more china

i'm sitting in the chinese version of a pc bong, but this one has two floors and significantly less smoke and ramen than its korean counterpart. there are rivers of sweat rolling down my back. and all i can think is "fuck, what the fuck will vietnam in july feel like?" i can't believe i actually used to play basketball in heat like this. so yes, the show me state games of my adolescence are what immediately came to mind the first day i wandered around this arguably remote city in china. a strange association...

feel like i should do some quick comparisons between korea and china before the newness wears off. so here, in list form (my favorite!) are some things i've noticed:

1. fashion and whatnot. not as many suits here in china. the nearly iridescent men's suit was as ubiquitous as the women's stiletto and frilly, doll-like dress. my guess is that fancy suits cost money, which is something china doesn't have a lot of. anyhoo, it's quite refreshing to see people who look, well, normal. people of all different sizes. people who clearly lack fashion sense and favor the functionality of their clothes (which in these days means not dying from heat stroke) over anything else. but don't worry, the whores in jules and rory's hood still sport heels, which, in a way, is functional since they spend most of their time on their backs...or knees...

2. modes of transport. let's see. i use my legs a lot, nothing too special there. but in the past week i've traveled by plane, train, taxi, strange archaic cart thing with a sputtering engine (pictures forthcoming), manual pedicab (and uphill at that, pedaled by a very strong 57 year old man), and the cheating pedicab with an engine. me likey pedicabs.

3. people. the people here are really friendly and seem shocked to see me, or me and jules and rory, or any group of foreigners. seem to be a relatively limited number of us here in this most populous country. it feels so much different to be pointed at and stared at here than it did in korea. here i'm quite aware of how foreign i really am to most people who see me. in korea the shock (and awe) of my presence was totally unwarranted and annoying.

4. foreigners. i haven't met a lot of foreigners (see #3), but the ones i met have been in a sort of professional capacity. i say "sort of" because i don't work for ef yet (fingers crossed for working with jules and rory). but it seems like china attracts a much different crop of people than korea did. they seem to have their shit together a little more than foreigners in korea and most of them take their jobs very seriously. there actually seems to be some sort of methodology to teaching that i've seen at the two ef branches i've visited. i'm very excited about the chance to get my celta and then actually, immediately use the techniques in a professional setting, as people at both ef branches actually talked about teaching in teacher terms. a little intimidating, but it also makes the "i'm an english teacher" line feel like less of a sham.

so this was from the other day. a few days later now, and i have the pleasure of internet usage at jules and rory's apartment now. i've also been offered the job at ef in jiaxing after i finish my course in vietnam. fuck an a.

i'm not feeling very long-winded today, which shocks even me. but i would be remiss not to mention how fucking therapeutic it feels to be in this new country with people i actually like. seriously, this hot apartment in a small-ish chinese town is exactly the mental health sanitarium i needed. who'd've thunk. i like words (real or imagined) that have two apostrophes in them.

china grove

i am in china. so there.

it's hot and there's a strange squeaking sound in this computer place, so i'm not in the mood for lots o' typing.