Phil and Red's Excellent Adventure

Lots of things in this one. Well, to start out on a positive note, I taught my first class. It was sorta easy, basically, today was the last day of summer school and I was working with kindergarten and 3rd graders. The classes aren't that big since its the summer. I basically used some flashcards, taught them "Simon Says", and showed them how to rock (http://charrey.net/gallery/v/phil/ThrowingUptheDevilHorns) Plus, there is a group of older/highschool students that are planning to study abroad in the next couple years, so they have a more in-depth class on culture in the countries that they plan to go to. So, today, in that class I was visiting along with two other new teachers to watch the present teacher do her magic. The students were able to get four instructors from differnet countries to chat with them. Me from USA, Dawn from Canada, Leiana from New Zealand, and Lez (the present teacher) from Australia.
By some weird transition, the kids were complaining about the USA and the Bush administration, so they proceeded to trash talk the USA. I was like, "AAAAH HELL NO!" Nobody can trash talk the USA except for us! I proceeded to jump on the desks and kick in each of their heads and then beat up a bunch of ninjas that showed up.....whoops, off topic. So anywho, they were talking smack and i put an end to that in some way or another. Then somehow Lez got onto talking about the Domino Theory and Communism...i am thinking and saying...um.."should we really be having this discussion?" while looking out of the corners of my eyes. So after that political debate we proceeded to answer and field questions about life in each of our countries and universities, since they are all going to go to college in the countries they visit. That was fun.
Another thing that happened today was Peter, the established house mate here, bought a pool table. Its nice too. What happened was this. On our way back to Xiaolan from Xue Qi, where the head Bond office is, we were passing a shop on the side of the road that made pool tables and accessories. Peter asked the price. Then got back in the car and we headed home. After him and I ate, he was like, "I'm gonna go buy that pool table." So i was like, thats hardcore. So I headed back to the pad, and sho' 'nuff, a few hours later, he busts in an says, i need help carrying this thing up the stairs.
The table-top weighed like a couple hundred pounds, it was one big slate slab and the wood job around it looks suprisingly good. "How much did this cost?" You may be asking yourself. It cost 770RMB with the table, 4 pool cues, a granny guide, a triangle, all the balls, and chalk. If you figure out the conversion, thats about $100 US...amazing. Its a real nice table, just needs to be clean. And its great for smashing fingers on the stairwell.
Now....on to the dirty part of my title. So to begin, it started out yesterday around 3pm when I said, "I want some pizza." So I ordered it. Pizza in China, at least from this resturant, is crap. It looked good, but the dough doesnt taste right and it was just odd. But, I began to start really paying for it later that nite. Paying for it about every 2 hours. Today, I have been paying for it about every hour. And where the story takes a turn for the "eeeeeew" is here:
After we got back to Xiaolan, we headed over to the Bond office here to get paid. I needed to make my hourly payment. So i went into the chinese bathroom...mind you these are holes in the floor. But what made it worse was the fact that it seems the chinese don't believe in providing you with napkins or other wiping materials needed to clean yourself. Apparently you need to carry these tools with you whenever you go to a resturant, or need to blow your nose, or....etc,etc,etc. Not really understanding this or knowing, i had none with me...and there was nothing to improvise with. nothing. So, I christened myself on the chinese hole-in-the-floor while biting the bullet for not having any cleaning materials. Mind you, i shall carry cleaning materials with me at all times now.
As for right now, I have to start packing my stuff up since i move into the apartments tomorrow. Gonna be interesting. later.

Posted by Phil at 07:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)

1. In China, you don't tip. More than that is that the chinese are insulted when they are tipped. Today, its been raining and a guy delivered a pizza to the house. I wanted to tip him for the terrible trip in the rain, but what I found out in the past few days is that I am not supposed to. I mean, its good for me that I dont have to tip, but coming from a place where tipping is a custom, it feels awkward. Then there is the fact, like at the Snooker bar, the pool attendee was working and doing stuff, which in the States would have been a job dependent on tips. It also didnt help that I don't like people doing common tasks on a pool table for me.

2. T.V. to Chinese girls is like heroin to an addict. This blew my friggin mind. We were watching a bunch of people chatting and conversing and being all active, etc etc. But then the TV was turned on, and all the women just dropped what they were doing and were engrossed by the TV. It doesnt matter whats on either: a soap (which all take place in Ming Dynasty China), the olympics, cartoons, or a cheesy movie. It was like a 4 year old child. Very freaky.

3. Gung Fu in China doesn't exist. I don't get it. I can't find it anywhere. Other than like the Shaolin Temple and Fu-Shan. Its popular here, but yet, I have seen no one doing it

4. All DVDs here are pirated. Well, I kinda knew that before I came...but its more prevalent than I thought. I mean, legitimate business places have pirated copies of some of the US's biggest films and some of the most obscure American films. Take this one for example. "The Land of Leprechauns" starring Whoopi Goldberg. Yeah, thats right. And they went full out on this too. Um, a Punisher rip off starring Casper Van Diem...he's wearing the same shirt as the newest Punisher that was in the States.

5. Well...i cant think of anything else. I just wanted to write something. Later.

Posted by Phil at 04:11 PM | Permalink

Ah. Well, lets see. Woke up this morning around 8. I went to bed at like 10 last nite cause I was dead tired again, it was raining, and I dont know many people yet. This morning, Peter made a crapload of pancakes for all of us in the house, me, Moses (a dude from Virginia) and his wife Amy (from Henan). It was Amy's first taste of pancakes and she enjoyed them. So, afterwards, I chatted to a few of you online before you went out to party @ Luna...aiya, i miss partying at Luna, such a fun club. I proceeded to work a little bit on some DVD work. I then got ready to go practice some martial arts on the roof, i need to get a foto of the roof view, btw. However, there was still water everywhere so scratch that idea. So, Peter and I decided to go out and play some Snooker.
Snooker is an interesting game. Basically, its a pool table, only twice the size with narrower pockets. First, we played a round of regular billiards. Then we played about 4 games of snooker. Quite interesting. We also got some of the "snooker attendents" to play with us. Its odd, places of business around here have lots of people employed, but most of them do nothing, stand around waiting to help, or Just haning out. At the snooker place they were doing this because there wasn't that many patrons at 1pm. Its quite normal apparently. We - Peter and others - think there is something to do with the amount of people there are, the more the government gives them a break. So, we were testing our Mandarin and Cantonese on these attendees and they just laffed at us. Its funny, when we try to speak their language, they laff at us. But when they try to speak are language and do a bad job, we don't laff. Something needs to be done here! Maybe a back of the hand will give them something to think about. LOL! just kidding.
So, i had something to eat while i was there. A UFO sandwich. I thought this was gonna be something "outta this world!" But no...it was just a ham and cheese sandwich melted together by one of those waffle maker thingys. Then, i needed to use the bathroom. I mean, I really needed to. But, when I came to el bano, i was dismayed. I thought this place may have a western style bathroom, but all they had was two foot pads and a hole in the floor. First off, I lost all the need to go when I almost tripped over it. The idea of this as a toilet just amazes me. I mean, you squat...how can you be sure you don't...spill it on your pants or sox or miss. I mean, never having to use this set up before, my accuracy can't be good at all. Anywho. We finished snooker and went off to do other things. Like buy a fone.
We went and grabbed one of our Chinese contigents from the Bond office, Owen. Basically, we needed him to negotiate the phone card, which contains the calling plan and the payment. Chinese fones are like this. They have the main fone and battery, which, after purchased, are basically useless without this little card that fits below the battery. This card contains your fone number and your entire calling plan. So, if you lose this card or break it, your fone is useless until you buy a new one. Luckily, they aren't that expensive, 100 kwai. 100 kwai = $11US. So, after a cool taxi convoy, which i got a mini-movie of that I will try to post, we went around shopping. I gots me a fone now. We then hit up the grocery store and headed back to the house. We are about to go get some dinner. Bye for now.

Posted by Phil at 07:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Classes dont start till Tuesday and I have just been visiting different classes trying to get an idea of whats going on. Been exploring the city. Went to a music store today looking for guitars. This place had such hunks of crap. Nothing spectacular. Just a bunch of cheesy acoustics. Food is really good around here. some of the kids are really cute. I am still dealing with all the staring. That is gonna take some time. There is a shop keeper next door to the Bond Office/School that I have been watching classes at, and she seems to enjoy trying to chat with me in Cantonese.
Lets see.. anything else? Oh, my motor taxi yesterday drove on the sidewalk for about 100 meters. That was pretty bad ass.
Oh, I know. I got off the bus yeseterday at the smaller bus station, the northern one, instead of the one I got off last time in "Zooming around Xiaolan", which is in the south. So, here I thought my place was kinda far, not with in walking distance....it is. So, I told the driver, "Gong Ciao Lu" and he nodded in response. And he began to drive. After a couple minutes...i was thinking...i don't really recognize this area....damnit. we are going in the wrong direction. I feel like an idiot. Soo...after a few minutes of confusion for us both, we decide to go back the other way...and it was the right way. Man...i really need to know the language better. Its a pity that God got pissed off enuff in the Old Testament to seperate people and create different languages just to mess with us. It has given us sooo much trouble. Oh well. You can't undue the past.
Hmm...nothing really else. It rained a bunch today. i slept for about 12-13 hours last nite. I dont really know why. I didnt feel that tired. Well, I am off, its 8pm on a Friday, I am gonna try and find something to do. Ok. Toodles.

Posted by Phil at 08:28 PM | Permalink

Nothing huge happened last nite, just went out for some dinner and walked around. Today thought was really cool. I was supposed to accompany two of the other teachers that live in the house to the head school and sit in on some of the lessons. It was fun and interesting. So, the three of us foreigners head out about 8am and walk to where we are to be picked up by Sparky. So we drive to the local school to pick up Lyn, who then informs us that I have to get out becuase they have to pick up another teacher. I was like, we can put 5 people in this Volkswagen, if these locals can cram 5 adults onto a motorbike we can do it in the car. Apparently that is illegal though. Lyn said it was ok because there was another teacher that would pick me up in 3 minutes. So i sit down and wait...all the while being stared at by the locals. About two minutes go by and Rich shows up. He just seemed to appear outta nowhere and said he just woke up and was told to take me to the school. Soo...this is the cool part.....
We flagged down two motorbike taxis and headed to the bus station. This was sooooo kewl! We were hauling ass thru town on motorcycles. Granted the traffic was still freaking me out, but I am very surprised at the skill of these motorcycle drivers. It was such a great way to start out the day. We got to the bus stop and hopped on the next bus headed for our destination. On the bus, Rich and were helping each other with the languages and i noticed about 5 people staring at me. "Its not polite to stare...didn't your folks ever tell you that?"
We finally reached the school after a traffic jam backed us up for a bit. When I arrived I sat in on a kindergarten class and a middle school level class. The students seemed eager. I was surprised, but I do know that this isn't always the case. These other guy, Larry from California, actually ended his contract early because he hated what he was doing. He told me a bunch of horror stories and made me feel really bad. But when I brought this up with some of the other teachers, they were like..."Oh....Larry....yeah." They went on to explain that he came into this with a closed mind and not a good attitude. He was basically a kill-joy from what I understand. So that alliviated some of my fears right away.
I hung around the school talking to the kids and showing them things. I taught this one kid, Julius, one of those..."urban" handshakes where you snap your fingers and point at the end. It was pretty funny. I enjoyed myself. Then Peter and I hitched a ride with Sparky back to the bus station and headed back to the city. We then took a long, awesome motorbike taxi ride thru the whole city back to the house. It was great. I didnt realize just how huge and beautiful this city was until I got to ride thru about 3/4ths of it on a speeding motorcycle. Really cool. When we got to the house, we exchanged some language software and I needed to photocopy my VISA for the management. We scanned it in and printed it out. I then headed out alone to the local BOND school to drop it off. This bike ride ruled as well. The guy took me thru all the back alleyways and we were zig zagging all over the place, it was like outta a movie. The area around the No. 1 Middle School (where the BOND school is located - and it doesnt mean the #1 Middle school, its just a bizarre naming system they got) is absolutely beautiful. I will try and take a foto.
I took care of the business and asked Mountain and the other people in the office about gung fu and they said they would try to find a place. I sure hope they can. I need to get some exercise. Then I headed back to the house. I felt pretty good as I walked down the street to the house. As I was walking, a man on a bike hauling wood was driving by and staring at me. So I nodded and said hello and he proceed to yell at me as he rode passed. He said about 5 words but the one that stuck out was "gweilo". After the insult I arrived at my door and went in. And here I am. later.

Posted by Phil at 05:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

I am gonna start out with an event from last nite. On the way to the house, driving, we started out with the driver, Sparky, me, Leianna, this woman, Amanda, a little girl, who I figured was the daughter, and another girl named May. So...we all started out. Then first, we dropped off May. Then minutes later we dropped off Amanda, but the little girl stayed. I was like, um....ok. The we went for another 10 minutes and pulled up to an allewyway for houses and Sparky and the little girl disappeared for about 2 minutes. Then Sparky came back. I was like, ok. This is fine. Just dropping off people. But then he started to pick up people and drop them off. This confused the crap outta me..I mean, was he a bus. After leaving the alleyway, we went about 10 minutes, picked up this girl Emily. Drove with her for about 20 minutes where we picked up Owen and Mountain, but dropped Emily off...at the same place. Then we drove to where Leianna was staying, dropped her off with Mountain to show her the place and I went to the house with Owen. It was a wierd trip. Quite humorous.
So anywho. I went to bed. Lots of horn honking into the wee hours. It never stopped. I am gonna wear my earplugs tonite. When I showed up there were 2 other teachers awake. Peter from California, and some other guy, from Canada. I chatted with them for all of 1 minute before I went to bed.
I wake up, feeling rested, despite all the horn honking that went on throughout the whole nite...dont chinese ever sleep? I am gonna sleep with my earplugs tonite.
I woke up, and this other guy, Nick, from Ottawa was around. He was packing up because he was headed to Inner Mongolia for a few months. He was excited. He took me out to breakfast and showed me around a bit and we came back here where I began typing all these recent posts and fotos. Then around 12, Emily, the girl from the trip home last nite, showed up with Clyde, this other teacher, and we all went to this nice place for lunch. I was trying to get a feel for their opinions and the all seem to love it. Nick is going to Inner Mongolia and Clyde signed a contract for his 4th year.
Well, I just typed up and posted tons of junk. All of you are asleep and cant chat with you online, so I am gonna go try and find something to do. later gators.

Posted by Phil at 05:35 PM | Permalink

So, i get picked up in this crappy old van with tons of Chinese written all over it. I still have yet to be told what it all says. We were stopped at a lite and these girls on a spree were reading it...for the entire time they were stopped at the light. The van prolly really isn't old, it just looks like it, cause all the vehicles in Zhongshan do. I see new cars every once in awhile, but most cars look straight outta the 60s and 70s. Another thing I noticed was lots of motorbikes and scooters. All the men had motorcycles and all the women had sprees. It was funny. Apparently, as I would find out later in the evening, the record for adults on one of those motorbikes is 5 people. So if I see 6 adults on one, I need to get a foto.
The traffic. OH GOD, THE TRAFFIC!!! HK doesnt hold anything to what goes on here. I was told by many chinese and people that have visited China about the terrible traffic. Nothing, absolutely nothing can prepare you for what I was witnessing. Not even New York City on acid. Total disregard for any driving safety. I couldn't help but watch in horror as I watched a motorcycle with a man and two girls nonchalantly weave in, out, and between these giant hauling trucks. Pedestrians were riding bikes and walking in the center of the road with oncoming traffic honking their horns at them and barely swerving to avoid them. No one knows how to use a turn signal. I was beginning to think that the driver of the van was quite good until what he did next. Along with 4 other cars n trucks, he proceeded to turn left...AT THE SAME TIME...ALL AT ONCE...AS THE OTHER CARS....FROM THE SAME LANE TO THE SAME LANE! To say the least, I was kinda scared. I later asked whether there is much traffic police and a girl said, "Yes". I asked her if she thought they did a good job...she shook her head. There was one instant while driving where a scooter pulled off into the center of the meridan right in front of a bunch of trucks which caused them to honk furiously. But where they pulled off, I saw a chopper-cop...and I believe I saw him with his head lowered and shaking back n forth. "As in... idiots."
So, we pulled up into this parking garage. I thought we were heading to the school, but nope, John had arranged a dinner for us...us meaning me and this other teacher that arrived from the 2pm ferry. She is Aboriginal...from New Zealand. Anyway. I walk into this resturant with David the driver. Its a pretty big resturant. They had about 8 hostesses for some reason. And they were all in red chi-paos (chinese dresses). As I walked thru to the back of the resturant, all the chinese were looking and staring at me and all the waiteresses and waiters were bowing and saying hello. Talk about freaking me out. I hate the idea of people bowing. STOP BOWING. They take me to the back of the resturant were there are 8 rooms, all with doors closed. It felt like being in a gangster movie. The open the last one and there is John Zhang, along with two other english teachers, Leianna - the aboriginie, and Tracy - a chinese english teacher...who never stopped giggling. They were all engrossed in the S. Korea VS China olympic ping pong tournament. We chatted n stuff. And they then took me to the Bond Language School. I dont really know how to descibe it, hopefully i will get some fotos.
So, now it was time to take me to my place of residence. Apparently, the teacher living in it isn't leaving for a few days, so I am staying at the house they have in the next city north, Xiaolan - its in the Zhongshan metro area, but about 40 minutes from dowtown Zhongshan. Its an old school town, modern, but still chinese old school. This house is huge. Friggin huge. A giant patio, that if I were to stay there I could practice my martial arts n stuff on. Its a really odd place, this area. I haven't ever seen anything quite like it. I have in movies, but its not the same in real life. Its gonna take getting use to. Zhongshan is like this too, but it caters to more touristy stuff. Anywho. I am gonna go take some fotos of this house. Talk to you soon.

Posted by Phil at 10:55 PM | Permalink

I arrived at 6pm today. I have great stories, i need time to formulate them. I will post them either today or tomorrow. Cheers everyone!....

This is a long one. Basically, after I got back to the hotel, I called John Zhang, the principal of the school I was gonna be working at, to tell him that I missed the 2pm ferry because the VISA office was late with my documents. He told me to call him when I got my ferry ticket. By this time, after walking all around Hong Kong and doing junk, I was pretty sweaty. It was around 90 degrees with equal humidity. The front desk allowed me to go hop in the shower in the exercise room so I could freshen up. Got done with that and felt great. It was about 300pm by now, so I grabbed my bags and a taxi and headed out to the Ferry Depot. My taxi driver was…interesting. He had lots of bodily noises: many burps and clearing of the throats n such. Kinda like me, but not classy. He then proceeded to ask me political questions:
-“Who are you giving a ticket for?”
-Excuse me?
-“Ticket…who are you going to give a ticket to in November?”
-Oh. Who am I gonna vote for?
-“Yes”
-Trogdor. (see www.homestarrunner.com and click on Strombad emails)
By that time we had arrived at the ferry depot. He told me to watch my money pocket.
Trying to get the ticket to Zhongshan was pretty humorous since there were like 10 ticket counters and I couldn’t find the one for Zhongshan. I found it after a couple rounds of checking the flashing signs. I bet I looked like a jackass. I also prolly looked paranoid trying to be conscious of the people around me as to not make an easy target for pick pocketers.
I got my ticket and went the departure area. My ferry was leaving at 4pm so I didn’t get a much of a chance to call John, and I couldn’t find a fone. So, I figured, they will have a fone in Zhongshan port won’t they? They didn’t.
So the ferry ride was pretty fine. Nothing spectacular happened, we hit one wave that sent dishes flying in the kitchen, that’s it. They were playing this bizarre movie on the TV (most Chinese films are bizarre). Simon Lam (Jet Li’s police friend in The Black Mask) was one of the leads and his character was quite goofy. The plot entailed a weird love rectangle and dealt with android babies…like I said…bizarre. It would prollly make more sense if I had the subtitles. It was a pretty fast ferry as well. The Boblo Boat on steroids. Only nicer.
Now, in HK, the ferry port had tons of stuff everywhere, pictures, electronic boards on the wall that tell you when a boat is leaving, pop machines, advertisements, etc etc. Zhongshan had none of this. It was a long, lonely white concrete hallway with dirt on the walls that seems to have accumulated over the years or thru construction. It was so nice to get off the ferry and see the Immigration officers look so darn happy.
After I made it thru the welcoming customs officers, I made my way down the rest of the hallway until there was a man at a desk. From his desk, I saw the exit where about 30 chinese taxi drivers had accumulated, all with the “eye of the tiger”. So, I went to the man at the desk and asked, “deen-wha?” (which I think means fone in cantonese) in addition I made the universal fone symbol, the thumb and pinky finger extended and held up to your ear. He said yes and pointed near the exit. So I was like, ok, the foone must be outside. It wasn’t. What was outside was about 10 chinese taxi drivers trying to take my bags and trying to say "taxi". It wasn’t about their 5th time I understood and said "no thanks". So, I scanned the area around for a fone, but there was none. All the while I had people speaking long sentences of Cantonese/Mandarain at me. Try to keep your composure when you're:
1. trying to think of a plan of action for contacting John
2. entering a complete foreign country
3. dealing hardcore taxi drivers intent on you using their services and trying to talk to you
4. doing your best to be aware that no one is trying to pick pocket you
5. and trying to respond in the only Cantonese you do know and trying to understand them.
I thought I was doing well until a British/Aussie woman came over to me and asked if
I was lost, cause “you look like you are lost”. I told her my issue and she gave me her card. All the while this was going on, a man, who I thought was a taxi driver or an escort offered me the use of his cellfone, after the 3rd offer, I took him up on it. I was afraid he would then want me to go in his taxi. My mind was all over the place. He was really nice.
I prolly wouldn’t have look so lost if I hadn’t put the fone# in my bag and forgotten where I put it. I found it after a couple minutes and got a hold of John. He said he was sending out a man in a gawdy van to pick me up. I will have fotos of this hilarious van soon. I gave the fone back to the very kind man and profusely thanked him. I tried to speak some Cantonese with him for a few minutes, but to no avail. I didn’t understand his long replies. He gave me his card though. I made a note on it that I would contact him in the future when my Mandarin/Cantonese was better, take him out for a beer.
I proceeded to hang out at the waiting area by myself for about 30 minutes while I waited for the van. But during this time, I wrote down all this on a piece of paper to type up later. Every once in awhile, a port authority person would walk by and look at me. No one gave me any trouble. The van pulled up and I laughed...

Posted by Phil at 08:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I woke up about 7am and it looked to be a gorgeous day. The sun was shining and it was clear skies. So I gets up and have some breakfast. I then packed up all my clothes and straightened up all my stuff. I left all my bags with the concierge. I then headed down the street to the bank to get a bunch of money to pay off the VISA fee, my Ferry fee (I know what you are thinking Matt Rose), and then some more money for the Taxi fee from the hotel to the ferry launch. I went to go pick up my VISA at 12pm. However it wasn’t done yet, they said about 1pm. So, I walked around the area and took some fotos as well has had a nice lunch. Smoked Salmon Fruit Salad and an Asahi…sweet nectar of the Japanese gods.
I headed back to the office and the VISA still was not ready…but it would be in a few moments. So I sit down, and there were others waiting on theirs’ as well. Sal, the fella sitting next to me, started chatting with me. Turns out he was heading out to Shenyang (I think) to teach. He had taught in Zhongshan a few years ago and said its really nice. He asked me if I knew why the L-VISA (tourist visa) was now only valid for 30 days and was $740HK (Hong Kong Dollars…$1US = $7.79HK). I told him the Bush story. He was like, “Figures”. Even on the other side of the world, Bush has managed to piss us off.
The coolest thing happened on my way back to the hotel to get my stuff. I had a taxi take me back to the MTR station so I could catch the subway. I decided to try and talk to him in Cantonese. To my surprise, it worked. We had a basic conversation - nothing wild, but he understood all of what I said and I understood all of what he said. Made me feel good. He giggled a little, but I think he was surprised. He then dropped me off at the subway. I went back to the hotel.

Posted by Phil at 02:38 PM | Permalink

It doesn't exist. I know. I know. A critique on fashion by me. Its like having the Pope telling buddhists how to pray. I get lots of good laffs just looking at all the outfits. Imagine this, if you will:
1. Take all the shitty and horrendous clothes that people wore in the U.S. during the 70s and 80s...i mean, the really ugly stuff.
2. Combine that with traditional chinese garments - which i find very pleasing to the eye.
3. Throw in some cheap English suits.
4. Add a black garbage bag and slash it with razor blades.
5. Bring in some fashions from the times of Sinbad.
6. Sprinkle with dyed mullets and vaccum haircuts

Throw all these into a big pot, boil, let sit in a steamy, high heat/high humidty enviroment and you get just a slight taste as to the crap these people wear...at the same time. I swear, this is the never ending city of clash. I can't wait to see what China looks like.
i am going to bed. its midnite and i got lots to do tomorrow.
choi geem.

Posted by Phil at 12:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Ok. So. People either love him or hate him. Its an interesting thing to see the two extreme emotions arguing when there is no middle ground. Me, on the other hand, well, I always like to think that he has done some good things...but on the other hand, he has done some pretty terrible things. Well, i came across another issue yesterday that the administration seems to have screwed up on and pissed off loads of people. It all has to deal with the administration's requirements for Chinese VISA applicants to get their fingerprints taken. The Chinese government, seeing this as insult, decided to boost up the price for American VISAs in China. So, all because of a decision that will prolly not even help stop a terrorists because they will always find a way, I now have to pay an exorbant (sp?) amount of money just so I can get into China. With this hightened level of Nazi security, who really suffers here? The people that don't do anything wrong. There are other ways to protect the country than taking away freedoms..but anyway, I digress. The funny thing is, once I get into China...I know that I am gonna miss America and everything we take for granted, even with all that has gone on, I am sure it will be much better than the atmosphere in China.
Lets see...what else....hmmm. Oh, I have been getting a little bit culture shocked already. I think I have been in HK for 2.5 days, I dont think I have seen more than 30 white folks. Its pretty weird. I haven't spoken with many people either. I mean, most of the people know english here, however, it isnt the best. So, I am going thru my cantonese lessons n such, trying to pick up more phrases and words.
I have been walking around alot. Each time I venture out in different areas, I keep building. "Baby steps, baby steps." Its kinda hard when you are here by yourself. I went to their "Time Square". This place was friggin HUGE! Like 9 or 10 floors of shops. It was mind boggling. Fashion here is really funny. Along with its music. The stuff is just crappy and cheesy. Always use for a good laff.
I went to a music store in search for a guitar. The store is the same as the ones in the states. Overpriced instruments. I was hoping to find a deal on a Gretsch, but to no avail. There was this Chinese kid butchering "Stairway to Heaven". I laffed my ass off...on the inside. On the outside, i played it straight.
I know the reasons why there are so many problems driving here in HK and all the accidents that go along...its because these idiots walk and drive on the wrong side of the road. And their stearing wheels are on the wrong side. I am guessing England has troubles too as well as the Aussies. I almost got plowed by a double decker bus because I was looking the wrong way for oncoming traffic. Speaking of double decker busses, i need to ride one. There was this hilarious incident when i first arrived on Friday. We were leaving the airport in the bus shuttle, and we were going around a curve, and i saw this white car just go a straight line and cut the bus off with no shout or honk from the bus driver...like it was expected. That pretty much gives you the idea of what it is like. Well, thats all i can think of now, i will write more when I something hits me.

Posted by Phil at 07:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

I woke up Thursday morning @ 430am and headed to the airport with my mom, dad, and my aunt Sharron. Got my ticket with no troubles. I was picked for "special" screening at the security lane. This entailed them opening all my bags and making them selves look like idiots. "What's this?" Its a friggin external hardrive, Jack-hole. I waited for about 20 minutes before we hoped onto the United Express to Chicago. This was a little puddle hopper that seated about 30 people. It was kinda freaky when they asked for 3 people to move from the front of the plane to the back of the plane so they could balance it. I was like, AAAAAGGGH!!!! What do you got down there? A bubble-leveler? One of those things you use to make a picture frame perfectly horizontal?
So, i was lucky enuff to sit next to a dude from a Windsor plant that bottles Crowne Royale Wiskey. He was on his way to settle a union dispute with the bosses or union in Wisconsin. I told him to "break them". He said he would. I had just recently purchased Bruce Campbell's "If Chins Could Kill" and i was about to read when he was like, Bruce Campbell rox. So we started talking about tons of crap. It was fun. We arrived in Chicago O'Hare airport. He went off to destroy a union stand-off and I went to the gate i need to get to to go to HK. The waiting area was empty. So i began reading. The book is awesome. I couldnt help but laff out loud sometimes. The book hit so close to home with the location he grew up and his interactions with family and friends, sounds like my childhood. I recommend it. Very intersting read.
I hung out in the waiting area for awhile...about 4 hours. I arrived in Chicago around 830AM. People began to show up around 1030am. I got into a conversation with this fella going to Guangzhou. He was pretty funny. He told me some things to expect and what not too. He said the chinese that i do know sounded really good, so that is a plus.
1145am finally came around and we boarded. I learned something on this 15 hour flight:
1. I can't fall asleep on planes.
2. When you are on that long a flight, you bond with your seat-mates. I am lucky I had 2 nice ones. Some cute Philopino girl and an old Chinese guy. We had some fun conversations and we got along well. I was lucky that I didnt get stuck to any jerks or Jabba the Huts. That woulda blown.
The plane ride really wasnt bad, they played some movies and the food wasnt the best, but it wasnt bad. There was a screaming baby from time to time, but that really didnt bother me. I also had some earplugs. However, I wanted to pound this little african kid sitting a few rows ahead of me because he kept playing with this toy that played the "Jingle Bells" song. I was like...ITS FRIGGIN SUMMER! Another irritating things was that one of the movies they played was "Garfield". I wanted to puke. but i didnt watch it. Overall it was a fine flight, tiring, but fine.
So, I arrived @ the Hong Kong International Airport around 5pm Friday Hong Kong time which would be 5am Detroit time. Got thru customs about 520pm. Just to let you know, I hate dealing with customs at any border crossing. Why don't they trust me? I never did anything wrong...really wrong I mean. So i got my baggage around 530pm. Went to the the shuttle bus location and got a ride for 6pm. First off, the bus driver sucked. It should have been theoretically 45minutes...but it took him 2x that. I really dont think he knew where he was going. He just kept circling the area..I was like, THOSE ARE THE LANDMARKS THAT ARE CLOSE TO THE HOTEL! DROP ME OFF HERE!!!
Checked into the hotel. It is actually quite nice, however, the rooms are really small. I will post fotos I got internet access as well, obviously. Its nice. I refreshed a bit. My friend Wendy, who I ahve been chatting with for over the past year showed up here with her sister, Carla, and her other friend, Money (that's right, her english name is Money), who I have emailed convos with. We walked around the city and went to this really good resturant. Very good. Walked around more and chatted. I got back to the hotel around 1130pm. Takled to a couple people and went to bed around 12am. I set the alarm for 7am so i could get up and get to the VISA office when they opened, but the alarm never went off! Got up around 8am. The subway in HK is kinda neat. Kinda like Toronto. Took a taxi to the office from the subway exit point. Pretty cheap taxi fares. Got to the VISA office around 10. I will pick it up on Monday @ 12pm. Then I will head over to Zhongsan, China.

Well, I am off to take a nap, i am tired.
-me

Posted by Phil at 09:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Who am I?:
Phil Sholtes
A white alpha male.
Check out my Friendster Profile: here

What am I doing here?:
I don't know.
For some reason I thought China would be a great place to stay for a year. Surprises are demoralizing.

Where am I from?:
Detroit, Michigan, USA.

Likes:
Pizza
Gong Fu
Lion Dancing
Lindy Hop/Swing Dancing
Anti-gravity Boots
Ghostbusters
Skiing/Snowboarding
cock-rock
China

Dislikes:
Chinese Scam Artists
Kindergarten Peep Shows
The Man
Unoriginality
Julia Roberts
Jefferson Starship
Basketball
power ballads
China

Posted by Phil at 12:00 AM | Permalink