I'm sorry but "T-Bag" is not an appropriate English Name...

Really....it's not. But I think I'm going to let him keep it.

Classes are going....meh okay. I think I need to start cracking on some serious lesson plans though. I understand that they are learning a little, but I want them to get engaged. Next week we're going to work on English songs and they'll find out exactly how much I abhor singing in front of people and then the week after is Halloween - so that ought to be fun. :-) Should get a clip from a movie and some fun vocab for the bitty kiddies and something a little heavier for the older ones.

Interesting Things of Note in the Past Few Days:

• mom asked if I was dating James Jones - a fact that would have made milk come out of my nose...if I'd been drinking milk at the time
• I met a non-asian! They do exist! He's an Indian man who has lived in Bao'an for the past four years. He's a little over friendly but means well. Although I may have him show me where the nearest pool and gym are and skip out on going over to his place for dinner. Gettin' a little bit of that creeper vibe there.....
• Got drunk with a bunch of Asians over the weekend. Man do they love their baijiu....me....not so much. But really!? They brought a liter of home grown baijiu. That's fuckin' moonshine baby that's what that is! I taught Benny a new phrase that night: "What have you gotten me into?" Comes in handy from time to time.
• The worst thing about not speaking enough Chinese is when the Chinese men start talking about you and your country and how poor it's doing at the moment (I know you're talking about me you little drunken crazy Chinese man BECAUSE YOU'RE GESTURING AT ME! Leave my country alone!)
  
• The Unbearable Lightness of Being is all about sex. It should be titled "The Unbearable Lightness of Not Wearing Pants."
• We watched the Grey's Anatomy episode of the one with Meredith's hand is on the bomb. That one sort of chilled me. I always get thrills and chills because of Beamont but there was something unnerving in the way they directed that episode. From the very beginning with her crying to McDreamy, to the woman coming full out screaming out of the ambulance to panic attack of Christina Ricci, to Miranda's breakdown, to the acting from all the main characters. Of course the ending tore me up and the final shower scene was a great tie in to the beginning of the episode. The only exchange that was a bit of was of course from McDreamy and Mer at the end. That was weird, weird and pointless. Normal people just don't talk like that, and if they do, they shouldn't.
  Gave me sleeping problems that night I guess you could say.
• "That is not potato that you are eating - that is some kind of cat spit up..."
• There is a class (2 classes actually) whom I have not yet me due to having to go to police station very long ago and then National Week. I am supposed to teach these classes on Friday but we have Field Day on Friday which is going to be a free day for all the teachers and students. So I will not teach this class until two weeks from now. On Halloween. The other teachers cannot understand why I am laughing uncontrollably about this. Ahhh...me.
  

Random

Walking down the street and noticing that China will slowly destroy every pair of shoes that I own and there is nothing I can do to stop it, there are no repairs that will be permanent, it is something that is inevitable.

When there is nothing left to say to one of my students she absentmindedly will start to braid my hair - I let her and it reminds me of home and being 11 again.

Last night I had to pretend that the pillow beside me was a warm body, otherwise there would have been no sleeping. I blame Curt for getting me accustomed to this.

Listening to the Indian man go on and on, I now can only recall the briefest bits of the conversation. I remember him mentioning the colors of straps of watches and how some colors sell better than others. I remember him talking about Afghanistan and that he pronounced it a different way than we do. I remember that he can only speak Chinese, he can't read a word of it. That entire conversation seems like it was a dream.

I am beginning to have nothing but contempt for a person in our group. It's strange and hard to describe, but I get the sneaky feeling that the feeling is mutual. Give us some light sabers - we'll duke it out when the times comes.

Is it wrong that I like my boy students more than my girls sometimes? I don't think so. This is how I've felt all my life.

All week I had several questions. Riding home in a random car, drunk and sleepy, you took my hand and held it the whole ride. I can't remember those questions anymore.

I received the simplest of emails yesterday - but it made me want to cry. Idiot.

The people here will never understand the concept of very cold rain until they've lived in Michigan in the winter. This is not very cold rain guys.

A new good phrase - Es muss sein! - can wrap up the rest of my worries and frets.

-The ever pondering-
Xiao Na