I was an old Chinese man in another life

On at least two unrelated occasions I have been approached by men saying: "How are you old friend?" They come right over, shake my hand and put their other arm around me.

To which I answer, "Long time no see, old friend."
(In Chinese of course)
This makes them laugh.

This place is so weird, and I'm getting used to that.

Long time so see

So I know its been a while since I last posted, I'll blame the fact that the internet I paid to have installed in our room still hasn't shown up. (after waiting um at least three weeks)



Well I am on my week long National Day holiday break. Happy Birthday New China! 59 years and still ticking. Of course everyone (or mostly everyone) in this massive country has the week off which means that it is an awful time to travel. I have chosen not to go anywhere, for a few reasons but to stay in good old Kaifeng.

There is a construction sight right out side the windows of our dorm. And people have been building something out of bricks ever since I got here. I found out that they are constructing a new sports facility specially for some collegiate championship. I don't know what sport it is though now they have built two buildings and finished a track, soccer field, and viewing platform. I heard that the event will be sometime in mid-October and that they have to finish it before then. The workers do their work with minimal equipment and even less safety precautions, but they do work hard.

One of my friends told me that workers like those work every other day. That is why they work on the weekends and why they are working during this national holiday. But recently they have been working 24hr a day!

Today our power was out when week woke up, now in the late afternoon, it has gone back on but keeps going back out intermitantly. Hopefully it will stay as I am typing this on a friend's computer.