Lazy Days of Summer

I’m sitting in my house right now, looking around at all the mess surrounding my half packed bags, and it’s just starting to hit me that I’m moving out of Nanchong in less than a week. Over the last two years my life has centered on this city, my school, and trying to understand this culture. It’s hard to imagine leaving. I could go on and on with much angst… but, right now it’s just too hard to think about. I just want to enjoy my last three days.

Xiao Zhao is working part time at a school downtown this summer, and to avoid the price and annoyance of the commute, has been living with me for the last couple of weeks. I was a little afraid at first, since I've gotten used to living alone. However, I think I need to get back into the idea of living with people since very soon I'll be living with Amber and Amy and I don't know when I'll be able to afford my own place again.

Actually, Xiao Zhao is a really fun roommate. Although it did take me a few days to get used to it, I love having her around. She especially is hilarious to watch movies with, as her running commentaries are often much more interesting than anything on TV. She gets so completely wrapped up in the stories, and her whole body goes along with her. Watching her laugh, rolling on the floor and banging on her legs, has sent me into more than one fit of laughter myself.

There have been quite a few movies lately. I’ve been done with work now for almost a month, and the days seemed to have lost all structure, especially many of friends and students have fled the city for the summer. However, those of us still here are making the best of it. Phil, Xiao Zhao, and I have basically been watching movies and playing video games all day and going to the club every night, which has been really fun. Despite the heat, it's turning out to be a nice summer.

Whatever Sarah is thinking, Sarah writes

Current Listening: Doctor Cockroach. I am hoping the doctor's fame will spread to the greater Nanchong area and Tian Shan will start playing it. If only I had a cd burner! This will maybe be on my shopping list during the conference next week. Chengdu comes to the rescue again!

The puddles outside are so deep that my pants are getting soaked the moment I step out the door. This has lead to some slight changes in my lifestyle. One: I'm not stepping out the door as much, following the Dan Tersack method of huddling close to the space heater and watching movies. Two: When I am pulled out of the house, I'm wearing my high heels, which not only keep me above the water and make my legs look nice, but again push me a little bit closer to being completely Chinese. Tang Juan is happy.

I saw a woman today jumping up and down on a pile of rusty metal rods by the side of an active construction site. The problem? She was holding a baby. This woman sucks. I don't like babies anymore than the next person, but that's why I don't have any.

I was woken up this morning (well, this noon) by a knock at the door. It was the missing Jessica!! She is no longer missing, but still very mysterious as to where she has been and why no one could find her. She's leaving again in the morning and I won't see her again, but at least I know she's alive and I have my movies back, including my favorite Bette Midler movie. (yes, there is a little gay man inside of me.)

Ashley and Phil claim Durf and I are always late. Not true! (even though I am looking at the clock and I am supposed to be on the other side of the park in 6 mins, yikes!)

Winter Break Fun

I must take a moment to thank Durf for the new mix of music he gave me the other day. It has gotten me through grading my finals with my sanity and happiness intact. It’s very chill ‘Sarah music’ and even though it was originally intended for a student, I’m very pleased it ended up with me instead. Sometimes life is nothing but a happy, wonderful, beautiful accident. And now I’m completely done with the semester!

Life has not all been happiness and light though. Almost everyone in our little group is feeling a little under the weather. What I thought of as the chest cold that wouldn’t go away apparently was something a little worse. I have been diagnosed as having walking phenomena. But I’m taking the medicine and spending lots of time sleeping and watching movies (actually, not so hard for me). All the laying around and not doing much lead me to feeling much better than I have in several weeks and I was even able to go out a little last night.

Sadly, though, I did cancel my Nanjing/Shanghai trip which I really didn’t have the money for anyway. Travel plans are still on for Yunnan in February and hopefully I can still get to Shanghai somehow after my conference next week. If not though, I think things will be fine in Nanchong. Dora is only going home for four days and Tang Juan says I can come to her house for Spring Festival if I want. Actually, with travel being such a pain in the ass this time of year, I really wouldn’t mind just staying home if it wasn’t for the fact that I NEED to go someplace not-Chengdu, just to save my own sanity.

Happy 2008!

New Year's was fun this year at Durf's first offical show in China. We ended up at this small little party put on by Chengdoo magazine, and since we were 'with the talent' we were able to get in without paying the cover. Actually maybe a third of the people were PCVs or our friends, it actually felt more like our party then some event we were attending. It was a cool show, with some pretty arty musicians. Of course Durf's set was the most fun, with the best Baby Night Soil tracks out on display.

Besides the party, some other fun highlights of the New Year's celebrations:

- laughing hysterically through a pedicab ride with Ashley while making poop jokes.. (yes, mature I know)
- adding good movies to the 'old library'
- telling stories in the car on the way home to Nanchong.
-weird, weird cat cards
-Finally figuring out silence is golden (with a little help from Phil and his enormous clues)
- failed bush jumping
- successfully flirting in Chinese
-rocking the 'skittle' look

Now back in Nanchong, I still have a full week before any real work needs to be done. I'm giving a final on the 10th, then I'm off to Nanjing and Shanghai to spend time with Holly and her friends who may or may not be able to help me with my job search. We'll see. Until then though, I'm predicting a fun week of movies and dancing with my Nanchongren.

Holidays!

This year's Christmas was rather fun. The Saturday before, just when Phil and I got back from our awards ceremony, Ashley had a big dinner at her place. There was good food, good friends, and mad libs. And Xiao Zhao and I carried on like idiots for most of the evening. Fun!

Christmas Eve and Christmas were strange, with us traveling all over Nanchong looking for free food and drinks. Sometimes we found them, sometimes we paid. But we had a good time being together. Durf ended up in a couple of shows, Xiao Zhao busted out the best dance moves, Phil jumped in some bushes, Ashley and I ended up singing endless Christmas carols outside of the BABI, while drunk people passed us shouting.. "This is your spring festival, isn't it!!"

The day after Christmas, I decided that I wanted blue hair for the winter break. And so now my hair is midnight blue. I sort of look like an evil mermaid. I love it! It almost looks black, but when the sun is on it fully, it is very blue. The general opinion of everyone is that it looks good, (although of course Erica hates it.) I went to hotpot with some students last night who think I look Chinese now, which is strange for me. I have blue hair and I'm fitting in more than ever.

Things here are busy, despite classes being over. Holly is coming tomorrow! Sadly, her visit is at the same time as Durf's Chengdu show, but since I'll be going out to Nanjing after final exams, I guess it's okay that I won't see her very much. Instead I'm just concentrating on getting the house clean enough so that she'll be comfy here whilst I am away.

Okay, I'm off now. Yang Qiu is making Jiaozi for lunch!

Confessions

Ah！Home again at last! It was another weekend in Chengdu, this time to receive a shiny new teaching award (with my name misspelled, hurrah!). It did give be a chance to give a very cheesy, but very fun performance with Phil. We did the bit where he pulled shit out of his sax, (this time with me pulling an American flag out of it.) Then we rocked out hardcore.

Other than that, this trip just showed off how many stupid things I end up doing on an almost daily basis. I had at one time thought I could pass it off as being endearing and cute, but now I think that once people get to know me, they figure out that I am basically an idiot. So, I’m just going to publicly at admit to the more stupid parts of my day yesterday.

(Well sort of publicly, since this is the least read blog on the internet…does the intense navel gazing of this blog count as a stupid thing? Probably)

1. While walking down the street, I randomly bought a pair of blue devil horns, then wore them in public for most of the evening.

2. Took part in a very long meandering walk through downtown Chengdu in the middle of the night looking for a bathroom. We wouldn’t use any bathroom that wasn’t public or an alleyway. It took a long time to find someplace, and we were not drunk.

3. On the walk I somehow lost my devil horns.

4. While staying the night with my friend, I tried to dry off my socks on his space heater, ended up burning my socks and filling his house with smoke. Then like an ass I demanding that he lend him some of his socks because I was sick and there was no way I was going outside without socks on.

5. I did not bring a toothbrush…eww.

Despite all of this, or perhaps because of it, it was one of the more fun Chengdu overnights I’ve had in quite awhile. There were tons of people in town for the awards and it was good to see folks that I haven’t talked to since this summer. Plus, it’s awesome to be home on a Saturday afternoon and not feel like the whole weekend is shot.

And luckily, I was able to get my very own copy of Grizzly Man.

Today I met up with Zhao Xing at a nearby teahouse and when I got there I found he was with Thomas, maybe my worst student ever. Thomas, a law professor at my school, was supposed to be part of the night class that I've been teaching with Durf. He came to two classes, the first and the last. The only reason I recognized him as my student is because we shared a very long bus ride together a few weeks ago, where he drilled me with such hard hitting questions like: do you like Chinese food? Can you use chopsticks? How long have you been in China?

Today's conversation was strange. Zhao Xing's English is so good that it's like talking to a Native speaker, and Thomas' English is about as bad as my Chinese. So, one minute I was struggling to talk to Thomas, and the next joking around with ZX. Sometimes, Zhao Xing would translate, but mostly he just laughed and made fun of both of us. Maybe that's why I hate him, but it is also why he is one of my closest friends.