unblocked!

Blogspot's finally been unblocked and I'm able to post again. For the longest time I was unable to get into blogspot AND blogger. Since coming to China I'd been able to get into blogger (which allowed me to post but not see the blog), but not into blogspot. Since January or so access to both had been restricted. Anyway, here's the first post in a long time.

Just got back from dinner and KTV with a couple people I met at McDonald's at 1:30 last Friday. It was a weird initial encounter at McDonald's. Our usual group (Sarah, Durf, Xiao Zhao, Jason) and I were hitting up a post game run. While I was ordering I noticed a guy next to me looking at me uncomfortably. He would tilt is head over quite conspicuously and then glance back at the menu on the counter when I looked back over at him. Usually when people do this they want to ask a question and it's a good sign for me to start a conversation.

At this point in time though it was a tad bit late, and I was tired and not in the best of states. I normally engage anyone who gives me the curious glance-over, but at 1:30 in McDonald's after going to Tian Shang, I just wanted some food and a bed. I knew it was inevitable; people that do the glance-over more than twice usually have a high level of curiosity and will probably not let you go without asking some questions in simple Chinglish.

It started with the typical "Where are you come from?" Before I could answer I made my order and the guy was absolutely amazed I spoke Chinese. Now don't get me wrong, I'm confident about my Chinese now, especially when it comes to small talk, but I'll reiterate that 1:30 at McDonald's after Tian Shang made me feel shaky. We started to have a conversation then about what I was doing here and how much money I made etc.. All the usuals.

Enter cute girl and other guy. After ordering and answering a few of glance guy's questions, a quite attractive girl and some other guy also came up and decided to ask their own series of questions. So there I was, in a circle of Chinese people at 1:30 AM after coming from Tian Shang, and suddenly I had to kick up my brain into professional-Peace Corps conversation mode. Eventually I was asked for my phone number, at which point it occurred to me that I should probably give these people a fake number, except that cute girl was pretty cute, and all three of them weren't obnoxious or anything, so I decided to stick to the real one.

Anyway, cute girl called me on Monday and asked me if I had any free time, so I told her Wednesday I did. To tell you the truth, I actually didn't remember exactly what she looked like, except I'd put some money on the fact that she was probably Chinese. Anyway, we decided to meet at the McDonald's again. --Would this be another medium number six???-- I met her and she assumed I wanted to go to McDonald's to dine on fine American cuisine. I asked her if she wouldn't mind going to Yi Dian Wei, one of the nicer restaurants in Nanchong that serves some interesting Chinese-style dishes with some Japanese/American ingredients (I think...) Anyway, she was down. I almost went into McDonald's and got the medium number six for nostalgia sake, but I thought better of it.

The meal wasn't bad. I had thought it would be awkward, and actually I had half expected our meeting to be a repeat of when a girl called me and it turned out to be a 11-year-old, but it was cool. Got the usual bullshit out of the way first, then just joked around. It reminded me a lot of Chile in a way, going to a restaurant with some random person and speaking only a few words in English. Halfway through eating at Yi Dian Wei, other guy from McDonald's came and sat down with us. Turns out the guy wasn't her boyfriend as I had initially thought, but a close friend. She referred to him as "Xiao Di Di". Xiao Di Di is actually a slang word for penis, so when I explained why I had started laughing, they also thought it was quite funny...

After dinner, they had planned to go to other guy's friend's birthday party at a KTV joint near Wu Xing. Haha, I should say again that I have probably spent less than thirty minutes with these people all together, but yet it seemed perfectly natural for me to go with them to other guy's friend's birthday party. Why not? First we stopped over at Hao Li and picked up a cake for the friend. The full cake was ready in about ten minutes from ordering to leaving. Icing, message, decorations on top.. everything in ten minutes. I remember having to wait a day or so to order a cake in the US...

So we got to KTV and went in the room. Initial surprise of the foreigner is clearly visible. People are shy and awkward, some not making eye contact at first. Cute girl (Ting Ting) instructs me to sit down. I stand and greet everyone then take a seat. I hear people asking if I can speak Chinese and what I'm doing here. (That second question is actually quite legitimate, probably couldn't answer it myself). I get some phone call from my counterpart teacher saying there was a basketball game tomorrow. Oops, I got class. Can't go! (What a bummer... not!) Ok, thanks for letting me know. (Why couldn't she let me know about the Bolivian ambassador coming? THANKS Xi Hua Wai Ban...). Get back into the KTV room, toast a few times. Instructed not to drink so much. Instruct cute girl that a few mini glasses isn't much. Initial surprise has for the most part dimished. Offered cigarette. Turned down. Cute girl toasts me with Pepsi; she doesn't drink. People passing around a clear glass plate with stuff (yeah you all know what it is) on top. Cute girl says I don't want any, says that stuff is bad. Stand up to answer another phone call from counterpart. Told when every future basketball game is. Return to KTV room. Sing Yue Liang Dai Biao Wo De Xin with cute girl. Few claps. I go to bathroom, come back. Outside of the door, cute girl explains she wants to go. I say it's ok, we haven't been here that long. People come out of the KTV room and ask what's going on. Cute girl says I want to go. I think WTF? She says we'll dance for a little bit, then leave. We get back into the KTV room and two guys have taken their shirt off and the strobe light is on. Cute girl gives me evil eye for some reason. I ask her if she wants to go. We dance for two minutes then exit. Other guy comes also. Where to?

We hit up McDonald's as the only open place we can sit down and chill. It's around 11:00 at this point. I offer to pay for McDonald's as it's the equivalent of the American embassy. I'm not sure if they understood the analogy, but I'm denied anyway AGAIN. We sit around and talk for 45 minutes and then leave. They come with me back to Xi Hua (for who knows what reason) and pay for the entire taxi to my door.

A fun time...