Further Shenaniganery in Tongliao City

Well, since my working situation has not yet changed, I feel no need in particular to recount the many stimulating hours doing nothing in the recruiting office underneath the Goldleaf Mall. I can, however, let you know what I'll be doing in the near future, as our teaching posts have been officially assigned. You're looking at (the blog of) Tongliao's newest 1st and 2nd grade spoken English teacher! I've been blessed with a gaggle of some of the tiniest tinies here...so I have a feeling I will soon appreciate all the time I spent with my nephews and niece this summer. I really got a sweet deal too, as I only teach a total of 16 lessons a week at 40 minutes each. Do the math - that's not a lot of work. Plus, I get weekends off and a 5 day break every month (a privilege not granted to my colleagues teaching in the high school BWAHAHA they only get the 5 day break every other month). AND I'll be off for a full month starting January 14. Oh yeah the other sweetass perk is I don't start teaching til the 21st, whereas the high school teachers start the 10th. Awwwwwww damn. I rule.

So that's the sort of logistical update, I suppose. I have a couple of interesting stories about our adventures during our free time, though. The other day, those of us in my recruiting group (Clay, Jacob and Courtney) spent a bit of our day off in the city looking for a place to get facials. That's no typo, we really found a place to get facials - all of us...but not before mistakenly (or maybe not...) wandering into the "No Light District," and yeah that is what it sounds like. Pretty damn sketchy. Seeing as all the beds in the places were all out in the open inside each little shop, I don't think any of us will be patronizing those establishments.

Feeling just a little dirtier, we found a place to get facials. The girls inside brought the 4 of us upstairs to a room with beds lined up, hospital style, and we were all facialed together right there at the same time. For one hour and 20 yuan (about $2.50), I laid there and got the crap pounded out of my skull and who-knows-what rubbed into my skin. It felt nice, but it's certainly not the relaxing, steamy, pore-opening experience one gets in the States. Towards the end, the girl facial-ing me put this vapor-emitting contraption over my face...I guess it was just a water-mister thingie, but it was cool and smelled funny and for a few minutes I was sure that it was scary death gas. I survived, though, no worse for the wear, and emerged from the place with a face soft as a baby's butt.

Yesterday, on another day off, all 9 of us were summoned to meet none other than the President of the Communist Party here in Inner Mongolia. We basically waited for him to arrive for like, an hour and a half, and spent the 15 minutes he was here seeing the school's promotional video and taking pictures with him, but I thought that was worth mentioning nonetheless. He's kind of a big deal. I stood right next to him for the picture. I guess that makes me a slightly more communist big deal, bwahahaha...

Speaking of big deals, tonight we plan on attending the grand opening of a club called Banana in the city. I spotted it some time ago, with its huge lion's head growling over the doorway, with the word "Spicy" in neon lights. Don't worry, it's not that kind of club - they let us look inside. They just probably don't know what spicy means...maybe they meant "hot." Either way, we plan on taking our big deal selves up in that joint and making it the trendy new spot where all the foreigners go. We're very excited. I even bought a couple new clubbing shirts here in honor of the occasion (for about $10!) so I'm slutted out Chinese style instead of American. So I'm sure you'll want to hear all about it, and with that, I'll peace out right here and get ready!