Week 7 of the Packers shitty season was about the last time anything good happened with the Packers.

Fortunately, I have been doing much better than the Packers over the last few weeks.  A lot went on.  One week I slept like all the time.  Every night I went to bed at 11.  HBO's the wire happened.  I watched four and a half seasons of that in the last few weeks.  Strangely, I don't even like the wire that much.  Its interesting, but the plot gets more and more random all the time.  Weekends I've been spending a lot of time with my new girlfriend.  Chillin, cooking food, watchin TV, raging...  2 weeks ago on a Saturday morning I went to Walmart to buy food to make breakfast.  

First off- that was the first time I had cooked food here ever.  I get pissed off because Chinese people always give me shit about eating out every night.  I always thought thought that it was cheaper to eat out here than to make your own food.  Its like 75 cents to buy an eggplant at the store- and a dollar to buy a fried eggplant dish at a restaurant.  Fuck making your own food.  But if you want to eat some decent eggs and bacon here you got to step up and cook it yourself.  So I went and bought food.  $50 US for one frickin meals worth of western groceries!  They wonder why I eat out.

At Walmart I saw a gator hanging off of a meat hook in the meat section.  It was headless and gutted, but the skin was still on it.  On another meat hook there was another cross section with just two gator legs and a bit of stomach connecting them.  This is right in the middle of the Walmart grocery store.  Walmart in China has lots of weird foods though, there are live crabs crawling around and fish in tanks and stuff.  Chinese people like to see their food alive before they eat it.

Halloween was sweet too.  I pretended to be a zombie in class and started attacking my students.  We had a pretty cool Halloween party with all you can eat pizza and wine.  I dressed up as a pimp of course.

Last Friday I went to my friend Gavin's birthday party.  All you can eat all you can drink.  I drank all I could drink.  Sake after sake.  When we were ready to go to the club I lasted like 5 mins there, then was like I'm wasted, I got to go home.  I was fine until the cab started driving all over the place like a motherfucker and I got my head poked out of the window puking a little bit getting it all over the side of the cab.  I made sure to get out the other side.

We we got back to my school the guard on duty was the one who is always asking questions...  I think he was asking me some shit but I was kind of being propped up by my girlfriend at that point and I was just like I'm wasted dude open the gate man.  Fuckin shitshow Friday night.  Saturday did it up American style.  Went to see the new Bond in a theater.  It was kinda censored I think, not enough sex.  Brought it a bottle of Bacardi and mixed up some rum and cokes in the theater.  Went and got some Papa Johns after that.  That was fucking good too.  Met up with some friends at a live music bar and listened to some local Chinese cover band for a bit, then headed back to my place to fire up a session and drink some beers.  Good weekend.

When you're out of school the time goes by so fast.  Right now I'm already halfway through Tuesday.  At the end of Tuesday I am halfway done with work already for the week (I have more classes on mon and tues)  There are not really any negatives about my life.  My only problem is like do I watch TV or do I go out and do something in the afternoon.  MY free time is astounding.

The weather in Shenzhen has taken a turn for the worse recently.  It has been dropping to around 60 now.  I wear my winter jacket everywhere to defeat that winter breeze.  I guess it is November.

beaches and babes, and free time

The answer to the TV problem- 42".  I won't lie, that's a lot bigger than my dick.  The 47" was 6999RMB, I paid 5660RMB for my 42".  That comes out to $827 USD.  Not too bad.  I got Konika, it's the cheapest brand.  Looked all right in the store though.  I only expect this TV to last about two years.  They should be coming tomorrow to bring it and install it on my wall.  I'm pumped.  I bought an expensive surge protector, the last thing I want is a TV fucked up by the crazy power situation here.  Maybe I should have brought my PS3... idk.  Trying to spend my time doing physical activity and being creative, TV is my last priority every day, and so is a little ridiculous that I spent so muck on it, but whatever.  Hopefully I can use it as a display for my camera etc.  

My creative pursuits at the moment?  This blog for one is the new one.  Thinking about writing a novel... still thinking about it, writing a novel would be soo soo hard.  I mean writing one would be easy, but writing a decent one would be hard, and getting a first novel published is impossible.  Maybe I could do it, I don't want to take the whole thing too seriously, and If I write one it will be innovative let me assure you.  My Journal is becoming a little more of a sketchbook... mostly pen and ink drawings, sometimes with colored pencils.  I may invest in some paints, I think it would be better if I could get some wood or linoleum or something to cut out of to do my woodcuts, I already have my cutting knives with me.  If I write the book I will for sure illustrate it.

Sports have been important too.  I spend a good deal of time biking around on my mountain bike.  I like to play basketball.  Thinking about running a little more around the 200m track, that might be a good thing to do.  I really need to buy some weights at Walmart.  I can get some of the dumbbells that you can take weight on and off of.  My appetite has greatly increased since my system has gotten used to food here, so its time to regain all the strength I've lost recently.  Nothing serious, but I got all the time in the world and no excuse not to get fit any more.

So, back to my trip to the beach.  It was a tun of fun.  We went to the beach just on the other side of town, it wasn't far at all.  WE stayed at the Sheraton.  The Sheraton? One of the most baller hotels I've ever seen.  It had a massive outdoor pool, it was just off the beach, and everything was just beautifully designed, from the 30 foot tall glass sculpture hanging in the lobby to the massive bathrooms- as big as the rooms.  At the hotel I went swimming with the son of our assistant principle, the 19yo and 15yo rich girls, and their 14yo brother.  The 15yo old was all over me.  Why not you say?  No man I'm not pulling that kind of shit.  If I'm still here in three years, maybe.  Both the rich girls have boyfriends... a godsend because I don't want to think about the young one and I don't want to pretend to do long distance and have to cheat on the sly.  

The kids asked why I wasn' t dating another foreign teacher.  I'm pretty tired of American girls right now to be honest.  Never really had a bad case of the yellow fever, but I'm trying to get a Chinese girlfriend that thinks I'm the shit.  They go crazy over white guys.  I'm trying to be appreciated.  Its not too easy finding a decent Chinese gf right now.  I don't really have that much contact with Chinese girls my age.  There aren't any universities near me, all the universities here are on the edges of the cities, and I'm right downtown in the center of things.  My best chance is meeting one at McDonald's or on the street at night while I chill out and eat street food.  Meeting girls in the bar here is easy... but they are without a doubt all hoes or total gold diggers.  I've met girls on the bus in the past, but I have a bike so I don't use the bus much.  If I'm serious about getting a Chinese gf I need to stop spending all my time with my American friends and start spending more time out and about, and I'm not sure if I'm there yet.

It felt so good to swim in the ocean, I felt like a fish.  Today was the first day I've felt cool outside in Shenzhen.  No AC necessary today, the temperature was perfect.  A little cloudy.  The ocean was the temperature where it took me a few seconds to get in, but I got in fast enough and it felt great.  Its nice to feel the saltwater in your mouth and the taste the sweetness of freshwater again.  I've been writing for long enough so I'm off to lay down for a few minutes before I go out to play ping pong (which contrary to popular belief here in China is NOT a real sport) and go for a walk.  Can't wait to get the flatscreen tomorrow and solve all of my problems!

Flat Screen Dreams

So last night my TV broke midway threw the second episode of Heroes season 2.  Fucking bummer! Especially since I cant get it fixed for a while.  I can't contact the necessary parties at my school until they get off of vacation, and I can't get my man James Jones, our coordinator for the Shenzhen program, to put the screws on my school and force them to take action until later either.  So right now its just me stuck with a broken TV.  

Is this a problem or an opportunity?  I'm thinking 47inch plasma.  $1000.  I just barely have the money, and at that price, including mall mount and installation... I really don't know if it is even possible to say no.  Am I excessive? Most definitely.  Hey man, I gotta start being a baller sometime, and that time seems to be right now.  If I buy this TV... It means another year in China.  Another year in Shenzhen.  To be honest I'd rather be here.  The weather is bomb.  Way nicer than northern China.  Shenzhen was China's first experiment with the free market, and it is one of the best cities for opportunities.  I really like that.  In 20 minutes I leave for the beach.  I'm excited.  It should be a lot of fun.  I'm pretty pumped.  When I get back?  Buyin that fuckin TV!

Go Packers and Why I am rich here

So I just found out that I can't post shit on my blog from the Internet cafe by my house which is just sooo fucking lame.  I think they want to restrict Chinese blogging to those who can access computers.  Its Sunday night and I'm kinda pissed off because I have to go off and chill with this family I hang out with tomorrow morning at 9:10 am which is tooo fucking early if you ask me.  Especially when you consider that I plan on staying up until 4am watching the Packets-Buccaneers game over the Internet.  I just payed $210 to watch the rest of the season online.  I didn't really want to stay up late and watch the game live but I figured I don't have any idea what I'm doing tomorrow and at least I'll wont have to work tomorrow... this might be the only Monday I don't have to work all season.  If shit aint working out tomorrow I'll just have to say I'm sick or something, who knows, I may actually be sick if I get shitty sleep. 

 

While I'm writing this its 8pm and I don't have any idea really what I'm doing tonight, whether I'm going out or not.  If I do at this hour I'm going to have to bike the buses/subway close up before 11.  Booze is fucking expensive here.  It's the same price here as it is in the US, but here you make less money and everything is totally cheaper.

 

About making less money...  so this year I make around $900 a month, for 10 months.  So that's around $9000.  Additionally I get a round trip ticket between the US and China.  But I don't pay taxes.  I have no bills, because I live at the school for free and they pay my utility bills.  I bet breakfast and lunch free at the cafeteria Monday through Friday.  Dinner you can get on the street for a dollar easily.  So essentially my living expenses could comfortably be as low as $50 a month if I was trying to save.

 

I could be making more money.  Essentially, I put in about 20 hours a week at my job.  That includes time surfing the Internet between classes in my office.  Nights and weekends I could be making 10, 20, 30 dollars an hour tutoring if I wanted to.  That's a lot of money here.  I just bought the first season of Heroes for under $5.  Movies are 70cent each.  What else do people spend money on in the US?  Cars? They don't help you much here.  No one else has a car so shit is really convenient to get to.  Traveling?  I can get to Thailand with its babes and beaches and constant cheap party for under $100 round trip.  I don't smoke, but cigarettes are 50 cent a pack. Living here is exactly like living in the US, but just imagine that everything is insanely cheap except booze, so you can devote most of your income to partying.  Really once you get over the idea that the dollar amount you make is kinda low, you realize that your disposable income is HUGE and that your job is a joke.

 

Anyone who is graduating from college and is having difficulty finding a job, or doesn't know what they want to do, or just wants to not work at a real job and party instead, seriously think about teaching here in Shenzhen.  Its not like you need to know Chinese, the basics are really easy to learn and free classes are provided.  You don't have to really know how to teach, teaching is really easy (especially at my level.)  Its not like you don't have American friends or feel socially isolated, because there are over 100 foreign teachers in this city and everyone parties together on the weekend, and during the week you hang out with the other foreign teachers in your area.  If you got the yellow fever.... Than there is no excuse not to come apply now!  Seriously though.. I think I'm gonna be here a while and if anyone wants to start a new life of prosperity during the New Great Depression in the US... I'm trying to start a China crew fo real.