Maral in China -

February 26

Today was an early day for me.

I woke up around 8 because I had gone to bed

so early last night. Had an awesome breakfast..

Followed by the information that I was taking

the TEFL test in 10 minutes....

I didn't care too much about it, but I'm

pretty sure it went well. No worries.

Jesse still hadn't gone to bed so spent some

time trolling people on Pokerstars with him.

But we ended up being trolled by Jesse's stalker

"betttt". He always comes on our tables when we

play low stakes, because he knows that when

Jesse and I play together, we play like the

biggest retards on earth.

When it was 5 in the morning for Jesse and 13.00

here for me, I had to run to catch the bus.

Because today, I did something special with my group.

We took a 1 hour ride to XingPing, a beautiful place

here in Guangxi Province. The place is a very popular

destination amongst tourists. The nature and landscape

is truly.... breathtaking.

It is a famous place in China and the landscape is even

printed on their "20 Yuan".

We took a boat and sailed down the river for 30 minutes.

Here are some pictures..

Beautiful isn't it?

While on the boat.. Hughie got this strange idea..

"Maral... can you swim?"

"Ofcourse I can swim.."

"Wanna swim?"

"Yeah? But.. don't have any other clothes.."

"So?"

"What about leeches or other

"dangerous" creatures in the water?"

"There are none of those in the water!"

"Are you sure?"

"No...."

"Okay.. lets do it."

"haha, for real? You in?"

"Yeah.. why not.. but.. are we even allowed?"

"Who cares!"

"Ok ok, lets go!"

So yeah, me and Hughie decided to swim back.

So we did.. and it was amaaaaaazing.

Haha, the chinese tourists went crazy with their

cameras, because not only is it still "winter" here.

It is also 2 foreigners swimming in the river!

It felt great though, wow... the water wasn't even cold.

It was slightly cold at first, but.. I usually have

major problems going into the water, but..

Not today. So I guess the water temperature was pleasant.

Now we're back at home, I'm super tired.

Really hungry. Around 19.00 We're gonna head to town

and eat Hotpot. Omnomnom.

Now I'll be taking a short nap.

Also, after hotpot I'll go say bye to Patrik and Leo.

They're leaving today, quite sad. I'll sure miss them.

After that we're going to Monkey Jane's bar to play

some beerpong. See ya'll.

Today was an early day for me.

I woke up around 8 because I had gone to bed

so early last night. Had an awesome breakfast..

Followed by the information that I was taking

the TEFL test in 10 minutes....

I didn't care too much about it, but I'm

pretty sure it went well. No worries.

Jesse still hadn't gone to bed so spent some

time trolling people on Pokerstars with him.

But we ended up being trolled by Jesse's stalker

"betttt". He always comes on our tables when we

play low stakes, because he knows that when

Jesse and I play together, we play like the

biggest retards on earth.

When it was 5 in the morning for Jesse and 13.00

here for me, I had to run to catch the bus.

Because today, I did something special with my group.

We took a 1 hour ride to XingPing, a beautiful place

here in Guangxi Province. The place is a very popular

destination amongst tourists. The nature and landscape

is truly.... breathtaking.

It is a famous place in China and the landscape is even

printed on their "20 Yuan".

We took a boat and sailed down the river for 30 minutes.

Here are some pictures..

Pretty cool, eh.

Awesome picture of Drew.

Beautiful isn't it?

While on the boat.. Hughie got this strange idea..

"Maral... can you swim?"

"Ofcourse I can swim.."

"Wanna swim?"

"Yeah? But.. don't have any other clothes.."

"So?"

"What about leeches or other

"dangerous" creatures in the water?"

"There are none of those in the water!"

"Are you sure?"

"No...."

"Okay.. lets do it."

"haha, for real? You in?"

"Yeah.. why not.. but.. are we even allowed?"

"Who cares!"

"Ok ok, lets go!"

So yeah, me and Hughie decided to swim back.

So we did.. and it was amaaaaaazing.

Haha, the chinese tourists went crazy with their

cameras, because not only is it still "winter" here.

It is also 2 foreigners swimming in the river!

It felt great though, wow... the water wasn't even cold.

It was slightly cold at first, but.. I usually have

major problems going into the water, but..

Not today. So I guess the water temperature was pleasant.

We're back at home and I'm super tired.

Really hungry too. Around 19.00 We're gonna

head to town and eat Hotpot. Omnomnom.

Now I'll be taking a short nap.

Also, after hotpot I'll go say bye to Patrik and Leo.

They're leaving today, quite sad. I'll sure miss them.

After that we're going to Monkey Jane's bar to play

some beerpong. See ya'll. <3

2010-02-26 @ 20:03:40 Permalink Allmänt Kommentarer (1) Trackbacks ()

February 25

Hughie and Charlie came up with this

idea of having a "Sports Day".

They set up like 20 different activities.

I participated in football and in the

obstacle course, and oh my god.

Never before in my life have I been so tired

as I was after the obstacle course.

I'd tell you everything we had to do

but Im honestly tooo tired to type it all out.

Some of the awesome parts where that you'd get

to a point where you had to use your hands

and digg for something in a huge sandbox,

and you didn't even know what you were looking for.

At one point you'd get a bucket of water

thrown at you so you were soaked to the bone.

At another point you had to change clothes

with ur teammates. Yes.. completely.

Then it was pretty casual..

You'd climb plenty of things,

jump over stuff, carry people,

crawl like there was no tomorrow

and run.. run for your life.

After the obstacle course we were all

extremely dirty, covered with bruises.

But it was greaaat fun.

Big thanks to Hughie and Charlie for

coming up with the awesome event.

Hughie and Charlie came up with this

idea of having a "Sports Day".

They set up like 20 different activities.

I participated in football and in the

obstacle course, and oh my god.

Never before in my life have I been so tired

as I was after the obstacle course.

I'd tell you everything we had to do

but Im honestly tooo tired to type it all out.

Some of the awesome parts where that you'd get

to a point where you had to use your hands

and digg for something in a huge sandbox,

and you didn't even know what you were looking for.

At one point you'd get a bucket of water

thrown at you so you were soaked to the bone.

At another point you had to change clothes

with ur teammates. Yes.. completely.

Then it was pretty casual..

You'd climb plenty of things,

jump over stuff, carry people,

crawl like there was no tomorrow

and run.. run for your life.

After the obstacle course we were all v>

extremely dirty, covered with bruises.

But it was greaaat fun.

Big thanks to Hughie and Charlie for

coming up with the awesome event.

Me and Patrik, dirty after the obstacle course. ^__^

2010-02-26 @ 19:48:36 Permalink Allmänt Kommentarer (0) Trackbacks ()

February 23

February 23d... What did I do this day?

I know I did something nice, but I've completely

forgotten since it's now the 26th when I'm writing this.

Ah well..

Oh yeah..

Was this the day I saw Pulp Fiction for the first time?

Awesome movie. After the movie "we" (John) got drunk

and had barbeque. Went to the internetcafe later,

where I skyped with Jesse until 6 in the morning.

Was a nice walk home.

Never seen the streets of Yangshuo so empt

February 23d... What did I do this day?

I know I did something nice, but I've completely

forgotten since it's now the 26th when I'm writing this.

Ah well..

Oh yeah..

Was this the day I saw Pulp Fiction for the first time?

Awesome movie. After the movie "we" (John) got drunk

and had barbeque. Went to the internetcafe later,

where I skyped with Jesse until 6 in the morning.

Was a nice walk home.

Never seen the streets of Yangshuo so empty before.

2010-02-26 @ 19:40:04 Permalink Allmänt Kommentarer (0) Trackbacks ()

February 21

Had 4 hours of sleep this night.

Woke up really really early.

Dreamt I was being charged by a bear..

woke up with Ricky's face over mine,

shaking me like there was no tomorrow.

"WAKE UP, WAKE UP MARAL..

WAKE UP.. YOU BAD HORSE!"

"......zzz....sigh.."

"We're going to Guilin, Hurryyy"

So I spent most of my day in Guilin,

together with Linnea and Ricky.

We had Duck for dinner and also

went to the arcade for a bit.

They didn't have any DDR.

But they had plenty of Pump It Up.

They also had some game I've never

seen before. Pads looked like PIU-pads

but without the middlebutton and then there

were also sensors in the roof, so it

was sort of a mix of parapara and piu (4-panel.)

Looked kind of cool. If I go there again I'll

record some of the pro asian players. If it's

not to dark. Also maybe you guys already know about

the game, I'm not really up to date with dancing

games anymore, so don't bash me if it's old, eh.

Here are some few pictures from Guilin.

Had 4 hours of sleep this night.

Woke up really really early.

Dreamt I was being charged by a bear..

woke up with Ricky's face over mine,

shaking me like there was no tomorrow.

"WAKE UP, WAKE UP MARAL..

WAKE UP.. YOU BAD HORSE!"

"......zzz....sigh.."

"We're going to Guilin, Hurryyy"

So I spent most of my day in Guilin,

together with Linnea and Ricky.

We had Duck for dinner and also

went to the arcade for a bit.

They didn't have any DDR.

But they had plenty of Pump It Up.

They also had some game I've never

seen before. Pads looked like PIU-pads

but without the middlebutton and then there

were also sensors in the roof, so it

was sort of a mix of ParaPara and PIU (4-panel.)

Looked kind of cool. If I go there again I'll

record some of the pro asian players. If it's

not to dark. Also maybe you guys already know about

the game, I'm not really up to date with dancing

games anymore, so don't bash me if it's old, eh.

Here are a few pictures from Guilin.

Tiny McDonalds, ftw!

In the middle of the city.

Sup, duckface!

Also........

saw the biggestttttttttt bear everrrrr. So cute.

omnomnom.

2010-02-24 @ 11:26:22 Permalink Allmänt Kommentarer (2) Trackbacks ()

February 20

Woke up today, weather being slightly warmer

than it was yesterday. (woohoo!).

Since I'd been skyping with Jesse all night

I was kind of tired, so at around 12 I got up,

took my pillow, went up to the roof and slept

there. It was kind of cold though. But.. sunny!

Ricky came up and Linnea was there aswell.

All of us, kind of restless not having any

plans at all. John and Kajsa went to Guilin

the day before and stayed there over the night,

so they wouldn't be back until later today.

Really started missing having John around.

Me and Linnea still had our bikes and we

both had some laundry to do. So we decided

we'd take the bikes down to town and leave

some of our clothes to the laundry service

then hang about in town for a while on the

bikes until they were finished with it.

but Ricky came strolling into our room as

we were getting ready and asked us what

we were up to, we told him about our plan

of going to town and he wanted to join

aswell but as soon as we mentioned the

bikes he lost his will. So we skipped

the bikes and took a walk down to town

instead. It was actually quite nice.

Left our laundry as planned and then

headed down to the river where we just

chilled for a bit in the sun.

We started to get hungry so we went to

Kelly's cafe. Ricky ordered a burger

and I had dumplings. (Kelly's is like

one of the best places for western food

here in Yangshuo, they have AWESOME burgers.

They're even better than burgers @ home!)

As for drinks we all ended up ordering

something with Banana in it.

Linnea and I went for Banana Juice.

(Just pure Banana nothing else, mixed)

Ricky went for a Banana Milkshake.

(SOOOOOOOOOO GOOOOOOOOOOOD!)

Got our laundry, went back home for dinner.

(yes, more food. Hahahaha.)

Chilled a bit, then me and Ricky got restless

again so we went down to the internetcafe.

I knew Jesse wasn't gonna be online until

a couple of hours or so, so I just played

some Heroes of might and magic 3 instead.

(Yeah, Josefine.. I miss you dood!)

John called us, said he was home, then he came

to the internetcafe aswell, then we played

some Left 4 Dead 2, pwnd some zombies yo.

"Bad Horse startled the witch"... /grrr.

Woke up today, weather being slightly warmer

than it was yesterday. (woohoo!).

Since I'd been skyping with Jesse all night

I was kind of tired, so at around 12 I got up,

took my pillow, went up to the roof and slept

there. It was kind of cold though. But.. sunny!

Ricky came up and Linnea was there aswell.

All of us, kind of restless not having any

plans at all. John and Kajsa went to Guilin

the day before and stayed there over the night,

so they wouldn't be back until later today.

Really started missing having John around.

Me and Linnea still had our bikes and we

both had some laundry to do. So we decided

we'd take the bikes down to town and leave

some of our clothes to the laundry service

then hang about in town for a while on the

bikes until they were finished with it.

but Ricky came strolling into our room as

we were getting ready and asked us what

we were up to, we told him about our plan

of going to town and he wanted to join

aswell but as soon as we mentioned the

bikes he lost his will. So we skipped

the bikes and took a walk down to town

instead. It was actually quite nice.

Left our laundry as planned and then

headed down to the river where we just

chilled for a bit in the sun.

We started to get hungry so we went to

Kelly's cafe. Ricky ordered a burger

and I had dumplings. (Kelly's is like

one of the best places for western food

here in Yangshuo, they have AWESOME burgers.

They're even better than burgers @ home!)

As for drinks we all ended up ordering

something with Banana in it.

Linnea and I went for Banana Juice.

(Just pure Banana nothing else, mixed)

Ricky went for a Banana Milkshake.

(SOOOOOOOOOO GOOOOOOOOOOOD!)

Got our laundry, went back home for dinner.

(yes, more food. Hahahaha.)

Chilled a bit, then me and Ricky both got

restless again so we went down to the internetcafe.

I knew Jesse wasn't gonna be online until

a couple of hours or so, so I just played

some Heroes of might and magic 3 instead.

(Yeah, Josefine.. I miss you dood!)

John called us, said he was home, then he came

to the internetcafe aswell (yaay!), then we played

some Left 4 Dead 2, pwnd some zombies yo.

"Bad Horse startled the witch"... /grrr.

I know. Not really much happend eh.

2010-02-23 @ 18:26:51 Permalink Allmänt Kommentarer (0) Trackbacks ()

February 19

Yesterday night on our way home from a café
called 7th Heaven (where we watched 17 again
and The Proposal). Me and Linnea decided that
we'd go mountainbiking.... no matter what!!

This morning, out of the blue, there was sun.
It wasn't really warm, but there was suuuuun!!

Our plans for mountainbiking were perfect.
Leo wanted to come along aswell. So we grabbed
our bikes and decided to go somewhere we hadn't
been before. Since Linnea hadn't been at Moon Hill
yet, me and Leo didn't want to spoil that experience
for her. (Because she will go with her group the
upcoming week, I think.) There weren't really many
other routes to take out of Yangshuo. One leads to
the big city Guilin, and there's not really much
to see on that big road.

So we decided that we'd take our bikes down to the
river and see where the river could take us.

riverrrr

youuuhmhmhm

It didn't take long until we were far away from
inner Yangshuo and all the tourists there.
We arrived at this extremely beautiful village,
but unfortunately the road ended there for us.

A Chinese man on a scooter came up to us.
Asked us what we were doing there, because
what could we possibly want to see there?

He gave us a massive tip though. Lead us to
an extremely small offroad. Was even hard to
go there with the bike, he told us that at the
end of the path, we would see a lady on a boat.

"Pay the lady 5 yuan each, she'll be happy
and take you to the other side of the river"

So we went, didn't know what to expect, but
as the man had told us, there was a tiny lady
on a boat - at the end of the thin path.

yoyoyoyo

We got on the boat with our bikes,
luckily there was room for them.
When we were about to pay her we saw
a chinese girl pay her first, and she
paid 10 yuan. So we didn't want to be
rude, so we paid 10 yuan aswell.

Tbh, If I was her and I was doing her work
at that age, I would charge people atleast
50 yuan to get on my motherfucking boat.

But ofcourse, this is China.
I wouldn't have any customers if I did that.
People would probably prefer swimming
over the river than giving me that money.

totototooyooyoy i like jesse so muchh

When we arrived at the other side of the river
we really arrived .. in the wild.
I could hear so many animals/insects in the
bushes and in the trees, but I never saw them.

What we did now, was mountainbiking for real.
Roads were so awesome, I wish I could take
all my friends there. I'm sure not all would
appreciate the beautiful nature and shit.

halalalalla

mountainbike

ahhaha

but still.... was so beautiful.
All the pictures I took.. Sigh...
I don't know what it is, but you can't
see how beautiful it is on camera.

Seriously.
My camera fucking sucks for taking scenery pics.
Or mayyybeeee China is not photogenic, eh?
(.....Sigh..)

I highly recommend coming here btw, If you
like to travel. I know I've said it like a
thousand times, but this place is beautiful.

- Look away in the distance, beautiful mountaintops! -

- Stopped to enjoy the silence of nature and decided
where to go next, Left or Right? Definitely Right! -

Anyhow, after being away for like 2 hours
we had to turn back because we wanted to make
it home before dinner at 17.00.

Later, from 22 to 06 in the morning some
people of the group had arranged this
bonfire event, where you'd eat lots of stuff
and drink shitloads of ricewine and beer.

I'm honestly not much of a drinker so I passed.
I think I was the only person who decided not
to go. I instantly fell asleep after dinner,
and what was supposed to be 1 hour of resting
turned out to be 5 hours of sleeping.

I woke up in the middle of the night.
Wasn't really sad about that though, because
when it's night for me it's day for (most of)
you guys! Which means I can talk to you all.

I went online, and ofcourse Jesse was online
so I talked to him until I fell asleep at 7
in the morning. Only 10 weeks left until he
comes over to visit! ^____^/ Mega happy!!

2010-02-22 @ 06:29:36 Permalink Allmänt Kommentarer (4) Trackbacks ()

February 17

Hey.

Spent most of my day inside.

Really was hard getting out of bed.

Weather is extremely cold, manageable ofcourse.

Or else I wouldn't be alive, haha.

This is just a short input about my change of plans.

I came here doing the PT program.

Basically it means I'd be teaching english and get

paid for it, not much but just so I could be able to

survive here for 6 months, accomodation and food.. etc.

I later realised that as a foreign teacher you get paid

twice as much as a chinese teacher. Who does a lot

more work than you. I'm not saying PT is bad.

Ofcourse it's important and good. It is needed.

Please don't get me wrong.

I just feel that I don't need the money in order to survive.

The schools who hire you are schools with money.

Students with money, ofcourse they need help in english.

Because they don't learn properly with this kind of system.

BUT......

There are foreign teachers who need the money.

I don't. Besides.. what about all the kids without money?

The ones who cannot afford to go to these schools.

I feel... like I'm not needed. Like I'm a third wheel.

Extra weight on the ship. Get what I mean?

I came here with good intentions, but I also did this because

I knew that this was going to make me happy, kinda selfish.

But that's what life's about. You need to do the things that

make you happy. If that means you want to help people

then it's definitely a win/win-situation.

You can't help anyone else if you don't help yourself first.

So thats why I've decided to change my program to the

VT program. It means I won't get paid for the teaching.

But - I will get accomodation and food.

I'll be teaching kids who unfortunately don't have money

to go to these schools where they can afford foreign teachers.

I'll be spending time at orphanages, and I might be doing

homestays to teach they families kids english.

This was why I came to China. I wanted to do this.

I didn't come here to take advantage of the system,

because they really need foreign teachers. Wow.

I'm really going at it. Once again, I have to apologize.

Getting paid, is perfectly normal and nothing is wrong

with it, you definitely help out, it's just another approach.

I just don't think I'm suited for that particular approach.

Isabella did let me change my program. So I'm cool.

So glad about this!

Also, I forgot to upload a picture of my 3.5 dollar shoes..

2010-02-18 @ 06:10:33 Permalink Allmänt Kommentarer (6) Trackbacks ()

February 16

Today was an early morning.

We got up and got ready for our 1.5 hour bussride

to a special little village named Fengyan Village.

Fengyan Village is the home of our projectleader

Isabella. She has, what I think is the biggest

house in the village and it is also the oldest one.

The village was extremely beautiful.

The people were so warm and welcoming.

It really was amazing. I can't wait to go back.

We arrived and got divided into 3 different groups.

The people in my group were:

Ricky

Patrik

John

Kajsa

Yaniv

Linnea

and Leo.

I have to say.. The people I hang with the most

is definitely Ricky (too obvious) and John.

We do most things together, group up together,

play games together, eat together, shop together.

Unfortunately Kajsa (Johns girlfriend) has been

very sick lately and havn't been able to

hang with us as much as we'd like her to,

but she's funny and awesome company when she's with us.

I really hope she stops getting ill all the time.

Really feel bad for her.

She's missing out on so many funny things.

Patrik has started to hang with us lately.

He's very funny and he's pretty good at fps games tbh.

So he kinda fits in, don't know if he eats as much as us,

but the dood has potential. He had a Kelly's burger with

us last night. So, I guess he's sorta joining in.

Obviously, I'm a bit close to Linnea since we share

the same bedtable and she's the one with her bed

closest to me. We get along perfectly well. So it's good.

Otherwise I'm kinda close with almost everyone in the group.

Hardly anyone is a stranger, so it's never awkward.

but my point was, that my group consisted of the people

I am absolutely closest to right now. Here in China.

First of we were invited to a villagers house were we

had one of 3 different kinds of their famous village tea.

The tea was called oil-tea and apparantly it is

very good and healthy for you.

It is made out of greentea, ginger, garlic and peanuts.

You had to drink 3 bowls of it, or else you'd be rude.

Beforehand Isabella warned us of the bitter taste and

everyone said we would dislike it. I have to say that

there were only 2 people in my group who werent very

fond of it. I, myself.. really really liked it.

Haha. I had 5 bowls. It was sooo good. You also put

something that looked like "rice crispies" in the bowl.

Was coolest ever.

We were in two houses. Under the first house there

was a cat under our table. Haha, I think Ricky was

the one who noticed. In the second house there was

a dog under our table, what are the odds?

I love animals so much. They are not very cuddly

over here though. I guess, they're not brought up

that way. They are more independent and in their

"real" element here, which is good for them, I think.

After the tea we went to the courtyard where a

basketball game was held. It was a game between

two villages. Our village lost with 2 points.

We got a big warm welcome and got the best seats to

watch the game. I really didn't mind standing up

but they insisted and Ricky told us to sit down

so I figured it would be rude or something if I

didn't take their seat. God the culture differences

can be so annoying. I feel like the biggest douchebag

sometimes. The fact that hardly anyone speaks

english doesn't make it easier. Haha.

After the game there was a Lion Dance.

Was pretty amazing to watch, one of the Lions

grabbed my foot and wanted to drag me out to the

court. I think I got it on film, but it's on Ricky's

camera and he's at the internetcafe playing L4D2 atm.

(I was sleeping when he, John and Patrik left)

So will have to wait a bit until I can upload that.

Internet here is so crappy aswell, so chances are

that I might not even be able to upload it. :(

After the Lion Dance we went back to the Old House.

Were we made about 600 dumplings, cooked them and

ate them. Omnomnom, dumplings are soooo goooooood.

Then it was time to take the bus back to Yangshuo.

The village was of very low standard.

I don't think I realise that people actually live

like this. I've seen it, but my eyes aren't making

the connection, it doesn't click. It's so surreal.

It's so different to our everyday life. I guess

somehow.. I don't want to believe it.

But it is real. It is reality. Sigh.

Somehow though, I like this place.

I am drawn to it. It IS attractive.

Because even if it's different.

Even if they don't have all those things we do.

(Which we take for granted, ofcourse)

They have some things that we don't have.

In the end if you compare the two,

they have everything I value in life.

Loads of it.

It's like we are living in a fake world.

A dream world. We have so much, yet we are unhappy.

We are so freaking spoiled, it's incredible.

Some of us are so gone, so fucked up in our heads.

They have so little, but they are fine?

I guess I can't say but by what I've experienced

so far, they probably have healthier and clearer

minds than we do in the western world.

Shame on us.

Today was an early morning.

We got up and got ready for our 1.5 hour bussride

to a special little village named Fengyan Village.

Fengyan Village is the home of our projectleader

Isabella. She has, what I think is the biggest

house in the village and it is also the oldest one.

The village was extremely beautiful.

The people were so warm and welcoming.

It really was amazing. I can't wait to go back.

We arrived and got divided into 3 different groups.

The people in my group were:

Ricky

Patrik

John

Kajsa

Yaniv

Linnea

and Leo.

I have to say.. The people I hang with the most

are definitely Ricky (too obvious) and John.

We do most things together, group up together,

play games together, eat together, shop together.

Unfortunately Kajsa (Johns girlfriend) has been

very sick lately and havn't been able to

hang with us as much as we'd like her to,

but she's funny and awesome company when she's with us.

I really hope she stops getting ill all the time.

Really feel bad for her.

She's missing out on so many funny things.

Patrik has started to hang with us lately.

He's very funny and he's pretty good at fps games tbh.

So he kinda fits in, don't know if he eats as much as us,

but the dood has potential. He had a Kelly's burger with

us last night. So, I guess he's sorta joining in.

Obviously, I'm a bit close to Linnea since we share

the same bedtable and she's the one with her bed

closest to me. We get along perfectly well. So it's good.

Otherwise I'm kinda close with almost everyone in the group.

Hardly anyone is a stranger, so it's never awkward.

but my point was, that my group consisted of the people

I am absolutely closest to right now. Here in China.

First of we were invited to a villagers house were we

had one of 3 different kinds of their famous village tea.

The tea was called oil-tea and apparantly it is

very good and healthy for you.

It is made out of greentea, ginger, garlic and peanuts.

You had to drink 3 bowls of it, or else you'd be rude.

Beforehand Isabella warned us of the bitter taste and

everyone said we would dislike it. I have to say that

there were only 2 people in my group who werent very

fond of it. I, myself.. really really liked it.

Haha. I had 5 bowls. It was sooo good. You also put

something that looked like "rice crispies" in the bowl.

Was coolest ever.

Chinese dude making oil tea.

We were in two houses. Under the first house there

was a cat under our table. Haha, I think Ricky was

the one who noticed. In the second house there was

a dog under our table, what are the odds?

I love animals so much. They are not very cuddly

over here though. I guess, they're not brought up

that way. They are more independent and in their

"real" element here, which is good for them, I think.

After the tea we went to the courtyard where a

basketball game was held. It was a game between

two villages. Our village lost with 2 points.

We got a big warm welcome and got the best seats to

watch the game. I really didn't mind standing up

but they insisted and Ricky told us to sit down

so I figured it would be rude or something if I

didn't take their seat. God the culture differences

can be so annoying. I feel like the biggest douchebag

sometimes. The fact that hardly anyone speaks

english doesn't make it easier. Haha.

After the game there was a Lion Dance.

Was pretty amazing to watch, one of the Lions

grabbed my foot and wanted to drag me out to the

court. I think I got it on film, but it's on Ricky's

camera and he's at the internetcafe playing L4D2 atm.

(I was sleeping when he, John and Patrik left)

So will have to wait a bit until I can upload that.

Internet here is so crappy aswell, so chances are

that I might not even be able to upload it. :(

After the Lion Dance we went back to the Old House.

Were we made about 600 dumplings, cooked them and

ate them. Omnomnom, dumplings are soooo goooooood.

Then it was time to take the bus back to Yangshuo.

The village was of very low standard.

I don't think I realise that people actually live

like this. I've seen it, but my eyes aren't making

the connection, it doesn't click. It's so surreal.

It's so different to our everyday life. I guess

somehow.. I don't want to believe it.

But it is real. It is reality. Sigh.

Somehow though, I like this place.

I am drawn to it. It IS attractive.

Because even if it's different.

Even if they don't have all those things we do.

(Which we take for granted, ofcourse)

They have some things that we don't have.

In the end if you compare the two,

they have everything I value in life.

Loads of it.

It's like we are living in a fake world.

A dream world. We have so much, yet we are unhappy.

We are so freaking spoiled, it's incredible.

Some of us are so gone, so fucked up in our heads.

They have so little, but they are fine?

I guess I can't say but by what I've experienced

so far, they probably have healthier and clearer

minds than we do in the western world.

Shame on us.

2010-02-17 @ 17:42:57 Permalink Allmänt Kommentarer (4) Trackbacks ()

February 14

Aight, so today it 39;s Valentines Day.

I'm not quite sure what you're supposed to do during Valentines day,

because it's nothing serious in Sweden. It's just another holiday like

"Halloween". We just steal it from america or wherever it's from.

We sort of know what it is, we sort of know what to do,

but in the end we have no fucking clue.

Today me, John and Ricky decided to stroll down to town to have

a traditional Chinese meal called "Hot Pot". We ordered so much food.

It was batshit insane. Halfway through I was completely full, but

somehow managed to eat to the very end. It was the best EVEEEEEEER!

Apparantly thats what you do during Chinese New Year.

You eat like a horse and you're supposed to have so many

different options, because it will give you a good year.

Basically you get a hot pot, which is like a clear soup that

have some basic things in it and it tastes like heaven.

The hotpot is in the middle of the table and it stands on

some sort of warming-thing. So it never goes cold.

Then you get all sorts of raw things on your table.

We ordered the following things:

Noodles

Shrooms

Ice Tofu

Chinese Meatballs

Beef

Dumplings

Something I don't know what it was

and something else that I have no clue about.

With that you get like different smaller things that

you make your own "sauce" with. Like..

Ginger, some green stuff, some soysauce, some other sauce,

some chili and some other green stuff. Mix it all together

and it becomes a sauce, sorta. - Very good!

Then you put in whatever you want in the pot. (raw stuff.)

Let's say dumplings. You let them cook in the pot for a while

and then you fish them out with a spoon with holes in it.

Then you put the dumpling or whatever it may be, in your sauce.

Then you eat it with your chopsticks. Holy mother.

It's soo good. I can't wait til I get to show Jesse.

The dumplings, ice tofy and noodles were the best.

But everything else was extremely good too.

After the food we went around town and did some shopping.

I bought a pair of "converse" shoes for 50 yuan. lol.

I'll upload a picture later. Everything here is obv fake.

But no one cares because it's just something you wear anyway.

and it's so fucking cheap, you'd be stupid if you bought the

real deal, when you can have the "same" for 90% cheaper.

I don't even shop after brands so I couldn't care less.

- Sorry, all fashionistas out there, but it's so lame.

(Thats 50 kronor, or 5 dollars btw.

I can hardly even buy a pizza for that in Sweden, nowadays.)

We spent rest of the day at the internetcafe playing

Left 4 Dead 2. Was loads of fun.

It made me dream of zombies aswell.

I love zombie dreams, they're the best. Adrenaline ftw.

Ah, I almost forgot to mention that someone stole

my red envelope that I got during newyears last night.

(Here in the building.)

I don't mind, but that was just the lamest thing ever

of somebody to do, I mean we're all over 18. It wasn't

even that much money, Sigh x3000. Some people, eh?

Ricky says that the person who did it will get bad luck

throughout the whole year and since it's year of the Tiger

that person is gonna get owned, I don't believe in stuff

like that though, but I'd love for that someone to get

somekind of punishment for doing something so stupid.

Does that make me a bad person?

Hmm.. I don't think so...

But I'm not gonna wish for that...

I don't want to upset the Tiger and get a bad year.

Wishing other people bad stuff is just as bad as

stealing from other people.. isn't it?

Maybe that other person needed the money more than me.

Sorry, it's late. I tend to /rant when it's late.

Bai.

Aight, so today it's Valentines Day.

I'm not quite sure what you're supposed to do during Valentines day,

because it's nothing serious in Sweden. It's just another holiday like

"Halloween". We just steal it from america or wherever it's from.

We sort of know what it is, we sort of know what to do,

but in the end we have no fucking clue.

Today me, John and Ricky decided to stroll down to town to have

a traditional Chinese meal called "Hot Pot". We ordered so much food.

It was batshit insane. Halfway through I was completely full, but

somehow managed to eat to the very end. It was the best EVEEEEEEER!

Apparantly thats what you do during Chinese New Year.

You eat like a horse and you're supposed to have so many

different options, because it will give you a good year.

Basically you get a hot pot, which is like a clear soup that

have some basic things in it and it tastes like heaven.

The hotpot is in the middle of the table and it stands on

some sort of warming-thing. So it never goes cold.

Then you get all sorts of raw things on your table.

We ordered the following things:

Noodles

Shrooms

Ice Tofu

Chinese Meatballs

Beef

Dumplings

Something I don't know what it was

and something else that I have no clue about.

With that you get like different smaller things that

you make your own "sauce" with. Like..

Ginger, some green stuff, some soysauce, some other sauce,

some chili and some other green stuff. Mix it all together

and it becomes a sauce, sorta. - Very good!

Then you put in whatever you want in the pot. (raw stuff.)

Let's say dumplings. You let them cook in the pot for a while

and then you fish them out with a spoon with holes in it.

Then you put the dumpling or whatever it may be, in your sauce.

Then you eat it with your chopsticks. Holy mother.

It's soo good. I can't wait til I get to show Jesse.

The dumplings, ice tofy and noodles were the best.

But everything else was extremely good too.

After the food we went around town and did some shopping.

I bought a pair of "converse" shoes for 50 yuan. lol.

I'll upload a picture later. Everything here is obv fake.

But no one cares because it's just something you wear anyway.

and it's so fucking cheap, you'd be stupid if you bought the

real deal, when you can have the "same" for 90% cheaper.

I don't even shop after brands so I couldn't care less tbh.

(Thats 50 kronor, or 5 dollars btw.

I can hardly even buy a pizza for that in Sweden, nowadays.)

We spent rest of the day at the internetcafe playing

Left 4 Dead 2. Was loads of fun.

It made me dream of zombies aswell.

I love zombie dreams, they're the best. Adrenaline ftw.

Ah, I almost forgot to mention that someone stole

my red envelope that I got during newyears last night.

(Here in the building.)

I don't mind, but that was just the lamest thing ever

of somebody to do, I mean we're all over 18. It wasn't

even that much money, Sigh x3000. Some people, eh?

Ricky says that the person who did it will get bad luck

throughout the whole year and since it's year of the Tiger

that person is gonna get owned, I don't believe in stuff

like that though, but I'd love for that someone to get

somekind of punishment for doing something so stupid.

Does that make me a bad person?

Hmm.. I don't think so...

But I'm not gonna wish for that...

I don't want to upset the Tiger and get a bad year.

Wishing other people bad stuff is just as bad as

stealing from other people.. isn't it?

Maybe that other person needed the money more than me.

Sorry, it's late. I tend to /rant when it's late.

Bai.

2010-02-15 @ 18:11:42 Permalink Allmänt Kommentarer (3) Trackbacks ()

February 13

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Today we celebrated Chinese New Year!

My day started pretty slow. I've got our room all for myself,

since the other girls decided to stay with a chinese family

for 3-4 days. I like the girls a lot, but thank you god for some

privacy. It is quite demanding living so tight and

close to other people all the time.

So, waking up alone today felt kind of strange,

but also felt really good at the same time.

Chilled some, not doing anything special at all for

quite some time. Livestreamed some, listening to Lady Gaga.

Showing people on stream how I live and the surroundings etc.

They didn't believe me when I told them that kids here at our

school go to school from 8 in the morning to 10 in the night.

Ofcourse the courses late at night aren't a must, but all the

kids do them anyways since there is nothing else to do anyway.

Weather was complete shit and I was freezing as usual.

Was really looking forward to taking a warm shower, so

when I finally decided to get out of my slightly warmer

sleeping bag and stroll down to the bathroom.. Well yeah..

I took my clothes of, ready for shower, turned water on...

and you don't think it's the coldest water ever imaginable?

Apparantly we didn't have any gas left, so the heater didn't

work. I wanted to cry, because it was so freaking cold.

I know I'm ranting a lot, but guys... we don't have heat in

our houses like you do. Infact our houses are colder than

the weather outside because they are built to isolate cold.

(Since it gets really really warm here in summers and they

want to keep the rooms as chill as possible.)

I have goosebumps everyday, but I don't even notice anymore.

I'm like.. Immune, bitches!

So yeah, It was 2*C today, inside.. even colder.

I just splashed myself with coldest water in the world.

Depressing meter went up by 100%.

It was so bad that I didn't even feel like cursing.

So I slowly got dressed again. Looking like shit on new years.

But I couldn't care less. At this moment I just wanted to gtfo.

We arrived at this "french restaurant" in the middle of town.

There were like reporters and stuff there and they interviewed

many of us, so yeah, will end up on chinese television saying

the stupidest things, looking like shit, while making a dumpling.

(which I totally failed at doing, but I guess they'll have a

good laugh while watching that.. hmmmmmmmpff.)

The food was AMAZING though, best food I've ever had.

Don't know what it was, I really have no clue,

but it all tasted godly. We also got these lottery tickets,

and I actually won a prize! A small red Tiger and lots of

tickets to see different places around Yangshou. Pretty nice.

Ricky and Kajsa won the same thing so will definitely go with

them. John didn't win any, such a shame but he'll come too so

it's all good. At the end of the night we all got red envelopes

with money in it, which was pretty cool. We all got 120 yuan.

I could seriously live on that for a week. :D

After dinner we went to Lucy's but Ricky and I didn't feel

like drinking or partying, since it was Valentines day tomorrow-

Ricky wanted to do something special for Ellie (His beautiful girlfriend!).

So we hurried home so he could make Ellies surprise.

It was lots of fun but quite a hazzle, because he was making

Ellie a video and since it was newyears you could hear all the

fireworks in the background going "BAM BAM BAM" evertime he was talking.

- Short input about Chinese fireworks -

WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE?

I thought that fireworks were meant to be beautiful shit

in the sky, but NO. Here in China, there is no glitter.

Well there is some, but 85% of the fireworks are just the

loudest bangs you'll ever hear with no niceness to it

whatsoeveeeeeeeer. It's just a big bang and you honestly

think you're in the middle of a warzone. No joke.

But I think it turned out quite well in the end and

I'm pretty certain Ellie loved it. :)

Can you guys guess what I did the rest of the night?

It starts with "I was skyping with" and ends with..

"Jessnom".

Goodnight!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Today we celebrated Chinese New Year!

My day started pretty slow. I've got our room all for myself,

since the other girls decided to stay with a chinese family

for 3-4 days. I like the girls a lot, but thank you god for some

privacy. It is quite demanding living so tight and

close to other people all the time.

So, waking up alone today felt kind of strange,

but also felt really good at the same time.

Chilled some, not doing anything special at all for

quite some time. Livestreamed some, listening to Lady Gaga.

Showing people on stream how I live and the surroundings etc.

They didn't believe me when I told them that kids here at our

school go to school from 8 in the morning to 10 in the night.

Ofcourse the courses late at night aren't a must, but all the

kids do them anyways since there is nothing else to do anyway.

Weather was complete shit and I was freezing as usual.

Was really looking forward to taking a warm shower, so

when I finally decided to get out of my slightly warmer

sleeping bag and stroll down to the bathroom.. Well yeah..

I took my clothes of, ready for shower, turned water on...

and you don't think it's the coldest water ever imaginable?

Apparantly we didn't have any gas left, so the heater didn't

work. I wanted to cry, because it was so freaking cold.

I know I'm ranting a lot, but guys... we don't have heat in

our houses like you do. Infact our houses are colder than

the weather outside because they are built to isolate cold.

(Since it gets really really warm here in summers and they

want to keep the rooms as chill as possible.)

I have goosebumps everyday, but I don't even notice anymore.

I'm like.. Immune, bitches!

So yeah, It was 2*C today, inside.. even colder.

I just splashed myself with coldest water in the world.

Depressing meter went up by 100%.

It was so bad that I didn't even feel like cursing.

So I slowly got dressed again. Looking like shit on new years.

But I couldn't care less. At this moment I just wanted to gtfo.

We arrived at this "french restaurant" in the middle of town.

There were like reporters and stuff there and they interviewed

many of us, so yeah, will end up on chinese television saying

the stupidest things, looking like shit, while making a dumpling.

(which I totally failed at doing, but I guess they'll have a

good laugh while watching that.. hmmmmmmmpff.)

The food was AMAZING though, best food I've ever had.

Don't know what it was, I really have no clue,

but it all tasted godly. We also got these lottery tickets,

and I actually won a prize! A small red Tiger and lots of

tickets to see different places around Yangshou. Pretty nice.

Ricky and Kajsa won the same thing so will definitely go with

them. John didn't win any, such a shame but he'll come too so

it's all good. At the end of the night we all got red envelopes

with money in it, which was pretty cool. We all got 120 yuan.

I could seriously live on that for a week. :D

After dinner we went to Lucy's but Ricky and I didn't feel

like drinking or partying, since it was Valentines day tomorrow-

Ricky wanted to do something special for Ellie (His beautiful girlfriend!).

So we hurried home so he could make Ellies surprise.

It was lots of fun but quite a hazzle, because he was making

Ellie a video and since it was newyears you could hear all the

fireworks in the background going "BAM BAM BAM" evertime he was talking.

- Short input about Chinese fireworks -

WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE?

I thought that fireworks were meant to be beautiful shit

in the sky, but NO. Here in China, there is no glitter.

Well there is some, but 85% of the fireworks are just the

loudest bangs you'll ever hear with no niceness to it

whatsoeveeeeeeeer. It's just a big bang and you honestly

think you're in the middle of a warzone. No joke.

But I think it turned out quite well in the end and

I'm pretty certain Ellie loved it. :)

Can you guys guess what I did the rest of the night?

It starts with "I was skyping with" and ends with..

"Jessnom".

Goodnight!

Shurluguburluz is saying Happy New Year, btw! ^_^/

Sorry about the posts being so messy and bleh.

I'll sort it out when I'm not so freaking cold. :D

2010-02-15 @ 17:51:23 Permalink Allmänt Kommentarer (0) Trackbacks ()

February 12

Hey there people.

Today I skipped class, because I felt so ill. Luckily we only had one

and apparantly it wasn't extremely important, so didn't really miss

anything. Today was our last day of courses so I'm really happy about that.

Tomorrow it's Chinese New Year so we have 2 weeks off. (Awesome!!)

Spent all morning in my bed, skyping with Jesse.

I used to hate skype, but right now I feel like I could kiss and hug

the person who invented the shit like a thousand times.

It was also John's birthday today, he turned 22.

We went to Lucy's place to celebrate him, had lots of fun.

I decided I wasn't gonna drink much, so I had one beer.

The others though.. oh my god...

Everyone bought ricewine to John. I mean... rice wine...

it's.. death.. There are no words for it. My god...

Whenever I say ricewine in my blog you guys should

just.. I don't know.. have 100% respect for the word

and be like "holy shit" so I don't have to explain how

strong that shit is, brrrrrrrr.

When I saw the first shot of ricewine I was like "holy fuck".

NEVER EXPECTED IT TO BE LIKE 7 SHOTS.

John lasted 1 hour on his birthday.... one fucking hour.

That ricewine shit is fucking insane. My gah.

Ricky bought a whole bottle and they all got extremely wasted.

Before Ricky started drinking, he looked at me and said

"You're taking me home safely tonight, alright?"

The night ended before 00.00.

Everyone had a blast though.

As I promised, I carried Ricky home.

Sandra helped me, he's such a lucky guy.

Having 2 strong horses carrying him home.

(we are both year of the horse.)

Managed to skype some with David, which was nice.

He's not feeling so well at the moment. Caught a cold.

Hope he gets better soon. Sucks to have a cold.

He's gonna send me my external hd and fill it up with

awesome stuff, I have the greatest friends.

I really miss him and Nina. I'll see them in summer

though so it's no problem, but still miss them.

Sigh sigh sigh.

So tired.

Skyped with Jesse rest of the night until i fell asleep.

Hey there people.

Today I skipped class, because I felt so ill. Luckily we only had one

and apparantly it wasn't extremely important, so didn't really miss

anything. Today was our last day of courses so I'm really happy about that.

Tomorrow it's Chinese New Year so we have 2 weeks off. (Awesome!!)

Spent all morning in my bed, skyping with Jesse.

I used to hate skype, but right now I feel like I could kiss and hug

the person who invented the shit like a thousand times.

It was also John's birthday today, he turned 22.

We went to Lucy's place to celebrate him, had lots of fun.

I decided I wasn't gonna drink much, so I had one beer.

The others though.. oh my god...

Everyone bought ricewine to John. I mean... rice wine...

it's.. death.. There are no words for it. My god...

Whenever I say ricewine in my blog you guys should

just.. I don't know.. have 100% respect for the word

and be like "holy shit" so I don't have to explain how

strong that shit is, brrrrrrrr.

When I saw the first shot of ricewine I was like "holy fuck".

NEVER EXPECTED IT TO BE LIKE 7 SHOTS.

John lasted 1 hour on his birthday.... one fucking hour.

That ricewine shit is fucking insane. My gah.

Ricky bought a whole bottle and they all got extremely wasted.

Before Ricky started drinking, he looked at me and said

"You're taking me home safely tonight, alright?"

The night ended before 00.00.

Everyone had a blast though.

As I promised, I carried Ricky home.

Sandra helped me, he's such a lucky guy.

Having 2 strong horses carrying him home.

(we are both year of the horse.)

Managed to skype some with David, which was nice.

He's not feeling so well at the moment. Caught a cold.

Hope he gets better soon. Sucks to have a cold.

He's gonna send me my external hd and fill it up with

awesome stuff, I have the greatest friends.

I really miss him and Nina. I'll see them in summer

though so it's no problem, but still miss them.

Sigh sigh sigh.

So tired. Shittiest post ever... but cba.

Skyped with Jesse rest of the night until i fell asleep.

Omnomnom.

Charlie showing his girly side and his vampire fantasies.

Ricky singing "mmwatchasayyy"

Linnea showing of her strenght by carrying Sandra.

All celebrating John who got sick and went home 3 hours earlier.

lol.

2010-02-15 @ 07:45:12 Permalink Allmänt Kommentarer (1) Trackbacks ()

February 11

Hey there!

Wǒ bìng le....

I havn't been updating in a few days because I've gotten the worst cold imaginable.

Last few days have been horrible. I hate having a cold.

I've made Linnea sick as hell. Poor girl. She is one of my roomies.

The one with her bed closest to me. Haha. Sigh. I feel so bad for her.

I'm so horrible for doing that, even though it was unintentionally.

During Chinese class, I didn't pay any attention.

Ricky (my coordinator and chinese teacher) noticed.

So he made me and Patrik (who was eating) stand infront of the class

and sing "twinkle twinkle little star" or whatever the song is called.

Not in english...but in chinese!

Was such a massive fail from my end, because I couldn't stop laughing

at the beginning and I forgot how to pronounce stuff, me and patrik

not being synchronized didn't really make it easier. Hahaha.

John recorded it. I hope I'll never see it.

It's not that Rickys lessons are boring, they're the best ones we have

on a regular basis, but now when I'm sick I just have major problems focusing.

Later we learned bodyparts. I didn't listen much, because I'm unfocused

and keep thinking about other stuff such as going to Hainan with Jesse.

That would be totally amazing. I just need to know if the same visa rules

apply for Hainan as it does for Hong Kong and Macau.

Okay, just asked Ricky and apparantly you don't need a double entry visa

to go to Hainan! Brilliant! I guess it's settled then. We are so going to Hainan

for a few days or a week when Jesse comes over. Omnomnom.

Haha, anyhow.. once again patrik was sent up to the board!

(Patrik you're such a bad student, not paying attention! Tss! <3)

He had major problems doing what he was supposed to do

so I did what I do best.

Cheated! (omg Ricky don't be mad at me, I have a good chinese reason!)

I helped him some, from the back of the classroom, doing gestures and stuff.

(Oh please, don't give me that. We're in China now! It's very important to

"lose face". Now Patrik was clearly losing face in front of the whole class,

so saving his face was a good thing. I totally did a good chinese thing!)

Somehow while cheating I actually learned some of the words.

Which is good, because thats the point of lessons right? That you learn!

I was lucky I did, because I was called up to the board after Patrik.

Somehow I managed to get almost every answer right!

(Okay, I did hear Natalie or Amy or whoever it was whisper one

of the answers so couldn't take credit for that one, but still!)

Also on one of the questions, Patrik returned the favour from the

back of the classroom. (See, in china.. when you give something

it is important to give back in the same way. I save your face, you save mine.)

Okay, I am gonna be in trouble for this.

Since most likely Ricky is going to read my blog.

I hope he doesn't feel like I don't care about his lessons. I do.

They are, as I said before, the best ones we have. I'm just very

unfocused and crazy now when I'm ill. I think he understands that pretty well,

especially since he has been putting out with a lot of my craziness during

these days when I've been sick. (Refering to the moongod and sungod and

punishment, shooting stuff at him. Being loud, ok I'm always loud but still.)

Ricky: bù hǎo yì sì for acting like such a retard in your class.

Later I went to the internetcafe with John and Ricky.

Was freeeeezing outside. We bought massive ammounts of chocolate

and then we played THA GAIMEZ. Some Counterstrike 1.5 (lolol)

and some Command and Conquer 3 TW, then we went back to school

because we were gonna watch a movie with all the others and eat pizza.

Ricky at the internetcafe with 3 yuan chocolate

But ofcourse they weren't there on time (neither were we,

we were like one hour late, but they were 3 hours late so.. haha)

Jesse came online around that time so I stayed up to talk to him some.

Also, we had a guy from america here these days. His name was Patrick.

His lessons were brilliant, had so much fun just listening to his

stories about teaching in China. Just had to add that.

Alrighty. That was it for now. Tomorrow it's John's birthday.

We're gonna party it up. Maybe even do somekind of surprise.

Giving him a horse saying it's a "bad horse" would be hilarious.

(In-joke) Next time we play CS I'm gonna name myself "bad horse"..

2010-02-12 @ 09:04:53 Permalink Allmänt Kommentarer (1) Trackbacks ()

February 8

Today something really awesome happened.

The sun was shining, and the weather turned into like the

hottest summerday in Sweden. Weather here is soo strange.

We have like 24°C today, few days ahead are supposed to be

22-27°C and then after that it's gonna drop down back to

8°C Like wtf. Is that even possible? Anyway, the sun really

made me happy. I couldn't stop smiling and laughing.

Spent most of my day sitting on the roof.

I even did a short test vlog, on Ustream.

Quality sucks for now, but atleast the sound works!

I figured out what was wrong with my sound before.

On my sound-options I had my speakers to like play

the microphone sound, so in some way it went around

and just fucked everything up, making it sound like

a 100 dying ducks. It's still not really that good.

But it's way better than it used to be.

About the quality of the camera. It sucks.

I can vlog inside, but when I did the vlog in the sun...

my god... The camera couldn't really handle the strong

sun so it all became white and I look like some

monster from the ring (according to XeleX) but

according to Anthony I look like custard or cake.

(I'm not sure if that's supposed to be better? I don't think so.)

I'll buy a camera as soon as I go to Guilin.

Because apparantly Yangshuo is like what Chinatown is in America.

This place is a massive place for tourists, They even have a

street called "Western Street". Chinese people come here to

see the unique landscape and town but one of their main reasons

for coming here is to see foreigners. Maybe thats why I love the

food so much here, because it really isn't completely "Chinese".

If I may say that. They go for stuff we'd prefer. I guess.

Or maybe not... but that would make sense, because I can't

see how all the 40 people I've talked to hated this food.

The food is brilliant. It's amazing. It's better than anything I've had.

I had no clue this was the case with Yangshou though,

people warned me about how chinese people were gonna stare

at me and stuff, but I never noticed any of that.

I only noticed a little in Guilin because people would come up to me

just to look at me and they would say something in Chinese,

I'd ask Ricky and apparantly it was "beautiful beautiful lady".

I thought chinese people were crazy, because I looked like shit.

(I had been travelling for 25 hours so wasn't really strange that I looked like crap.)

Anyhow, my point is.. If you buy technology here in Yangshuo

they know that you really need it NOW. So they charge you loads

more than they would in a big town. Yangshou is just a very small town.

I love Yangshou though. It's so beautiful.

I want to stay here for teaching. I heard that in other parts of China

there has been 3 cases with this organisation only haha that the

schools has hired lifeguards for their foreign teachers because they

fear for their safety. Not that anyone would want to necessarily hurt

them, it's just that they're so popular, they get followed everywhere

and yeah people literally treat you like you're some famous celebrity.

They hire guards because if something happens to the foreign teacher

the school loses it's license. Schools here are important, so you

can imagine how bad some schools don't want you to get hurt.

I mean, for some people you are the first foreigner they've ever

seen in their whole life. It's a big thing for them to have

communicated with "the foreigner" or take a picture to have as memory.