Hey Hey and G'day to you all,

Hope alls well in life. Alls well here in the south of China. I've had a fantastic weekend so far. The week's classes were great. We sang, we jumped around and learnt rhyming words. 'Shanes a pain' was the most popular with the grade 3's and 4's. The weather was great and I got a ride in nearly every night.

Anyhow, to life in general. As Mandy left our school at the end of last term to begin University in Kunming we now have a new Chinese English teacher. She is rather beautiful too and luckily for me we get along great. Her English is ok but could be a LOT better. After discussing it we've decided to spend time together to help her out. I am in no way complaining! Hey, by the time Mandy left she could keep up with my spoken Aussie English and 99% of the time that was without me slowing down. Her listening skills and comprehension were unbelievable by the end, I just hope it doesn't slide back like Yang Yang's has.

I had dinner with Yang Yang at her parent's house last week. It was a beautiful evening. We played with her new puppy and I gave one of the village kids a ride on my bike. He was the only one big enough to ride it. As usual most of the children from the village were in Yang Yang's lounge room in about ten minutes of my arrival asking the usual questions, 'What's this? What's that? Eyes, ears, mouth and nose etc. Her parents live in a village not far from Tianyang. It's surrounded by fields and everyone is a family of farmers. They are just beautiful. Dinner was awesome. I was so happy to spend time with Yang Yang again. It had been along time since we've had dinner together.

Anyhow Lisa, the new Chinese English teacher and I thought the best way to help her English is to play sport, walk and talk. We've headed out for dinner and walked several times. Her mind is very quick and I think it won't be long until her College level English returns. BUT, I think we must have dinner much much more before this happens! Tee Hee! She is a cute one!

OK, the weekend. I got a call from Lisa Friday night and we met for BBQ. We decided on the new BBQ Area as there really isn't much choice anymore. Tianyang has decided to gather up all the BBQ Areas and put them all into one large one. I along with most other people think it really sucks. Most people liked it when they were all in different areas. You would visit this area if you wanted to eat a certain thing or go to another if you wanted something different. Now it's all combined and I have no idea where anything is anymore. Now that's a real BUGGER!

Lisa and I walked around the new area and finally decided on a quiet spot to sit and talk whilst eating. It was quiet for a short time. First off a drunken guy with his 12 year old wife (well if she wasn't 12 she bloody well looked it) sat next to us. He kept harpin at me in Chinese about something and would get angry and happy and angry and happy. We turned our backs and ignored hime. I felt sorry for his girlfriend/wife. Finally she dragged him away. I've no idea what he was saying as Lisa wouldn't tell me. I think it concerned her as well. After several more bbq sticks on went the Karaoke Machine and that was about enough for us. So we left and went for cold juice and chatted for hours whilst walking the streets of Tianyang. I walked her home around midnight and then headed to the market place.

I sat with my friends until around 4am. After they had cleaned up their area we then headed to their place until 7am and it was then out for breakfast. My buddy (Her Sher) was supposed to head to Baise at 8 or 9am so we headed back to my place after breakfast. I got a phone call and was on the phone till 11. When I went out into the lounge room Her Sher was asleep with his mobile phone continuously ringing in his hand. I tried to wake him and then decided to get some sleep myself. I slept till 2 and Brad my police buddy dropped in.

NO, only 3 hours sleep! He brought with him a new DVD to watch. It was called Domino and mate, it was awesome. It woke me up, or it could actually have been the four coffees I had during the movie. My market place buddy looked refreshed after his 6 hours sleep even though he was sitting the entire time with his mobile phone ringing constantly! I'd say it was his girl as we had gone out to get breakfast and I think we were supposed to bring some back for her.

Around 5 we said good bye to Her Sher (market place) and Brad and I headed to his grandparents home. It was his grandpa's 80th birthday. They lived in the same house Brad had grown up in. I, in fact ride through the village and pass the house most evenings on my nightly ride. Most of the family were there. Several tables were full of food waiting to be eaten. Grandpa welcomed me with a huge smile filled with golden teeth. Such a happy man and such a beautiful family. I was offered beer and decided to pass on the beer for the night. The food was excellent and the company was great.

With our bellies full we headed out side and chatted beside the tomato fields whilst many little white butterflies fluttered on by. It was so quiet; there were no automobiles to continuously honk their horns at each other. There were the usual motor bikes and three wheeler bikes but they usually pass each other with a smile and a wave. We waited for Brad's father to have his social fill. In the end he came out and told us he was staying on for the evening.

I got home around 8:00 and not long after opening my door little Lilley from upstairs came running down the stairs. We decided on the DVD 'Mulan'. We sat and ate sugar coated orange peel her mother had made whilst Mulan changed from a beautiful girl to a boy and back to a girl again. In the end she got her man and saved China so Lilley was extremely happy. Lilley left just after ten and I think I fell asleep by 10:03pm

Today I woke feeling more than refreshed and headed out for a bike ride. I decided to combine several of my nightly rides and was gone for nearing five hours. I stopped for roadside noodles on the way home and whilst eating had a million cars slow right down to watch me eat. It's strange, it's like I must be eating with some unusual tools or objects they way they stare. But I'm eating with Chop Sticks just like they do. As they slowly drove past they would all say 'HEELLOOOWWW' and giggle their butts off when I said it back. Roadside noodles are always fun for everyone else when I decide to drop in and share the dust. I'm not complaining, I love it. It is a heap of fun especially for the kids.

What does bother me is when situations happen like the one when I returned to Tianyang. I dropped in to get my usual Mi-Zone. When crossing the lights a group of guys were walking beside me and one of them was saying 'F*&K You' over and over again whilst inserting his finger in and out of his other hand. Filthy bugger wanted to shag me! No, I bet he had no idea what it really meant. They were all laughing and I got pretty pissed at him as I had asked him to stop. He didn't so I dropped my bike in the middle of the road shoved my middle finger in his face and yelled 'F$%^ YOU' back. He ran across the road and down the next road. His friends all laughed and tried to shake my hand. I said 'f&*% you' again and left for home. But I was smiling and we all waved good bye.

Sometimes when several males get together and drink too much Biajio they get the usual male dutch courage and begin to say things out loud. Usually I can hear them in the background, but it's usually quiet or just 'hello how are you', '1 2 3 4 5' or 'I love you' over and over. It's when they begin the swearing and saying abusive things they see on movies that it bothers me. It's funny once but you only have to laugh once for it to continue for the next hour. My market place friends have asked several times if they actually know the meaning of what they are saying. Of course they 'kind of know', but they really don't know. This is why it never bothers me. Usually if I ask them to stop they do. I sometimes think this is more through the embarrassment of being asked by me 'in public' to stop.

Hey, males are the same all over the world, this is life and this is Tianyang!