Thursday

Today was a low-key day. This morning, I did some lesson planning and reviewed a bit of Chinese to get ready to start lessons next week. Kevin came over around lunch time: today he trailblazed by navigating through the railroad construction zone between our two schools instead of taking the less direct but safer way we usually go. This is a shorter route, but requires slightly more concentration in dodging sewage, potholes, etc. along the way. When the railroad renovations are finally complete (exact date is very TBA) the distance between our school and the Zhanjiang Normal College will be cut in half.


Our buddy Kevin dropped by for a visit, yes, but it was more than just a friendly social call. He wanted to try the infamous MFC fast food restaurant, our neighborhood's only attraction. MFC is a shameless, blatant copy of KFC: same colors, same font, same food. The only difference is instead of a giant Colonel Sanders outside, there's a picture of a little cartoon kid eating chicken. In Chinese, "KFC" is "Ken di gi;" "MFC" is "Men di gi." They're long lost twin brothers separated at birth! David's opinion of MFC is, "It is a fake. Everything in China is a fake." He says that about a lot of things.

I'll leave it up to your imagination to fill in the blanks on what exactly "MFC" stands for. Hint: the C is for Chicken.

After some Men Di Gi, I walked back through the Danger Zone with Kevin. I've mentioned him before, but let me just say again that Kevin is pretty hilarious. Today, he decided to bring a huge black umbrella around town to shield himself from the sun, which he had no problem twirling and spinning over his shoulder like a little parasol. We sure got some looks on that walk...

Kevin went back to his school, and I rode Bus #11 to the end of the line and back again for lack of anything better to do. The bus costs 2 yuan, or about $0.25, and is a great way to see the city and discreetly observe large numbers of Chinese people. On the way, I picked up a few colorful mats to fill up some of the space in my cavernous apartment. I got back to campus during P.E. class and a bunch of students invited me to hit the volleyball around with them. We did that for a little while, and then I was mobbed by about 35 girls wanting to know all the usual things (do I like Chinese food, where am I from, do I like surfing the Web, etc.) They're really cute kids.

Somehow the rest of the afternoon slipped by; Scott and I had dinner at the Macau, one of our favorite restaurants so far. The restaurant has a display for every dish, so all you have to do is walk around and point to what you want. Everything I've had there has been very good, especially the oolong tea, which has a delicious honey aftertaste.

Coming back from dinner, we ran into our new pet cat on campus, who was very hungry and told me so by meowing very loudly. I gave him some food and we played for a while. The students all think I'm nuts for paying so much attention to that cat, but I don't care... he's black and white, tiny, and adorable. It will be a fun project to fatten him up and I miss Panda.

Well, that's it for now, good night!