Just got home from a 7-day working week...crazy Chinese holiday scheduling puts their make up work days on saturday and sunday. jeez. but now i have three days off, then two days work, then another weekend. Not bad, but a grueling week. It's the Chinese Tomb Sweeping Festival. I'm hoping to get outside and get some photos of it later in the week.
Been busy with school and taking care of myself mostly. Things I took for granted while with L have now become a slight damper on my time...you know, cooking, cleaning, shopping, doing laundry, etc. I'm very capable of doing all these things but they do limit my free time. I have been going out a lot too and keeping myself busy and away from my apartment.
One interesting thing I did a couple weeks back was go to the Dalian derby - the two Dalian soccer teams squared off and I went with Phil and several of my students. It was a great time and a good game, which ended in a 3-3 draw. A few days after the game I received a text from Torres, one of my old football-playing students, who let me know that Phil and on were on CCTV 5, which is the sports channel in China (roughly the ESPN here). So there is a video you can see me in (scroll to about the 24th minute) and a still photo below. Seconds of fleeting fame, haha. Funny thing is, unbeknownst to the camera crew, Phil and I were actually hiding a few beers in our pockets to bring into the stadium! Pretty funny considering they had no clue. That's why I was looking around and caught eyes with the camera actually. Some other photos from the game are below.
In other news, I've applied to become an IELTS examiner, through the British Council. If I get accepted, I will have to go to Beijing to do a weekend training, and then I can set certain weekends and give the test to Chinese students. It's not too difficult, great money, and short hours, so it seems like a nice addition to my CV and for my career here.
Also, I've been single now for a month...nothing really to show for it except some phone numbers and a few dates. Nothing sparking but I am and must enjoy my freedom while I can, as surely it won't be a long time before I'm shacked up with another girl. C'est la ville though, such is life, as my French friends have told me.
I've also started to pursue a new artistic endeavor - script writing. I had a great idea to create a TV show based on life here as an english teacher, similar to curb your enthusiasm and seinfeld, basically revolving around all the crazy misunderstandings that take place and all the crazy characters that surround my life. I've written 25 pages so far and have tons of ideas already. I wish I could film it myself as I have visualized it, however I'll stick to putting down a good pilot episode for now. My Aussie friend Phil and I are working on it together. See where that goes in the next few days as I plan I working on it earnestly.
What else? My soccer team, the Dalian Laowai, have our first game on Tuesday. I will go to cheer my teammates on but I don't want to play and I have no chance of playing really. I'm no where near match fit and need lots of practice. I met a Chinese guy named Jack in my building though who plays for fun on the weekends, I may join him tmr to get a run about. Need to get in shape a bit.
That's about all. That's me right now. Wish you all a nice day.
ps. I've added some of my favorite shots from my winter holidays. See them here.
Been busy with school and taking care of myself mostly. Things I took for granted while with L have now become a slight damper on my time...you know, cooking, cleaning, shopping, doing laundry, etc. I'm very capable of doing all these things but they do limit my free time. I have been going out a lot too and keeping myself busy and away from my apartment.
One interesting thing I did a couple weeks back was go to the Dalian derby - the two Dalian soccer teams squared off and I went with Phil and several of my students. It was a great time and a good game, which ended in a 3-3 draw. A few days after the game I received a text from Torres, one of my old football-playing students, who let me know that Phil and on were on CCTV 5, which is the sports channel in China (roughly the ESPN here). So there is a video you can see me in (scroll to about the 24th minute) and a still photo below. Seconds of fleeting fame, haha. Funny thing is, unbeknownst to the camera crew, Phil and I were actually hiding a few beers in our pockets to bring into the stadium! Pretty funny considering they had no clue. That's why I was looking around and caught eyes with the camera actually. Some other photos from the game are below.
In other news, I've applied to become an IELTS examiner, through the British Council. If I get accepted, I will have to go to Beijing to do a weekend training, and then I can set certain weekends and give the test to Chinese students. It's not too difficult, great money, and short hours, so it seems like a nice addition to my CV and for my career here.
Also, I've been single now for a month...nothing really to show for it except some phone numbers and a few dates. Nothing sparking but I am and must enjoy my freedom while I can, as surely it won't be a long time before I'm shacked up with another girl. C'est la ville though, such is life, as my French friends have told me.
I've also started to pursue a new artistic endeavor - script writing. I had a great idea to create a TV show based on life here as an english teacher, similar to curb your enthusiasm and seinfeld, basically revolving around all the crazy misunderstandings that take place and all the crazy characters that surround my life. I've written 25 pages so far and have tons of ideas already. I wish I could film it myself as I have visualized it, however I'll stick to putting down a good pilot episode for now. My Aussie friend Phil and I are working on it together. See where that goes in the next few days as I plan I working on it earnestly.
What else? My soccer team, the Dalian Laowai, have our first game on Tuesday. I will go to cheer my teammates on but I don't want to play and I have no chance of playing really. I'm no where near match fit and need lots of practice. I met a Chinese guy named Jack in my building though who plays for fun on the weekends, I may join him tmr to get a run about. Need to get in shape a bit.
That's about all. That's me right now. Wish you all a nice day.
ps. I've added some of my favorite shots from my winter holidays. See them here.