Remember I spoke about living in Chengyang? (countryside)

entry: 7/15/13

In case you don’t know, heres a link chengyang

Well I decided to pay a visit to some old friends over there. Mr. Wang, the guy whom I was teaching english in the complex and his kids, as well as the bathroom sandal wearing delivery kid, the market shop who used to deliver all my basic foods and just the overall community. They actually remembered who I was, and I was greeted with smiles and waves. To my surprise there are way more people there now than before, its crazy how fast china builds.  Anyways to get an idea of how country it was I took some pics.

going back home for 6 months – entry: 12/6/13 – 5/6/14

entry: 5/6/13

This is around the time I took a break from china. It wasn’t that I had too, but rather, I needed to sort out some things back home, get a new chair, and catch up on some bills. What sucked about this was that I had just moved to wanda, and paid 6 months up front, I tried to sublease my place but its quite hard to do in the winter, esp during the holidays when most folks are headed home. So yea, basically I was just paying for storage. On a positive note I didn’t have a winter because I was back in LA. That was nice. I really didn’t do much during this time period. Just visited friends, hung out, practiced my chinese, got my new chair, bought a few ps4 games, upgraded my computer. In May when I returned, Chen picked me up, was greeted with a huge smile as tho Id left for 5 years. It was nice. When  I got home, nothing was rotten and making the house reek like last time (doh lol ) but everything was dusty as no had lived in the place for 6 months. I ended up extending my stay for the summer and meeting who is now my current roommate, Charlotte. She is from Spain. Pretty funny how we met, I was on a date with a russian girl and she saw me at the mall (wanda), where she also lived. I stand out obviously, so one night at a bar  she walked up and said she recognized me from the previous day the introduced herself. The following day we had dinner and became friends. We would go to bars together and hang out, eventually at the end of the summer we decided wanda and its management as per usual, were dicking on the rent, so we moved together in loashan, into a nice 3 bedroom about 5 min from the beach, with an ocean view and mountain view. pretty sweet, initially we were supposed to live with another guy Brian from Ireland whom we also met and lived at wanda, but he got a job in Shenzhen last min. so now its just me and Charlotte.

I guess I just skipped the entire summer, but nothing much happened except partying  (ahem), freelancing. Oh and I met a girl. Ill get into the ex-gf in my next entry.

Looks like I’ve just about caught up to current events. Almost, maybe like 1 or 2 more blog, but its just in time, it is Dec 31st!!! I can start 2015, with a 2015 blog! sweet! HAPPY NEW YEARS TO YOU ALL AND THANKS FOR READING MY BLOG. I APPRECIATE IT.

-knox

I moved back to Wanda plaza

entry: 11/2/13

I moved back to Wanda plaza (40 floor complex), in case this is a new entry to you, this is a mall which has various businesses, apartments, hotel rooms, and a mall – anyways I get a card on my door every day for things like delivery food, consulting, massages, hotel service etc. I see a card for a dumpling place, so I place an order for dumplings and beer (it says 24 hours its about midnight). First sign something was off was some girl answered the phone sounded like she just woke up. I order, then she calls back to verify my room number once she gets to the elevator, I speak with a strong accent that the older chinese can’t understand but the younger ones can (sign number 2). The door knocks…..AND a 10 year old kid is the delivery guy WTF LOL. O_O….. China where 10 year old kids are delivering food at midnight.

back to wanda

random thought: I was watching chinese news, and there were 4 beached whales. Apparently overnight some people came and cut chunks of the whale meat. I don’t know why I laughed, but damn. hahaha

I woke up in a new buga…just kidding. I woke up in an old chinese taxi.

entry: 10/19/13

True story this happens quite often when I’m tired, stuck in traffic, and woken up at my place by the driver. Its crazier when you dream you’re home, only to find yourself surrounded by characters like the matrix.

You know what I hate? When someone comes to the crib and starts drinking out of the big gatorade bottle like it’s a 20oz straight to the neck. WTF that’s a liter asshole pour it in a cup!!!!! Prick didn’t even finish it so now I have a half liter of gatorade wasted with back wash. F*CK.

im not quite sure, but i think this was my bday. im just assuming by all the attention im getting, i cant remember much of it.

We party until 8am in China.

entry:  8/16/13

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note the expression

The bar scene is something else, there are no rules, no carding, 24 hour alcohol policy, drinking in public, you name it. This of course means that us expats will stay out until the bar closes (5-6am), and then the heavyweights come out in the morning and eat street food (breakfast) and have more beers . The light weights….well…not so lucky.

I remember this one incident where this foreigner, I think German, who appeared to have just gotten out of a wedding, still wearing his tux, was passed out at the bar. The bar owner whom is a good friend of mine, asked Toye (my neighbor from Nigeria) to help wake him up, as the bar had closed. Well he shook him, yelled, did everything, the guy wouldn’t wake up, so my friend slaps the white out his teeth. hahahahaha oh yea he woke up, but the thing is, he was still in zombie mode. We help him outside and start asking him where he needs to go, HE HAS NO IDEA! This guy was so pissed he couldn’t remember his address, we didn’t want to just leave him passed out on the road in broad daylight either. Well then, maybe some more slaps will help, my boy starts giving him the smoothest slaps, front hands, back hands, slow mo, wind ups, all of kinds of creative slaps,  this guy is literally standing there taking them – everyone is cracking up laughing. Then this french girl Chole, intervenes we think shes jumping in to stop it …nope. She jumps in *let me get some slaps in* now they are taking turns serving slaps, it looked like double dutch or some kind of tag team WWE. Me and my boy Ishmael are laughing so hard, tears came down.  Eventually the guy starts feeling them as his cheeks begin to get rosy red lol. We yell WHERE ARE YOU GOING??????  He mumbles he has a flight at 9, he had only been there for a day to attend a wedding.

We throw him into a cab and tell the cab driver to drop him to the airport. That was the last we saw of Mr.Slaps.

random thought: I need me a traditional village girl. Tired of these bar hoodies.

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My delivery guy always shows up to my door in bathroom slippers

entry: 8/19/13

My delivery guy always shows up to my door in bathroom slippers (common summer attire in china).  He rolls the front of his shirt up to his chest to display his not so large belly. That’s common during the hot humid summer. Does the stomach generate more heat or something? Why not just flip the shirt behind your head, or roll the sleeves, why just the belly? They also like to walk around rubbing it like a Buddha even when they’re skinny. It’s not uncommon to see a pack of men walking around with their stomachs out, rubbing it in unison as they stroll oh so slow along the streets, all wearing bathroom sandals. ‪#‎weirdthingsyouobserveinchina‬

Anyways, I was outside eating an ice cream cone listening to music in my complex minding my business as per usual, when some random chinese man came up to me and began asking inquisitive questions (remember earlier I mentioned they are extremely curious people). Anyways after a brief conversation, he asked if I could teach english, I said yea thinking it was for him, but apparently its for his 4 year old daughter and her friend, 5 year old boy name Strong. I agreed. Aaaaaand just like that I have a weekend job with little kids. Welcome to China.

side note: Just booked my ticket to Bangkok. Leave in a month, going solo. Aw shiet.

Didn’t even realize I was eating pig feet. *sigh*

entry: 7/15/13

So now that I’ve moved to Chengyang (countryside), its gotten quite harder to find food. Before, living above the mall complex, I could just go down to the mall, and I had an entire floor with various restaurants, even a McDonald’s and Papa Johns. Well, now not so much. Theres 2 maybe 3 restaurants in the complex I live, which is sort of a village in the middle of no where called Blue Island, which is ironic because it sure as hell feels like I’m on one.  Chengyang is large, and there are many restaurants and supermarkets in DOWNTOWN Chengyang, but of course I don’t live there, I live on the outskirt where its freaking hard as hell to grab a taxi….BLUE ISLAND. The biggest supermarket near me is…..look at the pic above at the header..ya. 😦

Chen and Christina helped read, and recognize some food I may enjoy at one of the restaurants, one of the dishes was pork, in stew, with rice and seaweed. Now this stuff is really good I quite like it, but little did I know the bone Id be sucking meat off of was foot. Did I forget to mention I don’t really like swine and I’ve only been eating this because it taste good and quite frankly I don’t have many fucking options now do I? When in Rome.

Oh and look what I found in my stew the other day.

pretty sure this is normal and was supposed to be in the stew too. haha

outside, roaming around the complex. katrina came to visit for a couple of days from shanghai so its not been entirely lonesome.

outside, roaming around the complex. katrina came to visit for a couple of days from shanghai so its not been entirely lonesome.

Story about the stalker girl .

entry: current.

So I figure as I sit here in a bar off my 3rd glass of wine, its a perfect time to talk about the story I promised to explain about the chinese girl whom I had to take to the police station. Why not?

It all started when I met this girl in a bar while I was hanging out with my Taiwanese friend, Eva. She sat next to us, and we talked to her, she later revealed she plays the piano…great because I make music and so I figured this would be a good network to have her play and use some samples. I didn’t think much of it. Anyways the next day I get a phone call from her,  she is asking me what I’m up too. I guess she went back to the bar and thought that I would be there again (on a Sunday? um no), I told her I was home and relaxing. She asks if she can come over and chill….hmmmm…at 11pm? errr ok.

She comes over and she has a bag which appears to be clothes…hmmmm……signs are interesting here.  Anyways she ends up spending the night ahem. Nothing too unusual about that but she ends up staying for like 3 days. I didnt really have a problem with it. Good times ya know? Anyways this girl starts getting hella bogus and stalkerish like coming over without calling. She came over a couple of times after that but she would always stay for a day or 2, and do things like call and say shes at the mall complex shopping and if she could come over because shes in the area, and then when I would agree, literally be at my door within 5 min….wtf!!!!!!

So remember how I said I was moving? She offered for me to stay at her place, which was great because I just needed a place to stay for like a week and she wasn’t charging. I figured meh, I know its a bad idea but I was a bit desperate at that time. She also helped me move….and put my stuff in her house. Now granted something strange happened when we got to her place with Chen, who drove. we get there…and as soon as Chen leaves…she leaves, wtf? I have nothing in the frig (not even water) and she disappears. Well I wake up in the morning and decide this isn’t good for me, so I called up an american friend of mine Eugene and tell him to pick me up, I loaded up a backpack with about 3-4 days worth of clothes and I was outta there. Luckily I had a plan B. The beach house I was staying in the earlier entry. I had booked that with my spanish friend Jose he said I could stay there while he was in Spain, his place was in  in badaguan (old german colony part of town) it was baller so why not.

Here is where things get a bit weird. Once the girl found out that I moved out…she starts freaking out. I started getting some extremely patriotic, almost communist speeches, at this point…I’m freaking out because my stuff…all my stuff is at her house. Uh Oh.

By now its the end of the week and my place in Chengyang was ready, I could get my stuff from her place and get my shit out ASAP. I call her up and tell her I need my stuff, she starts giving me loaded excuse about how shes not home. WTF. This chick is always home (except when Im there). She was keeping my stuff hostage! I called Chen and told him to call her to tell her to stop fucking around. I guess because Chen is an older chinese gent, she stated we could grab my cloths Saturday morning. I think she thought we were playing but we rolled over there first thing in the morning, there was no way I was going to risk my possessions   at her place. We knock and knock and knock….she finally answers after pretending to be asleep. Me and Chen go in there and load his car up with my stuff, I went back for the last box…and here is where shit gets real. Chen is downstairs waiting for me……I come out the room….and she is blocking the door ….yooooo wtf? Shes in front of the door and wont let me leave!. I’m like yo what are you doing? Quit playing. It was like something out of the movies. As soon as I would go to grab her to move her out the way, she would yell as if I was harming her..uh oh no good hands off.  She starts asking me why I wanted to leave and why I wouldn’t stay with her…err did you forget about the text message you sent me 48 hours ago? and about how america and americans should burn in hell?  I tell her its because I found a cheap place and that her area wasn’t suitable for me. She starts crying and pouting telling me I owed her money for storing my stuff at her place (an excuse) and that she was going to call her dad if I didn’t pay up…well I agree that she should call her dad…at this point Chen is knocking on her door like crazy because its been about 20 min and I haven’t gone down. Through the door I’m telling him what is happening and so he calls the cops.

She finally opens the door and we all go outside. Her dad, the cops, magically all appear at the same time. Now at this point I don’t know whats going on because everything, including her crying, is being said in chinese, but from what I gather with my limited chinese is that she is lying to them telling them her I owe her money  for storing my clothes (using an excuse for her insanity). The cops ask her where the contract is? She obviously doesn’t have one. Now the cops are starting to sense her bullshit…even her father. A crowd has now also formed outside to see the spectacle. :facepalm: eventually the cops decide I’m innocent but we still need to file a report and they also need to see my passport (which was in the beach house) to make sure I was in the country legally (normal procedure). I agree. First we go to the beach house to get a copy, she remained in the cop station where they told her ass off, and they finally told me she was crazy (after hearing her 100 excuses) and that I shouldn’t tell her where my new location would be. They also told her she was to stay 200 yards from me. The cops were cool, they followed us in the car and would throw up peace signs, we took pics and all that.

The end…… or was it?

I saw her about a month later in Qbar, and she came, we saw each other but she kept her distance. The bartender came over and handed me a beer….she apparently bought me a drink…I passed it over to a friend. She tried to come over and talk…but I didn’t say a word or give her eye contact. She tried to act like nothing ever happened. This chick was wild.

Chinese taxi drivers are pricks.

entry: 6/19/13

This dude fastens his seat belt right, and so I go to do the same, and he’s like NO NO NO. They do this. They don’t want you to wear a belt because it’s some kind of etiquette, it displays trust or some stupid shit. Thing is, I DONT trust, that’s why I want my belt on fool. I once even had a driver UNBUCKLE my seat belt, literally he pushed the button like no no no, its ok its ok, then lit a cigarette. :mind blown: They really are aggressive about you NOT wearing your seat belt, as if I don’t have enough car accident flash backs to last me a life time, I gotta worry about whether Li is going to flip his 1995 toyota taxi with no air bags as he violates every single traffic law known to man. Oh and did I forget to mention the gas tank is located in the front of the taxi.O_O

Random thought: I play Drill, Trap, Chief Keef, Dubstep, Drum n Bass, 808s, I hear nothing from my neighbors ever, even at 2am. As soon as I play Japanese drum music, they bang on my wall. Amazing.