Cake is Delicious

I lost power a couple of days ago for 24 hours which is why I haven’t updated until now. I’ve also spent most of the previous 24 hours being a little bit frustrated with Amy stuff. I won’t get into it on the blog but it’s resulted in a lack of desire to write here.

In other news on Saturday afternoon it looks like I have a plan with one of my students for a Cake and Coke party in which we will get cake and coke and enjoy delicious food together. She’s one of my oral students and would like a chance to practice English. To prevent Amy from getting jealous I’ll make sure there’s at least one other person there probably, it should be good times.

I’ve also been playing a lot of Fallout 3. Which I of course purchased with money.. yes. That’s correct. Anyway, my current character is a sneaky sniper guy. I sneak around and shoot people with my sniper rifle. Unfortunately I’ve yet to find a suitable method of acquiring rifle ammo and so I spend most of the time using an SMG because I simply can’t snipe all the time. It’s kind of stupid but I’m sure that I’m just missing something. I’ll play through the game again in a few months with high social skills (Speech, Barter, etc) and talk my way through the whole game like Fallout 2. I never played the original Fallout game but I’m told the story was much better than Fallout 2. Fallout 2 added more drugs, more sex, and a bunch of pop culture references. Fallout 3 was done by a different studio and has much less of an emphasis on the drugs and sex - at least so far. I’ve unlocked 17 places, many of which are small settlements or towns. So far I haven’t run into any junkies and only one hooker. In Fallout 2 you’d have several junkies and hookers in every town. Maybe it’s just because I haven’t been to the bigger places. I do have a girlfriend in one town but she won’t sleep with me, all I can ask her about is her emo makeup (seriously).

This is my guy in Fallout: http://img412.imageshack.us/my.php?image=screenshot2copyxv0.jpg

Today (Saturday) Joel and I hosted the first ever English Corner at campus 2 (where the majority of our classes take place). We had 40-50 students attend over the entire 3 hours and would have had considerably more but some of them had classes. I’m too lazy to do a writeup, it’s 12:30AM and I still have to watch Supernatural and be up in 6 hours for Badminton. Enjoy some pictures instead.

Last night I made Chicken and French Fries for Amy because I can really only cook western food.

Today I took pictures of my two classes.

Featherball is great. It’s the same as hackeysack back home but they use a feathery spring that makes sound with plastic discs in the same style as hackeysack. We had up to 10 people playing at once and it was a riot. We probably played for over an hour nonstop. I bought the featherball (my name for it) from the store for 2 yuan (about 30 cents) and we’ll probably get a week or two out of it. Good times.

Short one tonight, but several pictures so it balances out!

The conversation started as a discussion about censorship in the media, quickly moving into general media bias/censorship, in particular the US because they are as bad if not worse than certain countries where certain people are teaching a certain language.

Loril says ‘CNN really takes the cake.’
Loril wonders ‘What’s the awful blonde’s name? She used to be a lawyer?’

You say ‘CNN: A baby was accidentally shot by police in Utah today in a tragic standoff between bank robbers and SWAT.’
Loril says ‘Yeah, that pretty much says it.’
You say ‘Fox News: BABIES ARE BEING SYSTEMATICALLY MURDERED IN UTAH, GET THE HELL OUT WHILE YOUR CHILDREN ARE STILL ALIVE.’
Loril rolls on the floor laughing hysterically.

You say ‘CBC: Reuters are reporting that a baby was shot in a bank in Utah. No details have been given but we’re told the baby is in serious condition and is expected to make a full recovery.’
Loril says ‘And no interviews with the parents.’
Loril says ‘And no clips of people screaming out their grief.’
Loril says ‘Very good summaries, though.’

Romani says ‘Enquirer: Alien baby shot in hold up of local bank. It was trying to collect enough paper money to melt down for ink to refuel it’s spaceship and return to mars.’
You laugh.
Loril says ‘Oh, that’s rich.’
Loril jumps into the air and gives Romani a MEGA high five!
Loril says ‘You two missed your calling.’

You say ‘Hollywood: “Baby” is the true story from the perspective of a six month old baby who was shot and killed at the end of a bloody standoff in Utah.’
Loril says ‘You’re killing me. :)’
You say ‘Starring Kevin Bacon as the thoughts of the baby.’
Loril is a babe. Just ask her.

You say ‘the hollywood one was kind of a stretch, i’m out of material now’
Loril says ‘I enjoyed it all. :)’
You say ‘oh i have one more’
Romani says ‘Mine was the fever talking’
Loril says to Romani, ‘Oh dear. :(’
Loril gives a woolen blanket to Romani.
Romani says, ‘ooOOooOOooOOoo.’
Romani wears a woolen blanket about her body.

You say ‘The UK Broadcast Media: Italy only won the world cup because they kept diving. Wait, we’re being told something.. wait, what? A baby? Who gives a shit? We need to remind everyone every day that Italy cheated.’
Loril grins at you.

Want to be a part of this sort of awesome stuff? http://www.realmsofdespair.com (or the link on the side).

My day started at 6:30AM. I woke up to take a shower because I’d asked Amy to come over at 7am “to play badminton”. I admitted very quickly that badminton was not the reason for the invite but that she would have to wait and see. As she walked up the stairs I messaged my mother on MSN to tell her to call in 2 minutes. After 2 minutes my cell phone MYSTERIOUSLY STARTED RINGING and I acted confused. Why would anyone be calling me this early?! I answered the phone and my mother said hello. At first Amy thought it was Angel phoning to say happy birthday. Angel is a white girl we met randomly one night who until today I think Amy felt that because she’s an attractive white girl I would be pining for her and that Amy had to compete for my attention. When she took the phone from me my mothe said hello Amy, I phoned to say happy birthday. Amy didn’t want to ask who was on the other side, she started to say who but stopped herself. My mom realized what was happening and asked you want to know who it is? Amy said yes. My mother identified herself and Amy’s face turned from confusion to all smiles. She was beyond excited and surprised. It worked perfectly.

All week I’ve had a big pink wrapped box up on the gift pile, yesterday I placed a blue and white gift bag up there just before she came up to tease her some more. This afternoon I placed the third gift up on there so she’d see it when she came over to meet up for dinner. She noticed the additions each time and kept getting more and more excited.

Amy had morning classes, I had afternoon classes. At lunchtime she called me and asked if I could bring her my camera so she could take pictures of lunch with her girlfriends. I reluctantly agreed, reluctantly because I was in the middle of lesson planning and though I’d never blame her for me waiting until the last minute, my lesson suffered as a result (my fault, not hers). I’ve included the bunch of pictures they took at lunch mostly because I have them, and what else am I going to do with them?

Moving off the Amy topic for a moment, today’s lesson my class was on Ireland, in specific Literature, Language, and Arts. Part of this lecture was me showing them a video of Riverdance and explaining what it’s all about. The students were mesmerized and then amazed and then mesmerized again. It worked out really well.

Amy was a little late, rolling in around 7:15. She also forgot my camera so we didn’t leave until about 7:30. We got to the restaurant by 7:45 and sat down. It’s a western style place with pizza, steak, pasta, and salads. I didn’t want steak or pasta, so that pretty much left pizza. I had Amy read me the ingredients on the pizza options, none of them seemed particularly appealing (this place really likes to use fish, peppers, onions, and mushrooms - none of which I like on a pizza). So I got Amy to ask if we could just choose 4 toppings and the girl said we could do that and so we got beef, chicken, ham, and corn. I really enjoy corn on pizza for some reason. It’s fabulous. Amy wasn’t very hungry because she went to a buffet for lunch, but she managed to eat some pizza and ordered a fruit salad and plate of fries. She was also brought Chinese birthday noodles. It’s some sort of tradition here that you eat special noodles on your birthday to promote long life. Hey cool, now I can add the Culture category. I rule. At dinner we encountered Angel who was coming to eat shortly after we sat down with one of her Chinese friends. We chatted briefly, I got a picture of Angel and Amy, and then she left. Before she left though I told her it was Amy’s birthday and she said something about how Amy looks beautiful tonight. I said but Angel, Amy ALWAYS looks beautiful! I think it was at that moment that Amy realized Angel is not a threat to her, she mentioned something about it later but wouldn’t go into specific details but the impression I got was that Amy felt bad that she suspected I had a thing for Angel. I told Amy that since she and I met Angel I’d only actually talked to her once, in one text message, and hadn’t seen her again until this same night. I guess Amy thought I’d been hanging out with Angel on a regular basis or something.

After dinner we went to see Amy’s friend and the friend’s husband and child. They had an argument a few weeks ago and Amy hadn’t seen them since so she was surprising them with birthday cake and Jess. They seemed to warmly welcome her and took some of the cake for the child who was asleep. Amy and I came home with half a cake (which is why you see half of a cake in the pictures instead of a whole cake). We still did the candle thing and life was good.

After all that I finally let her open her presents (which she was very anxious to do). I got her chocolate, a scarf, and a pretty blanket. I think the scarf looks nice, she seemed to enjoy it. Chocolate is always delicious (well, imported chocolate is - Chinese chocolate is awful), and I said the blanket is to make her bed more pretty. My mother had originally suggested a throw/lap blanket for watching movies while sitting on the couch but I couldn’t find a blanket appropriately sized in China (and had very limited time to shop). I went with this blanket because a few weeks ago she showed me pictures of her dorm room. The beds are basic white sheets and blankets and so this white with red strawberries blanket will pretty up her bed a little.

Anyway that’s enough typing, check out some pictures (a lot of pictures) and a video!

Amy’s birthday is tomorrow and most of her day is planned out for great excitement. Tomorrow morning I’ve convinced her to come over (7am) with promises of badminton. Then I admitted that we may not actually play badminton, that I have a surprise planned and that I need her here at 7am. This is the most convenient time for me to get my mother to call my cell phone to say happy birthday to Amy which I believe will make Amy very happy.

Amy has classes all day on Mondays. She’s going for lunch with a group of her female friends after morning classes and then I have afternoon classes. After class I’m picking up the birthday cake I ordered today (it looks delicious) and then we’re meeting at my place at 7pm to go to dinner. After dinner we’re going to her friend’s house to have cake with her friend, the husband, and their daughter. After which we’re coming back to my place where I will give her my presents (though depending on time that may end up happening at her friend’s place instead). It should be an awesome evening full of excellent pictures and adventure.

So today I took more pictures. I love having a camera. Big thanks go out to Mary-Ellen for emailing me and telling me to buy a camera and delay paying her for the laptop by a month. In three days I’ve realized everything I’ve been missing out on by not having a camera. On Tuesday I’m going to try and take some shots of the city and my school campus so people can see what it’s like where I live (hint: it’s awesome).

Having a camera is pretty swell. I got some shots from English Corner tonight, I made some new friends. One of the pictures shows the beer I drank today. It’s about 65 cents for a big bottle of beer. Too bad beer is kind of nasty, but oh well.

Also in the pictures are the three guys who run the Nu Ro La Mien place (beef pulled noodles) that Joel and I frequent, as well as a photo of the dough being stretched and spun. It rules. I didn’t care to take a video because many of them already exist (Youtube La Mien).

So I bought my camera today. It cost me 1350 RMB, which is $235 CDN. I bought a Sony PowerShot DSC-W110. Future shop has them listed at $169 for just the camera. I got a memory card and a case with mine but also digital cameras in China, much like computers, aren’t any cheaper than they are in North America. A lot of electronic stuff is cheaper here but some stuff is actually much more expensive. It is unfortunate but I still got a solid camera that takes nice pictures.

The specs are very similar to my old Canon camera. 7.2 MP, 4x Optical Zoom, up to 3200 ISO (I think my Canon was 800 or 1600) - I don’t even know what an ISO is. It has Sony’s version of Image Stabilization I think (the description sounded the same). Sony, like Canon, uses a solid lens in most of their cameras. Canon builds their own lenses which are very good quality. Sony uses Carl Zeiss lenses which are also of a superior quality to most other cameras. This camera also comes with a Li-Ion rechargeable battery with charger so I saved money on that, plus these batteries rule. The camera is also compact, much moreso than my old Canon. This one is about half the size of my old camera.

So anyway, here are some pictures of me and my students:

I’m buying a camera tomorrow morning. I talked to my sister about it and she said she can wait an extra month if it means I can get a camera and start taking pictures - since for some stupid reason I can’t get my camera from Canada. I am excited, going to find a Canon camera like I had before. I like their cameras, they work well, and I know the specs well enough that I’ll know exactly what I’m buying - even in Chinese.

Amy, Joel, Carson and I went out for dinner tonight. We ended up at Crazy Noodles which is spicy noodes. I’ve slowly been building up my tolerance for spicy food and so I thought I could handle crazy noodles - which are excessively spicy. Carson was smart and ordered me crazy noodles with half as much crazy. It turned out to be just at my limit for spicy food. We also ate spicy for lunch (Da Pan Ji) and so my day was full of burning mouth. But we got ice cream after lunch and it was delicious.

So.. You know how you get into a relationship and the first bit is just awesome and then reality sinks in and you start to form that deeper connection? That deeper connection also opens the door for getting angry or otherwise unhappy about things. Amy and I have advanced to that stage and I find myself getting kind of grumpy today about something. Last weekend she went back to her hometown (Thursday to Sunday). Her cousin was having a birthday and she misses her family. Her birthday is on Monday (the 10th) and for the last 2 weeks I’ve been planning for her birthday. Shopping, planning dinner, ordering a cake, all with the understanding that she was looking forward to a night out in celebration of her birthday. I found out today that her father is coming to town tomorrow for her birthday which means I won’t get to see her all weekend. Her father isn’t particularly fond of the fact that she’s dating a foreigner, even though he likes me as a person he seems to think I’m not right for his daughter because I’m not a Chinese man. I guess he thinks I’m going to leave and break her heart or something. Because Chinese guys couldn’t do that too? Anyway, that’s not my bitching (well, not my primary bitching). So at first it was my understanding that he would be going home Saturday or Sunday depending on if he wanted to stay for 1 or 2 days. Now it seems there’s a chance that he’ll be staying until Monday and not going home until Monday night. Amy tells me tonight, very casually, that if he decides to stay until Monday our plans will be cancelled.

Okay.. what? This is the one thing I really really don’t like about dating here. This is the sort of thing that could happen in Canada too but most people in Canada don’t feel this sort of obligation to their parents and thus it would never come up. I can handle losing a weekend to Amy’s father. Hell, I can even handle losing two in a row. But losing her birthday too? So not cool. I’ve been planning things for 2 weeks, I’ve been trying to talk to my mother about calling Amy internationally to say Happy Birthday because I know it’d make Amy happy. And now there’s a chance that she’s just going to say “sorry Jess can’t do it” last minute? I’ve put countless hours into shopping (which I hate), planning, and cakehunting to find the perfect birthday cake and make her birthday amazing. It just feels like a kick in the balls to be told that there’s a chance that her father won’t leave and that means that I don’t get to celebrate her birthday at all.

Anyway, camera tomorrow. Hooray pictures!

I purchased a coat this afternoon. It’s starting to get chilly here and I need something to keep warm. Like a fool I left my winter coat back in Canada and so up until now I’ve just been wearing my really thin long-sleeved dress shirts on cold days. A t-shirt underneath on colder days. There have been days where I’ve suffered.

I am unfortunate in that I’m much taller than most Chinese people but also I’m much bigger than most Chinese people. Even if I didn’t have the stomach sticking out I’d still be pretty bulky. This makes shopping for clothes difficult because even if they have my size the shirt or jackets don’t seem to properly fit around my shoulders and chest. I did manage to find a coat which is mostly comfortable. It’s a bit tight around my belly but over the winter months hopefully I’ll lose more weight there and it’ll fit nicer. It’s not a bad fit and the price wasn’t TOO outrageous. I spent 550 yuan on it (a little under $100 CDN) and it’s Nike or something, it has that stupid swoosh on the coat which jacks up the price 15%.

I went out for lunch and a 9 year old girl gave me a walnut. I don’t really like walnuts but she was trying to be nice so I said thank you in Chinese to her and she squealed with EXCITEMENT.

Also I met another guy from Canada today. He’s from Oakville and has been in China for 10 months. The jerk is actually taller than me but he seems like a nice enough fellow. He’s got 5-6 cm on me easy, the bastard