Spring has sprung in Jinzhou!

Greetings you random readers from the land sleeping shopkeepers, dog thiefs, and finally the return of your toilet being wherever you damn well please! The long winter has finally subsided and gave way to lush green beauty that we all have been waiting for. Its amazing how ones mood changes once their surroundings stop looking..... well, dead. I suppose from a psychological standpoint I could work on not letting things outside of my control define my moods but hell, I think a Jinzhou winter would take its toll on anyone. Any who! With this nice weather as come my new toy. I bought a gas powered scooter (named the Asian Knight) and have been enjoying riding around town enjoying it from a different perspective. I had an electric scooter for a while but that thing was so slow it was almost more dangerous than going too fast. It was hard fot it to go fast enough to maintain a solid center of gravity so if a sharp turn had to be made you would probably just plop right over. Bu hao (not good). Its a cool little scooter, its a clutchless manual so I still have to change gears but the left handle bar which is usually reserved for the clutch is naked. The "shifter" foot levers are the same though. So riding it and changing gears whilst riding makes me feel like a badass. I tell ya, there is nothing better than shifting gears, weaving in and out of traffic, on this machine called the "Asian Knight" while Kenny Loggin's "Danger Zone" is blasting in your headphones, and yes, I do understand how dangerous that is. The asian knight can only hit a top speed of about 45 mph anyway so its not like im breaking the sound barrier. It is fast enough to kill me though and with the consistanly inconsistent traffic patterns here im always kept on my toes. I am taking Chinese lessons again and they are going pretty well but something happend the other day that didn't need a knowledge of the language to understand what was going on. There is a shop near my school that I go to to get random snacks and beverages during my work day. It is run by a young couple that are always very happy to see us come in and have even learned a little bit of english just so they can make us more comfortable. (the learned the numbers) One day I came in here and stood at the counter with my usual snack load which consists of: a sunflower seed bar, yogurt, a "juizy" pop, and a bread treat that we have dubbed "phallic bread". The husband and wife shop owners were watching the security video of earlier that day with the woman clearly not in a good mood. I ended up watching the video with them and here is how it went down: The shop keeps some of their goods ouside due to lack or room inside (because that is their home and their business). On the security video you see a man walk up to the storefront and nab a 12 pack of toilet paper and walk off. I don't know enough Chinese to fully understand what they were saying but I didnt need to. The woman basically said "how could you let this happen? Where were you? What were you doing?" The husband responds " I was here! I dont know when it happend!". The woman tells her husband to switch camera angles to the one that is watching the cash register. He does, and when he does all he says is "ooooooh" and his wife basically has an "ah ha!!" moment. On the monitor you see the husband with his head on the counter fast asleep. After the wife shouted at him for a little bit we all had a pretty good laugh. People ask me all the time where I let Cooper off leash for a run and I tell them that I found a small patch of closed in area that I feel comfortable letting him go. And that is only every once in a while due to the people around here using that area as their personal bathroom. Believe it or not I live in one of the nicest areas in town and stuff like that is still an issue. I actually found a hypodermic needle on the ground the other day. Those are the reasons I don't let Coop off leash more often and in more areas. Here is another reason. A buddy of mine who lives in another city had his dog stolen from his fenced in yard in the middle of the night. His community has cameras everywhere and when they watched the footage they saw a man walking away with the springer spaniel under his arm. His wife knew that there was an animal market (pets not food) in their city and she went looking for Timmy (the dog). She went once and couldnt find him but later in the day she returned and there he was waiting to be sold. I dont know the specifics of the altercation but she ended up having to pay 500 rmb to get Timmy back. I don't know how she acted but I do know that if I were put into that position there would be some serious violence. for those who don't really know me, im a pretty passive man. But this is my family! There are some lines you just don't cross. that value doesn't seem to apply with everyone here. The kicker is that my buddy's inlaws have wanted him to get rid of the dog for a while now because they want a grandchild and having a dog and a baby in a house together just doesnt happen for some odd reason. So, he is worried that they are conspiring against him having the pooch. I hope thats untrue but sadly it wouldn't suprise me. So THAT is why I never let Cooper out of my sight. Other than that bit of scary news, everything is going quite well for me. I have a lovely girlfriend named Mari who I met through my job. She is from The Philippines and she was hired as the foreign reacher for EF's sister company that works with babies. My job has its ups and downs but hopefully things will steady out with that. a lot of changes are happening at the moment and the business side has seemed to surpass the academia side. I am now just waiting for my next adventure which is difficult to find due to the lack of dog sitters. I am keeping positive and with my mind wide open and that is the main step in creating happiness. There is a little bit of cheese for ya. until next time Ni bu nan gua, wo hen goa xing.