World Cup Analysis

6/24

I had a slight hangover today so I mostly just sat around all day, reading a Sookie Stackhouse series book and avoiding making any actual decisions.  Oddly, this inactivity had a great effect on me and after feeling a bit off and in a funk for the past two weeks, I'm suddenly feeling more like myself; happier and more excited about life in general.  Since the 20RMB/day ($3) I'm paying for my dorm room includes a free beer at their bar, I went down with Georgina, a very nice British girl spending a month traveling in China before going to Uni to study Chinese.  We played several games of foosball and I won every single one (and not by a small margin either).  I'm not sure if she was really that bad and paying that little attention to the game or if I've gotten much better, but it was fun to win, as I rarely do at games like that (or even just games in general).

So often it seems that the Chinese are quite bipolar as a culture.  At least to me, people have mostly been either very kind or extremely rude with very few in between.

6/25

World Cup Thoughts:

a) #11 Slovenia looks like a serial killer.  I just need to say that.  I feel a little threatened anytime he comes on screen.

b) New Zealand's team is quite attractive, just in general.

c) We're doing quite well.  I believe we're #1 in our group and we play Ghana at 2:30 a.m. Sunday morning here.  I will definitely stay up to watch.

d) It's (usually) not quite as boring to watch if you're drinking in a pub environment with people who are really excited about it.

e) The vuvuzela's really not that bad, it just sounds kind of like a swarm of bees, a slightly irritating background noise.

f) Australia's team is a terrible representation of their level of attractiveness.  Most Australian men I saw/ met were quite hot, though douchey.  This team may well be douchey, but they're definitely not cute.

So today, I caught the overnight train back to Beijing so I can go to Mongolia from there.  I just have to do the planning, like, any and all of it.  On my way to the bus stop by the train station, I noticed I was right next to the Hongqiao thing and culture street so I wandered around there for a short while.  It was cute but not wildly exciting, but I enjoyed just looking at all the calligraphy instruments they had for sale.