New Year's Eve

yesterday i played golf with gumby and bernie.... geez~ its been a while since i've seen them~

nothing's changed though.... which was nice... haha

we played golf out at randwick golf course... which is only par 59... but it is a really nice course... built around the botany bay area.... u look over the ocean most holes....

it was pretty windy out there... and some of the par 3's are ridiculously long....

it was a nice way to kinda end the year... playing golf with some of my good old mates.... im starting to think we should do this more regularly.... although gumby will go back to indonesia in february...

actually, these days i dont even know how much longer i will stay in sydney.... to be honest, i really want to go back overseas....

im going to start looking hard for a job (since its 2009), and i will probably give myself until march to find something decent that i enjoy as well....

if not... well, i might head over to korea and try to settle there... i know the economy over there isnt flash either, but im sure i can make better $$$ in korea than here since im tri-lingual now....

oh wells~ happy new year everyone~!!! hope ur 2009 plans are more set than mine~

xmas eve...

i know this blog might show its still dec 23.... i think its set to american time or something...

but its past 1am on xmas eve here in sydney....

christmas.... in sydney....

i spent the last 3 xmas's in china..... and i thought it would be great to have one back at home.....
its not bad, but its also definitely not as good as i imagined it to be.....

well.... on that note, i guess my 3 xmas's in china weren't bad at all... hahahahaha.....

i guess, i've always had an episode to tell after a xmas in china....

2005, i was in xi'an.... it was my first month since i went to china.... still trying to get used to the new surroundings... i was living in a university professor's house with his family, but the entire family went away during that week...... so i remember renting out some DVDs and sitting in the living room watching "Cody Banks" and "American Pie".... haha....

2006, i was in wuxi.... andrew, kyung and yohan was visiting me.... i was the university teacher now.... and we were invited to some xmas party organised by the student groups.... and on xmas day, some of the students called us out for some KARAOKE~~~!!! haha..... good times~~ ^^

2007, although i was living in yantai, i went back to wuxi for xmas.... met my students again.... then i went clubbing... to the club with some good memories.... and then i headed over to shanghai.... came back to yantai on boxing day..... xmas was fun.... boxing day was good.... but i guess around that time, some things went pear-shaped.... and its now a bitter sweet memory...

2008... well there isnt much to look forward to.... probably drinking.... being drunk.... and sobering up for boxing day and church camp....

i dont know why.... maybe im getting seriously "china-sick"..... thats like homesick... but i miss china.... xmas in china...... its different~ unique.... special...?

well... i hope xmas 2008 has alot of surprises for me..... although.... i dont think i've been good enough in 2008 for santa to be generous to me....

Merry xmas everyone~

holiday season...

it's holiday season now... school holidays will start after this week, people at work are starting their vacations....

and the best sign for a holiday for me is that the summer of cricket really kicks into gear....

as for me..... i've been down to canberra a couple of times to help my dad with his work..... still playing a bit of golf.... and still bumming my remaining days of 2008 away~ ^^

as 2009 approaches... i guess i need to start thinking about what im going to do in 2009....

although..... i guess, my "$ituation" is getting better instead of worse these days... haha... go figure~ ^^

history~~

i missed the presentation night for winning the club championships last month.... i was down in melbourne with sam that day, so i missed the night.....

but i played golf yesterday at strathfield, and decided to take a photo of my name on the board.... coz really... thats pretty much why u play club championships... haha....

in 2005, G Duncan beat me in the semi's and won it..... he is around 4 times my age..... really nice guy though... haha

hehe... my name will stay on that board forever now~~ goes down in history~ haha

in melbourne~

i just realised that my last post was on the melbourne cup.... i was in sydney for that.... but now, im in melbourne for this post...

i've come down here for 8 days to caddy for sam (my cousin) while he plays golf down here...

on the way down here, we took turns driving... but there was a bit of a mishap... i wasnt watching the fuel gauge... and the fuel from the sub-tank didnt kick in... so the car stopped in the middle of the highway..... we were there for about an hour and a half... but eventually we over-pumped up the rear spare tyre, and attached the air hose from that into the fuel tank to push the fuel through the car again.... and we were back on the road....

this is the first time for me in melbourne... i've heard alot about the weather here, and it was exactly as i heard it... out of nowhere, it just started down pouring on the first night.... and the next day, it was bloody hot~!!! but at night, its bloody cold~!!! i have the flu and serious sunburns.... all in 5 days of melbourne.... 4 seasons in 1 day~!!!

since we didnt come here on a holiday, i havent had the chance to really look around melbourne... but the one day we did go into the city for a look, i walked down to the MCG/Rod Laver Arena... and everyone who has been here must have passed Flinders St.....

the Yarra was really pretty too.... and personally, i like this photo that i took of it~ haha

then we had a look at the Crown Casino too... ^^

anyways, the business end of the golf starts tomorrow.... wednesday, thursday, friday.... and i will be back in sydney on saturday~~

from melb... straight to cherrybrook for baseball.... damn~~ cherrybrook is so far~~ especially coming from melb~~ ^^

melbourne cup....

today was the first tuesday of november.... which makes it Melbourne Cup Day~!!!

the day that people who know nothing about horse racing makes bets.....

each year, i make bets for my sister and my mum as well.... and for some reason, my sister's horse usually wins....

this year, i thought i would be smart.... so i bought my sister a ticket.... and CHANGED it with mine~!!! and guess what~ my sister won the money with my original ticket.....

she won $265... see the horse winning in that picture..... yeah..... and that horse coming 2nd.... well, that was my mum's pick... she won $35....

my horse came 4th last..... and i lost 20 dollars.....

damn~~~~ on the whole, it was a good day... i make 70 bucks out of the day....

this gambling thing could keep me happily unemployed for a while yet~~!!! ^^

champion~

ah~! i did it.... i won the C-grade Championships....

it was a 36-hole final, and i lost the first 5 holes~!!! i was losing the whole day after that start, and i was 6 down with only 10 holes to play...

i managed to get even with the other guy, and on the final green, i sunk a 15m downhill putt to win~~

yeah~!!! now i get my name on the C-grade Champions board in the clubhouse~~ haha

it was a really exciting game of golf.... dont often see those~ ^^

on the golf course...

these days, the Club Championships are on at strathfield golf club...

i qualified 6th into the C grade championships....

i won my round of 16's matchplay in a playoff, and on sunday, i won my quarterfinals match too....

on sunday the weather was very clear.... very sunny, and very hot.... not a cloud in the sky.... EXCEPT one cloud!!! and that one cloud covered the sun for about 10 minutes....

haha... it was a nice cover of shade~ it just shows.... "position" is everything~~ ^^

my dogs...

i woke up this morning... and when i came downstairs, the dogs didn't greet me.... WTF???

the dogs just sat there.... watching me come downstairs...

usually, they would jump around and wag their tails.... but i think the weather was too hot today, even for the dogs.....

so i got my camera out, and took a photo of leo.. just sitting in his house, watching me take a photo of him.....


then there was minky.... he was actually sleeping on the floor.... opened his eyes when i came down, but didnt stand up.... lazy dogs!!! leo at least got out of his house, and came to see if i was going to give him any food....

but minky doesnt even eat that much... u give him food, and he wont eat it straight away....

leo on the other hand, he inhales the food down like a pig....

maybe the dogs know that im home alot... so its nothing special... so they dont need to greet me... hahahaha... damn lazy dogs~~

at least they were cute enough to come and pose with their tongues out~

=p

the sky....

after 2 weeks, i've finally decided to clean up my mess that i had brought back from china.... and i realised that i had taken a ton of photos in the last week there, and i hadn't even copied it off my camera...

i like taking photos at the airport.... i love aeroplanes... i wanted to be a pilot when i was young... but i found out that u had to study really hard to become a pilot... well, i like planes... but even when i was young, it wasnt worth studying hard for....

i got the night plane back to sydney.... so i arrived at 6am in the morning... which meant i could watch the sunrise from the aeroplane.... to be honest, i dont know what the big fuss is about the "sunrise".... people always go up mountains and go to the beach to watch the sunrise... but really... it rises every day!! but here's one from the plane anyways...

one of the cooler things i could spot from the air was the SFS (Sydney Football Stadium) and the SCG (Sydney Cricket Ground).... i guess being away for 2 years, and loving sports so much, it was nice to see familiar sports grounds that i love going to... haha

and as most people who live in sydney would know... just before u land, u do a nice fly over the coastline of botany bay... which i thought looked pretty neat~ haha... hmmm..... i wanna go overseas again..... -.-

as the weeks pass by...

over 2 weeks now at home..... not much has changed....

im still "technically" unemployed, although i am going to work almost everyday....

im working at my old job again... the newsagency.... but this time, the boss came to my house.... he knew i was back coz i saw his son at the airport on the day i got back to sydney....

so... he came to my house, and said, "its an emergency. the girl who's supposed to work is out of the country until october"... so.... being a nice guy and all, i said, ok... i'll work a few days for u....

but after a single day of work, on the 2nd day, he had another guy working at the counter... so why the f**k did he need me??? well, he brought out big black folders full of invoices, receipts, order sheets, subagent accounts, etc etc.... and asked me to audit and do his accounts....

seriously... before i left this job almost 3 years ago, i told him he needs to put all the customer accounts into a computer.... he didnt even have a system in a computer to note down where the papers need to be delivered in the morning....

3 years have passed... and he is now lagging over a year in invoices.... so.... once again, being a nice guy =) i started doing his accounts.... but things got worse.... now he must think i want to work there full time for him.... he started telling me where his subagents were, and he took me to all the subagents to collect the money.... and today, he started telling me how to do the weekly returns to the newspaper companies....

so... although its gonna take almost a month to clear up his accounts, im gonna tell him that im not working after this week.... seriously.... this afternoon, i seriously sat there wondering, "why the f**k am i doing this??"

personally, i was enjoying my period of being unemployed.... i play golf 4 times a week, baseball on the weekends, and i can gamble on the footy on the weekends.... and going on my recent sportsbet and casino form..... well, i wont have to work for a while yet~!! haha

the long weekend is coming up... and its the qualification rounds for the club championships at my golf club.... so saturday will be golf... and if i play well, then i'll play the 2nd round of qualifications on the monday.... i have baseball on sunday.... and on the monday (after golf) i have a 4 team baseball competition... its at the blacktown olympic stadium.... its 2 korean teams, a japanese team, and a taiwanese team.... the other korean team that is coming besides mine... its the old army-style nazi team that i used to play for.... should be interesting coz the people there hate me coz i moved teams.... hahahahahaha

well... i better sleep so i can get to "work" tomorrow.... damn~!

life back in sydney...

so i've been back for 5 days now... and these 5 days have gone very very slooooowly~~

baseball... one of the things i was looking forward to.... it got rained out... so there was no game on sunday....

other than that.... i've just bummed at home.... had a few drinks.... otherwise, did nothing.....

looking for a job is an option.... but right now, i dont feel the rush or the urgency to find a job quickly.... if a job comes my way, then i'll take it.... but i dont have the motivation nor the energy to actively seek one.... "seek and you will find"..... so i can seek later, and find later... right??

trying to lose weight in sydney hasnt exactly worked either.... all the foods i've missed.... woolloomooloo hot dogs.... meat pies... fish and chips... VB.... woodstock.... ah~~ i've had it all~ ^^

i do miss china.... i dont miss yantai.... but all the other parts of china that i had stayed in.... i miss it.... i hope a year would pass quickly.... i dont think i could stay here for too long.... sydney is really a place that i would like to be when i have kids... haha

in korea... the airport....

i've finally left china... and i have now set foot in korea.... but since im on a connecting flight to sydney, i cant even get out to the other side of customs.... dammit!!! i know there is a burger king and other nice stuff to eat there... but here i am.... surrounded by duty free stores... and pretty girls that work there, that i will never get to know....

im soooooooooooooooooo hungry right now.... but there isnt any decent REAL food on this side of customs.... just cafes that sell mini crossaints or sandwiches with just a few lettuce leaves in it....

i want a BIG MAC!!!

at least there is free wireless here.... ^^

ah~~~ only 4 more hours to go waiting here for my flight.......

the last week... & last night in China...

so this is it... the last night in china... for this chapter of my life anyways.....

in the morning, i'll be on a plane, headed for korea... and then after killing 6 hours at the airport, i'll be on the flight back home to sydney...

i spent the last weekend on my last 'china chravel' by going to dalian to see dan chan.... the 3 days in dalian made me realise how much i missed being around some close friends... and i think for me and dan chan to be together in china... mischief and random things were ALWAYS going to happen....

the first night there, i met some of dan's friends at "love club".... a russian girl, who everyone calls 'vagina'... but i call her Farzana.... and another "big" girl, who dan calls 'junk in the trunk'... haha....

we ended up sleeping that night at a bath house where my yantai friend was working.... i call her "xiao pengyou", which means... little kid... coz she's TINY... but all the massaging she does at work... her biceps are ridiculous and when she hits u for fun, it hurts....

had hot pot for lunch with dan chan and my little chick friend, and then we all went back to dan's crib to watch a crappy korean movie... a crappy chinese movie.... and the paralympics....

that night, we met dan's dalian friend, Kevin... what a character!! he must be injecting himself with high doses of adrenaline.... the guy was awesome! ended up going to a jazz club to drink a bottle of Jack Daniels, but Kevin and another guy who was drinking with us left early... leaving me and dan to finsh that....

of course, it was too early to call it a night, so we went back to "love club".... what went on at the "love club" that day... well, it was dan, me.... randomly hooked up with a group of 5 chicks and 1 gay-ish guy.... the night in short was alot of constant dirty "groping" dancing, dan and me drinking pink breezers, exchange of phone numbers, but not going home with them....

instead, dan and i tested out our "chinamones".... "chinamones" is like "pheromones"... but u get chinamones after being in china for a long time.... when u first come here, cars will honk at u, and it seems really dangerous to cross the road.... but once u have "chinamones", the cars just naturally go around u..... (of course this ridiculous theory is from my brain...)

so.... after ditching the chicks outside "love club", dan and i walked down the middle of a main road for 30 mins.... and as i said, all the taxis drove right around us... not honking at all... hahaha... dan went on to be more chinese by taking off his shirt while walking into a convenience store....

after that we caught a cab back home... i thought dan said his house was "half an hour" from the club... but he had actually said, "one and a half hour" from the club....

we got in a cab, then told the driver to run all the red lights.... why?? coz we have CHINAMONES!!!!! and the driver said no... coz if he gets caught, he'll have to pay a 200rmb fine.... so we offered to pay his fine if he gets caught.... and i threatened the cab driver that i will throw up in his taxi if he doesnt go quickly thru the red lights.... haha.... in the end, he ran thru all the red lights... and we didnt die.... CHINAMONES!!!!

got back to dan's crib again at 4am.... we COULD have gone to sleep.... but i heard dan's neighbours still awake... and i could hear chicks' voices.... so i took dan's only bowl of instant noodles and walked over to his neighbours house at 4am.... i told them that our electricity was out, and i was wondering if they could boil us some hot water.... there were like 10 people living in that apartment... 2 guys, 7 chicks, 1 old woman.... and they kindly invited me in..... i went back to get dan.... and introduced him to his new neighbours.... haha

4am.... made friends with the neighbours, and they gave us free rice... so we ate there and ended up going to sleep at 5ish....

we didnt get up until like noon, and to cut the story short again, the day consisted of going to a japanese noodle shop to drink the nice free green tea.... get served by dan's "angel" (who had a pool of yellow wax in her ear).... go to dan's chinese class... dan get "diarrhoea-d" on by a bird.... goto the airport and see a fight, and security with shotguns..... and then i got my 40min flight back to yantai........

it was a hectic weekend.... hilarious, awesome..... ah~~ im gonna miss china....

i've been here for sooooooo long..... and i thought i was getting sick of it.... but after hanging out with dan, i realised i was just sick of being in a boring city like yantai...... also i've been missing hanging out with my close mates.... causing mischief.... it is definitely awesome to have a partner in crime..... ^^

the chinese teachers....

this is the first time i think im ever writing on my blog during the day....

yesterday, i took photos with some of my colleagues... the chinese teachers at our school are actually in a different office next to ours.... we used to be all in the same office, but there wasnt enough space with all the new teachers, so now we are in separate offices....

not many of the english teachers wonder into the chinese staff room.... i dont even think the boss goes in there.... but i usually wonder in.... to chat... to ask questions in chinese.... or just to be a pest.... haha

when i first came to this job, there was definitely an awkward feeling in the air when we were sharing an office with the chinese teachers.... u see.... the english teachers get 5~6 times the pay of the chinese teachers.... and the chinese teachers working hours are twice as long~!!

the only difference is that the chinese teachers teach one or two kids in each class... while the english classes have 6~10 kids.... but still.... i'd hate to be teaching for 8~12 hours a day!! so because of the salary difference... it was most definitely awkward being in the same office....

for that reason, i never took my free chinese lessons at our school.... all the english teachers are offered a free chinese lesson for an hour every morning.... i didnt do it because of 2 reasons actually... the first is that it seemed too selfish.... they already work so much!! and for me to take free lessons.... well.... if i had to teach an extra hour of english or korean to the chinese teachers... i'd be pissed off....

the 2nd reason was that the classes were on at 10~11am in the morning... haha

i got along really well with the chinese teachers... i'd study chinese on my own, and if i had any questions, i'd go into their office and ask any one of them... ^^ i guess this was better for them too, and they'd come and ask me english and korean words too....

of course, we'd always talk in chinese ^^

the one standing right at the back on my right in the photo is also getting married this sunday.... i feel so bad that i cant go..... -.- good luck to her.... and good luck to all of them~ they are definitely a great bunch to work with~

its september~!!

september....

only 8 more days before i leave here... and head back home....

right now, i cant wait to go home.... but im also worried about going back to sydney.....

i've been in china for almost 3 years now... i left sydney in december 2005.... i went back in 2006 for 2 months... and since september 2006, i've been here for 2 years straight... so in the past 33 months i've spent 30 in china....

although i hate my job now, and i dont like the city of yantai, i love living in china.....

as a matter of fact, after a year back at home, once i finish off my 2 medical science subjects, i'll probably head back to china or korea...

of course, i've been thinking alot about what i would do in sydney.... how i'd feel being home....

im starting to realise why school teachers have such long holidays... teaching kids is kinda draining.... having to be active all the time.... having kids shout, scream, fight, tantrums.... its a draining job.... thats why the holidays are so long....

but my job doesnt have holidays..... only 3 weeks rest in a year.... so i feel burnt out.....

im scared that after a month of rest in sydney, i'll miss china.... and i'll miss teaching....

i hope the golf, baseball, beach, and exercise in sydney is good..... and maybe win a little at the casino.... haha

olympics diary.... ATHLETICS~

the main stadium.... the "birds nest".... i went to 2 sessions of the athletics in the birds nest... it was quite an experience.... the events i saw werent that great.... alot of qualifying... for javelin, long jump, 200m, decathlon.....

i went to the birds nest twice... and i'd have to say... the experience i had at the two sessions were quite "different".... the first days i went there, the weather was FANTASTIC~!!! it was really hot.... but at least inside the stadium, i was sitting in the shade....

again, i was draped in my flags... although it was hard to find any decent korean or australian competitors in the stadium....

the women's 200m heats was the only track events i saw on the first day.... and the women's javelin qualifying... well..... i'd have to say... some of the competitors... i was surprised they were even in the olympics!


the second day i went to the birds nest.... well it was more like a "bird bath". it poured... and poured.... and my shoes and socks were all soggy.... it took almost an hour waiting in line just to get past the security to get into the olympic green....

also the 2nd day at the "bird bath" was cut short, coz i needed to get a 2pm flight back to yantai to get back to work by 4pm... (of course, i was late to work)....

all in all, the birds nest was just another stadium.... some people say it looks really cool.... but actually... its just "different".... its quite ugly when u actually see it.... but i guess i HAD to go... since its the olympics.... it was good to have a couple of sessions in the main stadium.....

still.... the field hockey was the best event, best atmosphere for the olympics~!!! ^^

olympics diary.... BASEBALL~

on the 2nd morning in beijing, we went to the wukesong baseball field to watch KOREA take on Taiwan...

there was extreeeeeeeeme security, and they had to open everyone's flags too, because they didnt want anyone waving the taiwanese flag.... and they had great fears that people would protest at the taiwanese games.....

during the 7th inning stretch, the FUWA's came out to dance.... the mascots! anyways.... the black one fell over... then as i was taking a photo of it, he got up, and the picture i ended up taking was an absolute kodak moment.... haha


the koreans until this game were undefeated.... and actually (real time) tonight.... they won the gold medal!!! they beat cuba with a double play on loaded bases in the bottom 9th inning.... and they won 3-2.... soooooooooooooo awesome!!!!!!!

the korean pitcher in 99, RYU Hyun Jin.... he pitched a blinder of a game... and the koreans are now the olympic gold medalists!!! and they will be the reigning olympic champions for a while now... since baseball is out of the london olympics...

Korea.... baseball champions!!! gold medalists~~ brilliant!

olympics diary.... FIELD HOCKEY~

back from beijing... and back to my final week of work....

more shit stories from work... but lets not dwell on the shit parts of this wonderful week~ haha

i had a few random people wanting to take photos with me in beijing.... purely because of what i was wearing.... 2 flags.... a korean and an aussie flag.... one as a cape.... one as a skirt.... (depending on which events i was watching).... and i was wearing a LA hat.... so some guys from perth said i was 'confused'.... i'd say its just 'identity crisis'.... sounds more sophisticated~ haha

i watched the australia vs netherlands hockey match... was AWESOME~~ got totally drunk before the game.... and by the end of the game, i was so pumped and confused that i had an awesome time.... haha

most of the events were half empty (or half full).... and that was coz so many people were trying to scalp tickets.... the tickets were originally sold for around 30~50rmb.... but the scalpers were trying to sell them for 2000~6000rmb.... which meant that most chinese couldnt afford it... and also there were so many cops stopping scalpers that in the end, we had empty stadiums....

luckily for the hockey, the people who were monitoring the entrance were piss weak and had no idea... so most of the people sat together in their groups of fans.... actually, i found out that i didnt even have tickets to the aussie game.... i had tickets to the germany vs spain game... but i just walked into the aussie game....

after watching the korea vs spain game, i also just walked over to the other stadium.... while i was walking over, i changed my red shirt to a yellow shirt.... changed my korean and aussie flags... then told the ticket people i left my ticket inside and i came out to get beers.....

i got in~~~ watched the aussies vs the poms too~!!! haha

so i had tickets for 2 different days at the field hockey, but both days, i ended up going to both hockey stadiums watching korea and australia, and i also got a big, orange, inflatable hockey stick (that looks like a candy cane) from one of the dutch chicks at the stadium.....

the total price paid for all of this.... 2 x 30 rmb = 60 rmb.... not even 10 aussie bucks!!! sweeeeeeeeeeet~~

going home....

and after waiting and waiting at the visa office with great frustration, i returned to work only to hear from the boss that i'll need to do it again next month....

u see.... while other people got 3 month visas in july, he left mine till late.... left it till the last minute, and now i can only get a 1 month visa.... so i told him... im not going to f**king wait 8 hours in a visa office for another 1 month visa....

he asked me, what would i do without a visa.... i said... "easy... go home!"

well, once i heard i was getting a one month visa, i was going to a "sonny bill willams" move and just disappear one weekend.... then i would be getting back at my boss, coz he leaves everything till the last minute, he gives us last minute information (eg. today, i was told at 10am that i had a new class at 2pm).... so if i just suddenly left here without notice, then he'd be screwed over by having no teachers to cover my classes....

before i leave, i did also plan to lock the academy from the INSIDE, with my bike lock.... haha (that is still in the plans)....

anyways, im going home~ back to sydney... probably for a year and a bit MAX.... then unless things really blossom and life in sydney can match the excitement and comfort of asia.... well, i think i'll be back in china or korea in 2010... but until then, i wanna play some freakin' golf and baseball.... before i told my boss im quitting, i'd already looked into when the baseball season starts... and i dont want to miss the sept. 13 start.... so i'll be back before then~~

^^

hmmm... if im not in china.... then what do i call my blog??

Beijing Huan Ying Ni.... Opening Ceremony!

the day has come.... 08-08-08 8pm....

opening ceremony time....!!!

altho i had already seen little bits and pieces of it because a korean cameraman had secretly filmed it last week.... it was still nice to watch the real thing.... as real as china gets.....

i went to hywel (canadian guy)'s house to watch the ceremony.... it was nice... the apartment was decorated with our flags.... furniture re-arranged.... u see.... we ALL have waaaaaaaaaaay too much time.... and he cooked for us again.... and we just kept drinking from 8pm until.... now.....

this is when KOREA entered the opening ceremony..... by now, i was pretty drunk..... haha.....

and by the time australia entered.... i was calling kevin rudd, "kev".....

he has screwed up AGAIN~!!

and the plot thickens....

with my visa coming to an end on August 13th... and my olympic tickets dated for events on the 17th~21st... clearly, i need a new visa before heading to beijing...

it was suggested, and suggested, and suggested to my boss that i should renew my visa in July... because the chinese govt has become so tight over visas, it was obvious they were going to get even tighter in August.... my boss's response, "its ok... dont worry"

he wanted to re-apply for my visa at the end of this week... then i can get my passport back at the end of next week, 2 days before i have to go to beijing.... i wasnt going to f**king leave it to the last minute like that... so i told him to do it NOW....

and so today, after spending 6 hours at the visa office.... i didnt get my visa.... came back to work, told my boss that he'd f**ked up all over again, because... no more visa renewals for our school in August... coz so many teachers renewed in July, they thought that is all of it....

now he is saying that i will have to goto korea on sunday.... and apply for a chinese visa in korea.... but clearly at the moment, u can only get chinese visas in ur "home country"... and i have an australian passport.... but my boss says, "its ok.... i know some people there... and i rang them, and they said its ok...."

seriously.... it looks difficult, but i still have a slim hope of going to the olympics... but im still this f**king pissed off.... so..... later this week, if im CERTAIN that i CANT goto the olympics... well.... someone is going to seriously cop it..... and i think that someone knows who he is....

i have a chinese friend here who has tickets to the KOREA vs CAMEROON soccer game on thursday... (2 days later).... and she cant go.... so she offered me her tickets.... but i have to work....

so here's the plan... i personally ring the chinese embassy in korea tomorrow.... i ask them if i can get a chinese visa with an australian passport in korea.... and if they say no, well, on thursday, im going to the soccer game.... and then tearing this school down.... if they say i can get a visa, i goto the olympics as planned, then quit straight after....

i've had enough of this stupid incapable retarted admin at our school.... its like im boarded on the sinking titanic..... and while people are stressed at the lack of management skills, the captain is saying, "everything is ok... its ok.... its under control..." BULLSH!T

olympic events....

today, i found out online which games i will be watching at the olympics....

i mean... i knew what sport im watching, but i didnt know which countries were competing.... because so many of the olympic qualifications finished late.... so it wasnt until recently they announced which teams are playing when...

aaaaaaaaanyways~ i got SUPER LUCKY!!! all the team sports events im watching has Korea or Australia in it~!!!

here are the games i will be watching~~

17 June - Men's Hockey: Pakistan vs Sth Africa... Australia vs Netherlands
18 June - Men's Baseball: Taiwan vs Korea
19 June - Athletics: Morning Session
Men's Hockey: Korea vs Spain... China vs Belgium
21 June - Athletics: Morning Session

sweeeeeeeeeeeet~~ im really looking forward to the baseball... haha

now.... i just need a visa to be in china at that time.... -.-

a lonely, boring vacation....

so here i am... in yantai.... i could be in sydney... but nope.... im in yantai....

im still on vacation... until next monday.... and what am i doing this week??? NOTHING....

its a week off work, and im at home, doing nothing..... sad isnt it??

yesterday and today, i went to the gym.... played ping pong with rory..... and last night, hywel made burgers for us, which was cool....

i guess since those 2 dont have their passports due to the dodgy timing of things from the boss, we cant even go away anywhere....

funnily enough.... both our bosses are in korea.... 1 left last friday, and the other one left that i live with, he left yesterday.... and his wife came to china the day before... which meant, she came for a day, so they can pack and go to korea..... a little suspicious... and worrying that both our bosses have taken off to korea.... maybe they are just deserting this business... haha

the weather is so nice outside.... summer... but not too hot.... i should be out there doing something....

instead, the last two days, i went into work to sort out the mess that the boss has left here with 2 students TOEFL application money gone missing.... fucking hell!!!

maybe i should ask for a pay raise..... since im done with my last contract..... haha.... seriously... whats he gonna do...? fire me???

back from a holiday.... but no sydney....

after 10 days holidaying north-eastern china with my mum, im back in yantai.... i was supposed to go to sydney this sunday... but once again... for the 1398th time, the boss has changed plans... and now we CAN renew our visas in china... so i dont have to goto sydney....

kinda sux coz i was really looking forward to going home....

anyways... the holiday was good... spent a day in shanghai before my mum arrived in china... got ridiculously hammered... haha

i went to beijing with my mum.... and DAMN~~ its dirty!! i've been to beijing many times now... but it's hit the peak of "diiiirty~". with the olympics only 20-something days away... damn~ so i decided to take some photos of 'beijing today' as it is...

first, they are still working on the main stadium... not sure what they are doing... but im sure its not supposed to look like that....

and as for the escalators up to the stadium front... well, im sure they weren't meant to look like this too....

i guess it wouldnt take too long to fix these things up tho... right?

as for making the footpaths around the stadium area... again.... it wont take long, but it leaves a hell of a mess to clean up....

after beijing, we went to "Changbai Mountains", otherwise known to koreans as "Baekdu Mountains".... going to the mountain was probably harder than getting up the mountain...

we had to catch a 8 hour bus from Jilin to the mountains, and had to join up with a tour group to enter the mountains.... but up the top is this AWESOME pond.... i think it should be called a lake.... but anyways, they call it the pond in the sky, or sky pond or something... i'd like to call it Bigpond... haha

in contrast to beijing, this place was really clean.... obviously.... i saw the chinese soccer team up there too.... knew no faces... knew no names.... i just knew that they had most recently beat australia B-team... and didnt make the world cup....

AND THEN~~~

returned to yantai... i still dont have to goto work until the 28th July.... my vacation was until this week.... and next week, our school had already told the parents that we are taking a week off due to visa problems, and the teachers had to all go back to their home countries....

BUT WE DONT!!! they are getting our visas from within china... and so i dont get to go home =(

i am planning on quitting pretty soon though... although... my boss did ask me to give him 2~3 months notice.... so even if i quit now, it wont be until november/december i will leave here... i also dont want to tell him that im quitting now... coz then they might get all EVIL on me and the other teachers going to beijing for the olympic games in august....

after i come back from the olympics, i'll tell them... ah... im gonna leave here soon.....

the irish teacher quit.... he told the boss that he will quit on wednesday.... so.... he's working until the end of august.... nice workplace huh? "I QUIT!!!".... "ok.... so i'll work for another 6 weeks... then leave..."

haha... well... after i say i quit in august... i'll be home in sydney around november or december.... DEFINITELY!!! (i think)

HOLIDAY~~ then SYDNEY!!!

so... the weekend has started, and my 2 week holiday has started... my mum will arrive in china on monday, then we will start a mini tour around northern china.... hope everything goes smoothly and safely....

AFTER my 2 week holiday, my mum is going to korea for another fortnight... and i will go to SYDNEY!! (hopefully..) im about 90% certain that i will be going to sydney for a week... or maybe actually less than a week... i need to go home, apply for a work visa in china again, then jet straight back to work....

but still... im not paying for the flight to sydney... so 5 days there is still cool....

i've been thinking about what to do in the 5 days that im there.... i thought... i want to play golf.... i want to spend some "quality time" with my dogs.... and since my mum wont be there... (she will be in korea), i think i'll go wherever i want with her car... haha

now here's what im WORRIED about.... since i've left sydney 2 years ago... i've gained.... 20kgs.... yes.... thats right.. 20... no typo.... 18, 19 then 20!!! i mean... while im here, i never realised how fat i was getting with this high-life.... but 20kgs.... i guess that would show to most people back in sydney huh?? maybe even my dogs will think im fat now.... haha

ah well.... so i got paid my bonus for finishing my year contract... coooooool~~ lots of spending money for my 2 week vacation and 1 week in sydney ^^

maybe i shouldnt get too ahead of myself.... what if i cant go to sydney.... i'd be SHATTERED~ i think.... well... if i dont go home, i'll be going to hong kong.... so.... i dunno... ^^

well.... when im back from my holiday, i'll write on the blog again~ till then~

rain... tickets.... & good news!!

yesterday, it poured here.... for the first time in a looooong time, i woke up to raindrops on the roof.... i mean... dont get me wrong.... it rains a fair bit here... but usually its just thunderstorms at night... and in the morning, its dry.....

well... it was refreshing to wake up to rain for a change.... but it was POURING~~ and although i opened my eyes in the morning with a smile, due to the history of broken bones, as soon as i tried to move from my bed, my entire body was aching....

our maid came at noon with her jeans drenched in rain... she told me that the gate to our place was flooded with "THIS" much rain (pointing to her knees).... i didnt believe her....

but when i walked out to goto work.... there is was... the entrance to our apartment blocks flooded with 40cm of water... there were all these koreans and chinese people standing around complaining that they cant get out..... they were all wearing sneakers..... i was wearing sandals... coz my maid told me to wear sandals... haha

it didnt rain so much that the entire are flooded... it was just bad maintenance around our apartments that our entrance is caved in like a basin.... so most people stood there..... looking at our apartments... then a lake..... then the rest of the city..... some chinese girl that i dont know kept trying to talk to me about how much it had rained.... duh~~~~ and it was STILL raining!


later she asked me to give her a piggy-back over the flooded area... hahahahahahaha~~ i said no.... then i just walked thru the flood wearing my sandals~~ hehe.... some chinese guy tried to ride his bike thru it.... then stacked it into the water.....

just to annoy the people on the "other side" of the flood... i stood there taking these wonderful photos with my phone ^^


onto other news.... my mum is coming to china next monday.... my boss wants me to goto hong kong to renew my visa.... coz he screwed up the entire renewal process for all the teachers.... to tell him that he can shove the hong kong idea up his rear, i bought all the airline tickets for my travel with my mum, and got it sent to work... haha.... he told me.... ah... we can fix up ur visa after ur mum leaves.... (i might have to goto sydney for a week)


and the final GREAT news is... i got an email from UTS today saying that my leave of absence application has been approved.... so i can finish my 2 subjects in 2009.... but i MUST go back in 2009.... hehe~ niiiiiiiiiiiice~~

i now just need a chinese visa so that i can goto the olympics in August~!!!! (fingers crossed~)

canada day...

today was canada day.... july 1.... well... its july 2, 2:30am now..... but anyways....

so i work with a canadian-welsh guy.... and an irish-canadian guy.... so that equates to like... 1.5 canadians....

so to celebrate canada day, we went to hywel's (canadian-welsh) place, and drank "MOJU"....

moju was a cocktail mix of 'maple syrup' and 'soju'..... it was really nice.... it was rather weird going to hywel's place and not having something to watch on the big screen.... we did watch some 2004 olympic weight-lifting... that was on chinese tv...... then we watched a replay of Euro 2008 semis.....

come to think of it.... i dont even know what i did on australia day for the past 3 years....

well... to all the canadians that i have worked with, and im working with now... happy Jia-Na-Da day.....

and now....to where?

it has been a rather eventful week this week....

the wallabies beat the french... spain and germany won their games to meet in the euro 2008 final tonight.... the bulldogs totally sucked against a sucky roosters reserve side... hewitt will play federer at wimbledon, while ivanovic and djokavic both lost....

... and on a personal note, i had a major confrontation with my boss this week about our working visas.....

so the general behind story is that due to the Beijing 2008 olympics, the chinese govt are restricting who gets visas to stay in china.... since february, they were reluctant to give any foreigners a new visa to be in china.... unless u bribed the right people....

and now, not even bribes will work.... and ZERO number of foreigners will be able to renew their visas in china....

well.... so its not my boss's fault that its hard to get our visas... but we did actually have an opportunity to do the right/legal thing and get our visas properly a couple of months ago... instead, our boss felt that the CORRECT method was too expensive... so he chose to look for a cheaper/illegal alternative....

now im in the situation with the other foreign teachers where our visas will expire BEFORE our olympic tickets.... so our boss has decided to pay for all of us to go down to Hong Kong and renew our visas and return to china..... well... the last time i checked blogs and forums online, people couldnt get mainland chinese visas from hong kong too.... u had to go back to ur home country....

and the other stupid thing that really pissed me off is that, our boss said that he will pay for our trip to Hong Kong... instead, that will be our week vacation for the summer... which means that we wont get a week off during the olympics.... which means... we cant goto beijing and watch the events we have tickets for.....

ummmm.... i dont think so..... im going to the olympics no matter what.... and if he says no... well, im willing to quit my job to go to beijing in august.....

so that was the confrontation..... the canadian guy, and the irish guy also said, we're going to the olympics no matter what.... so..... i guess the boss is going to need to give in for this one.... i mean... there wouldnt be any problem, and we wouldnt need to goto Hong Kong if he hadn't f**ked around with our work visas for half a year!

anyways.... my contract finishes next week too... well... on July 8th.... and the boss is expecting me to be "korean" about it and just keep working long term without a contract.... actually thats fine for me... coz i dont want to be tied down on another contract... i'll just work until i feel like leaving.... but i still want my 10,000RMB bonus for completing this contract.....

and if i dont get that money.... well THEN..... im going to have to start kicking some admin arses~!!! hahaha.....

SHOW ME THE MONEY~~~~!!!

p.s. i think spain will win 3-1 tonight..... haha

soccer night~ again!

its soccer day/night again... i stay up until 5am watching the Euro 2008 every night... but today is the day when australia plays china.... and south and north korea plays each other too....

i did stay up to watch russia beat netherlands.... well done mr. hiddink..... but i was really too tired, and too drunk to really care who won.....

china just beat australia.... and watching this game only reminds me how close my home is to the olympic stadium in sydney.... ah~~ i miss home..... i cant believe the sydney olympic stadium reminds me of home.... well.... maybe it does make sense.....

anyways korea vs nth korea..... should be interesting....

beer, soccer, sleep, playstation2, foot massages...... my week has continued.... but im still waiting on a decision from UTS about my leave of absence.....

if i have to go back to uni... im guessing my weeks will be more like.... sleep, soccer, beer.... so im going to have to lose out on the playstation and foot massages.... damn!!! and i'll have to give up the beijing olympic tickets that i have.... double damn!!!

ah... i wonder when the uni is going to make a decision....

possible early return to Sydney....?

today i found out that you can only defer subjects at the university TWICE.... i've already deferred my 2 medical science subjects twice.... which means.... if i dont do it this coming semester, my medical science degree will just be cancelled....

sure... i've always said, "a business degree is enough for me".... and since i admittedly SUCK HARD at science... i dont even feel i deserve a med science degree....

but on the other hand... i've done 30 out of 32 required subjects.... so it would feel like an almighty waste to not complete the last 2 subjects....

also... since i took off straight after my final business exam in 2005... i never had a graduation ceremony... i dont know why... but i want a graduation ceremony.... but the university sent my business degree to my house in the mail.... so if i do these 2 science subjects, i can have a graduation ceremony... hahahaha

but here's the dilemma.... i also REALLY REALLY REALLY want to go and watch the beijing olympics.... for 2 days, i waited 7 hours outside a bank so that i can get tickets to the olympics... but my tickets are for events on August 17~21..... uni starts again July 28.....

im either going to have to enrol... then get kicked out of the subject.... or give up my olympic tickets.... dammit!!! yeah sure... i'll also have to quit my job... but seriously... im not worried about that at all... im certain i can come back to this job whenever i want later....

well... im going to have to call UTS Science faculty myself... and i'll have to somehow try and talk my way into a third Leave of Absence..... if they say no..... well.... im in a pickle.....

wow.... i havent been in a pickle... or felt this stressed since........ i dont know.....??? damn~!!!!

another weekend....

2 days ago, a new teacher came to our school from korea.... she doesnt have to start work until tomorrow, so she came to yantai to start on a weekend....

last night, i went out with the irish guy, canadian guy to take the new korean teacher to the night market near our house... we bought nothing.... just sat at some skewers shop and ate pork skewers and drank beer.... afterwards, we walked to the beach, and sat down and drank more beer.....

after drowning ourselves in beer, we went back to the canadian guys place.... he has a projecter, and a big white wall.... so we watched the Euro 2008 on a 260cm screen.... sweet~~ of course... more beer.....

almost at 4am, i came back home with the korean teacher.... she's living in my apartment in the spare room until her apartment gets ready... (which i think is tomorrow).....

anyways... so its 4am.... and since its her first weekend here, to get to know each other more we just kept drinking at my apartment too.... i think we drank to almost 6.30am.... and while i went to pee, she fell asleep on my bed..... so i had to sleep in the spare room.... theres no bed there... just a mattress..... it was so uncomfortable, i went upstairs and slept on my boss's bed.... he's never home on the weekends.... so i figured i'll sleep on his comfortable bed.... i was drunk!!!

well... my boss came home this morning around 9am... and found me sleeping on his bed.... then i had to tell him that the new teacher was sleeping on my bed.... and since she's a she.... there was this really awkward pause from my boss.... i dont know why.... he knows that all the teachers went out to drink together.... so im not sure if he was angry that we made her drink so much.... or maybe because she's new here and from the first night she got really drunk.... or the fact that my boss is being really korean and is just wondering why a korean girl would just get drunk then fall asleep on another guys bed..... either way.... after that awkward pause, he still kicked me out of his bed, then laughed.... which is a good sign... right?

well.... i slept on the boss's son's bed.... till 3pm.... hahahaha

got up... played ps2 for a few hours... ordered dinner..... ate with the boss's son and the new chick..... went to get a foot massage with the new chick..... came home... played more ps2....

ah~~ another weekend has gone by... and i've gained..... not much..... maybe 2kgs...... haha

watching soccer on a MASSIVE screen.... playing ps2 with the projecter was pretty cool too.... and drowning urself in beer.... sleeping till 3pm.... then playing ps2 until getting a foot massage..... i think i have finger-ache..... my fingers hurt...... hmmmmmm.....

i need a finger massage...... ?

where is this going....?

well... i've done it.... i've started a blog....

i have the korean cyworld... i have facebook.... and if u really want to go back in time, i made a homepage in high school too.... now... i have a blog.... if u go by my past performances.... this blog wont last so long..... OR WILL IT???

so... why did i start this blog....??? i dont know.... i guess writing email updates once a month wasnt enough to tell u all the wonderful stories and experiences of working in china.... but honestly, i write once a month because not much happens in Yantai....

i say Yantai because.... its not china that is boring..... i feel Yantai is the problem.... it wasnt so boring and dull in other parts of china.... so... will i move to another city??? probably not.... i like the pay here....

i feel like i've retired.... early retirement has always been a dream of mine.... but seriously... sleeping in everyday, watching sports and movies until the sunrises, drowning urself in beer on any given night, going to get massages 3~4 times a week, getting all ur food and groceries delivered to ur door.... if this is what retirement is like, well.... i've retired....

sure i goto work for 4 or 5 hours a day.... but really.... sometimes i feel i DONT HAVE to work.... i just need to show up to work.....

one of the reasons i started this blog is.... i have too much time on my hands..... and another reason is.... so much shit is going thru my head these days.... its nice to keep a record of what i was thinking in the past... hahaha

maybe someone who is reading this blog can help me with whether i should stay in yantai... stay in china at all.... goto korea.... go back to sydney.... go travelling.... start my own business.... retire?

i dont know whats going to happen to this blog in the near future.... as much as i dont even know what im going to be doing in the near future.... dont get me wrong..... im not losing my job, nor am i going to be an unemployed bum..... but maybe i need change..... but do i want to give up this retired lifestyle to go back to work...??? hmmmmmm......... i dunno......