February 2006

February 22
nothing much, 美国不好
Well, I got my plane ticket for Beijing today. I have 7 more days of working at my school and then I'm heading up to Beijing for a week and staying with Stacey and Dave. Then I'm heading home. It'll be one year when I go home, well 364 days, somehow I lost a day. I got a really good price on the ticket - only 400 yuan. Thank god for the post-spring-festival low season. I've managed to save quite a bit while living here. I did have a pretty good job and salary in Wuxi. So what next? Well, I'm going to be a bum for a while. I'm going to visit some friends, do some couch surfing. Try to find an apartment in Guelph that's closer to the university so that I don't have to have a car and indirectly support US oil companies and very indirectly Bush. Ok, really I just hate paying high gas prices.

Although, living in China has really given me a new perspective on America. Well, actually, Americans have given me a new perspective on America. Now, I don't speak for all of them - I know at least three or four great ones and half of the US did vote against Bush, but, fuck, I've never met a bigger bunch of ignorant, arrogant, brain-washed jingoes. Want proof? Just ask anyone who's not an American what they think of America. Or better yet, do what I've been doing - read what Americans have to say about things on their blogs. My recent obsession has been searching through blogs on a variety of topics. The shit they write is insane: Canada is weak because we don't like killing innocent people, Iraqis aren't good enough for democracy, the American media is too liberal, all the faggots in the army should go to weak-ass Canada and have sex with our gay looking mounties [wtf?], Bush is a great family kind of guy who's preventing Iraq from raping and murdering children all over the world and all the other countries are too self-involved to do it themselves or try to help, freedom freedom freedom, democracy, freedom, free speech, you can't write inappropriate words in your msn blog, free speech, Communist China, etc. Frightening really. It's amazing how unwilling people are to join your war when you call their national police force a bunch of pansies. And China is an oligarchy by the way. Not even America is more free-market-loving capitalist than China is, and the US should realize how dependent they are on China.

Oh and America: you impeach your president for cheating on his wife but not for killing a bunch of your beloved American soldiers and scores of innocent Arabs? Last time I checked, you electrocute people for murder and get a divorce for adultry. If Bush is so unpopular with so many Americans as a variety of polls seem to suggest, why don't you impeach him already?! Hey America - your leader is fucking around with other countries - don't you think it's time for a divorce?

Alright, I'm done for now. But I will DELETE any comments from ignorant people telling me how much better my world is because of right-wing, ultra-conservative, religious fanatics who clowned their way into the US government and are busy fucking the world dry for their own ego-gratification.

Also, I'm planning a trip to Europe this Spring with my Grandmother. I'm not sure where I'm going to yet, but I have the money and I have the time and I have the company so it should be a great time. More on that after I get home and consult a travel agent. Anyway, that's all for now, so take care and feel free to run over a Republican next time you're in the States.

7:50 AM

February 15
a list
Well, now that I'm getting ready to head home I guess it's time to start making top ten lists. So, here's my top ten list of best things I've heard while living in China. It's just a bunch of my observations, so I hope nobody gets offended.

Meiguo bu hao
"hello money mother thank you happy birthday"
"for you, special friend smile price"
"it's good to health"
thirty minute special on how China invented cloning
"the province of Taiwan"
"the War to end Japanese Agression" aka WWII
"the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet"
"You know, war is the best way to resolve conflict - Chairman Mao liked war" regarding relations with Taiwan.
Chinese awards for the best 2008 Beijing Olympics propaganda
Anyway, more lists to come. I'll be surprised if they let me publish this without editing....

12:44 AM

February 14
Valentine's Day
So, Valentine's day in China is a lot like Valentine's day in Canada except the flowers are cheaper and more plentiful and the chocolate is crappier and more expensive. Also, there are lots of Chinese girls in the streets yelling at their boyfriends. Strangely enough, today was incredibly warm - around 18C and sunny. Air quality was poor but there was a but of a breeze and it stayed warm after sunset. Two weeks ago, Wuxi had it's one and only snowstorm which lasted a day and left slush all over the place, making it cold and miserable. So, I have no idea what it's going to be next week. Either way, 18C is fun for February. I'm going to be so screwed when I get home in March and it's already 30C here and still snowing in Canada.
4:57 AM

February 07
I survived Spring Festival
Well, Spring Festival is over, so I can finally get some sleep. For two weeks everyone has been trying to blow up every square inch of this country with fireworks. This year, Beijing decided to relax the fireworks restrictions for Spring Festival, allowing everyone to go crazy with them. Appararently, they haven't had this for a while, though I wasn't here last year. I've heard stories that the small towns don't bother with restrcitions.

I didn't really do much for the holiday. There really isn't much you can do unless you leave the country. Too many people trying to go everywhere. On Friday, Ian and I went to a small town south of Suzhou called Tongli. It's an ancient city described by explorers as the Venice of China. It's not quite that grand, but there are a lot of gondolas. Anyway, this city is the new home of the Museum of Chinese Sex Culture, which I had really wanted to see. It took us about twenty minutes by train and forty-five by bus to get there. We missed our first train, so we got a standing ticket for the next one. When we tried to get on the train, it was madness. The hard seat cars were packed so full no one could move, so we tried another car to avoid getting trampled by all the people trying to get on. The other car we tried was a soft-seat car, which we weren't supposed to get on with our ticket, but we played dumb and the girl gave up and let us stand on that car. Encouraged by our success, a Chinese couple tried to fight thelr way on the train, but they had void tickets and the girl wouldn't let them on - so they kicked her and shoved her out of the way and got on. Fortunately some guys pulled them off her and she made them buy good tickets, but it was frightening to see that on a train, especially with no space to move. The train pulled away with the girl trying to shut the door and pushing people's arms out of the way - dozens of people still on the platform unable to get on the train. Crazy.

The Museum was interesting, although hugely underfunded and thus a little disappointing. The museum is funded solely by the owners and private donations, which was unfortunate. Regardless it was still interesting to see a two thousand year old dildo. Pictures shortly.

Aside from that, slow holiday, ate at some nice restaurants, packed some of my stuff and watched a lot of tv.
9:45 PM