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I just signed on for this one recently, and was very pleasantly surprised to find that it contained much more than the usual dry number crunching that frequently fills the pages of a newsletter about investing. In today's letter there were two stories that I thought were well worth repeating.

Neither of them are about China, Asia or Online Dating, but they are about the chaos and fear that is enveloping the world these days, which affects us where ever we happen to be. This first one is about the goings on in America, which, judging by this, is starting to make China look like the "Land of the Free".

While this story is extremely funny on the surface, below the surface is some seriously scary shit! I have many American friends and I don't know a single one of them who would defend or tolerate their government behaving like the Nazi's (disguised as the DHS) described here. Hopefully the citizens of America will rise up and get their wonderful country back on track as the leader of the free world that it once was.

From The Daily Reckoning
dr@dailyreckoning.com
www.dailyreckoning.com
Written by Joel Bowman

Lost In Translation

First up, a quick public service announcement for our International Reckoners:

If you’re planning a vacation to the United States of America in the foreseeable future, you would do well to refrain from employing any confusing colloquialisms in your social media updates prior to departure.

For Australians, that means no “cracking onto” members of the opposite sex...no getting “off one’s face”...no “tearing it up”...no “little rippers” and, we would think, no “barrakking” for anyone.

Our Irish friends will likewise wish to steer clear of referring to anything as “the gas,” from declaring intentions to “eat one’s head off” and from “throwing shapes,” “sucking diesel” or otherwise “effin’ and blindin’.”

We can only imagine to what extent our English Reckoners shall have to curb their delightfully colorful lingo to ensure a stateside journey (even relatively) free of let or hindrance at the gate, though we imagine no measure of self-censorship will be sufficient to guarantee a transit experience free of at least a touch of “Ye ol’ Liberty Grope.”

What’s all this caper then, eh? What’s the apple, the score, the bleedin’ apple core?

Apologies for the loose linguistics, weary reader. But a point begs its making; a point two British (would-be) tourists, Leigh Van Bryan and Emily Bunting, discovered the hard way just last week.

Apparently rather chuffed at the upcoming prospect of a wee jaunt over the pond, Van Bryan and Bunting engaged in a bit of online banter before their big trip to the US. Mistake number one. The two were perhaps unaware that the Department of Homeland Security routinely trolls the global social media digital waves, setting up accounts to listen in on prospective threats to...um...the “Homeland.”

We can only imagine the hysterical frenzy that whipped around the DHS H.Q. when they discovered what Van Bryan, 26, had posted.

“Free this week for a quick gossip/prep before I go and destroy America x”

Not that it should matter, but “destroy” is popular English slang for “party”...an easily Googlable fact, one would think, for the highly skilled heroes manning the control tower at the Twitter and Facebook Counter Terrorism and Special Operations Unit for Liberty and Freedom of the Homeland... Patriot... Liberty... uh, never mind.

After making their way through passport control at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) last week, the pair were promptly detained by armed guards/heroes/patriots. But the real trouble was still to come.
The two were then informed that the DHS was on to their scheme to “destroy” (read: party in) America and (Could it be? No! Sweet Mother of Mercy!) their sick and twisted plot to dig up the grave of Marilyn Monroe!

“3 weeks today, we’re totally in LA p****** people off on Hollywood Blvd and diggin’ Marilyn Monroe up!”

The pair explained that the tweet, which the DHS had considered a grave matter of national security was, actually, a reference from Family Guy, a popular television show produced in the Homeland itself...behind patriot lines!

“They asked why we wanted to destroy America and we tried to explain it meant to get trashed and party,” explained Bunting. “I almost burst out laughing when they asked me if I was going to be Leigh’s lookout while he dug up Marilyn Monroe. I couldn’t believe it because it was a quote from the comedy Family Guy which is an American show.”

Department of Homeland Security staff, brave unwavering professionals as they are, were not deterred from their mission.

“It got even more ridiculous because the officials searched our suitcases and said they were looking for spades and shovels. They did a full body search on me too” explained Bunting.

Perhaps because grave-robbing spades and shovels have little to do with (most people’s idea of) partying, the DHS were unable to find any in the pair’s luggage or, strangely enough, on their person. Nevertheless, this was no time to take chances:

“I kept saying to them they had got the wrong meaning from my tweet but they just told me ‘you’ve really f***** up with that tweet boy’.”

Van Bryan, apparently thought to be the leader of the non-existent operation, was then cuffed, thrown in a cage inside a van and whisked away to a location where he could not be of harm to Homeland citizens.

Recounted the suspect:


“When we arrived at the prison [ed.: prison!] I was shoved in a cell on my own but after an hour two huge Mexican men covered in tattoos came in and started asking me who I was... They told me they’d been arrested for taking cocaine over the border... When the food arrived on the tray they took it all and just left me with a carton of apple juice.”
After 12 hours in custody, the pair were returned to the airport where they were sent directly home...charge sheets in hand.

Emily “The Lookout” Bunting’s charge sheet stated: “It is believed that you are travelling with Leigh-Van Bryan who possibly has the intentions of coming to the United States to commit crimes.”

“Possibly has the intentions”? We can almost hear Special Twitter Task Force Agent Johnston saying, “That’s as good as a thought crime to me!”

Added the charge sheet of one Leigh “Happy Birthday Mr. President” Van Bryan:

“He had posted on his Tweeter website account that he was coming to the United States to dig up the grave of Marilyn Monroe. Also on his tweeter account Mr. Bryan posted that he was coming to destroy America.”

We’re not quite sure what a “Tweeter account” is, but you can be sure the vigilant servicemen and women at the DHS are on the case. Thank goodness the pair didn’t use the “we were only taking the Mickey” defense. Could you imagine the costs and hassle involved in having to put Disneyland on high security lockdown? We shudder to think.

So, to our International Reckoners, remember to travel safely both to and from the Homeland. And please, feel free to pass our public service announcement on.

[Ed. Note: We’re having a bit of fun here, obviously. But the subject is a serious one. If the thought of living in a police state scares you, you might wish to begin thinking about ways to live and/or invest outside the Homeland borders.
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He's coming to Beijing soon (February 11) for a solo show and when I heard it I knew I had to go to try to thank him.

Almost 20 or so years ago I had a friend who had lung cancer, though he didn't smoke. He'd also had a rather cursed life overall, especially for a guy so young and really innocent in so many ways, and I always felt it was unfair.

But one of the lights in his otherwise generally bleak life was listening to Jorma Kaukonen. He was an enormous fan and I working as a rock critic at the time. When I learned Jorma was coming to my hometown, Boulder, Colorado for a show, I contacted his management saying this guy is dying of cancer and a big fan etc can you get him into the show and backstage?

I didn’t expect a reply, really, but a FedEx package came a few days later stuffed with Jorma, Jeff Airplane and Hot Tuna memorabilia as well as CDs of rare cuts and the latest solo CD, plus an encouraging letter from Jorma, a backstage pass and word that my friend was on the list to get in free.

Unfortunately, my pal was too sick to make the show... but he did love the CARE package and besides a lot of medical tubes, was also plugged into to one of the CDs on a Discman (remember them?) shortly before he died. It was so generous and caring of a man who could’ve easily ignored the plea.

I didn’t make the show either to thank him properly, but years later in China I have the opportunity to do so.

Just a sappy rock n roll story from long ago.
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You doubt me? Just Google “Hafiz Sufi Poetry” and be prepared to be blown away…

Plus, since I have a lousy singing voice but a heavy sexual drive it will actually work out better for me to go to the Islamic heaven rather that the Christian one. I can understand why the Angel Lucifer “Went Rouge”, as we say in the Agency. All singing and no swinging makes one a rover, Jehovah…

Which leads us to…?

The three Gili Islands are located in between the famous Indonesian island of Bali and the very big but not well known Indonesian island of Lombok.

Let me cut to the chase by explaining that the unofficial motto of the Gilis is “I’m ugly but mushrooms make me beautiful.”

Probably the comfortable foam futons on the beach, the endless alcohol, the crystalline snorkeling diving waters, the hard partying nights, and the absence of police on the islands all help contribute to the weary travelers’ sense of well being. Oh yeah, no mechanized land transport either. No motorbikes, no cars. The fastest means of transport other than bicycle is donkey cart.

If you want to travel by donkey cart, be sure to ask for the one drawn by “Speedy the D”.

When snorkeling (and watching sea turtles) be sure to pick your head out of the water to gaze on Mt Rinjani, a fairly active volcano, all 12,224 feet of it, over on the very near shore of Lombok. It’s this ability to shift ones gaze from tropical fish and reefs to impressive, hard trekking mountains in one glance that makes all of Indonesia a unique experience.

Mind you, the Gilis aren’t that cheap. A decent hotel can cost you $25 USA on the main island of Gili Trawangan. Restaurants will cost you 4 or 5 dollars a meal, but all come with water views and lingering all day rights. The town is situated on both sides of the walking/donkey cart main road. This donkey road goes around the entire island.

You get to the Gilis via a nice boat ride, volcano scenery and all, from a seaport on Bali. The speedboat is quicker, but the slower boat gives one the space to sunbath on deck. Or, you could get there from Lombok, then go on to Bali.

There are 3 Gilis; Trawangan is the inhabited one. The daily snorkeling boat will give you some time to visit and cruise past Gilis Meno and Air.

So the Gilis are good for days of partying, sunbathing, swimming, snorkeling, and diving and maybe just plain resting.

Those mushrooms? Tried I rushmoons not! Jar Jar Binks, mebbe so tried rushmoons, but me so never!! However, it is a peculiarity of Bali and Lombok that though weed is legal death; there are wildly decorated public mushroom shops all over the islands. Do it not! Not it do, Scooby Do!

The whispered knowledge handed down from times immortal that such mushrooms are alive with a truly separate intelligence that one meets (while they are making you beautiful) is quite true. Beware! This separate intelligence (depicted as the friendly goblins in the paintings of the mushroom shops) loves to stick its knowing little psychedelic hands up the skirt of your mind and touch all the wrong spots in just the right way. As in, I know it’s so bad, but it feels so good!

Gee. Maybe even the highest wisdom is a sexual turn on for me? That’s bad… but it feels so good!

Anyhow…

The Gilis! A bit expensive, quite hedonistic and the loudest mechanical sounds are scuba tank air compressors, party music, and the turning of donkey cart wheels.

Ya gotta party there at least once!]]> http://cybercupidemag.com/blog/article.aspx?pkid=711
One of contemporary China’s best known novelists, Yu Hua’s “To Live” was made into a film by Zhang Yimou. It is a panorama of China in the last half of the twentieth century—from the founding of the Republic to the Great Leap Forward to the Cultural Revolution and into the later part of the twentieth century—as illustrated by the shifting fortunes of one family. No one familiar with this period will be surprised to find both the words “tragedy” and “triumph of the spirit” can be aptly ascribed to both the novel and the film.

It is harder to know exactly what words to apply to his 2008 work, “Brothers.” The New York Times used “blunt, puerile, libidinous,” The Guardian “crude, hyperbolic” and the LA Times “crude, lowbrow, crass.” “Hilarious” invariably turns up in most reviews, while no one I have come across so far has used the word “boring.” Given these descriptions, you will not be surprised to learn that a pivotal scene in the first part of the novel involves the main character falling into a pool of shit at a public toilet while trying to sneak a look a woman’s behind. Unfortunately, I am not knowledgeable enough about the architecture of Cultural Revolution era toilets to explain the mechanics of this scenario. The novel concludes with a beauty contest for virgins whose prize causes women all over China to get surgery to restore their hymens. Amidst these absurdities we are presented with the saga of the two step brothers who come to age during the Cultural Revolution and carve out different paths into the twenty-first century and whose conflicting fortunes provide a serious critique of the excesses and indiscretions of contemporary China.

“China In Ten Words” is a different beast entirely, a work of nonfiction but one whose critique of China will not be unfamiliar to readers of Yu Hua’s books. Indeed, some lines right out of the nonfiction work could well be used in a literature course to describe themes from the last novel.

“Since 1990, corruption has grown with the same astounding speed as the economy as a whole.”
“In the short space of thirty years, a China ruled by politics has transformed itself into a China where money is king.”
“Environmental degradation, moral collapse, the polarization of rich and poor, pervasive corruption — all these things are constantly exacerbating contradictions in Chinese society.”
“So intense is the competition and so unbearable the pressure that, for many Chinese, survival is like war itself. In this social environment the strong prey on the weak, people enrich themselves through brute force and deception, and the meek and humble suffer while the bold and unscrupulous flourish.”

“China In Ten Words” devotes a chapter to each of the following terms — people, leader, reading writing, Lu Xun, revolution, disparity, grassroots, copycat, bamboozle — in order to provide a prism through which to look at contemporary China.

Take, for example, the word “people” (人民: renmin). For Yu Hua, there is something mystical about the term. Growing up during the Cultural Revolution, the phrase “to serve the people” (wei renmin fuwu: 为人民服务) was one of Mao’s favorites and was invoked to express the highest attainable goal of a Chinese citizen. It stood for a common good overriding individual interest. Indeed, the word itself is in the name of the country: the People’s Republic of China. Today, Yu Hua laments, this concept is foreign to his countrymen, who in the grip of capitalism are obsessed with self-interest. If there is a shared sentiment, Yu Hua sarcastically remarks, it is that “everyone is united in the urge to make money.” The only people who use the term in the old sense are public officials and entrepreneurs, who invoke it only to profit off of it. I am reminded of the old Twilight Zone episode, where creatures from outer space come to planet Earth carrying a book “To Serve Man.” We think the aliens are here to help us but in fact the words are the title of a cookbook, with us as the main ingredient. To Yu Hua, this seems to be the fate of Mao’s slogan in contemporary China. ”

The analysis carried out in the examination of the remaining words is no less harsh but provides a valuable history lesson for those unfamiliar with China’s past and a no holds barred look at its present.
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My main concern is safety, and remembering the vehicle has at least 6 corners spatially that you must know where they are in relation to the environment at any time. So, when my friend eagerly bounded up to me the last evening and said “wanna take a ride in my new car", I knew I'd have to bite my lip and bury my fingernails into my kneecaps for a few circuits around the streets.

I knew things would be interesting when she tried to start the motor without her foot on the clutch... the car lurched forward about 6 inches with an “ohh, ohh, ohh”, from my friend, “you know I always do that - I asked my brother to buy me a no-gears car... but he didn't”.

Once she got the motor running, she steered out into the roadway without looking...I said “what about cars coming behind you” to which she replied “well, in China, they have to give way to me!”. I suggested to her in future that she might check her mirror and look over her shoulder in her blind-spot to check if there wasn't a car, pedestrian or bicycle there to which she replied “I'm not blind, no blind spots, I had my eyes checked for the test, you know!”

By this stage, I was ready to bail from the car, but we were wildly careening down the road, horn blazing.
“Why do you do that?”, I asked. “Do what?” she asked. “drive with your hand always on the horn!”,I replied “well, I have to tell people I'm coming so they'll get out of the way!”. Oh dear, you can say that again!

“Traffic lights are red”, I spluttered.

“Say what?” as we sailed through the intersection narrowly missing an old lady on a bicycle.

“Traffic lights, red, means stop”, I whispered breathlessly.

“Oh, my instructor told me if there were no cars coming and it was night-time then the police won't catch you, so it is ok!"

“Really, where did you find this instructor?”

“My friend told me about him - she said he was really easy to get license from”.

Now I was beginning to put the jigsaw puzzle together!

IPhone Marimba - “Wei,Ni Hao”, I swore under my breath, as she was driving and talking on the phone... we crossed the centreline and then drifted back; left lane, right lane mobile phone wobble - I felt like saying something but I had this ugly feeling it would take some sort of serious life-threatening event for her to learn the seriousness of the situation... I could only check my seatbelt was well buckled and closed my eyes.

The car slowed, we were stopping, and we were in the left lane, parallel to the curb, exactly where we were supposed to be - oh hallelujah, my prayers had been answered, I would have to walk home about 3 km, but I would be safe! Then a horrible gut-wrenching turn to the right, high-beams in the rear window, horn from a large vehicle screaming and we were facing the other direction, the truck loaded with soil somehow missing the tailend of our small car. We had U-turned, from the left lane across the right lane, across centreline, across the left-lane of on-coming traffic and into the right lane, right across the whole road, in front of a fully-laden truck... my brain was screaming, my lungs were tearing but no words were coming out!

“We’re going to pick-up my friend, ok?”

“Yes”, I whispered meekly, not daring to breathe lest it be my last one.

I thought my troubles may have been ending, but then we headed upwards, onto the elevated road... oh no, the freeway, what had I done to deserve this... “Maybe I should get out here and walk home... you can go out with your friend”...

“Oh, no, no, she wants to meet you, she knows all about you and she wants to see if you have feelings!”

Oh, I must have really made a huge karma stuff-up this week... My friends description of her echoed in my ears. “32, not married, no kids, had a boyfriend for a long time but he found younger girlfriend”. This wasn't happening to me was it? I was on my way home for a quite evening watching a DVD and now this “she’s nice, and I think you’ll really like her... but maybe you are a bit tall and a bit fat and a bit old for her, but we’ll see”. My friend was matchmaking me with a crazy friend as we swerved down a freeway...”which one is the Renmin Lu exit?”

“Next one”, I said hoping to get off the freeway so when she stopped at the traffic lights at the bottom, I would make good my escape and run off into the derelict factories and find somewhere to hide. “This one, coming up now”.

“Oh, I don't think so, it’s the next one”. We went swanning past the exit lane, “Oh, it is this one!”. Heavy brakes applied, car in reverse... arghhh, I screamed in my heart - reversing down a freeway? I burrowed my head in my chest, not wanting to see... I was a cat, and my eighth life was just used up, I was on borrowed time!

Somehow the stream of traffic behind us, no doubt aware that this was common freeway practise in China, negotiated their way past us as we reversed enough to turn down the exit. At the bottom of the exit, the turn-light was green, no escape. Next opportunity was at the friend’s house... she would not be ready, wildly preening her hair or pulling on knee-high boots and applying makeup - I could sneak out then... lurk in the shadows until they gave up waiting for me and went to a danceclub or something!

But she was ready and waiting on the roadway, and I knew her, a part-time working girl from the street my former bar was in - my friend introduced us, we did the obligatory ’nice to meet you, where are you from, never seen you before’ charade so as not to raise suspicion with my friend. Ah, it’s a complicated world we live in.

To say the trip to the nightclub was uneventful would be an understatement but I won't detail it here. Needless to say, two girl friends sitting in a small car, both talking to each other but neither of them listening to each other was interesting - my new driver friend was turning her head toward the backseat for extended periods and I was every so often nudging the steering wheel into a more appropriate trajectory, but we did eventually arrive at the place.

“Ok, we’re here”. The nightclub was down a small pedestrian alley - one of those common in China that has limited access for emergency vehicles and 5 million bicycles stacked like dominos down it. My friend turned into it. “Hey, there is no-one parked down here! How lucky!'. 

“It’s a no parking area, that’s why”, I retorted.

“Oh, that’s a daytime sign, not a night-time one”, she explained, “and we’ll only be here 5 minutes”.

Getting out of the car, the security guard shuffled up to us,”you can't park here” he said.

“We’re not parking, we’re standing... and only 5 minutes” said my friend with a confident wave of her hand and she twirled into the nightclub with her friend. I shrugged and smiled at the security guard and went inside.

They had found a table and the drinks list. “You can’t drink alcohol if you are driving”, I said.

“My instructor said...” her voice was lost in the techno-beat.

About 2 hours later, I was tired of the flashing lights and the laser shining in my eyes and the same 120bpm music pounding my head. My friend’s girlfriend had sidled up friendly with another foreigner in the bar and I motioned to my friend I was leaving. She followed me out.

“I’ll take you home” she said. ”I don't want to stay anymore”.

“Thanks, but you have been drinking and you are not allowed to drive!”

“I only had one drink”, she whined,”and the instructor said...”

“Yes, your one drink was a pint of Guinness and you are all of 5’3 so you are 30% alcohol!”, I snarled, “give me the keys, we’ll catch a taxi”.

“But I drank lots of water”,

“Keys, taxi, home, sleep - pickup the car tomorrow, ok!”

The taxi dropped me home and I handed her the keys “go home now, safe in bed!”

So when I was talking to her the next day about all the difficulties she had had whilst driving, I asked “did you go back early in the morning to get the car?”

“No, the taxidriver said I wasn’t too drunk, so he took me back to the car and I drove home, I think!”
I just stared at her...

She said to me, “I’m a pretty safe driver compared to others”, she said,”I don’t drive very fast, you know!”

I incredulously started with my list, “how can you... drink drive, illegally park, drive the wrong way up a street, mow down a cyclist, aim at pedestrians, drive on the footpath, park without looking, cut in front of other cars, text and talk and drive, change lanes without indicators, reverse down a freeway, u-turn in front of a truck, stand in a bus-lane, reverse over a flowerbed and whatever else you did on the way home... and then tell me you are a safe driver that always follows the rules... how can you say that?”

“That’s easy”, she said, “the rules are different when they are applied to me”.

Trouble is, I think every Chinese driver in SuZhou believes this!]]> http://cybercupidemag.com/blog/article.aspx?pkid=107
In the First World, where they believe all kinds of odd things - for example, a man should only have one wife! - price tags are considered invariable, and fixed. Hey, western man, even the sun moves in the sky!

Some things are a bit risky to argue about, of course. A visa might be quietly negotiated or issued in a back room between trusted parties, but not up at the public counter. In Asia, honest officials do not accept bribes from strangers. There must be a trusted third party to vouch for the honesty and integrity of both parties to the deal. He of course gets a cut of the "tea money" involved.

Everything else is a matter of open debate. Generally, I'll pay 40% to 60% of "souvenir" or "everyday necessities" items. An elephant ought to be able to get such items for 70% of asking price.

There is a school of thought - originated by the liberals at Lonely Planet books - that a dollar means more to a third world vendor than it does to you. Dunno bout that!

Unlike a chess or judo match, you should never make the first move, that is, quote the first price. Let the seller establish the level of absurdity. Whatever he says, ask for 40% of that. You and he will go back and forth. How do you know when he will sell at your price? When he starts asking for a dollar more over your price "just because". Because we are friends, because his grandmother wishes to sing karaoke. Because you are a rich tourist! In other words, when he has no more arguments about the product and is switching gears, hoping to catch you in your moment of triumph.

Why should you pay one penny more than necessary to a vendor who has tried to cheat you blind???

Of course, there are often complications. Constantly bargaining across a continent is wearying...

Often, your hotel clerk opponent has been bored for hours, hoping a prospective guest will come through the door with whom to match wits and fleece for far more than the room rate the boss has established. You stumble in, tired after a 5 hour bus ride, your travel partner frantic with cave woman fear to find a room for the night. Not much you can do there. but at least make sure you are shown three rooms. Always, they will try to give a traveler the worst room, saving better rooms for more wary guests.

A few more things - on bus transportation, and some tours, the profit margin is so thin that there is little room to bargain, and really, little need to.

Always be prepared to walk away. Like the 300 Spartans, you have to be clear in your mind about what you are going to do. Do you really need that teak wood dolphin? On the other hand, if you really want that silver pendant, buy it. The vendor can tell, anyhow.
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My wife and I decided on a whim, because of a deal on Taobao that was too good to pass up, to spend the weekend in Nanjing. We took the bullet train from Hangzhou over to Nanjing on Friday the 20th, parked our butts in a new Hilton Hotel for roughly 75% off the normal rate, and then caught the bullet train back to Hangzhou in plenty of time to catch New Year’s Eve at home so we could watch the fireworks once again. If you missed it, my blog about the fireworks last year can be read here…

We suffered little from the chaos because there tend to be not many travelers who are rushing home to Nanjing for Spring Festival, and even fewer to Hangzhou. Both these cities tend to be places where there are many migrant workers residing who are going home to other places at CNY, and not so many locals who are living and working elsewhere. Hangzhou especially is pretty notorious for having citizens who do not wish to live anywhere else. So basically once we got past the schmozzle that existed at the train stations, made up of citizens of elsewhere and everywhere trying to get home, and reached the waiting rooms for our respective trains to and from Nanjing, it was all pretty simple.

Since the new plan to sell train tickets online started this year it was also very simple and easy for us to book our tickets in advance, walk the few blocks to the ticket center that is conveniently close to home to pick them up, and arrive a couple of weeks later at the station where we could bypass the line ups and head straight for the waiting room. So for us, chaos was escaped and we were nothing more than witnesses to it all. All well and good for those of us with computers and internet, especially since the railway authorities came up with the brilliant idea of starting ticket sales by internet 4 days before the same tickets became available at the ticket windows at the railway stations.

Brilliant, that is, for those with extra money for things like computers and internet; that is to say, the middle class. Not so brilliant for the working poor who are the ones most desperately in need of that journey home for Spring Festival, when they get to see families, often including their children and even spouses, for the only time in the entire year. For them, this wasn’t such a brilliant plan at all, since most of them have no idea how to even access the internet, let alone the capacity to book and pay for a ticket online. By the time they reached those railway station ticket windows there were damned few tickets left to be had, and they were turned away in droves.

Making your way from Shenzhen, in Guangdong (the deep South East), where you slave in some factory, or work hard labour on construction of the metro (so you can send back funds to keep your family alive) to your home in some village in Xinjiang (the far North West), has to be enough of an ordeal by train. So imagine the nightmare of trying to do it by bus.

So when I wish everyone a Happy Spring Festival, I especially would like to extend that wish to the masses of working poor in China. I hope you all made it home to your loved ones and that you have the best two weeks you’ve ever enjoyed. May your children’s smiles and hugs warm your hearts sufficiently to make the other 50 weeks of the year worth the hell you must endure.

And if I took a seat on a train that prevented any one of you from making the journey home, please, please forgive me. Now that I understand how screwed up and unfair the system was, and how it cheated so many people out of a Happy Spring Festival, I promise I will never take one of your seats on your way home again, even if it was for just a short portion of your lengthy journey.

Having gotten that off my chest, may I wish everyone, regardless of where you are in the world, a Joyous Spring Festival. May you all have a wondrous family time.

May the Year of the Dragon be the year that the world finds peace and that all people of all races, creeds and colours finally come together and recognize that we are all brothers and sisters on a small speck of dust in a vast, vast universe. Let this be the year that we all start to care for each other.
]]> http://cybercupidemag.com/blog/article.aspx?pkid=707 Answers- Yes! Go! And you should go 82 years ago. Can you have your ticket booked and luggage packed by December 1930?

No? Pity, cause nowadays tourism is so rampant even the Balinese monkeys run gift shops.(Rent binoculars here to see our furry butts! Sightings guaranteed, tourist!). Veteran travelers can’t believe how commercial Bali has become.

The highway from the dazzling beach at Kuta (home of the Ronald McDonald Surfer statue) to the beautiful forest town of Ubud is frequently gridlocked; allowing plenty of time to make your Art purchase from the endless roadside shops that line the road.

Talk about island serenity!

Still… lets’ weigh the facts and draw our conclusion…

Visually, Bali has everything. It has glorious beaches, most especially the Endless Beach that centers at Kuta Beach (home of the International Airport) and continues through two more coastal suburb towns.

It has scenic and non-active volcanoes jutting like firm breasts out of a forested landscape.

As the Italians say, “Its’ gotta nicea climate”.

Bali also seems to have a living spiritual culture which consists of pretty women worshiping, flower trays in soft hands, just about everything. Who can argue with that! (Well, it’s a blend of Hindu and animistic religions. And it’s visually scenic and musically harmonious.)

So, you can snorkel, ride bikes, scuba, explore, wind surf, surf, or just laze in the sun. And amazingly, Bali isn’t expensive. It really can be Paradise on the cheap. Ten dollars American will get you a decent hotel, complete with a simple breakfast. Native restaurants aren’t easy to find, but the tourist restaurants will sell you a quality, beach view dinner for under $5.

Art is the Thing on Bali. (Yes, even the monkeys wear smocks and paint.) Every cheap hotel is architecturally a museum. For $40 a night you can stay in the equivalent of the Louvre. For the price of a coffee you can loaf away the afternoon in the statue filled flower gardens of restaurants that size wise bring to mind the gardens of royal Versailles.

Its’ the combination of religious culture and cheapness that make me give Bali the edge over the great islands of Hawaii.

A note on that religion – Balinese feel their island is filled with spirits, and the Balinese are their traffic controllers. Hence the daily worship. I believe it. After visiting a Balinese temple I had a vivid dream in which I totally was hiking once again with my beloved long deceased dog. Thanks, spirits!

Anyhow, every Eden has its serpents, and the main one here is of course the overflow of tourists. Australians mob the island, which is a short flight for them. Australians are Tropical Russians. Friendly, talkative, and completely rigid in their viewpoints in the worst kind of Darwinian way.

Ha, ha, just joking. But the tourist brings the vendors, who can drive you buggers, mate.

Another downside is that the island of Bali is an island of Indonesia. Nothing wrong there, except the legal system consists of scholarly debates over which hand should be chopped off for smoking funny cigarettes. So don’t. And don’t. Play it real legal on Bali.

Yes, you should visit Bali. Air Asia has cheap flights – from major Asian cities - if booked in advance.

Tell the spirits Ken sent you!]]> http://cybercupidemag.com/blog/article.aspx?pkid=706
So how does the situation stand in China? There is a religion area in the CLM profile checklist: how much weight should one give to this? If the woman self-describes as atheist or agnostic and you are a Christian, will this create a problem? What about a Buddhist? And what exactly does it mean to be a Christian in China anyway?

The truth about religious belief in China admits of no simple answer. I was reminded of this by an essay in the New York Review of Books critiquing four recent books about religion in China (titles below). The article starts with a brief history lesson worth repeating: “Although China is often perceived even by Chinese as an atheist nation, yet for millennia the country was held together by its spiritual life, a shared system of ritual and belief that helped unite a country divided by harsh geography and mutually incomprehensible dialects. By the end of the nineteenth century, China had a million temples. Beginning in 1898 with reforms of the Dowager Empress, the attitude towards religion grew much more hostile and after the 1911 revolution, China turned against its traditional religious/spiritual systems. Even before the Communist takeover in 1949 half of the country’s one million temples had been converted to other uses or destroyed; over the next thirty years virtually all the rest were wiped out.”

According to the author of the review, the impact of this onslaught against religion has been devastating. As in the West, religion in China had served as an important check on natural human selfishness. The complete loss of the moral force of religion combined with the arrival of an amoral economic system (capitalism) founded on self-interest has provided the conditions for a perfect moral storm. The result is that “the Chinese now live in a nation without an accepted code of moral obligations.” The latest evidence of this is perhaps the tragedy of Yue Yue, where a child who had been run over by a car not once but twice was ignored by dozens of passerby and left to die in the street. Society abhors a vacuum as much as nature, and to a large degree it is religion that has stepped in to fill this value void, so much so that, “It’s no exaggeration to say that China is in the grip of a religious revival analogous to America’s Great Awakening in the nineteenth century.”

You can view the article to see some of the statistics on the growth of religion in contemporary China. It is pretty impressive. But what does all this mean with respect to dating Chinese women?

To begin, most Chinese are still pretty “suibian” (whatever: 随便) when it comes to religion. Even if atheism is listed in the profile box, it is usually not a committed atheism such as you are likely to find in an American who self-describes as an atheist. In part this has to do with a different conception of truth. When it comes to issues of value–be it morality, religion, or politics—we in the West tend to have a dualistic conception of truth. A claim is either true or it is not; abortion is either moral or immoral. But this is simply not how the Chinese view the world. Although I’ve written about this, I would recommend two excellent books—Lin Yu Tang’s “My Country and My People” and Richard Nisbett’s “The Geography of Thought”—as a defense of the claim that truth is simply conceived of differently in the East. Just because one claim is true does not mean its opposite is false. Each claim may contain part of the truth, or from a wider perspective each may be equally true, or equally false. In any case, you are simply not going to find a lot of moral absolutism in Chinese thought, and this applies to the situation of religious belief (or lack thereof). The woman who checks the atheist or agnostic box has probably been to her share of Buddhist and Taoist temples.

The situation does not change that much when you move from agnosticism/atheism to Buddhism, which in my survey is the most popular positive religious view that is checked in the profiles. The typical Chinese Buddhist has little concern with the doctrines of Buddhism. Don’t expect and understanding or even knowledge of such fundamentals as the four noble truths or the eight fold path. Instead, to be a Buddhist or Taoist means little more than going to a temple on a semi-regular basis and thinking Buddha or Lao Tzu a pretty bright guy.

About the only place where the answer in the profile box is likely to be an issue is if “Christian” is marked, as it increasingly is these days. Those who mark Christian are much more likely to be serious about their Christianity than the atheists or Buddhists are about their respective creeds, although even here this is more the result of Chinese pragmatism than American absolutism. As was explained to me by a recent convert to Christianity with whom I exchanged quite a few e-mails, the main reason her and her friends converted to Catholicism was the need for a moral foundation, not any belief in the inherent truth of the system. Which reminds me of one last story about religion and China worth telling (and which I got from James Fallows’s blog). It seems the Chinese were building a railroad in Saudia Arabia over some sacred ground. Since only Muslims could walk on the ground, the completion of the project seemed endangered—until the Chinese all converted to Islam.


Recent books about religion in China:

The Religious Question in Modern China by Vincent Goosaert and David A. Palmer (University of Chicago)

Religion in China:Survival and Revival under Communist Rule by Fenggang Yang (Oxford)

God is Red: The Secret Story of How Christianity Survived and Flourished in Communist China by Liao Yiwu (HarperOne)

Redeemed by Fire: The Rise of Popular Christianity in Modern China by Lian Xi (Yale University Press)
]]> http://cybercupidemag.com/blog/article.aspx?pkid=705
Many times in my life I visited different countries and places, making friends around the world. When I am a tourist, things always go easy and relaxing. Friends are just friends, for dinner, for a couple of drinking, for telling bunch of silly stories, for all that kinds of fun. Because we know the end of the day the tourist goes back to her own country, dust herself off and back to the same routine. This applies the same for those western guys in our city. Whether for 3 weeks or 3 months, they live with the tourist mentality. What worries us most are not their concern, like medical insurance, like how to make amends with our sister-in-law, like what the new loaning policy gotta affect us etc. That's why we always find them having girls around. That's why they always give us fun and good time. That's why we are so easily attracted to them. Because they are so relaxed and carefree that forms a very big charm.

I guess it explains a bit why myself received quite a lot attention when I am traveling abroad.

This vacation in L.A.I stayed with my chinese friend who works there. Compared to me, she is not enjoying California as I do. Everyday she was worried about the taxes, the bills, the gas price, the grocery stuff and the medical expenses. She does not find western guys as attractive as I thought so either. Of course she see plenty of them everyday. Whats more intriguing is she is even not looking for a western boyfriend when she is supposed to. I asked her why. She told me she doesn't want to stay as and feel like a foreigner!
I laughed a bit and gave it a second thought.

That's a simple expression, but it says a lot.

As a tourist, we all enjoy being a foreigner. We receive smiles from strangers, people offer us help. We spent money like tomorrow never comes. We love everyone we met and everyplace we have been. Who cares the city's current CPI? Who cares how long you haven't talked to your mom?

But living a place as a foreigner is another story, especially you are the kind of women who speaks A LITTLE English, never been to any western country, no idea how to fill up the gas tank, having no clue of the small markings on the meat can, not least to say understanding how your neighbors are talking and thinking.

My friend speaks decent English. She has her own job. She is not the type of women that would fall into the TRADITIONAL category I would say. She lives in America but with a very Chinese lifestyle. She doesn't like the food. She makes no local friend. She is afraid to drive because the high speed in freeway. She has to search around the city for a Chinese doctor to make sure she is well understood.

Everything I feel about L.A she never feels the same. The way l love about that city, be it the food, the weather, the hospitality of people, the free parking, is nothing as important to her as finding cheap Chinese vegetables or saving on bills or maybe practicing her English more?

What I understand is changes won't happen overnight. If you have been living a Chinese lifestyle and mentality for so long, chances are you would have to go through what she has been exactly and maybe even more. Of course the guy who takes you there would take care of some of your needs. But as an adult sometimes we need to face the world alone. Until then, are you ready?]]> http://cybercupidemag.com/blog/article.aspx?pkid=702
“I’ll be in Shenzhen”, I replied.

“Good! Do you have a suit?” she said eagerly.

“I have many suits. Why do you ask?”

“I’ve got a job for you if you’re interested.”

Amy was a thirty-something Chinese girl of mild romantic interest to me with a very healthy set of lungs and a funky hair style who I had originally met on an internet dating website. She knew many people and worked hard looking for business opportunities…like I do now. We never really connected in the romance department, but remained friends.

I’ll digress a moment. I learned many years ago a wise man understands the difference between “Girlfriends” and “Friend girls”. If you don’t know the difference, learn quickly!

A man’s friend girls are priceless because they can bring you business, often fun to be with, and, maybe more importantly, exercise their women’s intuition and provide valuable advice about those girls who ARE your romantic interest. I would have been monetarily richer with less heartaches had I learned this at an earlier, rather than a later age. This advice also applies to women in reverse.

How do you know the difference or how to distinguish? A friend girl can always be introduced to your girlfriend. Likewise ladies, your friend boy can always be introduced to your boyfriend. It’s that simple, and of course, there is no romantic involvement with them.

If the girlfriend or boyfriend is jealous or demands you dump your friend, then you dump that girlfriend or boyfriend! Confident people aren’t jealous or too demanding. I’ve often told prospective girlfriends in my more mature years that I wanted to introduce some friend girl to them. If the girlfriend passes their test, and is not jealous of her, then maybe there are real possibilities for us. Unfortunately in the past, many didn’t pass the test, or, I was too stupid at the time to listen to my friend girl’s good advice or opinions.

Amy was such a friend girl, except in this case, she was bringing me a business opportunity. I was in between employment contracts then and a little extra money would be nice before the 2008 New Year.

“OK Amy, what’s the job?”

I was still essentially a “newbie” having been in China a little less than a year. Amy explained Mr. Mao was a Chinese venture capitalist from Shanghai and needed a “White face” or “White Monkey” to go with him to Chengdu to play the part of Vice President from an American venture capital company.

This was my first such experience with such jobs in China. It was to be one of many, but none were as lucrative as this one. For reasons that truly escape most foreigners in China, Chinese companies seem to believe it gives them “Face” to introduce a foreigner as an associate, friend, partner, etc. at a meeting or event.

The term “White face” is often applied to teaching and other jobs; however, “White Monkeys” in China are performers, actors, or even shills, playing a specific role, part or charade in some business venture, meeting or event. They are not advertised and only found through your personal connections usually taking years to develop. Before any of my non-Caucasian readers or politically correct types jumps my ass about the terminology “WHITE Monkey”, this is just a generic term with no racial overtones. These jobs are sometimes available for non-Caucasians, as well as Caucasians. Admittedly, they’re not as prevalent, but still exist.

For my part, the plan was simple. We would fly from Shenzhen on December 26th and return on December 29th. I would be paid 5,000 RMB cash on the plane prior to departure. All I needed to do was bring a change of suits, say nothing in the meetings, smile a lot and eat good food. Amy would act as Mao’s assistant and also act like my interpreter and her Columbian girlfriend Doris would act as the accountant of our team.

I was paid as promised before departure and given a few dozen poorly printed business cards. The flight was about 2 ½ hours to Chengdu. I was excited since this was my first time there and had contacted several online friends in hopes to finally meet them in person. It was not meant to be.

After arriving late afternoon in Chengdu, we were met by two men and whisked away in a van. About thirty minutes later, I realized we were heading away from Chengdu in a northerly direction.

Four hours later we arrived in a small mountain town in a valley bordering a river in northern Sichuan where our “international” hotel appeared to be one of the, if not the, tallest buildings. We checked-in and Mao had reserved our own suites while the girls shared a room. After a short dinner, I was ready to check-out what this small town had to offer for nightlife.

“NO” said Amy. “Mr. Mao says we cannot leave the hotel.” Shit! More rules!

OK, it was his money, his business and I played by the rules. However, he didn’t say I couldn’t buy a bottle of Jim Beam at the hotel KTV. I settled in my suite watching TV with Mr. Beam and then turned-in early since ShowTime was early the next morning.

The next day was the initial meeting in a room full of local industrialists, government officials, etc. I sat in the middle of one table flanked by Doris on my left, Amy on my right, and Mao to her right. Mao did all the talking, while I sat silent, since the meeting was totally conducted in Chinese and Amy would lean over now and then whispering as if she were translating to me.

We had a small banquet at lunch with some great spicy Sichuan food. Although I had a few limited experiences in Guangzhou and Shenzhen with Sichuan spicy food, this was my first experience with a large variety of local Sichuan food in a small town. All eyes were on me since this place had few encounters with foreigners, much less observing a foreigner eating spicy food.

What they didn’t know was I LIKED Spicy food. In the deep southeast USA, many Americans eat spicy Mexican, Thai and Cajun food from Louisiana. Furthermore, I had experienced the real deal with Thai food while visiting the “Land of Smiles” numerous times in 2001.

The next day we visited the project building site that had been cleared, but apparently the previous investment was not sufficient to get it off the ground, much less operational. Hence, enter venture capitalist Mao and company who the city hoped to be their saviors with much needed RMB.

We then made the four hour trip south to Chengdu and spent the night at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. After dinner, I was able to meet an internet friend of several years and spend a few hours, so this was the icing on the cake for my trip. The next day we flew back to Shenzhen.

I kept hoping Mao or Amy would call again offering another White Monkey job since the money was good, no hassles and Mao had been happy with my performance, but it didn’t happen. After another visit to Chengdu in June 2008 just one month after the devastating earthquake, I moved there six months later with a new teaching contract in another shit adult private English training center. ]]> http://cybercupidemag.com/blog/article.aspx?pkid=701

爱，有广义与狭义之分。广义的爱是博爱，指宽广的胸襟，对世界乃至宇宙的爱；狭义的爱是男女之爱，指眼前的爱。

对于男女之爱，在当今物质化的社会，因钱生爱？或是因爱生钱？这是一个关注的话题。正如我的上一篇文章中的观点所说：这是一种个人金钱观和婚姻观组合的支配。可以因钱而携手，也可因钱而分道。金钱主宰和指令着他们的命运。爱只不过是金钱衍生出来的附属品而已，爱随着金钱的缺乏而消失，爱不存在永恒，只有短暂的瞬间。因着相互爱慕、相互给予而潜生、创造的财富（物质或是金钱），此时，给予已成为一种爱的能力，一种坦诚的、创造性的紧密关系；金钱已不再是主导的爱的方式，它成为一种爱的创造。

《圣经》里宣扬：像爱自己一样爱你的邻人，完全没有排他性的，对所有人的爱。

不久前，观看了一个纪实节目，至今难以忘怀，一直让我感动，其大义之举、仁爱之怀总是萦绕在心头。在受到现今物欲横流金钱至上的价值观支配的影响，这种爱显得尤为珍贵与可敬。

这是一个真实的事件。一对山东农民夫妇收养了一个曾经被遗弃过3次身患疾病的孩子。（估计2—3岁）妻子在一次上班途中捡到了这个可怜的孩子，然而伴随着弃孩进入这个家庭的那一瞬间，这对夫妇甚至整个家庭已注定必将为之改变，因为这个孩子患有心脏方面的疾病，它是个砸钱的活，必须是金钱不断的投入，另外还面临着心脏手术问题6万元。曾有医生及亲友劝告这对夫妇放弃这种看似愚蠢的行为，然而，朴实的妻子却说出了一句似乎简单且深刻的话：“因为这个孩子也是个生命，我不能让他的生命在我们的手中结束。”这句话的背后是这对夫妇为了这个孩子的生命已变卖了老家的房子，把为女儿上大学积攒的钱义无反顾的全数拿出，妻子辞去工作照顾孩子，仅靠丈夫微薄的收入支撑整个家庭。

当正为着手术费6万元发愁的时候，这对夫妇得到了好心人的指点，求助于爱心基金会。这种场面是感动的，许多母亲前来探望这个可怜的孩子和这对普通的夫妇，各界人士纷纷解囊相助，其中曾有一位不愿透露姓名的爱心人士捐赠了6万元作为手术费。这个孩子是幸运的、幸福的，手术非常成功；这对夫妇是喜悦的、感恩的，他们把通过救助手术后余下的13万元转捐给基金会，让它继续扩大着爱心，蔓延着这股爱之火，壮大着这种爱的力量。

这对夫妇是中国最典型的农民，他们不识字，有钱不会存银行，用最古老的方式埋于地下，他们有着最单纯、最质朴、最原始的情感和思想。因而他们能够用一种简单的方式来认识金钱，诠释爱的真义。

金钱本身正是它流通领域内一切善恶事件的揭发者。

不同的爱赋予金钱不同的使命；金钱也在这各种的爱中体现着其不同的价值。

然而，真正金钱的价值是多少呢？是否仅是一些数字可以涵盖它的内容？观望男女之爱中为着金钱的多少而纠结，这对夫妇给予了我们什么？承载着金钱的天平的另一端应该是什么呢？

Love have broad and narrow the points. Generalized love is universal love refers to the broad mind to the world and the universe love . Narrow love is between men and women of love refers to shortsighted love .

To the love of men and women in today's material society , for money lead to love? For love power to create money? This is a concerned topic . As my previous articles view of the said that this is a person’s money idea and marriage idea combination of the control. They can walk hand in hand because of money,and can also because the money separate . Money dominate and instructions their destiny. Love is just money derived an accessory . love with the lack of money and gone no have love forever and only a short moment. Because of mutual admiration mutual giving create wealth (material or money) under the circumstances giving already became a kind of ability to love , a kind of straight-out and creative close relationship. Money is no longer the leading love the way, it become a kind of love creation.

The bible declare that like love myself as love your side everyone, and not have any the exclusiveness to all the love of man.

Not long ago, I have watched a documentary programs it is unforgettable so far and has been to move me, their behavior of righteous cause and benevolence mind always haunting to me. In the present, by material and money supreme values control of influence, this kind of love is especially valuable and respectable.

This is a real event. A pair of Shandong farmer couple adopted a was abandoned three times of child whom is suffer from the disease. (estimated he is 2-3 years old) the wife on a way to work, and she found this poor child but with the child walk into this family that moment, the couple and even the whole family already doomed the change will be , because the child with heart disease, it is a throw money of thing , must be the money being spent, in addition is also facing heart surgery issues and need 60,000 yuan. Had the doctor and friends advised the couple to give up this seemingly foolish behavior however, plain wife said out a simple and seem to deep words that because the child is also a life I can't let his life in our hands over . This sentence behind is the couple for this child's life already sold off their house, for the daughter college save money all of taken out , the wife resigned from her job to take care of the child only depend on her husband low income to support the family.

When they are anxious about 60,000 yuan for operation, the couple got a good advice from some beneficent people and to turn to love foundation . This scene is moving, many mothers to come to visit the poor child and the ordinary couple, and people from all walks of life donation to help in succession, one of person of among them who had a don't wish to be named that donated 60,000 yuan as operation fee. The child is lucky and happy, operation was successful. The couple is joy and grateful they put through help and surgery later the rest of the 130,000 yuan to turn donation the foundation. let it continue to expand on love, spread the fire of love, and strengthen the power of love.

The couple is Chinese most typical farmers who couldn't read and money can’t save in bank with the old way of the buried underground. they have the most simple, the most plain and the most pristine feelings and ideas. So they can use a simple way to know money and explain the true meaning of love.

Money itself is it in circulation field all events of good and evil of a whistleblower.

Different love bring to money different mission, Money is also in the love of all the different to embodies it’s value.

However, really money is how much value ? Is it whether only some numeral can cover the content ? In the love of the men and women is entangled with how much of the money and the couple has given what to us ? Bearing the money the other end of the scale should be what?]]> http://cybercupidemag.com/blog/article.aspx?pkid=699
One of my first experiences was at hotel I stayed at about 10 years ago that had a delightful message delivered to the room one day that read “Because alignment sunny moon strangeness, TV set disappear replace spatter” - meaning, a solar eclipse was due that evening and it may disrupt the satellite TV signal for a while.

I think I love Chinglish so much because my father used to complete the “Cryptic Crossword” in the newspaper every weekend and it was a Sunday night ritual around the dinner-table to help him with the last few words of trivia...so the whole idea of deciphering unknown words is a pleasurable memory to me.

But alas, around the time of the Olympics, China went of into a mode of permanently removing Chinglish - I remember reading in the newspaper that a rabid group of US university students went on a Wild Chinglish Hunt around Beijing with clipboards and grammar books and all but replaced it's colour and pithiness with droll PC correctness. The elimination also spread to other tourist venues, hotels and street signs around China.

But I am happy to report, just as the Olympics did not cure every Chinese person’s habit of hocking greaseballs onto the sidewalk, so too Chinglish is making a comeback!!! Hurray!!!

My foreign friend and I decided to explore a few new restaurants in the last couple of days - those off the ’traditional’ foreigner fairways, and try our luck and very broken Chinese to see what foods we could get - of course, we were well prepared for foodstuffs not before seen by foreign eyes and also combinations of dishes that every local in such restaurants would fall over in tears of laughter watching us negotiate into our mouths...but, this to is the joy of discovery of China!

We want into one establishment that had quite a few local people in it, so we decided that the food must have been edible and probably fairly tasty...it also had a “fat” owner so I decided that he probably ate at least some of what his cooks prepared so it probably wouldn't poison us.

We were lead to the deepest part of the restaurant, past all the other tables and doorways of the private rooms - I suspect it was so the boss could show the regular patrons that he was indeed able to attract a different kind of clientele. The whispered “laowai” from every table and doorway indicated we were at least, a bit of a novelty in the place, as well as the 5 scruffy cooks piling out the kitchen door to gawp at us also indicated it was probably not a common sight on a weekday lunchtime in little-alley-kitchen-down-the-back-of-the-housing-development-under-the-bridge place that we were in!

The Chinese language itself is usually very descriptive of nouns associated with food - so these present excellent examples for Chinglish to appear - for example the simple and uninspiring English word (stolen from the French) "broccoli" translates literally into 'Green Flower from the West'...so you can see that there is great scope for fun!

The shy waitress went to the stack of dog-earred menus and shuffled deep to the bottom ones - then brought across a dusty tome for us to review. It was indeed a marvel of Chinglish - every dish was truely indecipherable at first reading... 
Item number 1. Intestinal if...
Item number 2. Yellow fruit sausage acid burn
Item number 3. Bird of feather burnt 3 times roast
...
Item number 300. Husband and wife lung bean stuff.

Upon asking the girl for the Chinese names, I found “intestinal if” was actually cold sliced pork tongue, item 2 was cold cucumber and vinegar, item 3 was Beijing Roast Duck and well, we didn't get far past 10 before the girl got really bored and said “so what to you want?”.

“Soup” - Hangzhou West Water skimmed top
“Family style bean curd” - old woman wash hands bean
“Green beans in chilli” - green fire long sweet
“Roast Eggplant" - ball fruit rubber ball cooked
“Broccolli with bacon” - West flower green chop pig doodle

I pointed to a few more interesting sounding ones and got a few shrugs - so decided not to try my luck too much.

Needless to say, the food was pretty good and not badly priced, I got everything I could identify, even if it wasn't too adventurous this time around because I confirmed everything with the waitress but...given my love for Chinglish, and my desire to fill my belly, I will say I'll be back to try 'Jane bacteria spent rubber chicken stew’, whatever that is!


PS: Of all the Chinglish I have seen in China (and hope to see), the most perplexing for me for about 5 years was a small blue sign that I passed every day going to work that I said “lie fallow” - meaning of course, ’Rest Area’. Ah, Chinglish, may you ever be by our side.]]> http://cybercupidemag.com/blog/article.aspx?pkid=698
Fearing that my upstairs neighbor had made some strange error whilst cleaning the windows and was perilously dangling from their balcony railing, I jumped out of bed in my sleepy slumber, not even bothering to put on clothes or eyeglasses and rushed to this pair of feet.

But then I was struck, what should I do? 
- Should I grab hold of them and try to drag the person in onto my balcony? 
- Should I try to push them back up so they could scramble onto their balcony? 
- Should I quickly sneak back into bed, cover my head and leave them to their own devices for fear of a Nanjing Judge? 
- Should I let them hang a little longer and put on some pants?
- Should I put on some eyeglasses, find my phone and dial 110 and have some “police angel” try to 'talk them down'?
- Call the bao’an?
- Call out sweetly, “Are you ok”?
Such a dilemma at 7am on a cold January 1st morning after a harsh night of celebrating another year in China.

I decided that I would crane my neck outward and upward to try to see what the true situation was - and as I did, the body dropped about 2 feet and the legs swung in at my head. 
“Aiyeeehaaah”, I screamed, to which replied an equally surprised, “Oh, my god”, as a mouth, 2 eyes and a very large paint roller emerged into view!

“Who are you? What are you doing outside my 22nd floor window at 7am on a holiday?”, I asked.

“I'm the painter” he said brandishing his paint roller and shaking it vigorously enough to spatter me, the window and the tiles on the balcony with a fine patina of puce-coloured paint.

So many questions went through my head, I noticed just then a rather thick rope he was dangling off, a bosun's chair he was sitting on, complete with a 20litre pail of paint tied around it and a small wiry man with a dangling cigarette in his mouth and about 15 layers of clothes.

“Is it cold?”, I asked, as the chill wind whipped off the lake beside my home and attacked my exposed kneecaps.
“Very”, he said, the smoldering cigarette bobbing up and down as he spoke. We blinked at each other for a few moments, not knowing what to say.

“So you didn't read the paper", he asked, “the one about the painting?". I remembered a pink slip of paper gummed to my door the week before, all hieroglyphics, pictures and little squares. “oh, that’s what it said, I can't read Chinese”.

He started laughing, “Neither can I.”, he cackled.

“So this painting”, I asked, “why are you doing it now?".
“Going home for Spring Festival", he said, “must be done before then, boss said”.

I looked down at the rope he was attached to, it was as thick as a doorknob but very frayed in places - it finished about halfway down the building on about the 10th floor. “what happens when you get to the end of your rope”, I asked.

“Climb back up”, he said nonchalantly, “Boss will bring longer rope tomorrow”.
“You don't have any safety rope?”

“No, don't need it, Boss said”
“But if you fall......”
A withering look from the painter quickly finished my sentence in my throat! Another uncomfortable Chinese pause, where we both observed each other.

"Boss say many things but Boss not on this rope with you", I observed...he smiled again, but remained silent.

“So where are you from?”, I asked
“DongBei" he replied.

He then swung backward and dropped about another 4 feet on the rope, his eyes now level with the railing on my balcony.

“Happy New Year”, he said cheerfully as he slopped the paint-roller back on the wall and commenced splattering paint everywhere.

“Yes, Happy New Year to you too”, I replied and then quietly turned and slunk toward my bed, behind the sliding balcony windows.

Oh, those crazy Chinese and their health and safety ideas, I thought to myself as I went back into my room...
“Crazy foreigners", I heard him mutter under his breath, “don't even wear pants in Winter"!]]> http://cybercupidemag.com/blog/article.aspx?pkid=697
Sex can make a marriage and break a marriage. How many guys want to marry the woman after a couple of times amazing intimacy? How many couples divorced because one of them cheated?

In China, divorce rate in big cities are rising scary fast. A lot of big cities divorce rate is very close to 40% and it looks like a lot will be over 40% soon. According to the newspaper, statistics released by National Civil Affairs in June 2011 show that in the first quarter of 2011, a total of 465,000 pairs of husband and wife went for a divorce registration, 17.1% increase compare to the same time one year ago. Chinese divorce rate has increased for seven consecutive years. According to the authority’s research and my observation also, the reason of the divorce is affairs. It’s the most popular reason and it’s getting more popular.

Well, if one of them starts to bend the next door neighbor I guess there is no reason for their marriage or relationship to go any further. But of course life is always way more complicated than we expected. Sometimes people change their mind sometimes people just change. One day they are greatly in love and the next day, ops, yelling, screaming, divorcing, money, angry… It all has something to do with sex.

One of my friends preaching me: “sex is great and so much better when you are in love.” I agree. But sex can be just pure physical needs when it’s not emotional. This is not my opinion, it comes from observation of life: one night stand, friends with benefit, a lot of people go to Thailand for…It’s like eating when you are hungry.

When sex becomes more than just physical satisfaction it starts to grow seeds in people’s mind. It brings more than love into their lives. It can make one person commit to the other and also can drive one to kill another.

The one thing that I found the most amazing about sex is: It can make a man and a woman who use to be completely strangers family. How strange is that? Once they decided to just have sex with each other for the rest of their life they become families.

When I saw one woman wrote on her online dating profile that the man she was looking for “must be good at sex” I didn’t point my finger at her. It sounded a bit unfriendly but I think she meant she wanted somebody that must be sex compatible with her. And it’s a very reasonable request.

Dear every love searching birds on CLM, I wish you find the love of your life and have great sex for the rest of your life. How is that for a New Year wish? Haha…

我问我的一个好友：“为什么结婚25年了还是要离婚？”他说：“她太霸道太严肃太清高……但是最重要的是她不喜欢亲热。如果她能多点喜欢亲热的话其他的缺点我都可以忍受。”我看着他的双眼，满是伤心和委屈。我相信他说的每一个字。我理解他也为这真的是事实而遗憾。
性爱可以成就一段婚姻也可以毁掉一个家庭。有多少男人因为跟一个女人过了几个激情奋发的夜晚而想到与她共度余生？有多少夫妇因婚外性爱而劳燕分飞？
在中国，离婚率在大城市是吓人的直线上升。 许多大城市的离婚率已经逼近40%而且看起来很多很快就会超过40%。根据报纸报道，2011年6月公布的全国民政事业统计数据显示，2011一季度，我国共有46.5万对夫妻办理了离婚登记，较去年同期增长17.1%。中国离婚率已连续7年递增。根据权威机构的调查报告和我的观察，大部分的离婚原因是婚外情。这个原因最热门也正变得更热门。
当然，如果一对中的一个开始跟对面的邻居有“来往”那真的没有理由让他们的婚姻或者关系再发展下去。但是现实总是比我们预想的要复杂的多。有时候人们改变了他们的主意，有时候人们干脆完全改变了。今天他们还卿卿我我明天就翻脸不认人：辱骂、争吵、离婚、金钱、仇恨……总是跟性爱有点瓜葛。
我有个朋友教训我：“如果你爱上某人性爱是非常美好和会更加美妙。”我同意。但是在没有感情的情况下性爱可以是纯粹的生理需要。这不是我的观点，这是来自对生活的观察：一夜情、男女暧昧不清，一些人去泰国的目的……就像你饿了就想吃饭一样。
当性爱不仅仅意味着肉体的满足的时候它开始在人们的头脑里生根发芽。它给人们的生活带来的是比爱情更多的东西。它可以让人们海誓山盟个也可以让人们仇恨相对。
我发觉最令我惊讶的一个事实是：性爱可以把一个曾经素未谋面的一个男人和一个女人变成一家人。奇怪吧？当他们相誓终生的时候他们就成了彼此的家人了。
当我看到一个女人在她的网页相亲资料上写着她要找一个“必须善于做爱”的男人时我没有指责她。那样写是有点无礼但是我觉得她想要表达的是她要找一个可以跟她激情相当的人。这当然无可厚议。
亲爱的每一个在苦苦追寻爱情的伊甸园的鸟儿们，我祝你们最终找到人生至爱和祝你和你的至爱余生激情无限。这个做新年的祝福总够了吧？哈哈……

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And really, Steve, it’s O.K. Its O.K. it’s called the iPhone and not the Kenphone. Except, Steve, I got nothing left but this six pack of beer.

(Note to Readers…brilliant Steve Jobs misses the No-Brainer of All Time… “Lucky Guy! We can cut the cancer out of you! How about tomorrow?” and so dies. So, kindly cut your self some slack on your own stupidities.)

Well, let bygones by bygones, I was 20 billion dollars poorer, but I had my beer.

Even, Stephen!

The iGhost and I drank a last toast; I stumbled away.

When I got back to the commuter train station I needed, in my deep sorrow, to urinate. Shockingly, the rest rooms were closed. Fear of terrorism, the sign read.

I did the math. The restrooms – which would have been used by roughly a quarter million commuters a day - have been closed now for roughly ten years for fear an Evil Doer might leave a thermo nuclear device in the Men’s toilet. Makes sense, doesn’t it.

To be specific, since every male in California either abuses himself or smokes a joint while in the toilet stall, the terrorist would - to keep cover – have to perform one –or both!- of those two functions before detonating his thermonuclear device. He may or may not flush, or wash his hands, but I suppose bringing the Sun to the Men’s Room makes up for that.

Same on the buses. Gangsters, perverts, (the wrong kind of perverts); junkies, alcoholics, Authorized Representatives of Every Criminal Gang in the World, get on and off the bus and all the bus loudspeaker can say is “Report suspicious looking packages left unattended to the bus driver.“

What’s America without an Enemy?

What’s America without Winners and Losers, as faithfully and breathlessly reported on by the omnipresent media?

What’s America without Homeless beggars in the streets, serving as a warning to the rest of us? Watch your step!

What’s America without America?

Stay tuned!

Oh, never mind. There is no country like California. Mountains, ocean, coastlines, deserts, forests, great food, great people, great surfing, great highways, great neighboring states, the beautiful unique city of San Francisco. Beautiful beach blondes. You can party down in the metropolis of Los Angeles, or you can lose yourself in northern forests that have more mountain lions than people.

Usually you can get a hotel room for $60 USD or less, a night, and car rentals are relatively cheap. Eat out of supermarkets. Bring travel medical insurance.

California is a great country.

See it soon.]]> http://cybercupidemag.com/blog/article.aspx?pkid=695
This was a question I had from the moment I set foot in the Middle Kingdom as a Peace Corps volunteer whose job precisely it was to teach English at a Chinese university.

It simply made no sense to me why this country would impose a requirement on its youth to learn my native language and make that language a prominent part of its college entrance exam. I mean, I can understand it, say, when American politicians speak about the need to put an emphasis on math and science learning. Math and science learning lead to concrete societal goods in terms of innovation and invention and so a massive public investment in them makes sense. But what does China get out of forcing English down the throat of its people?

To me, it was as great a mystery as Stonehenge. It’s not like China needed an English-speaking workforce in order to attract American industry. China needed to do nothing to attract American industry. American industry would have flocked here in droves had the population been infected with leprosy. The only thing industry cared about was cheap labor, not English speaking ability. Nor did China need an English educated public in order to lure tourists. Tourists as well would come regardless of the language ability of the general population. All that would be required would be a relative handful of English trained guides. True, a few people would use English to advance their careers in business and industry. But that would be such a statistically insignificant sliver of those who learned as to not justify a massive investment of resources involved in a nationwide mandate.

The longer I stayed in China, the more the mystery deepened. Most of those who taught English could barely speak it; most of those who learned English, learned it badly. Perhaps there was a connection between these two factors. In any case and as far as I could tell, there was no real need for a widespread knowledge of English in the culture. A society usually has to meet its real needs before it can go about fulfilling artificial ones. But with two-thirds of its population living on less than $100 a month, China was a country that had obviously not met all of its real needs. So, I was stumped.

The whole thing seemed a case of one of Marx’s best—perhaps his only—insight, the one about history repeating itself first as tragedy and the second time as farce. Convinced that a gigantic increase in steel production was the key to turning China into a world power, in 1958 Mao tasked the entire country with undertaking this project, essentially transforming every household into a home smelting operation. Known as the Great Leap Forward, this would turn into one of the gratest collective efforts humanity has ever engaged in, and one of its greatest failures. Not only were millions of acres of forest denuded to stoke the furnaces, but the subsequent redirection of labor resulted in unharvested crops and massive famine. To top things off, the steel that was produced from all this sacrifice was practically worthless.

Thankfully no one was dying as a result of the massive waste of resources on a project of utter futility that was the Chinese English-learning industrial complex. Instead, true to Marx’s prediction, the whole thing resembled nothing so much as the theater of the absurd. Everyone affiliated with the process can tell you their own stories. David mentioned the insistence by one English center he was affiliated with to have its English speaking staff perform a skit in Chinese. My favorite insight into the bizarre nature of the whole undertaking came on a trip to Tibet when I discovered that my Chinese tour guide could understand my Chinese companion’s English but not my own. An English speaking tour guide who cannot understand English speakers!

For the sake of my sanity, I put the whole issue aside for the remainder of my time in China and had not really thought about it until I read David’s recent essay on the topic, where he mentioned how foreign English teachers are viewed a “trained monkeys” by not a few in China. It happened that on the same day I came across a report in the New York Times of an essay written by Chinese President Hu Jintao. In the journal “Seeking Truth,” China’s leader warned about the culture war that he sees as taking place between China and the West: “We must clearly see that international hostile forces are intensifying the strategic plot of westernizing and dividing China, and ideological and cultural fields are the focal areas of their long-term infiltration.”

Although he did not refer specifically to China’s massive commitment to English learning, it is not hard to see a connection. If you are concerned about China idolizing a culture, you might reasonably question the wisdom of your country’s policy of promoting the learning of that culture’s language. Hence, for the same reason that ecoterrorists who don’t like oil will blow up a pipeline, I predict that this declared war on Western culture will inevitably lead to an assault on the language through which the culture is disseminated. In other words, don’t be surprised when the massive English learning mechanism that China has in place is dismantled, and the foreign English teacher in China goes the way of the do-do bird, or more accurately, of the moderate Republican.

My sense is that this is going to happen in the not too distant future. To use one of David’s favorite devices, the whole English learning industry in China is a house of cards. A “house of cards” literally refers to playing cards that are put together in the shape of a house; figuratively it stands for an elaborate structure that will collapse at the slightest touch. In my estimation, President Hu has just given the structure the necessary push.
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Fortunately, she’d made a 10 am reservation for me on December 31, and the wait was minimal. B and another Chinese friend with better English skills accompanied me.

He was a middle aged balding guy in metal rim glasses and a white lab coat so I "knew" he was a doctor. Additionally testifying to his authenticity were the charts of the human body with Chinese labels on the wall. I sat in a plastic chair next to him at his desk as his nurse, a scrawny, homely woman took notes in Chinese. She also wore a white lab coat to testify to her medical credentials.

He asked questions about my health which were translated by two Chinese friends. We spent about 8 minutes on the word "prostate" which initially they thought meant "to lie down" (as it does in another context, of course). Then he took my pulse on my right hand and on my left hand. Then the nurse took my pulse on both hands. He asked me about my blood pressure. I said it was normally high but I am on medication for it. There was no blood pressure machine anywhere in sight. He wanted to know how high. I said it varied, sometimes as much as 165-170 when not medicated and nervous and usually around 120 or so when medicated.

At no time was I asked about my cancer, though one friend said they had told him about it.

He asked if I minded imbibing unpleasant tasting medicine and I said not really. He also said it would not work quickly but would take some time. I said I understood that.

He appeared to think seriously for a few minutes and then wrote a prescription and we left the room and went to the "pharmacy" in the same building that was one guy and an assistant behind a long -- maybe 8 feet long x 3 feet wide -- blue counter piled with lots of dried unidentifiable stuff on top of papers. Some looked like dried ground mushroom, the rest I had no clue. Behind them was a wall of shelves stocked with jars of more mysterious powders and dried fungi and I did recognize ginseng.

We gave them the prescription and the druggist then gave us the bill, which amounted to almost $200! Then they sent us to another counter to pay it before we got the goods. (This is standard Chinese practice, it keeps more people employed) We stood in line to pay and finally did and got about six receipts all stamped with red stars and other official logos.

The druggist gave me a plastic bag with fourteen one gram size plastic zip lock bags filled with white powder that looked like a huge batch of cocaine. We left and at my motel I asked how I was supposed to take the powder – snort it?

It turned out it’s to be mixed in a foul tasting liquid that had to be prepared separately and picked up later. It's red colored and also comes in plastic bags. I am instructed to heat it, stir in the powder and drink half a batch twice daily. On New Year’s Day I had my first drink of the day, after starting yesterday afternoon.

It tastes like bitter tree bark and i have no idea what's in any of it.

He's right, I don't feel different immediately though I'm supposed to report back in two weeks to tell him how I feel. He will prescribe no more than one month's worth because it is so "potent."

We'll see about that. I didn't mention my potency problem. But maybe it will work for that too.]]> http://cybercupidemag.com/blog/article.aspx?pkid=693
An expression often heard in the USA, and probably other English speaking countries, is “A Trained Monkey could do your job.” Obviously, this phrase means the work requires little skill or ability other than being a warm body performing some simple job. Such jobs could be a factory worker performing some repetitive assembly on a production line, simple computer data entry, sweeping streets, etc.

It was not until I moved from Shenzhen to Chengdu in November 2008 that I heard this term “Trained Monkey” applied to foreigners teaching English in China.

My new contract with one of the well known adult English training centers across China commenced early December 2008 in Chengdu. The monthly salary and expense allowance was about 11,000 RMB which was certainly decent money then and even now. Actually teaching salaries in China have decreased over the last five years since my arrival. In most cases, this is due to the abundance of available skilled and experienced foreign teachers of all ages escaping hard economic times in their respective countries.

One of my fellow teachers Lee was a very likable, intelligent, skilled and mature twenty-five year old with a professional demeanor. For over two years, he had a steady live-in Chinese girlfriend who worked at our schools nearby shit adult English training center competitor as a sales/course consultant. All this is to set the stage for what was to soon occur.

Christmas was quickly approaching and the Chinese staff was preparing a Christmas party which, as usual, involved some entertainment provided by staff performances. One of these Chinese staff mental midgets came-up with the bright idea the foreign teachers would perform some skit speaking CHINESE!

Lee went ballistic. “WTF is this David!” he said.

“This is an ENGLISH school where students are supposed to be learning English!”

“You’re right Lee” I said.

“I won’t do it! I’m not a Trained Monkey!”

Long story short, we all rejected this hair-brained or half-baked idea and refused to be truly Trained Monkey’s, but they still mostly conducted the Christmas party in Chinese.

This was the first time in China I heard the term Trained Monkey applied to foreigners teaching in China, however, it made perfect sense as it largely relates to what is expected of foreigners teaching English to students of all ages.

The shit adult private English training centers care more about the money than the quality of the teaching. The requirements are basically simple for most foreign English teaching jobs, but somewhat more stringent now than five years ago. If the individual is from one of the P.R.C. designated native English speaking countries, has at least as B.S. /B.A university diploma, TESOL/TEFL/DELTA teaching certificate and, more recently in many cities or Provinces, at least two years teaching experience.

The exceptions to this are very rural areas where they will literally hire an English speaking monkey or human from ANYWHERE or any country, OR, the A+ teachers with an education degree or a university degree in Chemistry, Math, IT or some other discipline. The A+ teachers can usually be found in the international schools or top universities in China. Since they are specialized, they command much higher monthly salaries often as high as 25,000 RMB.

However, forget the P.R.C. requirements for a moment. There is an “intangible” requirement not usually advertised by schools. The teacher must be very ENTERTAINING, or sometimes advertised in code words like “Energetic”. Yes, that’s correct… a Trained Monkey.

Nobody wants to be bored in any class, but most adult Chinese students want to be “entertained”. Forget the fact learning any language requires hard work and STUDY. This pervasive thinking is why many of these adult students, or their parents to be more correct, are paying big money to learn English because they slept through two to three years of English at their university.

These private English training centers are more concerned about sales and retention of customers, sometimes mistakenly called students, and less about how much or what they learn. Me and most foreign and Chinese teachers I have been associated with in the past WERE professional and sincerely wanted the students to learn not only English, but also culture and maybe even benefit and learn from some past professional, business or life experiences.

Trained Monkey’s, AKA foreign English teachers, are abundant in China, but, lurking in the Chinese business jungle are the elusive Kings of the Trained Monkey’s I’ll tell you about next.
]]> http://cybercupidemag.com/blog/article.aspx?pkid=690
Strolling

Own healthy and strong body, own perfect personality, own a job and own a standing room in the world, own a stable and warm family, it will be a perfect life.

It is time to remind the past year, how to say is better?

2011, it is an exciting year, a sad year, a reassuring year, a worrying year; and it is a proud year, and a injured year.

In January, I decided to apply for a job in a famous private high school.The interview was all through the way,I got the news on that day I could begin to work on February.Looking around the classrooms, seeing the broken and dirty desks and chairs, I wondered how they get the Guangdong Province Outstanding School Title? Maybe it is a chance for me? With the exciting and complicated mood, I began to work. While I was working hard, and I was trying to do observation, off-campus access,but my blood presure was higher in half a term. No, I can’t do this! I must stop,or I can not go on. At that time, my proud and self-esteen was hit, I was hurt.

At this time, the people seemed like my YEW STUDY. They contacted me,hoped I could help them. Friends encouraged me, “Try your best, you can do it!”

So,I am independent completely，hell-bent.

As a little woman, in a strange city, if I think I could make much good influence to the people, it is extremely arrogant. But,the people here have noticed my choice and my hard work.

Education is always a hot topic, and it is always confused. Education is not limited to the schools categary, it is throughout any corner of our life. A family is stable and happy or not, it is mostlty decided by how much education and the precipitation of the conservation they have got.

In July,I wanted to buy a massage machine bed for my parents. I paid deposit. The price is 15,000RMB(the original price is about 20,000RMB). I planned to buy it with my sisters and brother. But my forth sister didn't agree. She said, she could pay for it,but if we buy the machine,parents will stay at home more and more, they don’t go out,then they won’t get enough exercise and especcially they can not enjoy the parties with other old people, it is not good for their health and mind. I thought about it again and again, yes, it is right. So, in the last year, my dad takes my mum by bike to the fitness center,they talk and smile, other old people see them and feel envy. This year, all my family are fine, stable and peace, it makes me happy.

Dream

With dream, there is pursuit; With pursuit, there is hope.

My dream is to find a real man, or a gentleman. A gentleman should pay attention to his dress,with good manners, respect women, respect the personality,try to inherritant and develop the traditonal culture,try to pursuit and construct the quality life;and reveal man’s fortitude, perseverance, subtle, deep, and be kind and generoud personality beauty. This is my own understanding. But, no one is perfect,we all know.

So, in another word, I have been only looking for a man with sunshine smile. A person alone, it is too lonely, too weak, needs two persons’ warm and help each other, or, how to enjoy the life?

Once again,I lost. But I never lose my heart. In the last year,I have lost, have hope as well. Anyway, I am waiting for it with my faithful heart.

2011, it is not too bad!


甜酸苦辣又一年

漫步

有健康的体魄，有健全的人格，有一份工作使自己能在这个世界上有自己的立足之地，有稳定温馨的家庭生活，才称得上圆满的人生。

又是回忆过去一年的时候了，该怎么说呢？

2011年是个令人兴奋的一年，也是个令人颓丧的一年；是个令人放心的一年，也是个令人担心的一年；是个令人骄傲的一年，也是个令人受伤的一年。

一月决定到一家比较有名的私立学校工作，面试一路过关斩将，一天内得到通知，二月份开始上班。看着一间间教室里破败的课桌和书柜，我疑惑：这样的管理如何获得广东省优秀名校的称号？或许，这也是一个机遇？夹杂着兴奋又复杂的心情，我上岗了。通过校内观察、校外访问，同时，努力工作！半个学期我的血压上来了。不行！我得撤了。否则，熬不过三载。一时，曾经的骄傲和自尊受到了打击，一下子受伤了。

但在这个时候，这里的老百姓却看好了我的学堂。他们联系我，希望我能为他们提供帮助。朋友们也鼓励我，努力吧，你自己能行！

于是，我死心塌地地完全独立了。

作为一个小女子，在一个陌生的城市，如果我认为自己对别人能产生莫大的影响，未免夜郎自大。但，人们对我的选择和努力相当关注。

教育在中国是一个热门话题，也是永远的困惑。教育不仅仅限于学校范畴，而是遍及我们生活的每一个角落。一个家庭的稳定幸福与否，与一家人所受到的教育和沉淀的涵养分不开。

7月份，我曾经想买一台按摩床给父母，已经交了定金，价值15，000元（原价20，000元）。计划姐妹弟弟一起分担。但是，我的妹妹反对。她说，她不是舍不得这份钱，而是，买了这台机器，老人家会不想出门，不出门，没有足够的锻炼，特别是没有参与集体的活动，他们的心理和身体健康都会受到不好的影响。我想了想，有道理。
所以，过去的一年里，老爸每天用自行车载着老妈去健身，一路说说笑笑，旁人看了都挺羡慕的。今年，我们全家老少没有大病，安然祥和，这让我感觉放心了。

梦想

有梦，就有追求；有追求，就有希望。

我的梦想是能遇上一位真正的男人，或称之为绅士。绅士应该拥有讲究的着装，文雅的举止，尊重女性，尊重人格，以及对传统文化的继承与发扬，对生活质量的追求与建造；彰显男人的刚毅、坚韧、含蓄、深沉、与宽宏大量的人格之美。这是我的个人理解。然而，我们都知道，人无完人。

因此，换一句话说，我一直关注着，寻找一位拥有阳光微笑的男人。一个人，太孤独，力量太薄弱，需要两个人相互温暖和搀扶，否则，如何能一起欣赏人生旅途的风景呢？

一次次的失落，没有让我灰心。过去的一年，有失望，也有希望。无论如何，我依然怀着虔诚的心在等待。

2011年，还不算太坏！
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