preview of coming distractions

I'm just sitting around doing nothing this week. Next week I'll be in Shanghai and the surrounding area. Followed by a week here, and then I think a ttrip to Guilin. Pictures to follow

Things I learned

Chinese massage places have something they do where they put a flame under a glass bal and then stick it on your back. this creates a suction effect. it's supposed to remove negative energy. I'm not sure it does, but it does leave bruises and cause swelling, so people that have it look like they have pepperonis on their backs.

I went with a friend to try this. She never had, not had I. She went first, and spent the entire 15 minutes complaining about it. I spent the entire 15 minutes wondering if my hair would be lit on fire.

Then I learned that body hair stops the balls from sticking.

So, if you have back hair, you don't get pointless bruises from a masseuse.

moving on

My school has agreed to release me from the contract without charging me a penalty. I'll be finishing the term and leaving. So i have a few weeks left. I'll miss some of my students, but nothing else.

My troubles began when I was stabbed. If all goes according to plan, thy will choose a replacement I recommended through others, that being Chris, the intended victim that night. So they replace a guy who was stabbed twice in a bar fight with one stabbed 7 times. Genius!

I'll probably be freelancing here, tutoring and maybe working a few places part time. To those in the statres, that probably sounds like I'm quitting a full time teaching gig to deliver pizzas and cut lawns, but the money will actually be better and I'll probably have fewer headaches. There's astill a chance that I'll instead strike out for a new part of the country, but I'm pretty content here.

pictures of home