The times are a-chagin. The "honeymoon" phase has ended, I am teaching with a full schedule and pretty damn bored to be blunt. A few teacher are leaving due to their contract being up and their workload has to be taken by someone..... guess who? Its actually not that bad, we have 2 new teacher arriving soon (one to be my roommate) and they will help take the load off. That is if all goes well with them. I hear that its not uncommon for teachers to arrive in Jinzhou then tuck tail and run. I've heard of one lady who didn't even get out of the airport before she basically bought her outgoing ticket. I keep telling myself that its what I came to do and it will be over before I know it. I can almost say for a fact because I've been in this position before (being unhappy in a small aspect but letting in fester in me) that I will look back on this experience when I am old and grey (thanks mom) and pat myself on the back. All of the negative emotions that I feel will disappear because if there is anything I have learned its that if you build your foundation with Mr. Yuck stickers then your house is definitely going to poison you.
How was that house/foundation metaphore? Too much? Kinda lame? It got the point across didn't it?
Anywho, Its starting to warm up here and that is going to help allot. I've been hanging out in my apartment all the time because its really cold here and activities outside just aren't happening. It even got warm enough a few weeks ago for me to create a few disc golf holes along the Jinzhou river. I only made 4 because space is limited but hey, beggars can't be choosers! I even made a hole where you have to throw to an island over where 2 rivers converge. Its a pretty sweet hole! I'm proud if it.
Oh yea, I almost stole a dog from its owner last week! The only reason I didn't is because I am in another country and I'm not sure of the potential consequences I could face. I do know that if I were stateside that dog would have been mine, well, maybe not mine but definitely not that guys! Here's the story: I was walking Cooper and there was another man walking is dog through the complex. It was a beautiful golden retriever that couldn't have been older than 6 months. The golden was off leash and he came up to Coop and the sniffing begun. Cooper had been around a golden for the majority of his life so he and this dog were instant friends. Cooper and the dog were wrestleing and the owner walked up to me and tried to make small talk. I did my best Chinese but needless to say the conversation wasn't very long. This goes on for about 15 minutes and I decided that it was time to move in with our walk. We begin walking and the golden follows wanting to play some more, his owner following behind trying to wrangle the pooch. I stop cooper and have him sit so I could grab the golden for his owner. The owner of the golden walks up and grabs the dog by the side of the face (including the ear) and drags him away. The whole time the owner was holding the dogs leash which was a basically a leather strap and then he starts beating the dog with this leash. I'm not talking about a little whippen here I'm talking about full swings, his arm went all the way back. He hit is dog at least 10 times and the dog is crying. I am yelling at him "mei shi" "mei shi"!!!! Which means "its ok"!!! He didn't listen to me. The golden eventually got away and ran back over too Cooper and me. I tell the dog that I'm sorry and that if he doesn't get back to his owner is was going to get his ass beat again. He continues to follow us. We are now walking near a dried up creek bed and the man picks up rocks the size of a fist and begins throwing them at this dog as hard as he can. Im getting pissed "pengyou ting""Mei shi "!! Which means "Friend, stop!" "its ok"!!! and then I switch to English "DUDE STOP IT!!". Again, he didn't listen. One of the rocks land on the poor dogs rear leg and he runs away limping. Cooper and I bolt around the building to get away because I cant watch this anymore. The dog finds us one more time and I can see that the playfulness has left his face, this was a "protect me" face. I get to the door of my apartment and its me, coop, and this dog sitting there, I open the door and the dog tries to forces himself inside to get away. I have no choice but to push him back and leave him outside. It broke my heart. If that had happened in the states that dog would have been scooped up on the first leash whippen then I would have turned that leash on the owner. That is unacceptable.
Well that was a depressing story! I just wanted to point out the cultural differences.
Here is a short list of things I've seen lately:
1. A woman cutting in front of me when im a half a foot away from the cab door.
2. A woman and her son standing on the steps of a shop, the woman is holding the boys penis while he pees onto the sidewalk.
3. Professional grade fireworks being shot right beside a highrise building.
4. Instead of mowing the grass, a man just burns it
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