Do call me Shirley

Thanks for being so patient with this post. I don't know what happened there.

But one moment please for an important China announcement!

[dramatic pause]

Starting on June 20th I will be on the radio! Well, at least my recordings will be. Currently I am recording some pieces for a learning English by radio program that they will be playing for the year leading up to the Olympic Games.

I am one of the main characters, Shirley and the daughter's blue-blooded best friend, Gucci. Yup. Gucci.

I will try to record some of the dialogues while I am still here, and will post up some more details when I know them!

More Blog Problems

Hello all!  We are back in China for and preparing for the last part of our teaching here in China.  I will be posting up some blog updates about Korea, but I can't seem to get access to my blog site at the moment, so I am posting by email.  I will be working on some posts and will get them up as soon as possible.  Also, I have officially finished putting up the last of the pictures from our SE Asian tour last winter!  I am currently loading the pictures from our Korea trip.  So, as you wait for the entries, enjoy a few more hundred photos!

elong ROCKS!!!

Goodbye craptastic Travel Agencies and the uber-unhelpful CITS office! I love elong! For those of you who need to make arrangements for travel in China, use it and experience the joy of competency and convenience.

I booked my tickets online through elong and I couldn't be happier with their service. Within seconds of me clicking the purchase button I got a confirmation on both my email and mobile phone. Then shortly after a customer service rep called me up and spoke perfect English to help me with my reservation because the dates I booked were no longer available.

We worked it out and then the next day the dropped the tickets off at my door (free of charge) and collected the cash for the sale. How smooth!

But that isn't even the good part...

We went to check in at the airport, blah, blah, blah. While processing our information the airline guy informs us that we actually have business class tickets! Whoohoo! So, for less money than the travel agencies, we were able to get business class tickets on one leg of the trip. Awesome. I pigged out in the lounge - filo pastry with seasoned mushrooms, really good dumplings, spanakopita... Mmmmm...

On the plane the seats were just a little more comfortable and we were served more food. Actually, I felt a little over served - the peanuts were served on china with a folded napkin.

At least we rolled into Seoul in style!

Return to the Motherland

Ahnyeonghaseyo! (sorry, I can't get the characters to show up so you get phonetics)

Matt and I are stealing away for another short vacation in Korea! Yeah, thought a trip to my good ol' motherland was in order with us being so close. So, you know what that means...more pictures! Hooray.

I FINALLY got up all (errr most) of the pictures from the last vacation. None have really been captioned yet, but at least there is something to keep you all busy now until the next batch.

So until next time, ahnyeonghi kaseyo!

EXTRA! EXTRA!

I just posted, but it is back dated a little bit, not too much, but a little. Just scroll down to read it.

Also, I FINALLY have posted up some new pictures! So, pee-boy will no longer welcome you to my flickr site! I think my mom will be very happy to know that. Not that she has anything against the pee-boy, I just think she was getting tired of looking at him.

Other than that, not a whole lot of news. Spring is here, so there is a lot of stuff in the air - cotton crap, dirt, etc. The winds have been really strong some days - I got hit by some throat cheese - not mine, mind you. If it were mine, then I really can't complain too much as I was the one who would have been spitting into the wind. But I wasn't, so, I got pretty grossed out by that. Just not something you expect. Walk, walk, walk (wind howling) Splat! UGH!!! EEEEWWWW!!!

Uh, I sang in class and made them "sing with feeling" at 8 in the morning. Imagine 30 kids belting out "darling, darling, stand by me, oh stand by me..." Their reaction? Let's just say that at least it was funny for me. I'm such a colossal dork in class, that it was probably okay for them too. But they decided that they liked the Motown music, so we might try another one some other time.

Our school is going to have a big review this coming month. We just had another preliminary review. Apparently we didn't do so well on the first prelim. One of the math professors didn't finish one of the problems on the blackboard so he got a failing grade for the class. One problem unsolved = failing grade for class. This review will determine the school's rank, so it is important to them. Really, really, really freakin' important. Which means that it is incredibly annoying for everyone else. By annoying, I mean, sucks. I won't get into the detail now, I'll hold that until the actual review.

Now I'm just struggling with the internal rage that results from the vacation schedule - we have a "week" off, but have to make up two of those said vacation days over the weekend either before or after (or in the case of the Oct. holiday, one before and the other after) which often makes vacation less convenient, especially if you want to travel. Especially as they don't tell you the schedule until about 2 weeks or so before the vacation is supposed to start. Okay, so rage is a little dramatic, but there is something bubbling in my chest and it ain't happiness or um, gas. So this time, we get Tuesday, Friday and the following Monday off. We have to make up classes that would have been held on Wednesday and Thursday on this Saturday and Sunday. How sucktastic is that?

Anyhow, it's late and I'm tired. 4 AM.

Offensive couch label traced to China

This could explain some of the dialogues I have recorded as well...

*************************************************************************************

By CHARMAINE NORONHA, Associated Press Writer Thu Apr 19, 2:57 PM ET

TORONTO - Doris Moore was shocked when her new couch was delivered to her home with a label that used a racial slur to describe the dark brown shade of the upholstery.
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The situation was even more alarming for Moore because it was her 7-year-old daughter who pointed out "n----- brown" on the tag.

"My daughter saw the label and she knew the color brown, but didn't know what the other word meant. She asked, 'Mommy, what color is that?' I was stunned. I didn't know what to say. I never thought that's how she'd learn of that word," Moore said.

The mother complained to the furniture store, which blamed the supplier, who pointed to a computer problem as the source of the derogatory label

Kingsoft Corp., a Chinese software company, acknowledged its translation program was at fault and said it was a regrettable error.

"I know this is a very bad word," Huang Luoyi, a product manager for the Beijing-based company's translation software, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.

He explained that when the Chinese characters for "dark brown" are typed into an older version of its Chinese-English translation software, the offensive N-word description comes up.

"We got the definition from a Chinese-English dictionary. We've been using the dictionary for 10 years. Maybe the dictionary was updated, but we probably didn't follow suit," he said.

Moore, who is black, said Kingsoft's acknowledgment of a mistake doesn't make her feel better.

"They should know what they are typing, even if it is a software error," she said. "In order for something to come into the country, don't they read it first? Doesn't the manufacturer? The supplier?"

Romesh Vanaik, owner of Vanaik Furniture where Moore bought the sofa, said it has been a best seller. He said he checked his stock but found no other couch with the offensive label.

He added that he had not known the meaning of the N-word.

"It's amazing. I've been here since 1972 and I never knew the meaning of this word," said Vanaik, a native of India.

His supplier, Paul Kumar of Cosmos Furniture in Toronto, denied responsibility and refused to give the name of the couch's Chinese manufacturer.

"It's not my fault. It's not the manufacturers' fault," he said, adding that Kingsoft was to blame.

Huang said Kingsoft has worked to correct the translation error. In the 2007 version, typing "dark brown" in Chinese does not produce the racial slur in English. But if the offensive term is typed in English, the Chinese translation is "dark brown," he said.

Moore is consulting with a lawyer and wants compensation. Last week, she filed a report with the Ontario Human Rights Commission.

Commission spokeswoman Afroze Edwards said the case is in the initial stages and could take six months to two years to resolve.

Moore, 30, has three young children, and said the issue has taken a toll on her family.

"Something more has to be done. We don't just need a personal apology, but someone needs to own up to where these labels were made, and someone needs to apologize to all people of color," Moore said. "I had friends over from St. Lucia yesterday and they wouldn't sit on the couch."

Un-Crappy

Just thought that I would let you all know that I didn't have a sucky China day today. Today I went shopping all by my lonesome. My goal was to bring home a new ipod shuffle. So off I went! After thoroughly confusing the taxi driver and a 40 minute traffic jam, I arrived at my destination.

I enter the mall and am immediately accosted by people with flyers. Eventually I make my around to the ipod section. So, I communicate with the shop assistant that I am interested and want to see the small ipod shuffle in blue in Chinese. Also asked if there was an English book or CD, which there was none. Everything was going well until the end. She was saying something that I just couldn't figure out something about clear and blue. WHAT?!?! So, in a panic I call one of my recording friends to translate a little for me. He finally told me he thinks this has to do with a rubber cover that the no longer have in blue, but she thought that the clear cover was far superior anyhow. So, with the rubber cover now settled we started to joke around with the price. It just so happened that a Chinese woman was buying one at the same time, so she suggested that we go together and try to get the price down for two. Mission accomplished - we got the lowest price in the receipt book (which I flipped through while they got our packages together - nosy, nosy).

After my quest was finished, I was feeling pretty good and decided to do a little shopping around the Carrefore complex (CFC). The mall that connects to the CFC is quite a winding maze! When I went there earlier in the year, I completely got lost and could not find my way back to where I needed to go. But anyhow, this time I walked around the outside shops for a little bit and picked up a few things. Then I wandered into one of the entrances to the labyrinth of a mall. Low and behold, I found myself smack dab in the middle of a Chinese goth-ish art fair! It was awesome! Strange patch worked animals with grotesque features, anime fairy paintings, LOTS of art with safety pins, and self-loathing declarations in mangled English scrawled with fine line pen, complete with ink blobs. Ahhh...gotta love the goths.

So, I walked around looking at the interesting wares and wound up in the rotunda which was decked out with rainbow flags. I was soooo hoping that it was for a GLBT event, but thought that would be a misplaced hope here in China, but I was pleasantly surprised - it WAS for not one, but two GLBT non-profit organizations in China. I talked with some of the members of the Information Clearinghouse for Chinese Gays and Lesbians. They were so much fun and friendly! They just had such a good energy about them, I just wanted to help them out. I wound up giving them a nice donation and received 4 totally rad shirts. Hopefully I will be able to work with them a little bit before I go back to the United States.

Anyhow, after that, I wandered back to the CFC and decided to try to find some sunglasses as I had left mine on a bus some time ago. I went to one of the glasses shops that was super crowded (ugh). But had fun! What you say? You had fun in a filled to capacity and then some store? Yup I did. I was in the back with a bunch of women around my age. We sent in one of the really little women into the mob to grab as many glasses as she could manage. When she got back we were all picking through them not only for ourselves, but for each other. In the end, we all were helping to pick the "right" sunglasses for each women. I think I was there for about an hour having fun in a hot crowded store. After the sunglasses were chosen and purchased, I got my self a treat (caramel macchiato) and found out that they will be putting in a DQ/Orange Julius (score!)

Then the true test to a good day...to wrangle me a cab! I waited and waited but no cabs. Cabs would come and there would be the Chinese cab scramble and then I was left at the curb. My solution? Uh...cross the street! It was amazingly easy to catch a cab by just crossing the street! So, all my packages in one hand and a hot coffee in the other, I was whisked back to the good ol' east gate. Nice to have an un-crappy day once in a while.

Introducing...the Apple iRack

Just saw this and got a good laugh from it. It takes a little long to load though.

Enjoy!

Snorting up the white

My goodness time has gotten away from me. Nothing really exciting going on around here, just the same old teaching and the same old recording.

So the highlights since I last wrote in March(!):

I have been sick for the last week or so. I thought that my sicken state would give me a little break from the recording, but as it turned out my scratchy voice recorded even better, so I had a lot of work while I was hacking up phlegm in the mike (yum!)

I was walking to the studio a couple of days ago and was enjoying breathing through my nose as it was the first time I had been able to in a little while. But things are starting to blossom here, including all of the cottonwood trees. So there is a ton of white fuzz floating around in the air. I wound up snorting in a huge piece up one nostril and hacking it up a little later, covered in snot through my mouth where it flew out onto the ground (double yum!)

I am actually enjoying my Yan Qing classes this semester. My second class is really sweet. Not all of them show up every single time, which I like as I can get to know some of the other students better. We went outside for class, plopped down in the middle of the soccer field, and had a great time talking about relationships while other students played soccer around us.

I had an April Fool post all ready to go, but didn't get around to posting it and now it is just too late, so too bad for all of you! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Got a couple of fab packages from Jerry and Gfarb. Rock on you two! They are helping my cheese need.

I was recording some more material for English learning and was reading some poetry passages and inspirational whatnot (i.e. crap). One of the sections wanted me to sing, "We Don't Need Another Hero (Thunderdome)" a capella. The man who was recording with me convinced the people (after much argument) that although I am very talented, that unless I am a sassy black woman, that the song just wouldn't be quite right. So we did it all spoken word, Kerouac like. The result was probably just as stupid sounding.

So yes, this was me:

Out of the ruins
Out from the wreckage
Can't make the same mistake this time
We are the children
the last generation
We are the ones they left behind
And I wonder when we are ever gonna change it
Living under the fear till nothing else remains

We don't need another hero
We don't need to know the way home
All we want is life beyond the thunderdome

Looking for something we can rely on
There's got to be something better out there
Love and compassion, their day is coming
All else are castles built in the air
And I wonder when we are ever gonna change it
Living under the fear till nothing else remains
All the children say

We don't need another hero
We don't need to know the way home
All we want is life beyond the thunderdome

So, what do we do with our lives
We leave only a mark
Will our story shine like a light
Or end in the dark
Give it all or nothing

*snap, snap, snap* (beatnik style)

I know I have made some promises, that I have not fulfilled, but I have just been a little overworked at the moment, but I still have more pictures to put up (I know at least one reader/viewer who is very sick of the peeing boy picture up on my flickr site, cheers, Mom) and I still intend to put up some more about my travels as I haven't even written about Laos yet.

Anyhow, I'm still trying to get better, but I will try to update more often.

Hopeless

So, Beijing is like the land of plenty when it comes to imported food. Now, mind you we can't get EVERYTHING, so we still love the care packages, but compared to what we were able to get in Guyuan, we're rolling in food wealth!

The local shop really close by is called, My Shop. They have a nice variety of food, that is keeping me well stocked with Dr. Pepper and granola bars. A little while back they started carrying a very exciting new item, Queso Dip. Not just any queso dip but a name brand cheese dip (name brand meaning that I recognize it).

I have found that my relationship with this particular food product almost borders on obsession. One time, I bought 6 jars of it at the same time just because if they sold out, I wanted to have my little stock, safe at home. But the problem is that I don't want to eat it right away. Because what if I crack open the jar, consume and then can't buy more? But at the same time the cheesy draw is just such that I can't quite keep away from it. So it is always on the brain. I think about during class. I think about it while walking around. I think about it when I am eating other food - "stupid, sweet and sour pork! You could be tangy, creamy cheese dip right now!"

So, the hoarding is a little pack rat-ish and the mental obsession is a little bit Smeagol-ish, but one of the worst things is that one the safety button is popped, there is no hope for the contents of the jar lasting the week in our household. It's like you just start to eat it and can't and don't want to stop. It's just too good! One time when I was eating some with Matt we just both couldn't control ourselves - granted this was the first jar opened post-discovery and I wound up eating it a little too far past the point of the cheese sicks. In the rare event that we are able to hold off full consumption, it goes in the fridge. Then I speaks to us. "Moooooly!!! Moooooooly!!! How about just a little taste? A little taste won't hurt you. Don't you like me anymore? Just take a peak, just to make sure Matt didn't gobble me up in the middle of the night...." NOOOOOOO cheese dip, NOOOOOOO!!! You will not trick me again this time!

They might as well just rename it cheese crack. Once all of the zesty goodness is on tortilla chip, I am just so focused on getting it in my mouth the rest of the world just drips away. And when the jar is gone, I feel a little sad and wired and I can't help but think about getting my next dose.

I'm thinking about it right now.

I can't stop.

Mmmmmmmmm...cheese dip.

*drool*

Panda Sneeze

Just posting this because I can.

Say what?

So another blog check-in. Nothing really special going on for my classes. Just trying how to best talk to a fairly good student about an attitude problem and come up with a lesson plan for Yan Qing. I have been trying to wrap my head around what I would like to do, but am having trouble starting. But not a whole lot other than that.

Today Matt and I went out to a Mexican restaurant with Naree and Alby! We had a great time with some good food and topped it off with a Black Forest chocolate cake. Yum!

Uh, I have been spending some more time down in the studio and have another little recording tidbit for you from yesterday.

"Oh good! The blacks are going back to their own country! I'm so happy!"

Uhhhhhhh....

Uhhhhhhh....

Uhhhhhhh....

Well, I assume and hope that they meant "The Blacks" as in a family name like "The Browns" or "The Greens" as there were other color themed surnames on the page. But this was the only one where the color was not capitalized.

So, I'll leave you with that.

Lines. It All Comes Down to Lines.

It looks as if they seem to know that the current system leaves much to be desired and now that the world will be watching soon, they have decided to try to change hundreds of years of rudeness.

Don't worry. Nect month I will be getting some photographic evidence of this occurance (maybe even a video if you are lucky!)

Beijingers Urged to Queue on Monthly "Queuing Day" - Xinhua

The girl carefully pasted the card with her signature on an exhibiting board. On the card, the four-year-old Liang Miaozhu vowed to queue in the public and respect order.

Liang, accompanied by her mom, is among hundreds of Beijing citizens who participated on Sunday in activities in Beijing's busy Wangfujing Street to promote the city's first "queuing day".

The 11th day of every month is chosen as the promotion day for queuing up as part of a drive to improve the city's image before next year's Olympics, according to Zhang Huiguang, director of Beijing's Capital Ethic Development Office earlier this month.

The number 11 resembles two queuing persons, according to Zhang. "That means that even if there are only two people, they should wait in line," she said.

People expressed their support for the move. "The Beijing Olympic Games is drawing near, but bad behaviors still exist in the city," said 63-year-old Liu Chun'e," we should display to our foreign guests the courtesy of Chinese people."

Although netizens voiced their doubt on the Internet and large numbers of bus passengers made it difficult to keep order, Zhang noted that it was important to create an environment where the wrongdoing was a shame. "

The Chinese people don't like to lose face," she said.

Before the Olympics, the city is also determined to eradicate bad habits like spitting in the public and littering.

Tying up loose ends

Just letting you all know that I have been going through my archives and finishing up some posts that I had started but never finished. I still have a couple to finish up from my vacation (I know, I know, get it done already) and I still have some pictures to get up (can't spoil y'all too much).

I just finished up a post way back from Jan. 1st. So if you want to hear about our New Year's day, check it out! It's real easy - just look to the right and click on my archives for January 2007.

Enjoy!

Back off BSB!!!

No, I didn't have a typo incident mistaking PSB for what I wrote. I really do mean back off BSB! What is BSB might you ask? Why, it is a 5 member group that has had an international presence for the past 10 years in Asia. It is responsible for making my auditory enjoyment of my surroundings a little more unpleasant than it would normally be if I didn't have them around.

Yes, yes. I am talking about the Backstreet Boys.

Seriously, I can't seem to escape them. Their musical stylings have followed me throughout Asia. I'm not kidding. Don't laugh. They sorta creep up on me when I least expect it. I'm savoring the spicy pepperoni in my American Classic pizza from Pizza Hut and all of a sudden, BAM! It hits me. "Backstreet's back, alright! BAMP-BAM-BAMP-BAMP-BAMP!" I'm listening to the Backstreet Boys, again. And then I promptly start to pound my head on the table, eventually in perfect rhythm with the annoyingly catchy pop back beat.

I go to a DVD shop and am flipping through all of the brand new, still in theaters titles and then I will hear something strangely familiar in the background. This eventually gets louder and louder until it is resonating in my head - "I'll never break your heart. I'll never make you cry...." ARGH! Inevitably I wind up stopping my DVD bin flipping on a movie title like, White Chicks or Strangeheart or, gasp, Crash or some other stupid shitty movie. At that moment I absently mindedly pick up the movie and put it into my stack, so yes, we own these movies. The Backstreet Boys actually deaden all of my senses at the same time so I have absolutely no discretion or taste from the first recognized lyric to the very last note. Or, in the case they are on a loop, until I temporarily regain some shred of composure and flee the store.

The last example I can bear to tell you was when I was in the middle of freaking nowhere. There was a large speaker in a field for the call to prayer. When it wasn't being used to gather the devout, guess what it was used for? Yup. Unfortunately. Sigh, "I don't care who you are, where you're from, don't care what you do as long as you love me." I am sorry to say that I don't really have an Indo memory divorced from that tune. It was one of the first things I heard when I came to from my surgery!

KEEEEE-RIST (christ, but drawn out in that exasperated way)!

After I came back home from Indonesia they just released their "As Long As You Love Me" single, so I got to hear it at home incessantly as well. Also mirrored was one question asked by Indo-gals on both sides of the Pacific, "which Backstreet Boy do you pretend you pillow is at night?" This was the question that I have been asked most frequently by Indonesian girls from the ages 12 to 24.

So far I have encountered their lovesick pining in Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Thailand, China, Tibet (hee, hee - that one IS for the PSB), Mongolia, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos. So, like, everywhere I have been in Asia. I can't shake them. I know all of the words to the songs and not because I want to. I am being stalked by new releases (which are only released overseas) and greatest hits albums.

If I ever were to meet AJ, Brian, Kevin, Howie and Nick (yes, I know their names), I don't even know what I would say. I would probably just start crying. Not out of reverence and/or girlish glee but for their constant and irritating infiltration of my Asia experiences.

And then I would slap them.

Speaking to you from the future and past!

I haven't felt like blogging a whole lot, but I just added a post earlier in March, so there will be some posts to scroll down for. Sorry to make you all work, but I want to try to keep things and thoughs in order. But I will also add new posts from the top when I feel like it.

So, not much else to report on right now. About my last post, thanks for everyone for being so supportive. I'm sure that once I remove myself from the situation and when I refelct on my time here, I will be able to look through a nice, fashionable pair of rose tinted glasses rather than the muck colored ones as of late. And as far as my posts are concerned, I'm sure I will be back to toilet humor in no time, not to worry. (see my latest March 4th post).

Really, no need to be concerned, I really wanted my weblog to be an honest assesment of how I view and interpret things, because nothing is rosy all of the time and I realize that. I want to honest to myself and not just write about a bunch of happy bullshit all of the time to keep up appearances. Some times things just suck. If something kicks ass, I will make sure to tell you all. Just as if something makes me want to kick ass, rest assured that my comments will reflect that as well.

But, thank you to all of my readers who have kept up with all of the ups and downs of this journey. I appreciate it!

Getting back to it

So, I have my first week of teaching out of the way. I can't say that is it exactly good to be back, but it is nice to set the pack down for a little while. I was reading some of the other blogs and emails that others have sent out post vacation. Many of them said that they are glad to be home and it feels good to get back to their respective nooks in China. I don't and have never felt this way about China.

China doesn't make me feel good. Don't get me wrong, I am actually happy that I have had this experience, and I don't regret it for a single moment, but I can honestly say that I don't really like the person that China turns me into (note: I have not used, "has turned me into" as I fully expect my Chinese funky state to be completely reversible). It's not culture shock, but something different, more deeply rooted and undefined.

I honestly feel really bad about some of the feelings I have about this place. I feel bad that I don't smile and coo over the Chinese babies. Instead, the first thought that pops through my head is more like, "Christ, another one of these people?" My tolerance is basically shot to shit. I really don't care about your "face" or mine for that matter and I really won't go to great lengths to preserve either. I am just to the point where I just don't care. That worries me. I have made attempts to care, but I was just kidding myself. I mean, I was forcing myself to care, thus, I knew I was pretending to care and therefore I was fully aware of this truly manufactured "caring" act that just emphasized even more that this was fake, and an untrue emotion. Ugh.

I just feel pretty hollowed out slowly being filled with tar and bile. After I got elbowed in the face at the train station, again, I just about lost it. After we tried to load our bags on the bus, only to have a dozen Chinese people shove their way in and push us out of the way I kind of did. It's ugly. I feel really weighted down.

Going back in time

Hello! Just wanted to let all of you know that I have loaded some of the pictures from Laos and China. It will be a little bit longer for the Vietnam and Cambodia pictures because I have to wait to get my guidebooks back so I can group them appropriately.

Also, I have been adding to my blog, but I have been adding entries in the February section on my blog. So, keep scrolling down or click on 'February' on the right had side of my blog.

But just to be even more haphazard, I will also be posting current entries as they come to me.

Anyhow, I hope you are well!

Happy year of the golden pig!

The Trench

On one of the multiple bus trips that we took to get back up to Beijing we stopped off at a rest stop to grab a bite to eat and to go to the bathroom. Now, since being in China I have been exposed to many kinds of toilets. The one at this particular stop was the trench style. There is a trough running down the center and a stream of water that flows down the trench to clear out the waste. There are also little half partitions up on the platform to give the illusion of privacy. You squat over the trench and let loose.

One of the 'good' things about China is that I am no longer pee shy. I can pee with or without an audience, although I still prefer without (imagine that). So I was waiting in the pseudo-line and finally it was my turn. I got up on the platform - luckily my spot along the trench was near the head of the line so I didn't have other people's waste passing below me. I assumed the position and noticed that there was a little toddler watching me.

So, I have been watched before, more as a form of entertainment than anything else, but this little girl was quite transfixed on my squat. When she stopped staring, she decided to climb up on the platform with me and squatted down behind me over the trench. So I was concentrating not to miss and squirt the kid and she reached out and put both hands on my bare bottom and started to squeeze and play with her hands while she and I went to the bathroom. This all was of course a riotously funny to the mother, and even more so when she found out that I was a foreigner. But apparently, this was the first time that she had done this kind of activity on her own so mama was proud and happy and I got goosed by her daughter.

Good times!

ARRRRGH!!!

I know that I have promised all of you some travel reports and random thoughts, but China has yet again locked me out of my blogger account.  So I have to post via email, and I can't get to all of the posts that I have started.  SUCKS!

 

So, be patient and you will be rewarded with more than you could possible want!

 

But to pass the time, I will have some pretty pictures up soon and this time I will try to caption them!