We Are A Go....

OK, so I've succeeded, for the most part, in my little project. In order to avoid having people filter through a bunch of stuff they're not interested in just to read what they want, I have broken this up into three different sites. If you are here just to read about my life in China, then I suggest you go to AndrewSellsOutinChina. You'll find it stays pretty on-target there. For those of you who

Just So You Know

We're headed to Hong Kong for the weekend. Like Dave says, it has nothing to do with getting a visa, because that would imply something that simply should not be implied. It should be a nice trip, hopefully-- taking the train there tonight, staying Monday, and taking a plane back Tuesday morning. I'll let you know how it goes at some point in the future, probably weeks from now the way things

Captain Kirk and the Quest for the Holy Grail

I've never seen an episode of Star Trek but the clips in here make me think it might be worth watching. Either way, this is pretty good.

Here's the Deal

As you have obviously seen, if you read this blog with any regularity, I have been messing around with the template a lot lately. Right now it looks pretty crappy. But I am in the middle of making it look nice. Basically, what I am doing is separating my content into three different pages. If you want all of it, you will be able to get it all here. If you only want news, click the news link at

The Tourist Will Illuminate My Intention

Right now the computer we are using puts a lot of web pages into Chinese characters. For the most part you can tell what you're supposed to do, especially with websites your familiar with, but every once in a while you need a translation. This reminded me of a really stupid game that was popular about five years ago, which involved translating a block of text into a foreign language, then

Language Barriers

One thing I can say about Wuhan: it's not the sort of place that immediately charms you. Not the scenery, not the people-- no, not even the food, which is the city's biggest selling point. Wuhan is known as "real China," and if that's the case I can't say I really understand the people who have come here to teach for a few months and now, years later, are getting married, settling down, and

So Maybe I Was Wrong

My last post can be completely disregarded. Contrary to what I thought (ie that a bunch of 13 and 14 year olds would really hate their stupid English teacher), it turns out these kids love foreigners (I assume they love foreigners and not just me). All I have to do to get them to pay attention is walk to the front of the room, then they sit up straight and shut up. And when I say they love me/

I Hate Me

So, since I never leave things to the last minute I am currently preparing a lesson plan for my first middle school class. Actually, I am preparing a lesson plan for my first EIGHT middle school classes, since I have four today and four tomorrow, and they are all doing the exact same thing. That means eight identical one-hour sessions over two days, with fourteen-year-olds, aka the worst age on

When All You Know About A Person Is His Moldy Underwear, It's Hard to Make A Good First Impression

We've almost got the apartment clean-- just the bathrooms and kitchen need to be done. The entire saga will be documented more fully later, but needless to say it has been a grueling and disgusting task, involving piles of dirt, moldy underwear, and unusable closets. During this time, we've developed a strong sense of dislike for the person who left the place such a mess. After all, we had to

The New Fish

So last night we went out to a little get-to-know-you thing with some of the other teachers here. There's Susan, the Australian woman who came here via Nepal, Brad and Jean, a couple from Alabama and the Philippines respectively, and Dan, yet another teacher from the Philippines. There are actually more teachers here from the Philippines than anywhere else-- so far I've met two, and two more who

Candied Corn

So we ate the chocolate popcorn, and it was actually pretty good, although it looked disgusting.



One of my students also gave me some candy, and it had a corn candy in it. When I say corn candy I mean it was candy shaped like a cob of corn, and-- it actually tasted just like corn on the cob. Steamed. We had tried corn on the cob here, and it was quite gross (tasted old), but apparently the

The Transformation Has Begun....

This morning I held an umbrella under one arm, a plastic glass of soy bean milk under the other, and walked across a street busier than the intersection by Overwaitea at rush hour, pausing between cars, without batting an eyelid. Oh, and did I mention I was using chopsticks to eat a breakfast of spiced noodles at the same time?

I kick ass.

Strange food update

We've found where the jerky is kept, and I look forward to getting the squid jerky (Mitch directed me to this stuff way back in grade eleven, and since then I've extolled the virtues of squid jerky without actually ever having it again, so I hope it's as good as I remember. But in the meantime, here's some more strange food we've come across.....


Potato chips... how about potato cookies?


I

Chinese news is much better

Sure you might not get the full story on everything or hugely diverging opinions. But you also get stuff like this

It's a good thing they never lie

North Korea has said that they're going to abandon their nuclear program. It's the dying wish of Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Il's father. Which you'd think would be pretty cool, except for Kim Il Sung DIED IN 1994. Which means that since then North Korea has started a nuclear program two to three times depending on who you ask, getting further every time until joint sanctions from the United States,

If cell phones cause brain cancer, then no one needs to worry about the Avian flu

Some of you may be familiar with the book "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," which is, in my opinion, probably the most insightful book on the nature of society that has ever been written. There is one section that talks about the "Shoe Event Horizon," which is an economic theory that essentially states that when people are depressed they look down, see their shoes, and to cheer themselves up

Chinese New Year Never Ends

So, I kind of assumed that by March people would be a little tired of Chinese New Year and maybe the fireworks would stop. After all, last night was the 28th and they went CRAZY-- it looked like a war was going on outside our apartment. But here it is, March first, and they're still going at it, albeit not as strongly. It turns out that fireworks have been banned here for the last seven years. So

Chinese Delights

Food in China: Not Chinese Food

For quite a long time I've been told about how the Chinese food you get in Canada is nothing like the Chinese food you get in China. This is only partly true, because so far the Chinese food I've gotten here is the same as in Canada in that it is primarily noodles and rice, and it is greasy. That being said, it's pretty good.

The first few meals we had here were

I Wear Newspaper!

Despite the fact that two days ago we were told we wouldn't be teaching for a while, Shalina and I both had our first class today. Shalina, unfortunately, has been stuck with a class that has had a ton of teachers before her and are way behind-- they don't even know "sit" and "stand." It's a good thing that I don't have Shalina's kids because I would not be able to help them one bit. It was all I

Fireworks exploding in the distance

The second-to-last day of the Chinese New Year's celebrations, year of the pig. We kept hearing gunfire all day, then at night we realized it was fireworks going off-- all over the city. This was literally in our front yard, I was sort of worried one might come through our window. ALl day today you could hear them going to, but couldn't see them for the smog.

Fireworks exploding in the distance

No Trumpets Allowed

Day One

This will probably be the longest post, due to the descriptive nature of it. If descriptions bore you, skip through here to the interesting bits.

Good morning or good afternoon to you, depending on where you are and when as you read this. For me, it is 6:30 on a grey day in Wuhan, with some sort of Chinese sparrows flitting about outside my window. It is slowly setting in on me that

Broke Into the New Apartment

This is the good bathroom

As I write this it is 12:30 pm Pacific Standard Time and 4:30 pm Beijing Standard Time (it doesn't matter that I'm not in Beijing because the Chinese Communist Party, being the efficient folks that they are, decided to do away with time zones altogether and have everyone share one clock. I'm sure this is all well and good here in the west, but I can't imagine what it

Made in Taiwan

Location: Mitch Wong's apartment,Prince George, British Columbia
Time:0200 hours, Sunday February 18

Mitch: Well, you don't count 'cause you're F***ing going to China
Andrew: What?
Mitch: F*** China?
Andrew: So you're f***ing China? Why? Where will Happy Meal toys come from?
Mitch: Taiwan.

The Countdown Begins

So, in exactly one week and one day I will be on an (accursed) Air Canada plane, carry-on bag in hand, love of my life beside me no doubt telling me to stop freaking out, headed towards the city of Wuhan, China. It is seven million strong, and goes by the nickname furnace of China. That means it's hot. My sister is in Kenya now, and I will be somewhere with higher temperatures. I don't do heat

24 hours in Vancouver- Part One: Operation Exhaustion

My basic plan for taking the bus to Vancouver was to tire myself out as much as possible so I was overjoyed to sit on a bus for 18 hours over two days. Fortunately, the day preceding my Epic Trip I was at the Hills Health Ranch near 100 Mile House (Mile 108, actually), a facility designed to make you destroy your body.

On a sidenote, what exactly is 100 Mile House 100 miles from? What is so