Things that slipped my mind

In the past week:

- Watched go-go dancers at a Xi'An bar groove to techno music on a make-shift stage before being entertained by a slew of local music performers, one of which took on the persona of the Chinese Michael Jackson. The staff, as the performers did their thing, circled the club and proceeded to wave their hands in the air to the music, as if it was a Boyz II Men show circa 1992.

- Recorded my voice for the Dalian Education Bureau... I'm now the newest voice of Chinese Standardized English testing here in Liaoning.

- Ate duck heads while having a Ganbei-fest with my ESL Dean at one of the coolest restaurants in the area. No one else participated. I think because of this, our Dean pulled me aside and whispered to me, "You're a real man." Awesome.

- Broke up a fight on the bus on the way back to school, post-dinner/Ganbei-fest, as some locals mixed it up.

- Had one of my female students ask if I got fat over the week-long holiday. Exasperated, I said, "No, I didn't get fatter. I can't believe you would even ask that!" I laughed it off, but feeling bad, she just responded, "You must've gotten stronger then!" Ya. Thanks. Nice cover. Am I allowed to call my female grade 9 student a jerk? Just kidding. I wouldn't do it... in public.

- Brought back a small set of Terracotta Warriors from Xi'an as a souvenir. I explained to my mother on the phone that the real warriors were made unique by using blank head molds and attaching them individually to a set number of body designs, and artists used clay to mold their facial features. The separate attachment of the heads made them a little fragile. As we started talking about something else, I knocked one of my new souvenirs off the coffee table and... his head snapped off.

T