blog, water, Suzhou, lists

So, recently, I've been able to access a bunch of blocked sites through a convenient proxy add-on to Firefox. This has meant a variety of time spent on Wikipedia learning about random stuff, but mostly looking at articles about China. I highly recommend the article on Chinese prostitution. Very informative. At any rate, I can no longer access my own or anyone else's blogspot blog through proxies. Damn Chinese government foiling me again. I must be really dangerous to Chinese national security with my democratic clean-water loving views.

Moving on. The water is still not safe for consumption, even though most Chinese are back to using it per normal. This includes most restaurants, which I found out the hard way. Back to using bottled water and instant noodles for lunch. Ick. Kraft dinner is looking good these days.

Went to Suzhou on Monday. Met a nice girl on the train who Randall and I ended up spending the day with. We had no idea where to go and she invited us to come to a place called Lou Yuan with her. I couldn't find it in the guidebook so I had no idea what it was and we took a chance and went for it. It took about 30 minutes to get there by bus and the town was crowded for a Monday. Turned out Lou Yuan was an amusement park like Wonderland except smaller and much less crowded and no lines. Some of the rides had extra fees, but what the hell, we had fun. I'll post some pictures tomorrow once Randall, the photographer, gives them to me.

On Tuesday, Alex and I got up and went for lunch where she got a free mango shake in a soup bowl and then we went to Starbucks to make observational lists about China. Since making these lists was so enjoyable, I intend to make it a new topic, like job of the week, which I've basically exhausted. I also intend to make a new topic called conversations with the Chinese detailing conversations I've had recently.

Things you can do in China that you can't do in Canada

1. Keep asking McDonalds' employees for more sauce.
2. Take a shortcut to your apartment building through a high security area.
3. Wear a tiara to work.
4. Play with your food in restaurants, especially expensive ones.
5. Eat ice cream for every meal.
6. Steal floral displays.
7. Fire people you don't employ.
8. Take things from children.
9. Go to work drunk/hungover/still drinking.
10. Watch a entire TV series season or movie trilogy at work - in one day.
11. Get cranky when your boss wakes you up at work and then have him apologize.
12. Blatantly ignore all security guards especially when they tell you that you are not allowed to do something or go somewhere, as in #2.
13. Pretend not to speak English or Chinese to avoid having conversations.
14. Tease beggars.
15. Bribe construction workers to wait until after ou wake up to start drilling through the wall of the apartment below yours.
16. Use the national currency as toilet paper... because it's cheaper than toilet paper.
17. Demand a bar be closed early so that you can take the staff out for barbeque.
18. Demand the bar stay open because you are no finished drinking yet.
19. Call the booking girl an African because she gave you another lesson to teach.
20. Groom yourself in McDonald's or KFC.
21. Have lengthy meaningful discussions about your bowel movements as part of any decision making process.
22. Give out medical advice to grocery shoppers.
23. Have arguments about whether your food has positive or negative qi.
24. Dance on the bar, or the DJ booth, or the stage, or the speakers, or the tables, or really anywhere you want.
25. Make your boss dance with you on any or all of the above.