The last few days.

Whoo, I don't feel like writing. It's been a extremely busy three or four days, way too much to write in one blog post. So, in an effort to entertain the masses, I will give you a brief gamut of all the highlites of this past weekend:

*I was teaching about lieing today in class when I said "It's very bad to lie, I never lie unless it means I will hurt the person's feeling by telling them the truth. Even then, I don't think it's a good thing to do."
One of my students: "Like when you told us you had four or five girlfriends?"

*Yesterday (and today for that matter) for the first time in the history of the world, Jonathan Harrison ran three miles. I remember the first time I ran a mile. It was one of the coldest days in the year, and the SAC was nearly empty: it was me, an old man, and the guy working desk. I hit the 8/13 mark and I said to myself "Today is the day. Today for the first time in your life that you will run a mile!" And I did. I remember the first time I ran two miles as well. It was a pretty warm day on a track in China. I hit the mile mark and I said to myself "Man, I'm not winded, I could run two miles!" Isn't it funny how things that happen so long ago only seem like yesterday in our minds? In fact, it seems like it was just last week...

*So on Saturday morning Nate and I were invited by a student to go to a "park" with a Chinese business man. Now there are many people whose enthusiasm to become friends with a native speaker drains the very life out of you. This was one of those instances. For beginners (this story will be long, sorry) we were told to meet at the school gate at ten on Saturday morning. At eight-thirty that morning the student calls and says "The time has been changed to nine." Thanks for the advanced warning, and then (you will love this) The same guy calls as 8:55 asking "Where are you?" That's a quick way to lose a new friend. To continue, we drive about two and a half hours (90% of the trip being hairpin mountain curbs) to this mountain park that is UNDER CONSTRUCTION! After climbing 1,336 wet cement steps (I could write an entire blog post on steps) to the top, we are told by the construction workers that the Americans cannot proceed because of the danger. Well, this doesn't stop everyone else, including the other American, but I stop ascending at the point where the steps stop and the ropes begin. I descend in a rather quick manner and waited at the bottom of the mountain for a total of three hours--I played with a puppy, was given a one hour Chinese lesson by a extremely friendly construction worker, and ruminated on the absence of my adventerous spirit. The others came back, we at a restaurant in a small village (which unknownlingy carved itself in history as the subject of my future food blog post), and then drove the rest of the way back through hairpin curbs and rain. I was slightly nauseated. Oh we also chased a pig down the road for about 100 feet. It was one of the highlites of my life.

*I've been on an internet fast for the last few days. This is the reason for the no blog posts and what not. I spend way too much time doing pointless things.

That's pretty much it. Hope everyone is doing well. The food post is coming, trust me. Just give me a few more days.

"I'll see you in the morning if nothing happens."


SOOOOWEEEE! HERE PIG PIG PIG PIG PIG PIG! SOOOOWEEEE! (Man I love typing that). So you thought I meant some California pot-belly oinker? No these swine are huge. I'm sure they rule the Chinese countryside in some Conradian nightmare akin to the Heart of Darkness. They walk around uninhibited, like lions on the Serengeti. Really why was a two hundred pound pig walking down the side of an isolated road? I mean where was it going? Why was it there? Did it escape? Does it have a home? This is not the first time this has happened. I saw two random battleship size pigs walking down the road the last time I left the city. And, on top of all these observations, I'm pretty sure (and my Dad will correct me if I'm wrong) pigs this big are some of the meanest creatures alive. This one wanted to fight with our car until it realized that we were slightly bigger. Well lets just say that that if I ever met one in the wild I'm thankful that I would probably out run it. I'm pretty sure sows this big can't run three miles. Although I think they can climb trees (or is that bears?). Anyway, have a good day.