. Third, although you can get drinks, they're not the primary focus here (since you don't need to be quite so drunk to sing in front of your friends as you do to sing in front of strangers), and instead they have a small buffet service out in the hall.
We booked from 11pm to 6am, but we were all so tired we started falling asleep at 3am; so we left and went our separate ways back home instead of staying. It was fun while it lasted, though, and they had a healthy selection of English songs so I could play along, too.
Okay, enough of that. Time for photos!
All the photos are with Ariel and her students. I forgot to take photos at Kiko's place, and the photos from KTV are dark and not very good. The first few of these are group photos, and have almost everyone who was there in them, except for whoever was behind the camera.
This one does have everyone, though, because we got a random bystander to take the photo.
These ones aren't group photos.
Neither is this one.
Outside Demo Class
On Sunday half the teachers from our school went out to one of the richer apartment building complexes, and we held a demo class outside. It all went nicely - Alex was the star of the show, he does very well in situations like that. Afterwards we gave out flyers for the school, and Alex gave his to every kid in sight. He even managed to give flyers to a couple of teenage girls, much too old for the school, and too young to have children of their own yet. I'm not so good in situations that require me to mix and mingle, but I did manage to give out some of my flyers.
There were photos taken, too. Here's one! In this one you can see me, Kiko, Ariel and Alex in front of the kids doing a pretty silly song and dance.
There were photos taken, too. Here's one! In this one you can see me, Kiko, Ariel and Alex in front of the kids doing a pretty silly song and dance.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
The Longest Date I've Ever Had
I asked a girl out the other day, and she said yes. The girl in question is from a class I taught at a university several weeks ago - I only ever taught two classes there, this isn't one of the universities that can afford to hire a foreigner full-time. It's a very nice university, though - an hour and a half's drive from the city, which places it out in the country, within walking distance of the mountains.
I'd left it a little late to ask this girl out - I'd figured out I liked her by the end of the second class, but I didn't do anything about it then. After that I just had to wait, because I had no way of getting in touch with her. I knew she had my contact details - I'd written them on the board for the benefit of the whole class. Several students from that class did get in touch with me, all of them were interested in talking with a foreigner and improving their English, but I didn't hear from her. I sighed and moved on.
After several weeks she did get in touch with me, however. It took me a while, but I eventually got around to asking her out for dinner, and on Sunday we went out.
At this point Linda (Alex's girlfriend) was very helpful - she helped me decide on a restaurant, and later turned up with Alex at the same restaurant. She also told the girl she could stay at our apartment, since she and Alex would be staying at his other apartment that night.
Dinner was had and enjoyed, then we went on to Ivy's birthday party. No amount of coaxing would convince Vera to dance, and we left early, since she was clearly not enjoying herself much. Back at my apartment we watched TV for a while, then went to bed (in separate rooms). In the morning, I asked if she would be my girlfriend - to no avail. She said she wanted to focus on her studies. I was disappointed, but carried on with the plan we'd decided on the night before - that I'd go back to her university with her, so that I'd know the way (yes, I'd been there twice before, but that was by car - I had no idea how to use public transport to get there).
Once there, I met several of her friends - all people I'd met before, all from the same class I'd taught. Of these people, two of the boys stayed with us for the day - so then we were four. Oh yeah, names! The girl who isn't my girlfriend is Vera; her friends are Frank and Alexander.
I joined in their P.E. class, and guess what P.E. in China involves? Ping-pong! I spent most of the morning playing against a succession of other students, several of whom taught me nifty tricks. One guy showed me how to put spin on the ball, and one girl had a wicked serve that kept catching me out. After that we had lunch together, and then the three of them skipped their afternoon classes so we could go out together.
We wandered by the riverside for a while, talking and taking photos, and then decided to walk to the foothills of the mountains. By the time we came back the sun was getting low, so we had dinner in a restaurant on the way. When we got back we talked outside for a while, and then went to the dorms.
Dorms in Chinese universities are strictly segregated by sex - each sex has separate buildings, and the opposite sex is not allowed in. So, Vera went one way, and I went another with Frank and Alexander. Their room had eight bunks, so I spent the rest of the night watching half of The Da Vinci Code with a bunch of Chinese guys.
In the morning I had breakfast with Vera and her friends, and then went to their English class. The first class was listening class, which was not too exciting, but the second was oral English, and I think I intimidated their teacher a little by being there. She recovered well, however, and got me to correct everyone's pronunciation. They had great difficulty with "sun", of all things. It probably didn't help that the New Zealand accent has very slight difference between all the sort vowel sounds. Even Australians can't tell the difference between the New Zealand short I and short E.
Finally, Vera helped me catch the right bus home. I even managed to get off at the right stop - she was worried that I'd get lost on my own.
So, in the end, I had such a good time that I completely forgot to be depressed over being rejected. I'll go back sometime to hang out with them, maybe have lunch together, because they're all nice people.
Alright, you've read enough - photos!
This is me and Vera by the riverside. Yes, I'm holding a pink umbrella.
This is Frank. It's not so obvious in this picture, but he looks vaguely like a Chinese Harry Potter. He's also the class monitor, which in theory means he's responsible for making sure everyone gets to class on time and such; in practice, it means that Vera teases him relentlessly about it.
This is Alexander. He's quieter than the other two, but he's good company.
This is me, Alexander and Frank once we'd gone as far as we cared to go up the foothills.
This is a stealth photo of Vera, after she made a big deal about getting a photo taken. She stole my camera and tried to delete it, but as you can see, I was victorious!
Finally, this is the view we had from the foothills.
I'd left it a little late to ask this girl out - I'd figured out I liked her by the end of the second class, but I didn't do anything about it then. After that I just had to wait, because I had no way of getting in touch with her. I knew she had my contact details - I'd written them on the board for the benefit of the whole class. Several students from that class did get in touch with me, all of them were interested in talking with a foreigner and improving their English, but I didn't hear from her. I sighed and moved on.
After several weeks she did get in touch with me, however. It took me a while, but I eventually got around to asking her out for dinner, and on Sunday we went out.
At this point Linda (Alex's girlfriend) was very helpful - she helped me decide on a restaurant, and later turned up with Alex at the same restaurant. She also told the girl she could stay at our apartment, since she and Alex would be staying at his other apartment that night.
Dinner was had and enjoyed, then we went on to Ivy's birthday party. No amount of coaxing would convince Vera to dance, and we left early, since she was clearly not enjoying herself much. Back at my apartment we watched TV for a while, then went to bed (in separate rooms). In the morning, I asked if she would be my girlfriend - to no avail. She said she wanted to focus on her studies. I was disappointed, but carried on with the plan we'd decided on the night before - that I'd go back to her university with her, so that I'd know the way (yes, I'd been there twice before, but that was by car - I had no idea how to use public transport to get there).
Once there, I met several of her friends - all people I'd met before, all from the same class I'd taught. Of these people, two of the boys stayed with us for the day - so then we were four. Oh yeah, names! The girl who isn't my girlfriend is Vera; her friends are Frank and Alexander.
I joined in their P.E. class, and guess what P.E. in China involves? Ping-pong! I spent most of the morning playing against a succession of other students, several of whom taught me nifty tricks. One guy showed me how to put spin on the ball, and one girl had a wicked serve that kept catching me out. After that we had lunch together, and then the three of them skipped their afternoon classes so we could go out together.
We wandered by the riverside for a while, talking and taking photos, and then decided to walk to the foothills of the mountains. By the time we came back the sun was getting low, so we had dinner in a restaurant on the way. When we got back we talked outside for a while, and then went to the dorms.
Dorms in Chinese universities are strictly segregated by sex - each sex has separate buildings, and the opposite sex is not allowed in. So, Vera went one way, and I went another with Frank and Alexander. Their room had eight bunks, so I spent the rest of the night watching half of The Da Vinci Code with a bunch of Chinese guys.
In the morning I had breakfast with Vera and her friends, and then went to their English class. The first class was listening class, which was not too exciting, but the second was oral English, and I think I intimidated their teacher a little by being there. She recovered well, however, and got me to correct everyone's pronunciation. They had great difficulty with "sun", of all things. It probably didn't help that the New Zealand accent has very slight difference between all the sort vowel sounds. Even Australians can't tell the difference between the New Zealand short I and short E.
Finally, Vera helped me catch the right bus home. I even managed to get off at the right stop - she was worried that I'd get lost on my own.
So, in the end, I had such a good time that I completely forgot to be depressed over being rejected. I'll go back sometime to hang out with them, maybe have lunch together, because they're all nice people.
Alright, you've read enough - photos!
This is me and Vera by the riverside. Yes, I'm holding a pink umbrella.
This is Frank. It's not so obvious in this picture, but he looks vaguely like a Chinese Harry Potter. He's also the class monitor, which in theory means he's responsible for making sure everyone gets to class on time and such; in practice, it means that Vera teases him relentlessly about it.
This is Alexander. He's quieter than the other two, but he's good company.
This is me, Alexander and Frank once we'd gone as far as we cared to go up the foothills.
This is a stealth photo of Vera, after she made a big deal about getting a photo taken. She stole my camera and tried to delete it, but as you can see, I was victorious!
Finally, this is the view we had from the foothills.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Mountains Near Lantian
Sunday was the Dragon Boat festival, and as a result I had a day off. Ariel, Yoyo and I went to Lantian for the day. Lantian is a village about an hour out of Xi'an, and it is famous for its jade - as a result, there are a dozen or two jade stores along the two main roads of the village. We went in a few, but I didn't buy anything; I'd very cleverly left the bulk of my money at home.
After that, we went to the nearby mountains, and getting there was almost as much of an adventure as climbing them. First we caught a van to the toll gate on the way there, and stopped before going through. It turns out Ariel's sister-in-law works at the toll gate there, and Ariel had her arrange to get the tickets for the mountain (it's some kind of national (or local) park or something). She also managed to get us a free ride most of the way to the mountain - she wasn't working at the time, but she talked to all her co-workers at the toll gate, and within quarter of an hour one of them called us over - someone in an SUV had room to spare for the three of us, and gave us a lift. As well as accomplishing all this, she's pretty, and single. I'll ask Ariel about her tomorrow.
It quickly became apparent that the journey would not be quick. Here's a photo illustrating the situation; bear in mind that this was taken after the traffic let up and we were actually able to move. It was worse further back.
It also shows off the lovely rock gorges we were driving through, which kinda made up for the slow journey.
The driver dropped us off some distance from the mountain we were headed to - he was going another way. How far is "some distance"? About this far:
We hired another van right there on the bridge that photo was taken from, though, so it wasn't like we had to walk that distance.
After finally getting to the start of the scenic walk, we, well, started walking. As far as mountain climbs go it's dead easy, not at all like Tibrogargan or Beerwah - there are steps the whole way up, even if they do get steep at some points. It's through very pleasant forest a lot of the way, too, and there are lots of rocks to climb around and make a fool of yourself on (not that I did any of that, you understand). Here's a shot of the path, with a very tiny Ariel somewhere in the middle of the photo:
This next photo is getting pretty close to the lookout. Someone else thought it was pretty enough to take a photo, and I thought his silhouette made a nice photo, so here's a photo of a photographer:
This is the only photo I took with the gondola in it. There's a gondola that goes all the way up to the first lookout, and we opted out of taking it up. By the time we went down again, it wasn't a case of deciding not to take the gondola - it was the lack of money between us that forced us to take the path back down again.
Finally, this is where the gondola leads! The first lookout. This isn't a great shot of the view, since it's in the wrong direction; there is a wall of mountain behind the lookout, and it's so much prettier that it looks in this photo. That's why I took the photo in that direction, instead of towards all the open space. What I really wanted was a panorama, but this was also the last photo my phone took before it died.
Yes, all these photos were taken on my phone. I forgot to take my camera, which is a far greater sin on a trip like this than some of the other times I've forgotten to take it. I have several good excuses, though! First, I didn't know we were going to be going up a mountain - I just knew we were going to some nearby village for the day. Compounding this was the fact that I had to get up at 7am on a Sunday in order to meet Ariel and Yoyo, so I wasn't thinking my best at the tie I was leaving the apartment; plus, I'd gone out with Alex the night before, and didn't get home until 4am. Three hours of sleep + 7am start + not knowing about the very pretty mountain = forgetting my camera (and money to buy pretty jade stuff). Maybe next time.
After that, we went to the nearby mountains, and getting there was almost as much of an adventure as climbing them. First we caught a van to the toll gate on the way there, and stopped before going through. It turns out Ariel's sister-in-law works at the toll gate there, and Ariel had her arrange to get the tickets for the mountain (it's some kind of national (or local) park or something). She also managed to get us a free ride most of the way to the mountain - she wasn't working at the time, but she talked to all her co-workers at the toll gate, and within quarter of an hour one of them called us over - someone in an SUV had room to spare for the three of us, and gave us a lift. As well as accomplishing all this, she's pretty, and single. I'll ask Ariel about her tomorrow.
It quickly became apparent that the journey would not be quick. Here's a photo illustrating the situation; bear in mind that this was taken after the traffic let up and we were actually able to move. It was worse further back.
It also shows off the lovely rock gorges we were driving through, which kinda made up for the slow journey.
The driver dropped us off some distance from the mountain we were headed to - he was going another way. How far is "some distance"? About this far:
We hired another van right there on the bridge that photo was taken from, though, so it wasn't like we had to walk that distance.
After finally getting to the start of the scenic walk, we, well, started walking. As far as mountain climbs go it's dead easy, not at all like Tibrogargan or Beerwah - there are steps the whole way up, even if they do get steep at some points. It's through very pleasant forest a lot of the way, too, and there are lots of rocks to climb around and make a fool of yourself on (not that I did any of that, you understand). Here's a shot of the path, with a very tiny Ariel somewhere in the middle of the photo:
This next photo is getting pretty close to the lookout. Someone else thought it was pretty enough to take a photo, and I thought his silhouette made a nice photo, so here's a photo of a photographer:
This is the only photo I took with the gondola in it. There's a gondola that goes all the way up to the first lookout, and we opted out of taking it up. By the time we went down again, it wasn't a case of deciding not to take the gondola - it was the lack of money between us that forced us to take the path back down again.
Finally, this is where the gondola leads! The first lookout. This isn't a great shot of the view, since it's in the wrong direction; there is a wall of mountain behind the lookout, and it's so much prettier that it looks in this photo. That's why I took the photo in that direction, instead of towards all the open space. What I really wanted was a panorama, but this was also the last photo my phone took before it died.
Yes, all these photos were taken on my phone. I forgot to take my camera, which is a far greater sin on a trip like this than some of the other times I've forgotten to take it. I have several good excuses, though! First, I didn't know we were going to be going up a mountain - I just knew we were going to some nearby village for the day. Compounding this was the fact that I had to get up at 7am on a Sunday in order to meet Ariel and Yoyo, so I wasn't thinking my best at the tie I was leaving the apartment; plus, I'd gone out with Alex the night before, and didn't get home until 4am. Three hours of sleep + 7am start + not knowing about the very pretty mountain = forgetting my camera (and money to buy pretty jade stuff). Maybe next time.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
That Is All
I've been reading the comics here this morning. I can't keep my eyes dry for just one of them, let alone all.
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