Attacked by a rabid dog!

I was running, hoping to put just a little more distance between him and me. He was huge and snarling and obviously out for blood. Every second seemed to bring him closer to my meaty calves! I didn't know what I could do to shake him... he came out of nowhere! All I could think of was, "Run faster!" Giving a half-kick with my heel in hopes of scaring him off while screaming for my life, I picked up the pace just one more notch. I was out of options. Finally, after stretching my stride as long as I could, he finally veered off and ceased the attack. I was safe.

Disclaimer: this "hook" for this story, although moderately true, stems from a comment from a former co-worker who said that I need more meat in my introductions so the reading is more interesting. And what's more interesting than being attacked by a feral dog?!?

The "attack" wasn't so much an "attack", per se. It may have happened like this: I went for a run the other day for the first time in a few weeks. The weather was finally cooperating and the wind was no longer blowing 70km/h. As I headed up the road, a curious dog zipped out from a nearby field and started "chasing" me. As he neared my heels and barked once or twice, I did, in fact, kick my heel at him to scare him off. It did the trick and he bolted back into the field. So I kept running and leisurely enjoyed being outside in mid-November. There was no need for a tetanus shot, nor for an unexpected trip to the emergency room. Disaster was averted and the curious mutt was no worse for wear. I thought I might see the same pooch on my run today, but I'm obviously only interesting the first time I'm seen.

Still though... the story is much more fun when the dog was feral, snarling and huge!

I ventured into Dalian over the weekend to do some shopping with a few of the other foreign teachers at the school. D was away for another hockey trip and M was planning a night out with the hockey wives and other ladies of the high school. So I thought it would be a good time to check out the big city a bit more and pick up some of the things I'd neglected to buy for the past 8 weeks.

Another funny story...

Before shopping, Stephanie (one of the other foreign teachers) needed to stop at the bank to figure something out. Before leaving, she and another girl decided to use the washroom. After about 10 minutes elapsed, I started to wonder what the heck they were doing. Then I heard it... "Help! I'm stuck in the stall!" Upon entering the bathroom, Stephanie decided to use the ONE stall that had a broken latch, and although it allowed her to lock the door from the inside, the latch refused to unlock. We tried various implements to pry/jimmy the door, but to no avail. Also, she's not a world class gymnast so she couldn't scale the 8-ft high stall walls to get out. She also couldn't squeeze under the door, as there was a total of 4 inches of clearance between it and the floor. Laughing hysterically while being slightly embarassed, I found the security guard who let us upstairs (the bathrooms were on the 2nd floor which was closed for the weekend, but he graciously showed us up a few minutes before) and after another 5 or ten minutes, he was able to unscrew the entire mechanism and take the whole lock off the door, freeing Steph from the public washroom nightmare. She survived in one piece, but I keep asking myself... who gets locked in a public bathroom stall in a bank in China!?!?

After taking care of some bill-related errands, we headed to the centre of Dalian to get some food (a 3.5RMB Chinese chicken burrito-type thing) from a street vendor, checked out the local book stores to get maps (the foreign language bookstore was lame-o), and then hopped in a cab to go to my destinations of choice which included IKEA!

Our first stop was actually Decathalon, a local sportswear and gear store that carried everything from ski equipment and badminton birds to bike helmets and yoga mats. I picked up a sweet pair of workout pants for about $25 Can along with some badminton birds (I've been playing some of the grade 9 boys and have a showdown set with one of the other teachers tomorrow) and a new yoga mat. After enjoying the post-shopping buzz, we hit up a huge supermarket to pick up some necessities before heading to... IKEA!

Ikea is awesome for a couple of reasons, especially in China.
a) Cheap stuff is even cheaper

b) Coffee is semi-delicious and 1/4 the price of Starbucks

c) Can you say, "Swedish Meatballs"???

I was able to score a sexy lamp for my living room (goodbye, blue overhead lights), some more coffee and a few glasses and mugs for my place. We were able to return that night with full arms, full bellies (mmmm.... Swedish Meatballs), and tired legs. Sunday was an experiment in doing nothing, and we're now in another week. It's only Tuesday but I already can't wait until Friday.

Did I tell you I'm performing a traditional Chinese opera (IN CHINESE) in about 10 days? No? Oh. That'll have to wait until next time. Ciao for now!

T