Can't Go Dumb Cause The Gun Gonna Fall Out

I'm starting to blog again. Apparently the imputus I need to write is to go all the way to China... I got into Shang Hai a few nights ago and within a few hours of landing I was back in my own personal little heaven jammed in a little smokey room eating dimsum drinking cold beer from big bottles in little glasses yelling over raised chinese voices. This is the best job in the world no question. My jobs so far have included changing money, reading for two hours while I kept an eye on some luggage, finding a convienence store and one time "Charley, go make friends with those college girls and make sure that they're comfortable". We are traveling around china in two big buses each containing thirty high school girls and fifteen chinese college girls (to provide the kids incite into what it means to be a student in china... whatever that means). My jet lag is on point right now so every morning I wake up an hour before my wake up call. Go find my boss and get assigned to one of two jobs (my only consistent tasks) either count the high schoolers or count the college students. Now we're staying in a town outside of shanghai. Our hotel is wedged between a disco and a chemical factory (spiritual and actual pollution). Today I spent the day playing with little kids and just when the real work was supposed to begin I was told to take some free time so here I am crouched at a tiny desk in the computer lab of an elemetery school. This trip is awesome the wheather is going thru a warm snap (almost 45 degrees!) and my chinsese has improved enormously. It used to be I was just a curiousity that they would wheel out to say thank you and hello to chinese hosts or scare little kids. Now I actualy can unsdertand what is going on, I can watch chinese television and I'm making real honest to god chinese freinds. Chinse college students are brilliant by the way. I asked one quiet girl on the bus how to say gloves in chinese. It turns out the word is hand-container. I laughed and said that was funny because the german word for glove is hand shoe (thanks dustin). She responded shyly that she already knew that because she was getting here doctirite in philosphy and read german and french. Her favorite was Schoppenhauer although she told me most chinese girls prefer kiekengard because his philosophy of non-existence and emptiness is similair to Chinese philosophy. Wow. That kind of thing keeps happening although most students are studying economics or international relations and my personal favorite is majoring in social work (she put me right in my place when I acted surprised saying "not all chinese just want money"). Ok I gotta be out and back to my grueling job of teaching a bunch of 10 year olds how to do the hokey pokey. Tonight we have a two hour bus ride back to shanghai thru the rain and maybe then I can listen to the Keek the Sneak, Kc and Jojo mix I made on the bus yesterday. I miss you all profoundly