ha, 6 months?..more like 3 years

(Ill apologize now if my wording or grammar is a bit off, its like 5am Saturday night and Im a little wasted)

When I woke up on the airplane, descending into Guilin airport a couple days ago all I saw was fields and fields of farmers surrounded by the beautiful karst landscape that makes this part of China unique. Once again the Chinese people cannot wait for the plane to stop moving before getting up and grabbing their bags.. The airport is small, reminds me of the Hattiesburg MS airport, other than it being Chinese. Of course Michelle and my two boss's are late picking me up, but I met some Chinese people and talked with them for a little bit. All in all my travels from New York to Guilin have gone smoothly and my bags got here alright, thank God. Guilin is definitely country compared to Beijing, like the south in America compared to New York. Seeing people actually working the fields and picking the crops by hand is pretty cool. It is only a 20 min car ride to Michelles apartment.

The apartment complex Michelle and most of the foreingers live in is pretty shitty and outdated compared to US standards but 'run of the mill' for China. This doesn't bother me at all though. The Chinese are pretty ingenious people though. For example, the toilets have two different buttons to flush with, one for if you just pee and one for if you take a shit. Less water is used when you pee, smart right? Also, even though the apt building is old the lights in the stair well are sound sensored so when you walk up and make a noise they come on, really handy when your shit faced and cant find the button. I will be staying with Michelle for a week or so until the woman living in the one I will have moves out. The beds here are hard as hell, and its more a box with a piece of fabric over it than a mattress. Good for your back I suppose. Michelle has a dog, named Lola who is a Chinese pug. She is still a puppy and is crazy as hell. Shes always acting up getting into and tearing up everything and bugging the shit out of me. Crazy bitch.

All over Guilin are these huge rocks placed as decorations around parks and streets that look like lava rock used in America for aquarium decoration. I learned that Guilin was once under water and these rocks are actually limestone from the bottom of the ocean, really cool. I want one. They are soo beautiful to me. They definitely take pride in the appearance of their city and put flowers everywhere along the streets to add color.

People drive like maniacs and there are way more scooters and bikes than cars. Michelle has a scooter and makes me drive because she cant hold it up and turn with me on the back. This is very interesting because Im used to following traffic laws and people here just go and turn when they want with no regard for 'the other guy'. It will take some time for me to get used to it, but its fun as hell!

The first place we went after I arrived was a cafe where Michelle knows the owner. Its a western food place and we each had a pizza and a beer for 20 RMB and one US dollar equals 6.8 RMB do the math. The food and drink here is soo cheap as with most things. One 30oz bottle of beer costs about 3 RMB which is less than 50 cents, crazy!! This cant be good for me though.

The school I will be teaching at is about 5 mins on motorbike from our apartment. Everyone there is really welcoming and friendly and I think I will fit in quite well. I have been sitting in on a few of Michelle's classes, getting acquainted to the whole teaching thing. The kids are really cute and love being around and interacting with English speakers, it seems. They act up a lot and get get really loud some of the time though. They love to play bingo and this other mathcing vocabulary game where if they get the answer wrong you bop them on the head with the plastic hammer that makes noise like a squeaky toy. The reward for being a good student or answering a question correct is a sticker and they go crazy for them. I will talk more about the school later on.

My first Chinese meal in Guilin was noodles with some vegetables and some kind of meat, again I really dont want to know what it is, but it tastes good and only cost like a dollar. After we ate we walked by the Li river and took some pictures. A little boy came up to us trying to sell flowers and wanting to talk to us. I had no idea what he was saying but Michelle could speak with him and wound up giving him her bottle of water because he was thirsty he said. It was funny. He didnt seem poor and he was with his Mom so we dont know why he wanted the water. He liked getting his picture taken. Up and down the side streets of the city center are little shops selling 'street food' and you can get anything from a whole duck to lamb penis to chicken feet, all kinds of weird ass shit. I tried baozi, which is a steamed bun with a filling, like meat or vegetables. It was really really good.

Not having a cell phone that works was really bothering me so we went to China Mobile and got mine hooked up. This, quite obviously, is really important in case Im in a situation and need to get help from Michelle or another English speaker or just want to give a girl my number. People in Guilin dont see as many foreigners as in Beijing so they like to stare a lot, smile and laugh, its charming I think. Everyone wants to be seen with foreigners and wants to interact with them which is sweet, Im like a celebrity.

Friday night was Halloween so we went out with a bunch of the foreigners for a 'parade' and they all dressed up and walked around the city scaring the shit out of Chinese people.. I didnt dress up, but Michelle was kung fu panda, haha. We were definitely the sight of the town and got our picture taken soo many times. We all went bouncing around from club to club until like 4 in the morning. The clubs are pretty sweet and have crazy lighting and decor with loud ass music, from house/trance to rap and rock. I am impressed actually. A lot of the clubs you get a table and order bottles of liquor or cases of beer when you arrive. They bring snacks too, like watermelon, popcorn, chicken feet, and some kind of intestine shit, you know the usual. Of course I tried all this shit and at first it was a little strange chewing on a chickens foot but not as bad as it sounds. They are spicy and cooked like a chicken wing. The intestine shit is another story, yuck! While dancing I knocked a bottle of beer on the ground and it shattered, but before I could even look down at it there was a lady sweeping it up. I apologized and gave her a a five dollar US bill and she was soo excited. I am making a habit of giving people American money and making their day, good thing that was my last US currency. There are a lot of hott ass women in the clubs and most of them arent shy about coming up grabbing and dancing with foreign men, ohhh yea just my type. haha. I spent most of the time dancing with Michelles friend Wendy who is from China. She is pretty hott too :) Chinese men dont really have any rhythm and cant dance very well so its funny watching them and laughing. I look around and see them watching us dance and they try to copy and mimic what we do because they think its cool. haha. I only spent like 20 US dollars all night and drank like a fish, normal Kevin O'Connell shit. I can definitely get used to this.

Today (Saturday) was the Halloween party at the school. We had like 150 kids running around all dressed up in their costumes. Halloween really isnt celebrated in China, but since this is an English school they have a party. All the teachers had a different room and we each did a Halloween activity with a group of kids, who rotated from room to room. I had them make paper airplanes and we played a game where they took turns throwing the airplane through different size holes in a big paper ghost I made. The smaller the hole the more points they got. It was pretty fun and they loved it! Chinese are really competitive so their had to be a winner at the end of every game you play, they take it really serious. So we are playing and one little boy taps this other boy on the shoulder to get him to turn around and as soon as he does the first boy kicks him square in the nuts! Oh my God I felt soo bad for the kid but couldnt help laughing while Michelle was yelling at him. It was hilarious and we dont know why the hell he did it, poor kid.

Its amazing how fast I fit in and made friends with all the foreigners here. Its like we have known each other for years or grew up together. I guess thats how you have to be when your living in a totally different world. Everyone is super cool and just want to have a good time all the time, my kind of people. Some are a bit crazier than me though, which is always good fun because all I need is some encouragement right?

I am constantly reminded when I ask if I can do this or do that, that in China you can just about do anything and not get in trouble or looked down on. Like smoking inside, or taking beers out of one bar into the taxi and into the next bar. You can basically do anything you want or find someone willing to do or sell you whatever you are looking for, from drugs to sex to selling stupid little rocks to getting a 5 dollar full body massage or a full house cleaning for a few dollars. It is really easy to become lazy and just pay people next to nothing to do all your shit. I guess thats why people love this country and wind up staying for longer than planned. One of the first questions people ask me when I meet them is, "how long will you be in China?" My answer is I am planning on"6 months " and their quick response is, "haha, yea, you'll be here more like 3 years!"