因为在神没有一件事是不可能的

I want your imput. I want a dog -- good idea or bad idea?

I'm going to stay in Yantai another year. In China longer than that. Most likely in Yantai longer than that. I've no reason to leave, and several to stay. But you never know. I've already been here a year and a half.

As I get more settled and see myself staying here even longer I see the reasons for not having a dog become less and less valid.

I know I had a dog once. I didn't buy it, I didn't want it, it wasn't my choice, so I got rid of it. This is totally different.

I also had a cat that I loved dearly, but she ran away when I moved. I looked for her for a long time beforethe taxi driver threatened to leave with all my things. I actually have a suspicion that one of my neighbors stole her because several of them really adored her. In any case I hope she's still well.

All in all I'm getting a hankering for a big furry four-legged companion; a big commitment that I can hold onto for many years. Maybe even see my children play with one day. (Did I just say that?!)

After talking to a vet today I told him I would continue thinking about it and get back to him after vacation. Yes, you talk to vets when you want to buy a good healthy dog. He told me that with the kind of dog I want I would have to tell him in advance and he would find one somewhere in Shandong that they could send to me. It would cost from 1000-3000 RMB. It's expensive and hard to find because small dogs are all the rage in China and this particular gentle giant is not very popular.













I want a Great Dane.

My first or second week here I went to the zoo. Now before I came to China I went to the zoo in Albuquerque and was bummed out because of the condition those animals lived in. Think of how I felt here. The first animal I saw was a donkey. (By the way, I ate donkey dumplings the other day. They were alright.) He was tied to a stake in the ground with no more than 2 feet of slack on the rope.

Then I saw the lions. Their cage is smaller than my bedroom. Yes, there are two of them in there!


How about the arctic fox. All their fur is matted and there are patches missing here and there.


And I thought the humps were supposed to stand up...


These guys swam around in water that you wouldn't even find in a swamp by a dump.


I don't like how Chinese treat their animals.

Now, on to better topics.

By the sea there are several bridges and chains that people put locks on. When a couple is going to get married they will buy two of these heart shaped locks and lock them together on a chain or bridge by the sea. A nice symbol, but it's not really practical for anything. Really, when one of them wants a divorce what will the other say... "But we put the heart shaped locks on the bridge! You can't leave me!" It looks nice though...




I have also seen some really beautiful paper cutting. It takes months to make things like this.




And just for fun, here's a picture of the dog.

The Job.
Not very many people keep the job I have now. They will stick it out for a few months usually. But not for a whole year. I used to wonder why, not I know.

On Monday I had 10 in class hours. Not ten hours at work, but literally ten hours spent teaching english. Then there are the frequent schedule changes (I'm told to teach different classes only 5 minutes before they start sometimes), the complete lack of communication from the boss, and the low money. Not to mention that half the classes only exist because a school will want a white person. They don't actually care about the students learning English. I don't mind all or this too much though.

This week I spend 40 hours teaching english. And that's only the work in class. Not the preparation or anything. If I thought my last semester of college taught me time management, this year will give me a masters in it.

So if you were wondering why I haven't contacted anyone, you have your answer.

The Dog.
It is actually a girl. Sorry for the confusion. And Nell's not moving away so her official name is Duoduo. I don't like that name so I call her Little Girl. Or whatever other name comes to my mind at the time. On Saturday I might get together with a student and take our dogs to the beach. She has a little puppy also.

The Walk.
Now it's getting hard. I can't go into details. But I'm faced with more temptation, harder decisions, and more failures than ever before. Somehow I've also never been more sure of where I'm supposed to be. I've never been reading as much as I am now, and I've never experienced grace (probably due to my failures) like I do now. Remember all that when you think of me... ^_^

I finally have time to put some pictures up. First we have my super awesome apartment!

And this photo is from the loft down. Sorry about the mess... It really isn't usually that cluttered. >.<

Then we have the sad picture of the flowers in my window.

And finally, I'm sure you all were waiting for this... My dog! Well, it's actually Nell's dog. She is one of my co-workers. But she is moving back to her hometown in a week or so. Go figure. She buys this dog and I get stuck with it. She named him Duoduo. I might change that when Nell goes home. Any suggestions? He doesn't get to go on my bed often, but when he does he loves it!


I have some more pictures, but I can't get them to work for some reason. So that's it.

I have a dog? Apperently so.

He's a cute little guy. Really tiny. I'll put pictures up when I can. The internet thing is kind of hard to get working.

Other than that everthing is great. I'm really busy. Leave my house at 8am get home between 6 to 9pm. I have some really hard classes. I need to write Mr. Chase and apologize for being such a terrible student. Anyone have his email? I'll bet not. If so, email it to me.

I teach this korean class every morning Monday to Friday and they are just the biggest brats ever! Seriously, they suck the will to live out of you.

But I also have some really great classes with some wonderful students. So it works out alright.

Let's see...

I walked into a class that wasn't mine and started teaching the other day.

I did my hair in a fohawk and got a myrid of reactions from handsome to old man to monkey. They aren't allowed to do anything to their hair in Chinese schools.

I almost got hit by a bus the other day. I jumped back to avoid it and almosted got nailed by a car. I love the driving here.

I will get a bike soon.

On Saturday I went out to an extremely depressing zoo. There were two lions in a cage the size of my loft.

I also ate pigs blood (so much for my leviticus class!) and starch. I'm serious, just starch in a coffee and cream colored liquid. I think it's only a YanTai thing. It was not good. But the pigs blood wasn't bad.

My adult class said I had a nice voice and tried to get me to sing for them. Maybe I'll bring my guitar one day. That class is like my breath of freash air!

That about does it!