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.