Mo-rak.

Firstly, Happy Pepero Day to all the Korean folk or anyone who is part of the Korean community. November 11th is a day to celebrate the person you have a crush on by giving them delicious snacks seen above. "Pocky" is the big brand I've been known to chow down on from time to time. So, buy some chocolatey, wafery, stick goodness and give your favourite crush a squeeze on this day. Korean holidays are both awesome and hilarious.

Secondly, Happy 11-11 day. For anyone who hasn't gone screaming and running from my ramblings after a year, congratulations... you are truly dedicated friends. Or I'm paying you. Regardless, I wrote about the slightly-related Chinese holiday of 11-11 when I first arrived here and my students wished me a "Happy Lonely Person's Day". It's a funny story. Check it out. If you choose to not go back in time, the Chinese version is a day which is supposed to be good luck for single people, since the 1-1-1-1 resembles individuals, which means that it's a good day to be single and on your own. For all of those single folk, good luck!

Finally, it's time for a pic or two for Movember. As many of you know, November has become a month for men around the world to grow "Mo"s (or moustaches for the uninitiated) as an awareness campaign for Prostate Cancer fundraising. Although I am not registered on the Movember Canada website, I have friends who are and I'm hoping to sign up this weekend if it's not too late. For now, though, you can contribute to my buddy Kevin in Victoria or my buddy Curt in Edmonton. Kate, these are for you! For the timebeing, here's a couple pics of my growth after 11 days.




From your favourite, globe-trotting Mo-Bro,

T

Quick hits...

I couldn't figure out why my apartment seemed significantly colder last night than previous nights, especially since the heat is now on and working. As I was getting ready this morning, I walked into my "office" (which I mainly use for laundry), and the window was wide open. Ayi must've been airing out the place when she came in this morning and neglected to shut the window. It's winter. Sheesh.

Speaking of heat, the KFQ district is officially providing heat nearly 10 days earlier than last year! Hello, Inefficient Radiator Heat! Goodbye, Drafty Cold Rooms!" Or, maybe only, "So there, Drafty Cold Room! That will make you less potent!"

In China (or, at least in the cities), the government controls/approves the time at which apartments and houses can begin providing centralized heat to their apartments. It's much different than back home where everyone has their own little temp control. Much different. Since most of the heat comes from burning coal in the country, the country delays the access to coal-generated heat. This year, we got lucky... the heat kicked in last week already! Last year, it was November 15th, and it stopped on February 15th. I was not a happy camper when I came back from the tropics after my winter vacation. Of course, you can use electricity to heat your house through space heaters but they're generally not too efficient and can make your electric bill skyrocket. Whatever the case, thank you China for making me slightly less cold than last week.

In non-heat business, it's about 6:24am and fireworks have been firing nearby for about 20 minutes. I wonder if China will ever institute noise laws. Probably not... fireworks manufacturing is probably controlled by the state.

In animal news, I was at the Dirt Market in Beijing and guys were walking around trying to sell animal skins that were slung over their shoulders. Some of them looked eerily like domestic dogs. Not sure... just sayin'.

Off to school. Ciao.

T

It was a good effort, but poorly planned

It's 7 days into that thing called NaBloPoMo and I can officially say I didn't make it. Not having thought about the fact that I wasn't really going to be home on Friday night at all and forgetting about riding a train all night then playing volleyball all day, I totally missed the cutoff for Friday. I could've made something happen this morning to make it in time for the Saturday post, but I thought I'd just give it up. I'll keep trying to post a tonne this month, but I just won't win any awards. So here it is... Sunday.

It's about ten to four in the afternoon (China time, of course), and I'm sitting in the SanLiTun XingBaKe (Starbucks) wasting some time before we head to the amazing Element Fresh for dinner with the volleyball boys. The weekend has been a lot of fun, but hasn't exactly been full of success. And I say this with a lot of understatement. In at least 2 of the games, we got beat. Actually, throttled is a better word. Decimated might be even more apt. Regardless of how you want to look at it, although we were full of smiles and enthusiasm (at least through the first two losses), we didn't quite match up well against the big competition present. There are threats of starting with a whole new roster for the tournament in May but we'll see if it comes to fruition. My spot may even be on the line.

We rode in China-train luxury on Friday night, as we got the "soft sleeper" tickets. Before you jump to silly conclusions, I'll remind you that Chinese beds have, well, no cushion. The "soft" part of the title I think refers to the general nature of the people riding these trains, as there's only 4 people to a semi-private cabin and there's actually some temp control. In the "hard" sleepers, the beds have the same cushion, but people are stacked 3 high, there's no temp control (the top bunk is HOT), no closed-off cabins, and the beds are much more narrow. But just as cushioned. I've only ever ridden in the hard sleepers, but now that I've been in the soft sleeper cabin, I might convince myself that the extra 130rmb is worth it.

Last night was spent having some sodas and delicious food in the same SanLiTun area that I'm in right now. We met up with my friends the Hawkeys and their friend D for food and drinks. A few of us boys, feeling some muscle pain after enduring the challenging matches yesterday partook in a bit of a late-night massage after dinner. I lasted maybe about 3 minutes before falling asleep once we returned to our hostel. But the girl treated me like an inmate, and I think I'm more sore now than when I finished the games yesterday. I also have some strange bruises, which makes me wonder what kind of massage she was actually trained in.

For now, though, the call of food and the need for an ATM are paramount. More will come in the next day or two, but for now, much China love, all. Drop me a line to let me know you're all still out there in cyberland somewhere.

T

On the fourth day...

I've never been a Halloween kinda guy. I used to hate dressing up and going to themed parties. I used to hate the rigmarole of finding a costume, buying it, dressing in it and (often) being uncomfortable for hours on end. Part of it is just my general lack of planning and foresight, but it's also a question of sheer comfort. But since moving to China, it's been one of the things that has garnered greater and greater appeal as days have gone on. All western holidays here seem to have more impact, simply out of their tremendous novelty. So I embrace. I jump in. I participate. However, if you start playing Christmas music on November 1st, I will not speak to you. Too soon, friends. Too soon.

This year, I tagged along with a crew of the newbies and dressed up in the garb of Ryu, one of the old Street Fighter characters. Now, I have to get people to forgive my costume because it's not nearly as Ryu-esque as I wanted (a lack of planning contributed to this scenario), but it worked out in a pinch. Also, I apologize if the picture is grainy but you get the idea. The second pic is of me and the SF crew (with MJM jumping in). The best costumes of the night go to my friend AK (Poison Ivy), Cobra Kai (JM, KG, WS, and RS), Mugatu (CM's dude, Curt), Poison Ivy (MM), Freddy Mercury (LS) and the Crew of Dictators. You guys all inspire me. Next year, I'm on the ball!

Although it's almost time to sign off for the night, I'll hopefully share some funny stories stemming from the 60 or so narrative essays I'm marking tomorrow (along with another 60 over the weekend). For now, I'll leave you with the text from one of MJM's beauties. From the midterm exam we're currently grading...

"Drinking milk can grow us as strong as a beef.I like drink milk very much. The milk tast so wonderful. It's my favorite drink.When I was a little boy, I was very thin. I can't played b-ball. I can't played with other strong boys. I was very sad. I wanted to become stronger. My parents also worries about this question. One day, I had very serious fevers. I feeled so bad, I Didn't want to eat anything. Drink water is not very useful. I remember when I was born my mother always feed milk to me. Then my parents gave me a cup of hot milk. I had drank it, I feels more comfortable. After that, I always drink milk, twice a day. One day, I found that I had become stronger than before. I was very happy. I found a good way to achieved my dream. After two years I became stronger I can plan any thing with my classmates. If you have the same problem as me, please try this way.it will be very useful."

T

It's worked before, so it seemed like a good idea...

About 5 years ago, I embraced the sad realization that genetics were more powerful than sheer will when it comes to some things. One of those things is hairlines.

In an attempt to stop fearing change, I took some initiative and decided that it was time to face a grim reality of my life: I was losing my hair. And to ensure that I'd never be a comb-over guy, there was only one solution: buzz it off. All of it.

This was a traumatic day. Tears may have been shed. I may have stayed at home sick for a few days. But after some long, lonely hours spent sulking in the bathroom, screaming at the heavens, "WHY????", I came around to the fact that although oblong, my head had a relatively non-misshapen look to it and I'd survive to breathe another day with no skull dress. Since that time, I've been regularly buzzing it off every month or every few months. I get sick of the shaggy locks and typically make a somewhat snap decision to get rid of it. Most of the time I'm a DIY'er, and I take my trimmers out and take care of business on my own. Monday night was no different.

As I stood in my bathroom, letting my luscious coif fall quietly in the sink, I felt a distinct slip of the clipper guard. It was the first time I was using Team Seath's clippers that I'd borrowed earlier in the week, so they were a little finicky. But I felt like I caught the guard in time and just kept on rolling. I looked at myself in the mirror, impressed (as per usual) with the success that I had all ears in place and there was no blood running from my neck. Job well done, T. Well done.

The next day at school I got the usual, often exaggerated responses from both students and colleagues. Some mourned the new look while others embraced it. The kids all used it as a way to suck up and tell me I looked more handsome. One kid even said, "You actually look like a man!" Thanks, kid. Yes, that's an F on your report card.

However, as I was finishing up my afternoon block of English, one kid kinda sputtered out, "Did you do that on purpose?" Oblivious, I responded in the expected way: "Did I do WHAT on purpose?" "The spot on the back of your hair! So cool!" Laughter then rippled around the room.

Still confused, I asked them what they meant. A kid offered to take a picture on his iPhone, which I decided to reject, seeing as how I'm the cell phone nazi and all. But then one kid, who was at the whiteboard with a marker, said, "Mr. M! It looks like this!" He proceeded to draw a sort of neck-line picture of my hair with a MASSIVE short piece buzzed out of it. Like, the size of a cigarette package. I thought they were joking, so I asked one of my more trustworthy students. With a huge smile, he just nodded when I asked if it was true. Remember that "slip" of the guard? Ya. Not so much a slip. A BIG GASH.

So I'm currently walking around with what looks like a slot for a 3inch floppy disk drive in the back of my skull. In all the times I've buzzed 'er all off, never once have I had such a fiasco. I guess there's a first time for everything. Makes me think of a skunk-like buzz cut I got when I was a kid at the hands of my dear mother.

In other, less self-deprecating news, I saw a guy siphoning gas out a work truck using his MOUTH as a suction device. I'm also off to Blind Man Massage in about 5 minutes so I need to run. I love you China. I just hope you can love my awesome haircut in return. Until again, mes amis, much love...

T

Robbed (NaBloPoMo Day 2)

It was Halloween over the weekend. I know you all know this. Since a bunch of the ML teachers live in the same vicinity as I do in the Development Zone (Kaifaqu) suburb of the city, a bunch of the ML families gather every year to trick-or-treat at the other ML homes in town. This year nearly 40 kids participated, so it was pretty nutty. A result of Halloween and actually having kids come by trick-or-treating is that there is often candy left over. This was the case with me. I had this mondo bag of glucose and gelatin based delights that were saying to me, "Feed us to your poor, starving students Mr. M! They will love you forever!"

Of course, this is true already. But I thought, "It sure won't hurt!"

With good intentions (and knowing of my weakness for bite-sized snackerals which are easily consumed on the couch), I packed the gigantic sack of deliciousness to school with me this a.m. with high hopes of inspiring some excellent, pre-midterm review. Class number one seemed to respond with tonnes of vim and vigour as I attempted to round up some potential cavity-ridden clients for the local dentists. I taught that class right before lunch, so I stealthily stashed the remaining duffel of delcious in the podium for about 40 minutes over the break, knowing I'd be back in the class before the end of lunch for my second English block of the day.

When I returned from my lunch break, I reached into the podium drawer and... NO CANDY. I looked everywhere for it and nothing. I even decided to stalk the entire floor of the building, but had no luck. I knew that I'd been the victim of the old candy swipe. I was choked. I proceeded to send emails to the school office trying to find out names of kids who spend their time in that class at lunch, to find out the homeroom teachers' name, and decided to send an email to the staff explaining that I'd been a heist victim. 

No one stepped forward. No one gave it back.

Just when a guy wants to share some cheer amongst his morose, half-comatose kids, a sticky-fingered bandit decides to ruin all the fun. I'd be a lot less angry if it was my own candy. But it was for my kids. Ya know? It's just not right.

Anywho, midterms run the next 3 days so I'm out of the classroom and in various offices marking papers, posting grades, and helping stragglers squeak by. Tomorrow I'll share my story about my recent less-than-stellar homemade haircut attempt. Also had another vball practice, so I'll update a story about that too, somewhat soon. Gotta keep some fodder for future posts! NaBlo is a marathon, not a sprint.

T

NaBloPoMo? Should I even try?

It seems like a bad idea. You know...this who, "National Blog Posting Month" where you're supposed to submit one entry every day for the entire month of November. Like, a really bad idea. There are lots of reasons for this. First, my procrastination capabilities and general absent-mindedness are epically high, which make the potential for success really low. This also means that it's already easy for me to avoid work, and having a whole month of writing-related excuses to avoid marking papers isn't particularly helpful. Finally, I try to make this blog at least moderately interesting so people actually keep reading. But posting every day might get boring for all ya'll. So I'll have to think about it. I have another, more secret blogging home so maybe I'll split the burden between the two.

In other news, Halloween has officially been survived and "Mo"vember has officially begun. So, to start the new month, I'm not only participating fully in the moustache-growing adventure of Movember, but I also buzzed off all my hair again to get back to a more aerodynamic version of, well, me. Hopefully it'll help this weekend, as I'm off to Beijing for a volleyball tournament, the same organizers/location as the one I attended last spring. Sooo much fun.

For now, though, it's 6:21am and that means I'm gonna be late for school if I don't get my hustle on. Happy Movember, people. Tales of Halloween to follow.

T