Adventurasia Community

I’ve been in Dalian 4 days and have spent most of the time shopping, sightseeing, and partying hard - yeeeehaaaaaah! I’ve attended several of Bert’s classes where he’s teaching English to university students. Bert and I have told them that we met thru a mutual friend named Crazy Bill. Many students who want to practice their English have taken me out and about. They have mucho questions about Canada such as what the people are like, what we do for entertainment, do we all drive cars, what our social structure is like, job opportunities - but most importantly they ask Is Crazy Bill really Crazy?? Is he adopted??? How many times has he fallen on his head???

The places I’ve seen are Xinhai Square, Tiger Beach, Eastsea Park, Friendship Square, Victory Plaze (massive underground 4 level shopping mall - got lost a couple of times), Binhai Magic Slope (kinda weird how when sitting in the car facing downhill, it actually feels like the car is rolling uphill when put in neutral) - but most importantly I saw WalMart ..oooooohhhh. Strangely also is how Pizza Hut is considered Fine Dining over here (Bert and I didn’t feel like intestines on rice). Reminded me of that Stallone movie Demolition Man - when Sandra Bullock turns to glee when invited to Taco Bell for dinner. The restaurant is very classy, serviced by an army of staff and HUGE. We had to take a number and wait by the doorperson .

I’ve met so many students and faculty members (also Bert’s students) that it has been difficult for me to remember all their names - especially the ones with Chinese names (Jiang Lu Ho, Shing Tong Bang, Huang Lo Wang, Wan Hep Ting, and Luong Tan Wong begat Siu Tam Pong, and Wu Hon Tah begat Ruong Angh Shien, and ..). It has been fun conversing with them anyways and learning bits of Mandarin. Most importantly I’ve learned Ching wen, che saw jai nar??? (Where’s the bathroom???) But I still can’t bring myself to do that squatting thing. Another thing I can’t get used to is how the locals play frogger with the traffic. This is how Chinese people cross the road. They throw themselves into oncoming traffic, dodge cars, stand on the white lines and wait for the cars, buses, and trucks to weave by them before making a run to the other side. Now that they’ve got me doing it I use other pedestrians as a human shield while crossing.

The pre-Christmas parties have also been a blast. There’s much food, drink, socializing, singing, and dancing (cha cha, waltz). The girls here are funloving (yeeeehaaaah!) but conservative. C! I’ve found your younger twin sister here! Her name is Janet but I’ve given her a new name Baby C. I swear she’s just as babelicious as you are! Anyhoo - gotsta go back ta partyin !! YEEEEEEHAAAAH!!!

Sees yall!!!!

Simon