30/09/03

(I’ve just read through this entry and realized how many political references there are, I can’t be bothered changing anything, but don’t hold it against me!.... well.... unless you think it adds effect.)

Tuesday night, holidays have started! Have just gotten back from my evening class. The classes are getting easier and easier, a lot of the students have lightened up so we have a good time. It’s still hot and humid, I’m used to it now but, only use the air-conditioning at night, saves a bit of cash. I pretty much walk in the door and strip down to a pair of shorts, it’s such a shame there’s no one around to admire my huge 150 pound frame! The apartment is in need of a bit of a clean, I think one disadvantage to having the air con off is that you try to do as little as possible, in order to stay cool. The last week hasn’t been all that eventful, but I’ll see what I can conjure up.

I taught Sunday morning, the class was fine, I don’t think anyone was all that thrilled about being there. The students had classes all weekend, as I explained the other day, the university adds weekend classes before major holidays to make up for lost time. I’d love to see them try that back in Toronto! As a result, the students all had 9 straight days of class up until tonight, not my idea of fun. Sunday night was expat dinner night. The turn out was pretty poor; Ian, Chris, Adam, Shelley, Jenny, Johnny and I. Johnny is another senior English faculty student, Ian and Adam seem to get along with him but I don’t think a whole lot of him. At the party on Friday night, I asked Shelley to pass me a drink, 5 minutes later she’s back asking Adam and I, if that meant I was propositioning her. I don’t think Johnny had counted on her double checking his explanation with us. Johnny tried to explain it was just a misunderstanding. I was about as convinced as France was by George W’s reasons to blow Iraq to pieces. Johnny also seems to like making fun of local girls who don’t speak or understand as much English as he does. As a result I would rather check the stability of his jaw with my heel then have a beer with him. But then I did see the Chirac and Schroeder laughing together the other day, who would have pictured that 60 years ago?

Anyway, dinner was good. We went back to the local restaurant we had been to a couple of weeks earlier. The food was good, overall a good time was had. Adam, Ian, Shelley and Sally were planning to hit up Nan Au, an island just off the coast today, back tommorow, unfortunetly some of us have to work!! Adam’s come down with a bit of Shantou stomach but, so has pulled out. I’m hoping whatever he ate, I didn’t!

Monday I discovered that all of the people who had told me not to travel during this holiday, had made travel plans, I was absolutely thrilled. It’s always great when people look out for each other. The prospect of hanging around was getting less enticing, so I tried to explore a few options, without a whole lot of success. Thankfully this afternoon my luck turned. Les told me Denise and Jen (the two Canadian teachers, from Ottawa) were planning on heading to Xiamen, in Fujian, for the weekend and were looking for any takers. Denise gave me a call this afternoon and we sorted things out, should be a good trip. Xiamen is (apparently) about a 5 hour bus ride north, it’s town on the coast in Fujian, the province north of Guangdong. It was occupied by the French and English prior to 1945 (when China closed shop) and has developed into a nice place and a bit of a tourist spot. It’s also one of the closest points on the mainland to part an island that belongs to Taiwan (which of course is another province of China).

Not a whole lot else to report. I’m getting used to the timetable, leaves a lot of free time. Thanks to CNN Worldwide being one of the 2 decent English channels on TV, I know just about everything there is to know about world issues. Have seen just about every world leader address the UN. It’s always fantastic watching 90 percent of the speakers spend 20 minutes talking about absolutely nothing. Not only my buddy George (he said so little with so many words I was actually quite impressed), you can throw in pretty much everyone. The fact that the entire assembly is almost empty for the majority of speeches is quite amusing too. The only one they all show up to hear is Mr. Bush, and I’m pretty sure that’s just because they’re scared he might take their absences personally and conveniently find a few WMD’s in their backyards. Alright, enough politics.

Well that’s about all their is to report on at the moment, I know my camera use has been lacking, that will improve. I will get trigger happy on the weekend, if you can all hold onto your shorts until then.

- Sam