what a weekend!

well i have had the most brilliant weekend ever! well the most brilliant weekend so far in china anyway. so this could be a long blog cos i wanna write aaalllll about it!!!

ok it all started on friday. Dan msg'ed me and asked if i wanted to go out with them. i wasnt goin to but he convinced me that i should and that staying home every weekend was never gonna do me any good. so i packed up stuff and tried to 'hot myself up'..haha. i had to teach from 4 -6pm then straight after work i jumped on the train with my stuff and headed into town. i got there in like half an hour and i called dan so he cud tell the cab driver where his apartment was cos i cudnt repeat it very well. (some chinese is just beyond my oral grasp!) so i jumped in the cab and that stupid driver had no idea where he was going and he dropped me off at the wrong place!!!!so i had to catch another cab! eventually i got to dans. i put my stuff down at his place (cos i was staying in town over night) and then we headed off for dinner.

we went to a hotel restaurant and met up with Bron and Emma (2 aussie gals) and John (from new york) they are Dan's closest friends. we had dim sum, which was really good. had a few laughs as bron, em and i tried to explain to dan and john why it was so disgusting that mark philapousis (spelling?) dumped OUR delta!!! haha. we had fun using all these stupid aussie terms so they had NO idea wot were talking about. wot a laugh.

then we went ten pin bowling. which was funny too. i was the gutter queen. haha. i swear thats the worst ive played in my life. we split up into teams and got all competitive and got the high fives pumping. haha. it was funny. then this russian guy rocked up, his name is Roman. gosh he was nuts. he doesnt even have a russian accent. he's spent some time in the states and he talks like some kind of gangsta. haha. cept he doesnt look rough or anything, he wears glasses and is going bald, so it was such a joke. he was pretty drunk wen he arrived. he'd been drinking and he was swearing his face off. it was pretty annoying really.

then we went to a place called "daves bar" apparently it was the most popular foreign hang out a few yrs ago but not anymore. i can see y, the music sucked. the dj was terrible she was like playing two songs at once, with no matching beat. i dont think she realised. it was rediculous. we had a few drinks and tried to play cards, but roman was being abusive cos he didnt understand how to play. so that kind of ruined it. then bron and dan and john made their way to the pole and did some pole dancing. which coped a fair bit of attn from all the chinese!! as if we didnt have enuff already!

we left after bout an hour and went to "JD's" which the foreign hang out now apparently. it was so packed. we put our jackets behind the bar and grabbed a few beers. i dont really like beer back home in oz, but i like chinese beer! weird. there was so many different nationalities there. africans, germans, russians, koreans, americans,canadians, poms, AUSSIES (WOO HOO) and a few chinese. most of the chinese though were older men trying to pick up young foreign gals *eewwww* i had one old guy crack onto me. yuk. he touched my back. eewwwww. it was horrible.i was like "dan! act like ur my bf or something! save me!" i ended up bailing to the toilet. the toilets were all squats. they werent too bad tho. id say the bathrooms in clubs in aus r prolly dirtier actually!

i met some more aussies. which was really cool. there was 3 guys and one chick. the chick is awesome. i saw her again on sunday actually. her name AAliah. we had a few good dances together actually. she's lovely. shes a bible college drop out apparently. lol. then there was mic/michael. he was totally nuts. i think he ended up getting pretty wasted. but wot a guy. we spent the whole night laughing cos of him. and he was such good fun to dance with. we got up on the podium together then hit the pole together and got the crowd going with our pole dancing. haha. oh wot a scream!!! i was laughing so much that i dont know how i managed to keep my 'sexy routine' going. hehehe. he was real good fun to dance with. he just had no shame. then there was josh. he seemed pretty quiet at first. but after a few he was pretty nuts too. he and bron ended up going home together!!! i didnt realise ppl still did damage over here!!!! it was pretty funny.

the club itself was pretty small. the outskirts had tables n chairs n little booths. the bar as at the far end. the dance floor was in the middle and they had big rocks as stairs going down to the floor. then at the back of the dance floor was the podium. it was glass with lights under it. so that was pretty cool fun to dance on, then u walked out from the podium to this lil round thing with a pole on it, so u were sort of amoungst the crown while u were on it.it was pretty cool. there was another pole on the other side of the dance floor but it didnt seem to popular, it was right near the walk way so u cudnt really swing around without kicking anyone! haha actually, speaking of kicking ppl...haha. gosh. i felt so bad. i was up on the pole by myself at one stage and dan hadnt been up there at all and the guys must hav egged him to get up there with me. but i had my back to them and i went to turn around just as dan was climbing up there and whacked him in the face with my arm. hahaha. poor guy. he scared the hell out of me!we stood there laughing for ages.

i had alot of fun with dan actually. he was a real sweety and paid for like nearly everything for me. he'd say"i got you", in his canadian accent. nothing really happened with us though. we held hands a bit and he had his arm around me wen were sat down together. we wud like sit there and watch everyone on the dance floor.it was pretty interesting. there were alot of russians actualy and the dj played a fair bit of russian pop. i enjoyed watching them getting all excited and pumped wen they heard their fave songs. they were pretty good dancers actually kinda skanky, but they had rythm. they seemed to really dig the dark african guys. alot of the russian girs looked so young tho. too young to be in a night club. bron told me that some of them are too young, but some of them just look young.
there was this one gal who looked so terrible. gosh. i know this is mean but i have to write about her. she had jeans that looked like she sprayed them on, they were so tight. she was kinda tubby and the jeans were a very light color, so they made her ass look HUGE. then she had this ugly chain belt on. then a leopard print, longsleeve, high necked top. that only covered half her stomach...which was hanging OVER her jeans, that were too tight. gosh it was disgusting. anyway. illl try not to be too mean.

it was a real good nite. we left at bout 4am. i had such a brilliant time. and as i was telling tyrone, i dont meant to brag, but us aussies were the life of the party, without a doubt. we sure showed them. haha. one thing i cudnt get over was the huge shot of tequilla the bar gave me. i always said id neva drink tequilla but with a bit of lemon and salt, i like it. so i ordered a shot...and it was only 1o Yuan!!!!!!!!!!! ($1.67 aus) but gosh it was huge...he put it in a glass, not a shot glass, with ice. but it was like, there were 2 shots in there not one. i looked at it and thought, geeeez, im in trouble. but it didnt really effect me as much as i thought. i guess cos i was dancing lots.but wow. ill neva get over how big that shot was. dan looked at me after i had it like i was some kind of crazy lady. and goes "i cant believe you just did that"

so yes, off we went. dans so funny, he let me have his whole apartment to myself. he said that he didnt want me to feel uncomfortable about us being in the same room etc so we stayed at a friends in the next building. so i got his double bed all to myself! much beta than the couch that i thought i was getting. i was relieved too. i was feeling a little nervous about the whole setup. he was a perfect gentlement about the whole thing.

so i got to sleep bout 5am i guess. then i had to get up at 8:30!!!! *uurrrggghhhh* my family and i met at 9:30am at the "pole aquarium" one of my dads students had given him 5 tickets so we cud go there as a family. which was real nice of him. specially since its 130 Yuan each to get in!! it was so amazing though. i was afraid that it might be a hole. but the chinese have done an amazing job. it is of international standards. its like a zoo, but for like, ice animals. lol...kind of a funny term i guess. there were polar bears! Dugons, otters, penguins, little wolf puppies, seals, walrus's, turtles, sooo many different animals. there was also a dolphin show which totally blew my mind. despite it all being in chinese, that was the best dolphin show i have eva seen. im still blown away at how high those dolphins cud jump. it was amazing.

it was such a mesmerising experience though. we spent a good 15 mins watching the dugons. they are like a mix between a whale and a dolphin and they are white. they were so graceful and strong and playful. ive neva seen anything like them in my life! u cud watch them all day and still b fasinated and amazed i think.the polar bears were real amazing too. one of them was such a poser. he just loved the camera and he walked back and forthTOTALLY posing. it was so cute. there was a real big one that just slept. their paws were huge. WOW!we saw so many species of fish that i cud have just neva imagined. sadly the pics do not justify the way they looked in real life. some of the creatues were so prehistoric. it was truly fascinating. it was an experience i will never forget!

saturday sure was cold though. the wind was like ice. it was disgusting really. i msged dan later in the day.he didnt get out of bed til 2:30! slack arse. i was jealous really. i wish i cud have slept that much. i was exhausted. on the bus trip home tho i did sleep. and woke up just in time to get off at my stop! *lucky!* i got off at Jin Ma Lu. and that is generally a windy street...its the main road into kai fai qu..well, its the ONLY road into kai fai qu from dalian. but ive never felt this kind of wind b4. i had to fight to stay upright. it was literally nearly blowing me over~!! i cudnt believe it! i made sure i kept away from the road cos i was afraid of getting blown into the traffic!
i eventually got home tho. i was in bed by 8pm! i was sooo tired. it was good tho. i got up at 7:30am on sunday, so i nearly got 12 hours sleep! i went into hai shi jiao for fellowship. dan called after, wanting to catch up. i didnt want to. i told him i looked like crap and also that i had no money. which was the truth. he wudnt take no for an answer tho. gosh. he's so persuasive. he said he'd pay for it. i told him id pay him back. so we met in town caugt up with some other aussie gals. then dan n i went our own way n went shopping for a bit. then we met up with emma and bron and john and josh (the guy bron took home!!!) and we went ice skating. well dan, jon and i went.the others were too tired and werent dressed warm enuff. it was lotsa fun. i cant skate that well tho. only slow.dan kept trying to convince me to let him push me along so i cud go fast and i wudnt let him. so he came up behind me without me knowing and started pushing. i screamed! it scared me. and then we stacked it. haha. we were covered in ice. damn it was cold!!!!! we lay there laughing. my hands were so purple! eekk, numb almost.

we left in the end cos we cudnt feel our toes! lol. we jumped in a cab. and ended up in an accident 2 mins later.nothing serious. just a dented bumper bar. so we got out, jumped in a new cab. john went home and dan and i went to the shops again to grab a hot drink. we went to this cafe. it was so cute. instead of having tables and chairs they have normal tables but swings as chairs! its like a long plank of wood, hanging on rope that dangles from the ceiling.the rope is wrapped in cheap and nasty fake flowers. but the general idea is so cute. i loved it. real fun!we sat there for hours talking.i really enjoy dans company. we talked about everything. church, homosexuals, friends back home, our families, china...everything. we talked about heaps of stuff. it was a real good convo.if i wasnt falling for him b4, i was after that coffee :-( wot a stupid situation really.

in the end i said i shud go. as mum n dad dont like me travelling alone in the dark. he jumped in cab and he escorted me to the train station. and he gave me money to get home. 50 yuan!!! i tried to give it back. 50 yuan was just too much. but he wudnt give me anything smaller. i told him id bring him the change. he reckons he doesnt want it. weird. either he's just generous or crazy. lol.

and as if the weekend wasnt perfect enuff as it was, i got home and we had burito's for dinner!!! haha.and even beta...i got a call from tyrone. yay! we had a good long chat. telling each other about our weekends.i cried wen i got off the fone to him tho. for lots of reasons. alot to do with him possibly going back to jo-burg. as i cud only b back in oz a few weeks b4 he leaves. also cos i just miss him. i feel frustrated about the whole situation.

ive also decided not to spend a whole week in brisbane. for a few reasons. mostly though, becos i really cant afford it. i convinced myself i cud, but i cant. its just not a wise decision and im gonna need some money wen i get back to perth.also i think im gonna b pretty upset after leaving my family. so the the sooner i get back to a familiar place with familiar faces, the better. it was a hard decision though. i was afraid my friend andrew, who i was gonna meet over there wud b mad at me. but he understood. and didnt seem to mind. we're stil gonna catch up tho. im just gonna be there for a shorter time is all.

wow. wot a weekend. im on a buzz! :-)