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