Put up my Christmas tree today, it’s starting to feel like a bit like the holidays now!
2010 Xi’an City Wall Marathon
December 1st, 2010 by Shane No comments »Once again, it’s that time of the year for the Xi’an City Wall Marathon. This year’s marathon was another great event. 
This time I actually had friends running in it with me, instead of just waiting for me at the finish line. It almost didn’t happen though. While reading the official rules online about when, where and how to sign-up I made a mistake. I thought that registration for the race started on October 10th, turns out that registration ended on that day. In my defense the English on the website wasn’t very clear, and others agreed it was possible to make that mistake. However the Chinese was clear, October 10th was the last day, after that you were out of luck.
For a few days, I was a little disappointed. The event I had talked up and told other people about, wouldn’t be happening for me. Well fortunately things in China can still get done with a slight greasing of the palm. A buddy of mine called up and said that he had 10 people who wanted to sign-up for the race, they said “no, it’s too late”. After an explanation of how they’re all foreigners who couldn’t understand the website (not entirely true), and an offer to pay an extra 10 RMB per person, we were golden. So for the low price of 10RMB per person we were able to sign-up late for the race, yeah, the extra 10 RMB was a 33% increase in the race fee, but really 40 RMB for a shoe bag, a nice sweat-wicking shirt, and a city wall ticket is still a good deal.
Halloween Party
November 12th, 2010 by Shane No comments »My writing really goes in spurts. I’ve been so busy the last couple weeks that I’m just now writing about Halloween. Better late than never perhaps. Last year, I didn’t really do anything because most Chinese don’t celebrate Halloween and it’s not much of a Halloween party with only 3 people. I actually celebrated Halloween this year, because I know more than 2 foreigners now.
The week before Halloween there was a pumpkin carving party at a local western-style restaurant, a nice turnout there, and a lot of fun. Unfortunately the pumpkins were really quite small, but we did the best we could with what we had.
New Home, New School, New Age
October 11th, 2010 by Shane 2 comments »It’s been a little while since my last blog post unfortunately. But ultimately I’d like to attribute that to having so much more going on recently. 
As some of you might have known, when I returned to Xi’an from my summer trip I actually moved to a new home and new school in Xi’an. I’m now teaching at another university in Xi’an called Xi’an International University (西安外事学院), it really isn’t much different from my old school as far as teaching and the students are concerned. I’m teaching freshmen English majors, which are slightly more motivated to learn English. English majors actually chose to learn English, unlike other majors that are only forced to take one year of English classes, and therefore don’t always have much motivation or desire to be there.
The school itself is pretty nice, it’s actually built next to a great park with a beautiful lake that the university purchased and then built a campus next to. There are 10 foreign teachers at this school (5 English, 2 French, 1 Korean, 2 Japanese) which is a big increase from SUST which had a total of 3 English teachers. The living quarters here are also much nicer, they’re actually more like real apartments and feel much more homey. My only complaint is that the couch in my apartment sucks, it’s way too small for more than one person to sit or lay-down on. Due to it’s status as an International University, XAIU actually has quite a few foreign students here to learn Chinese as well. This is to my benefit because I can actually go to the Chinese classes as a student at no charge (which is definitely worth something!). XAIU’s location is also a bit better than SUST because it’s in the southwest of Xi’an where more of the action is, as opposed to the far north which was pretty far away from most things.
This year, October 10th was an extra special day, as many Chinese couples decided to get married on 10/10/10, and hey, why not? You’ll never forget your anniversary! But it was, of course, also my birthday and I turned 25. In fact it was my second birthday celebrated here in Xi’an, and the second one in a row that it was raining. But that’s nothing a home-cooked meal, and a few hours of mahjong can’t fix.
See pictures of my new apartment and XAIU campus here
Wheels of Freedom
September 1st, 2010 by Shane 2 comments »Just yesterday, on my one year anniversary of living in Xi’an, I bought myself a gift. Two-wheels, gas-powered, 125ccs of fury, bad-ass black paint, room for a lady on the back, and only 3050 RMB ($448) what’s not to love? This motor scooter will allow me to cruise around the city, avoid crowded buses and expensive taxis, and head to the countryside for a weekend getaway. This is the kind of freedom I’ve been longing for!
Back to the Mainland
August 31st, 2010 by Shane No comments »I was excited. I had a great time in Taiwan, but it was finally time to go back to the mainland. In fact, according to Taiwan I had 
overstayed my visa by two days. not exactly my fault, just a simple oversight when booking my tickets. Two-thousand Taiwan dollars, and a one-year “no-free-visa” ban later and I was on my way back to the mainland. Being in mainland China just has a certain feeling to it, something that HK, and Taiwan just doesn’t seem to have.
Shortly after I arrived in Shanghai, I felt kinda like I was home again. My phone worked, the street food smelled like stuff I knew, there wasn’t 10 7-11s on every street, I could buy things I liked again. It felt good. Later that evening I picked up Marina from the airport, as she had come to join me on my holiday.
Our first stop on the holiday tour was in Xitang “water town”, which is kinda like a Chinese Venice, Italy. With a river running through the middle, the city offered a great display in the evenings with hanging lanterns, floating candles, and romantic boat rides. Xitang isn’t really one of the “see things, do things” kinda places, it was more of a “sit on a porch, drinking beer and reading a book all afternoon” place; and the latter is precisely what we did.
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