I am not going to lie you, I may have discovered the Chinese you tube, and it has tons of full length movies on it. I am actually watching District 9 right now which was just released in the U.S. like a week before I left. Oh gross, Wickus just pulled his fingernails off, I think I am going to be sick hold on. OK wow that was close, I mean I got a 9 year no puke streak going on I didn't want to blow that now. Unfortunately I only have like a 3 hour no diarrhea going so I am not to worried about that. I talked to a few guys on the phone this morning or Tuesday night for you, Parpp. I have had a few problems with my phone the last day or two with it not being able to access the network. So I actually dropped a call the other day talking to Casey. I am not really sure what is up with that but I think it is working OK now, but i thought that the other day after it dropped the call but then it when down for like 4 hours again after that so... I don't know like I said it is working now.
Well I taught my second class today, it went astoundingly well. By well I mean I got like two people to actually raise their hands to answer one of my questions. Now I can't take credit for this next observation, that will have to go to my friend Sarah but I think it is appropriate. Remember when you were in Jr. High or High School and the teacher would ask a question, and nobody would answer. Everybody would just sit there quietly trying to avoid making eye contact with the teacher afraid that you might get called on. My favorite tactic was to pretend I was still writing notes or reading the book looking for the answer. Heck I still do that till this day in College classes. Now I am smart enough to sit near smart people re:Amanda, Sarah, Rebecca, oddly enough all girls which you think would be impossible considering how frightened of women I am, but I some how managed to soldier through. But now I am on the other side of this equation, I am the guy standing in the front of class waiting in the awkward silence for someone anyone to answer. There is a strange equilibrium between waiting because you want the students to answer because you know they won't learn if you are always giving them the answers and how awkward you feel in that silence. So you wait till the it gets too awkward and then you just give them the answer, and then you immediately regret it because you know they were just waiting you out and you gave up too soon. I know feel a slight bit of pity for all the teachers that I have ever had knowing that I did the same thing to them everyday. So today I actually got two brave students to answer my questions when I asked them. Of course I wasn't hitting them with really hard questions. Let me recap for you, ahem...
Josh: "Is it cold outside to day."
Sunny:"Yes"
Josh (slightly aghast):"Has it been cold for awhile or did it just start right this minute."
Edward: "No it was cold yesterday as well."
OMG! I almost completely lost my mind, not only did I get an answer to my question but he actually gave me more than a yes or a no. Luckily the break bell rang right after that because I was feeling a little weak in the knees and had to sit down. All in all it felt like a pretty successful day. Of course as soon as my class was over I went on a 166 hour hiatus till I actually have to do something again.
So seeing as how I was bored I decided to go play a game. Now you might be thinking maybe he went and played a game on his computer, or maybe he went to his next door neighbors and played a little XBox. No I decided to play a classic game, and I went George Costanza style, frogger. Now you also might be wondering what I decided to play frogger on, when the real question you should be asking yourself is where. In China they have crosswalks, but they don't have walk signs and lights. It is just in the middle of the street marked with the cross line pattern all theway across the street. I also need to explain to you how Chinese driving works. Lanes are really just a suggestion, they do stop at stop lights but only cause they really have to. Turn signals, seat belts, speed limits not used, now their horns they use all the time. The key is to get to where you are going as quickly as possible and if somebody in front of you is going slower well just pass them, even if you have to use the oncoming traffic lane. Making right hand turns is like all lines in China, it is not really first come first serve its more like a colossal game of chicken, first one to blink loses their spot in line, so sorry you lose. So with motor vehicles doing whatever they want and pedestrians with no real right of way, I have to cross the street. Now its a total of 8 lanes with 4 of course going either direction. There is a small space in the center of the road where you can stop and take a break. Now the rules of the game are simple, you make it across without dying that's 0 points, because lets be honest that should be your goal anyway. Now if you successfully dodge a motorcycle that's 1 point, a car is 2, and a bus is 5 Because when you see one of those bad boys barreling down on you its really hard to make yourself walk right in front of it. Now a perfect cross is worth 25 points, that is a cross in which you don't stop your forward progress. That can be very hard to do especially when you make the direction change. There is a 5 point deduction if you have to stop abruptly to avoid a car and a 10 pointer if somebody has to give the pull up short arm bar to save your life. Of course you actually lose the game if you get hit so we try our best not to do that. Now at the end of the week you add up your score and the winner actually has to buy everyone a sundae at McDonald's, but it also means that you lived another week so it's really not that bad of a trade off.
I do want to give shout out to Casey, yes I am representing some American pride I brought a couple Harley T-shirts with me. Whenever I walk by the guys on their little Datsun bikes I just smile. I am also working on getting my laptop hooked up to the internet so I can download skype and use the built in web cam to video chat so you guys won't have to settle for pre-recorded images and jokes you can actually get them live while they happen. Well that is all for today or I should say tonight cause it's 1 a.m. now. So I will be back tomorrow or the next day.
P.S. if you don't get the title go see District 9, that movie rocks and makes you think.
