2001

Men find obelisk,
Embark on galactic quest
To find its birthplace.

Suzhou I

Suzhou is famed for it's canals, much like a dirtier venice. So we rode around in a boat


Suzhou is famous for traditional Chinese music. Apparently, their dialect sounds prettier than most. I don't have the knowledge to evaluate, but these two were good

by comparison

I have yet another insight into myself, based on things I've been compared to. according to Tuly, Karen and Alina in separate conversations, I am dumber than the following.

a rock
the homeless guy playing the harmonica
a monkey
a baby monkey
"a very stupid man who is also drunk"
an apple
an orange
a carrot
not a banana (apparently the dumbest fruit)
most other foreigners
curling (the sport)
a weight (at the gym)
a chicken
a rabbit
eels
a fish (we were near a place where you pick the animal you want to eat, and most of the animals seemed smarter than me)
a tree
two dogs having sex

in other news, people suck

Love in the Time of Cholera

waiting for love hurts
fifty years is far too long
but might be worth it

by Andy

Love in the Time of Cholera

waiting for love hurts
fifty years is far too long
but might be worth it

From Andy

WuXi II

Karen inside the temple. Because no batch of photos is complete without her smiling face
a few stories of Buddha there




behold the glory of the multi-colored temple ceiling!

Moby Dick

years ago, a group of us were trying to rewrite classic books as haiku. The idea was abandoned when we discovered that a book of such already existed. I've decided to repost some of them here.

Moby Dick
Call me Ishmael
Ahab hunts the white whale
Vengence is not good

by Adam, i think

can't read it

this has become an unhealthy obsession

slave to the wage

all good things come to an end, and my holiday is no exception. I'll be working on Monday it seems. I'll just be doing a small amount of tutoring next week, with classes beginning at a few places the following week.

it just struck me that i might be tutoring Monday to Saturday, and i bartend Sunday nights, so i somehow have a seven day work week. I expect that will change rather quickly.

I might be switching my bartending day to Monday. So if you're a Zhongshan resident, consider joining me for discount wine Mondays instead of half price appetizer Sundays. Please come save me from the same introductory conversation with Chinese strangers I have every week. if you won't do it for me, do it to save betty and Judy from the hassles of trying to have a conversation with me for a few hours.

Wuxi

Wuxi is a place I'd never heard of. Of course, that describes most of China. It's a big place. It's famous for great views of lakes, which we skipped, as it was near freezing, and a temple, which wasn't skipped. One of the biggest temples i've been to. very nice

inside the pillar was a baby Buddha, which is born every day and washed by dragons.

the temple from the outside.


Karen described the serene temple and the beautiful surroundings as "one of the most boring things I ever saw. Easily one of the most boring."

For whatever reason, I can't upload any more photos right now. I'll see if the site cooperates tomorrow or Monday

Karen

A natural question might be "Why is that girl in so many pictures?" Easy, because most of the pictures have her in them. She has some sort of sixth sense that tells her when I'm considering taking a picture of something, and it causes her to leap in front of it and strike a pose. No way around it. I either had to ditch her or take endless photos of her.

She makes up for it by being fun to travel with and translating for me, so i can be lazy and not speak Chinese as much.

Still, if anyone wants to photoshop her out of some photos and send them to me, I won't object

Yangzhou

Yangzhou is one of the canal cities, famous for sceneries. It was a pleasant trip, but not a place you definitely need to see before you die. Come back after and feast upon their brains.

not fast

between a slow internet connection and having to go through proxies to access blogger, it's taking a while to upload photos. I'll continue to do so, but it may be a few weeks before i'm done.

Just got back today from Hunan. Was a good trip. Look for photos in March.

Work looks fine beginning around March 1. Still ironing out details. I'll be working at several schools part time, giving greater flexibility and more money. Sounds good.

Nanjing II

Nanjing Food

we found smelly tofu

Nanjing

Like every relaxing vacation, our trip began at about 3am. We took a bus to the guangzhou airport and sat around waiting for an early flight.

Karen hasn't travelled a lot, and was delighted to be in a plane. I'm a bit more jaded
Nanjing is a former capital with a long history, but is most famous for being the site of massacres under the Japanese during WWII. There is a large park as a memorial.


We were feeding birds. My slow, uncoordinated partner in photography missed the birds actually landing on me.