Well, I just finished watching the F1 French Grand prix and boy do I miss English commentary…

 

It’s one thing to be able to watch the race Live on TV, but it’s another thing to have to listen to Chinese commentary that you don’t understand! But hey, its certainly better than nothing. That said, this weekend was quite an entertaining weekend.

 

On Friday, we had extremely heavy rain and high winds. It was slightly disconcerting because when the storm started, a lot of us were in the temporary offices (outdoor portables) attending a training session held by Inergy University. It was about the blow moulding process, which I must say was quite interesting. I was actually learning things in a ‘classroom’ that I can actually apply!

 

But anyways, while we were learning, the dark clouds were clearly visible from the window and when the wind started to pick up, it started to blow off sheets of metal used as the roof for a shed. If you can imagine…it made quite a racket. Compound that with the ever increasing rain that was pelting the window. Luckily, the big factory was nearby and the training was cut slightly short to allow us to take to a more secure location. Once we got in, the heaven’s opened and the rain came down like crazy! Really heavy winds as well…

 

The rain was so hard that the factory actually started leaking. And of course, Murphy’s law states that if anything can happen, it will happen. And guess what the leak was leaking on. One of the machines! So yes, some quick thinking was needed and all was well. I guess you can’t say much about Chinese workmanship…

 

On Saturday, our boss organized a tour of Wuhan with multiple places to visit. First off was the East Lake. But of course, with any tourist attraction there’s more than just the lake. Lucky for us, this time of year was especially good for the blooming of the lotus flowers. We visited multiple gardens that had many types of lotus flowers. Red, white, orange, yellow, you name it, we saw it. When you’re with a group of people, one of the highlights is always the pictures you take with everyone. There was an abundance of photo opportunities and many of them were taken!

 

What was really the most interesting part was the group arrival at a playground. The moment they saw the playground, they wasted no time in having a little bit of fun. But actually, the playgrounds in China are quite different. Many of the things there are made for excersize, but even some of them…I have no idea what they really exercise. One of them in particular is a steering wheel. Yes, a steering wheel that just freely moves in circles. Yes, it could be a kiddie toy, but it could also be a way to help strengthen your driving muscles! Nevertheless, I never found the use. The first item that caught their attention was the monkey bars (or here, monkey hoops). To my surprise, one of the older guys was actually quite fast! And thus, it turned into a speed competition. Luckily for me, my fitness level hadn’t deteriorated that much, so I was able to show them who was boss J

 

After the exercise at the playground, we were all ready to do some more walking (and climbing). We looked up and saw a very nice tower that was looming in the hills. One of my colleagues commented that he hoped that was not our goal to reach it because it really was quite high! I personally didn’t think that was where the road was leading us, but on we went and…

 

The roads kept getting steeper. Since many of us are engineers, we thought that it would be much better if we took as quick a path as possible. As we were walking. We noticed a small dirt path that led up. According to our senses, this path certainly would cut our walking time by a good half hour or so. However, not all of us were willing to go up just in case it didn’t lead to anything. Since I was the youngest I volunteered myself to scout the path. I scrambled up (took me about two mintues) and found a road! I reported my finding to my colleagues and the whole group clambered up the slope.

 

Thankfully, we really did find our destination…the really high tower I mentioned ealier that I didn’t think we were going to! After some very nice relaxation at the top where there was a nice breeze and an extremely nice view, we came down from the tower to meet our driver who had courteously driven up to meet us.

 

Lunch was next on the list and it was more food on one table than I have seen in quite a while! One of the more interesting dished was snake. Yes, snake. I’m not sure what snake, but I just know that we also ate the skin like a noodle salad! It was quite funny because we atarted talking about the things that people in China eat. Dogs, insects, you name it. Anything with four legs they eat, just not the table.

 

After lunch, we headed to the temple of 500 Buddha’s. Before I went it, I was expecting the place to be a large palace with little Buddha’s and large Buddha’s hiding in corners of the place. Upon entering, I made it a point to count the Buddha’s and make sure that they weren’t bluffing! The first experience was the lack of photo’s that we were allowed to take. Me, being a camera guy, wanted to take photos (and didn’t notice the ‘no photo’ sign). Before I could though, an old Chinese lady promptly stopped me. Of course, since my Chinese is not so good, I had to ask her a few times what she said, but the message got across. Then, she started to ask me questions and started pointing at my backpack. I then just said, in Chinese, that I was Canadian. She paused for a moment, then started talking again, and pointed to the door. Then…she tried to pull me over to the door! I was like…uh…no thanks. And promptly joined my group again.

 

So did I manage to count the number of Buddha’s? Lets just say, I take their word for it. In one room is a collection of 500 Buddha’s that all have different facial expressions and actions. When I first entered the room, I first wanted to count the number of Buddha’s, but when I turned a corner…I just gave up. There were about 5 hallways filled with Buddha’s lining each side!

 

We then visited the Yellow Crane Tower and finally stopped for dinner at the Brussels Café, an authentic European restaurant owned by a European. On the menu…was rabbit. I actually didn’t try it, but one of my colleagues did, and he let me try it. Guess what? It tastes like Chicken! Literally! lol. It was funny because one of my Japanese colleagues was adamant that she never wanted to eat such a cute animal. Lucky for her, we offered her a bite of “Belgium meat that tastes like chicken.” On her first bite she actually liked it a lot! But, upon hearing it was rabbit, she gave a really funny look. But the funny part is that after she got over the fact that it was rabbit, she just ate it and commented on the taste.

 

Ah yes…another fun weekend to remember and boy do I write too much! I hope I don’t run out of space on my blog!

Well, Tuesday is almost over...and I don't think that time has flown by so fast in my entire life!!

Sure, it still seems like yesterday that I was in Highschool and my first year of university didn't really seem to happen. However, I fail to remember a time when I woke up in the morning, went somewhere, then arrived back home at 7:00 almost like nothing ever happened. Its Sure a wierd feeling...

Especially when you're in another country having the time of your life! My work term in Wuhan is nearing thehalfway point and I've started to reflect on what I've really been doing all these weeks.

One thing for certain is being able to meet many people in a very short span of time. Not just making new friends, but making contacts in the real working world. That's got to be exciting for anyone! Having a greater oppurtunity for your job in the future and possibly being able to work all around the world.

Secondly is my computer skills. I've been working on the plant layout for our company almost since the first day that I started here. My 3D computer skills have certainly taken a turn for the better. I can now make a whole bunch of pretty shapes and I can model just about every machine on the shop floor. I'm certainly not saying that I've mastered 3D, but I'm steadily getting there. I've also done a bunch of odd jobs like setting up computers, transporting computers,and even telling a bunch of chinese guys where to place giant crates of equipment...without speaking a word of english, which brings me neatly onto my next topic.

My language skills. I've certainly increased my chinese vocabulary since I arrived. I now don't need to always point and make funny hand signals when I want something. I can now tell the taxi driver how to take me back to my apartment and even have a short conversation with the driver about why I don't speak very good chinese. I've
actually gotten pretty good at that because I'm almost constantly asked I can now order simple dishes at the restaurant, although thats partly helped by very friendly restaurant staff. Right now, my food selection at the restaurant is only limited by my vocabulary. I know there is a lot more food out there, but I just need to learn
how to say them! But being in China, and being a chinese person, I always get wierd looks when I can't speak chinese. Luckily, I've been able to get around pretty well nowadays without as many stares...

Getting around a country where you don't really know the language? Lucky for me, the bus system in China is really quite simple. Buses have numbers and every bus stop has numbers corresponding to the buses that stop there. Not to mention that they're really cheap so just in case I miss a stop, its not hard to get a ride back! My usual bus method is to get to one of the city centers and take a bus from there to wherever I want to go. Once I get to the center, I can usually find my way around. For the moment, I mainly know where to get off by recognizing my surroundings.

Finally, I've learned how to live on my own in a different country! That's certainly got to be exciting and I'm enjoying every minute of it!

 

Well, its been one crazy week! For a simple summary, I flew to Shenzhen from Wuhan on an extremely crowded airplane with Buddha’s strapped to some people’s chests. After arriving in Shenzen, I met up with my dad and proceeded to take a bus to Hong Kong which turned out to be three buses. We then checked into the hotel and walked in and out no more than four different times in a few minutes. The next day we traveled to the peak which allowed us to see the whole of Hong Kong in one lens. After Hong Kong, we went to Dong Guan on a rickety bus only for me to catch some sort of virus and have to lie in bed inside an extremely nice hotel for most of the day, or more like three days. Finally, I had to catch a flight back to Wuhan which initially reported it would be delayed until 12:00 midnight (it was 10:30 AM), but I finally got on the flight and made it back home. So…on with the journey!

 

The plan was for me to depart Wuhan and meet my Dad in Shenzhen for a short trip to Hong Kong. Seeing how it was my first time flying out from a Chinese airport on my own, it took slightly more thinking on my part. I won’t bore you with the details, but I managed to jump on my flight after a bit of line shuffling. Now I must say, the flight was not extremely crowded with people’s bags (and other body parts) sticking into my face while they squeezed through the aisles.

 

Yes, I’ve been in crowded subways before, but this really beats those times because everyone seems to be rushing to get into their seat before others…and there’s no reason behind it! So after all rushing and shuffling, three guys with Buddha’s strapped to their chest walk on the plane. Now, these aren’t little Buddha’s that hang on your neck, but they were the height of your chest and stuff out about 20cm. I say strapped because that’s the way they were. Two large straps attached the Buddha’s to them. The other interesting thing about these people was their attire. They were dressed like usual business people…not your typical Chinese monk.

 

Not all flights were quite as interesting so I thought this could use some more detail J. Oh yea, I have to mention as well that this plane had leather seats! 

 

My plan was to arrive in the airport, turn on my cell phone and wait for my dad to call me and find a place to meet. Upon turning on the phone, there was no signal! Luckily, my dad sent me his flight info and also luckily, his plane arrived after mine, so I made it a point to wait at the arrival hall to catch him before he got too far. I was hoping it was at the same terminal as the one I arrived at, but no. It was at the other one! Again, luck was on my side and it was just a short walk away.

 

All went well. I met up with my dad and we proceeded to book a Coach bus to Hong Kong. Before the first bus, I was actually expecting some old Chinese bus with A/C that didn’t work and seats that look worn beyond they’re normal lifespan. Okay, maybe a little exaggeration, but my experience of Chinese buses hasn’t always been that great!

 

But as we stepped on the bus, the trip looked like it was going to be a very pleasant one. The A/C was ice cold, the seats were very clean (with lots of legroom) they supplied us with cool water bottles and it wasn’t crowded at all. Not only that, but the driver wasn’t a racer wannabe and the bus actually felt like it had a suspension! But as I was settling in, we had to make our first stop; customs for exiting China. At first I thought, okay. We’ll get off here then get back on the other side. But in China, they have a different way to things.

 

We first had to go through customs to exit china. Once we got there, the language changed almost immediately from Mandarin to Cantonese. The people also seemed to change. I can’t pinpoint it, but there was certainly something different. Anyways, after this station, we rushed to jump onto our bus, which morphed into a bright yellow and crowed bus with semi-dirty seats. It had decent legroom and it still seemed to have a suspension, although I thought the driver was a bit scarier. I was just beginning to accept the fact that this bus was alright when…

 

The next stop arrived. This was customs to enter Hong Kong. Everything up to this point was extremely rushed with lots of Chinese people jumping out of buses everywhere with other Chinese people yelling out directions and where to go. After we cleared customs, it was a mad dash to get to our bus and we finally made it to another yellow bus. As I put my bag in the baggage compartment underneath, I knew it wasn’t the same. This one had a blown tire sitting underneath…not good. When we stepped on, things didn’t get any better.

 

There was only one aisle with two empty seats so my dad and I grabbed them. It was obvious why they weren’t taken. It actually seemed like these seats had less legroom than the others. Plus, the view was blocked by the curtains and the window pillar and through the ride, there was a warn draft of air blowing in. It didn’t help that the A/C became warm by the time it reached me. This was one bus that I wished stopped again, but no. This was the bus that we arrived in Hong Kong in.

 

After our third bus ride in one span of highway, we got off and proceeded to out hotel via the subway. According to the hotel website it was a 5 minute was from the railway station that we would be getting off. But upon getting off, we asked the police officers where it was and he recommended a taxi because it would have been tough for travelers to navigate. Somehow, after many odd turns, the taxi made it. Certainly didn’t seem like a nice 5 minute walk!

 

Well, its getting late and I have to work tomorrow. I shall continue this some other day!

I love CCTV-5! Well, not really love, but it’s the only channel that I can watch F1, and there’s really nothing else that I would want to watch (except maybe 24 or Heroes). Anyways, it was a very nice end to another very nice weekend. I was feeling much better from a few days before so I decided to take a trip to the Hankou area in Wuhan. Thankfully, my friend wasn’t busy so she was able to take me around and allow me not to get lost J First was the bus that we got on.

 

To get there, I needed to take 755 and then transfer to bus 703. I’m sad to say that this bus story isn’t quite that interesting, but it was one bus that we had to stand on for a projected 1 hour. At first, it didn’t sound that great (of course) but I’ve stood longer, and on worse buses. So yea, there was one girl that I noticed sitting in the back. I knew that she was going across the river to the dance clubs because of the way she dressed; spikey hair, pink shades and dark clothes. Sure enough, she got off at the proper location.

 

Okay, so that bus story wasn’t that interesting but…well, maybe the rest of my day will sound a bit better.

 

We decided to go to the biggest shopping street in Wuhan. Its lined with shops on both sides for as far as the eye can see and no cars are allowed to drive on that street. It’s like a giant outdoor shopping mall. The best thing though is that a lot of the prices are cheap…and I mean no bargaining required. I was mainly window shopping until I got to one clothing store.

 

They were calling out the sale that was on their entire store. Buy 1 get 1 free! And this isn’t Canada where the thing you have to buy is about double the price of normal stuff. These are purely cheap Chinese prices. So naturally, I had to buy something, or rather, a few things. I spent prolly 1.5 hours in there looking for the ‘right’ stuff. In the end, I started my collection of FOB clothes and I nearly bought the same shirt Jay Chou wore, but it just didn’t look right. Now on to the ride back home.

 

Instead of taking a bus back home, we took the river bus (or as we normally call it, a ferry) across the Yangtze river. When I first took it, I was very surprised that it only cost me 1 yuan and I’m still humoured by that thought. It was quite full, but we were able to get a railing spot. The first interesting thing was when a guy rode his scooter right onto the ferry! I was like, ‘isn’t this just for people?’ Then again, this is China and Bus drivers smoke inside the bus in plain view of no smoking signs. Anyways…

 

It was a nice ride and we got to see the sun set quite beautifully behind a few buildings and mountains. My friend started telling me a few things about the Yangtze and that people like to swim across the river as a hobby. I looked down at the water (which was brown, murky, frothy and just plain gross) and thought, whatever makes them happy. Then, almost as if on cue a guy in swimming trunks walks in behind us and starts climbing over the railing and onto the roof of the ferry! The amazing thing is that he climbed up almost right beside us! My first thought was that my friend wasn’t joking and this guy was quite serious. Being naturally intrigued by this swimming Chinese man (as was every other person on the ferry) I walked to the other side of the boat to figure out where he would be and he jumped off from the roof just a few meters away. If there was ever a Kodak moment, that was certainly it…and I missed it!

 

So our journey was relatively uneventful after that. Before I got home, we saw two more bobbing heads in the Yangtze river (I don’t understand how their skin doesn’t get diseased after swimming in that water) got turned away by two bus drivers and got more quirky looks from Chinese people after hearing my English. It’s all in another weekend in Wuhan J

WOOHOO!!! I now not only have internet access at work that I can hook up with my laptop, but I now have internet that allows me to use MSN, and best of all, not block me from Facebook!! YAY!!

 -I thought this particular event was more than worth talking about!

And guess what the best part about having internet here is?!! I can now use Azureus!! Yay!! Downloading crazy!!

Wowee, are my weekends ever going to stop being interesting? As far as I can see, not as long as I’m in Wuhan! Well, I think I’m gonna start off on my walk back from work on Friday.

 

You must be thinking, how interesting can a walk be? Well for starters, I did a little overtime ‘work’ (to enjoy my direct internet connection to the world outside Wuhan). Anyways, the moment I stepped outside, I knew something was coming.

 

The skies were yellow, the trees were swaying quite a lot and I had to keep my eyes almost completely closed to prevent all the dust from getting in. I was going to stop for a snack on the way back but though against it because I didn’t think that eating ice cream would be very easy in high winds. Thinking back…that was quite a good idea!

 

I continued on my walk, not entirely worried about the weather, but was quite weary of the approaching storm. About halfway through my walk, I felt one individual drop of rain on my arm. This little drop of rain was a warning of things to come! Once the drop hit my arm I knew I didn’t have much time before the storm hits, and from past experiences in Wuhan, when it rains, it feels like everyone in China has started to take a shower…if you can imagine that @_@

 

But you get what I mean. Anyways, I started jogging towards my apartment, consistently keeping an eye out for the approaching storm. No more than two minutes after that first drop of rain I felt, the big one had begun. Naturally, I picked up my speed and tried to get to my apartment. I knew that once I got closer to my apartment, I could use the trees to take some cover from the rain. That was what I thought! But…

 

When I reached the tree coverage, not only had every Chinese person begun to shower, but they all decided to sneeze too! About 200 meters out from my apartment, things actually started to become worse. Trees were swaying like mad, signs were being blown down and it was tough to even look up without water being drilled into my eyes!

 

I knew I couldn’t make it before the worst hit (and instincts told me to wait), so I took refuge under a store porch. The store owners didn’t seem to notice me much ( I was entirely soaked by then)  so I just watched in amazement as the worst of the storm hit.

 

It was just like one of those shaky homemade videos you would find on Youtube of tornadoes! Rain was hitting the ground like bullets and things were coming down as I watched. Workers were scrambling to put away pylons and signs, huge banners got ripped off their posts, and a very large steel structure (about 30m long, 15m wide, and 6m high) used as a shade came down with a large crash. I actually didn’t notice it go down until I had to walk through it.

 

There was also a very large stoplight that fell down and countless branches that flew off. One of the most interesting things was the store sign that was directly in front of me. About 2 minutes after I arrived at the porch, one hanger broke off, leaving the sign limping off one hanger, and swaying quite wildly in the wind. After about 5 minutes, the remaining hangar broke off and the sign came down with a crash! The sign was not too large, so I probably made it sound more dramatic than it really was. But nonetheless, it was one interesting walk home, not to mention the fact that I made a dash to my usual restaurant after the rain had let up a bit because I started to get hungry! Of course, I got a few funny looks when I stepped in looking like a wet dog, but I’m rather used to those funny looks by now.

 

My dinner and my shower that night were two of the best things I had all week! Lol.

 

So moving on to today, Zhang Min invited me to watch Transformers which was quite an appropriate time because I was very close to finishing downloading it, and when the time came for me to leave the office, I was contemplating whether I wanted to go see some movie in the theaters; either Transformers of Harry Potter. Harry Potter was put out of the question because it finished downloading J

 

From past experiences of movies in Asian countries and from friends, I was expecting the movie to be played in English with Chinese subtitles. You can imagine my surprise (and disgust) when the movie started playing with a modified Transformer sounding Chinese guy. Ah jeez, it was going to be one interesting experience. Though, thanks to the REALLY SWEET ACTION SCENES!!, my deduction skills from past Transformers Knowledge, my limited Chinese vocabulary, and the important translations from Zhang Min, I was able to make out the story enough for the language to not hinder it too much. Nonetheless, I am sure that this will be one movie I want to see again, and in English!

 

Before I move on, I must ask you all a question. Have you ever had KFC for breakfast? It sounds just as crazy as having a 10 ounce steak for breakfast but hey, there’s always a first.

 

So the rest of my afternoon was spent shopping with Zhang Min’s sister (who I thought was 16 or 17, only to find out she’s older than me!) and communicating with my limited Chinese and her Limited English. After trying on a pair of Puma’s that I’ve been eyeing for a few months, we just walked around to various Shopping Malls in the Hankou area and I even picked up a toy that I’ve been thinking about for a long time. Upon closer inspection though, I can say its certainly a fake L

 

But the thing that wasn’t fake was the amount of time we all spent eating at dinner.

Zhang Min, her sister and I, all met up again for dinner in what would end up to be a nearly three hour feast! It was called the Brazilian BBQ and I was first struck by the clothing of the head waitress that looked more ‘Pirates of the Carribean’ than Brazilian. The cool thing about this restaurant is that the all you can eat Buffet style is implemented two ways.

 

The first way involves employees walking around the restaurant with various meats on a stick in one hand and a very large knife in the other. As they get to your table, they ask if you want any and if you do, they slice of a piece and place it on your plate. Not only was it a very cool touch, but I thought that the meat tasted very good. Certainly no sense of Chinese style within the meat. Now, on to the second way.

 

The second way is just like north America but the biggest difference is how the people grab the food. You see, we’re all used to loading up plates for ourselves, going back to the table, eating, and going back for more. But this is china, and one person grabs food, you better be quick enough to grab it before its gone! For example; there was one particularly tasty clam /noodle dish. The first time was simple enough.

 

 I just went over, noticed that there was a crowd of people around one dish, stuck some tongs in and grabbed three pieces. After finding it tasted very good, I wanted to go back for more…only to find the pan empty.

 

Over the course of the dinner, I noticed why. When people take food, they don’t just grab a few pieces for themselves, they grab as many pieces as the can fit on the plate!! Really, their technique is to grab many dishes (all full mind you) of food and bring it back to the table before they actually start eating. One little kid had a large plate full of watermelon, and to my anguish, more than one had full plates of the clam/noodle stuff. Every time I spotted someone with that dish I would dash to the food area only to find the pan…empty!

 

Not only that, but it’s a dog eat dog world in there! Everyone jostles for position to get their food and they certainly don’t mind if they use one set of tongs for all the dishes they grab. Ah…dishes.

 

Now that I mention it, the waitresses at this place were particularly picky about what size dishes we use to put food on. We initially used the little plates to put food on (because that’s what was on our table) until a waiter came to our table, told us to use the big plates for food, then began transferring our food from the little plates to the big plates while losing a few pieces of food to the floor in the process!

 

I was rather surprised at the action (wouldn’t you be if the waiter started transferring food from one plate to another?), but understood why; they constantly cleared the little plates which were supposed to be used for bones and leftovers. I must not it interesting that instead of giving you clean plates to use, they usually just dump the old food off and give you back the plate. I guess its good for the environment but not that great if you’re eating your fruits right after you had some spicy saucy stuff…

 

In the end, we were able to get our favourite clam/noodle dish after a long wait by the food section (thanks to Zhang Lin!) and ended up staying at the restaurant for nearly three hours! Ah yes, the great thing about all you can eat buffets, you eat one meal, wait for a bit, then go back again! Now its time to sleep and let that food digest

I’ve spent yet another 20 yuan at the arcades! Converted to Canadian dollars, that’s about 3 bucks. It doesn’t sound like much but I assure you, the amount of tokens that that bought me allowed me to go for a good two hour gaming session!!  SO what in the world did I do in those two hours? 

As always, first up was Battle Gear 3, my favourite arcade game by far! If you’ve read my other blog entries you’ll know that this driving game has an extremely realistic force feedback steering wheel and also a sweet handbrake. The Physics in the game lean towards a car that prefers to drift around corners so if you know me, that equals lots of fun!

 However, since going there on three separate occasions, there was one thing that I wasn’t able to do; win. Yes, I’ve gotten second many times but the hardest thing about this game is being able to keep your composure and not hit too many walls. That was the key to winning.

 There is one car that I became quite fond of (the Honda NSX-R) and also one track. I decided to learn the track really well and try to win at it. Well, almost every time before, I would always hit at least one corner the wrong way on my last lap, ruining what would’ve been a perferctly good race. But…

 Yesterday I was able to conquer my mistakes and take first place!! It felt just like I had earned a gold trophy in Gran Turismo 4. Anyways, as I finished playing this game, I decided to watch some Chinese guy take their hand at the most popular driving game; Initial D.

 Watching them actually made me slightly irritated and made me loathe watching these guys (If you’re not a car person, you can fee free to skip this section). In Battle Gear 3 you have to be precise in your driving, control your throttle mid-corner in the drifts, know when to use or not use the hand brake and most of all, be consistent and not hit walls. It requires a sort of skill...actually. Being smooth, and not too quick with your movements rewards with speed. Hitting the brake too hard will lock the tires and downshifting at the wrong time (I always use manual) will cause your RPM’s to swing sky high and impede your corner exit when it hits the limiter at the wrong time. One mess up in a corner and all the cars will pass you. However, that other game requires no skill at all; Initial D.

 Yes, I love the Anime and yes, I love the fact that you can drive all the cars and on all the tracks from the anime, but the game does it no justice. What this game really proves is who has the better reaction time. Let me paint a picture for you…

 In the driver’s seat in front of me was Chinese Kid #1. He had typically Chinese hair, with a typically Chinese style of glasses. When he drove, he always had a snide smile with his chin held slightly higher than normal; if it was to keep his glasses from falling down I don’t know but it added to his looks. I mainly noticed this guy because he had a certain air around him. He would always win (because he had a superior car) and after every race he would he would just glance over to the other guy and give him a ‘you know I beat you’ look with a little tilt of the head. Right after, he would dip into his little pouch for more tokens. And race again. The biggest thing I hated though was how he acted when he drove.

 In one hand was the steering wheel, and in the other hand was…a cigarette. Yes, you see people driving cars with cigarettes but how often do you see kids in arcade centers with a cigarette?! He always made it look so easy to win because he would just move the steering wheel with one hand, and take a smoke every so often. It annoyed me because the game requires absolutely no skill and this kid thought he was so good. Well let me tell you that he wasn’t and if you want to have skill, then you better be able to win consistently in Battle Gear 3.

 In Initial D the game, you can go into a corner full speed, slam the brakes, smack the downshift knob once of twice, jerk the steering wheel in the direction you want to go, then hit accelerator and you’re on to the next corner. It doesn’t matter if you hit the wall at 4 degrees, or 45 degrees, your car barely loses speed. If you ask me, I think the brakes are really just for show and if you really wanted, you can just turn and use the wall as brakes. There’s also no sense of realism in the game. The steering wheel wasn’t even force Feedback! If only the game was as skill defining as the anime…

 *after a big sigh* Anyways…

 That night, I also went for a swim in the apartment club house. It’s actually a rather nice outdoor complex although there are a few things that I must point out.

 In order to even go for a swim, they require you to have your blood pressure checked and asked questions. @_@. I guess its good, that way we don’t catch any diseases…

 To use the pool you have to have a swimming cap. Slightly odd at first but when you think about the overall cleanliness of china, you start to understand.

 Okay, so what’s the pool like? Well, the water’s really warm and there’s usually lots of people Luckily, I’ve been able to find a lane with avid swimmers who just do lengths. Now, the thing that I still have yet to get over is the fact that everyone here looks like they’re pro swimmers; They’ve got they swimming caps, goggles and the tight speedos.

 But anyways, the thing that struck me the most was one particular baby in the pool…no more than one or two years old. I think you’ve already heard about my dislikes of these little Chinese kids that run around with pants split right down the middle and with parents who let them unload anywhere they please. Well…we’re now in a pool.

 Don’t worry, the baby didn’t let go in the pool, but the shocking thing was that the baby wasn’t wearing anything other than a swimming cap!! When his father (I know it was a he&hellip plucked him out of the pool, everything was clearly visible. I just thought to myself… don’t you have any sense of shame!? Ah well, if anything, that baby just made me even more weary of these little guys that run around.

 Anyways, I’m going to head out and turn off my computer so as not to increase the heat in my electricity-less (and therefore, A/C-less) apartment. It ran out just as I was writing this e-mail. Thank goodness for laptop batteries!! Now I’ve gotta sleep through a very hot night and reload the electricity tomorrow…couldn’t they have send a little message that my electricity was getting low??

 

 

 

I have never thought how essential A/C was until I had to spend a night without any! Just a little recap, I was writing my last blog entry when suddenly all the lights went out and my A/C died; I had run out of electricity

 I tell you, in Wuhan, it's about 30 degrees outside (even at night) and theres tons of mosquitoes that seem to penetrate your apartment even with all the windows closed (don't ask me how). So anyway...last night was one of the worst I had.

 It wasn't one of those night where you couldn't sleep because of something on your mind. It was actually the fact that I had some buzzards constantly whizzing around my head!! Not to mention the Mosquitoes that felt they were hungriest at night. I was able to get a straight 4 hours of sleep, but after that, it was no use. The heat was really bad and the amount of buzzards seemed to increase. After deciding that slapping myself upon feeling a bug on me didn't work that well, I decided to try to catch some sleep with my Electric fly swatter in one hand, ready to strike.

 It seemed to work for a bit...and I know for sure I got one guy because i heard a spark and then smelled electrocuted mosquito! It was probably one of the most satisfying kills that I ever had. Well, I never really got much sleep until the sun broke out and I was able to open the windows without fear of mosquitos. I think I got about an extra hour of sleep with the breeze flowing into the room. It was the first time that I wanted to get out of my apartment so bad and get into my air conditioned office! If there's one moral to this tale, its to savour your A/C!