>My battles againt the Great Firewall of China. The Great Wall kept out the evil hordes. Shall the Great Firewall keep them out as well, weilding their vicious wordpress blogs with 2 readers a month, both of whom subsist on a diet of stale milk and old cheese?

Let us see…

WordPress is blocked.

Great Firewall: 1
Dancing Laowai: 0

No fear. Blogspot is up.

Great Firewall: 1
Dancing Laowai: 1

There goes Blogspot. Great Firewall breaks the tie.

Great Firewall: 2
Dancing Laowai: 1

But wait, what’s this? The Dancing Laowai has found a proxy!

Great Firewall: 2
Dancing Laowai: 2

Tie game! What will the Great Firewall’s next move be?

Blogspot blocked. Proxy blocked.

Great Firewall: 4
Dancing Laowai: 2

Uh-oh. The one and only Dancing Laowai is in trouble. He’s reeling folks…

Google’s gone.

Great Firewall: 5
Dancing Laowai: 2

He nearly down. FINISH HIM!

A narcissitic scar! Facebook and Twitter are gone!

Great Firewall: 6
Dancing Laowai: 2

FATALITY. The Great Firewall Wins. That was pathetic.

>Originally, I was supposed to visit Hangzhou and then spend a month speaking to teenagers there afterwards, earning about 7500 RMB.

Then today I got this email:

“hello william
i am sorry to tell you that the July20-Aug.6 Camp is cancelled. because of swine flu, the local government donnot approve summer camps to open .they are worried about that lots of people togerther in public tend to spread the disease . so it is a pity .
i have been told that many of camps in other province are also cancelled.
i hope to get your understanding.And wish that donnot cause more trouble and loss.”

Oh well. The only thing that’s changed is a) I won’t be 7500 RMB richer and b) I’m not free for the July 20 – August 6 period.

>”Did he used to be a woman?”

– my girlfriend’s reaction at hearing Chris Tucker speak while watching the movie Rush Hour.

>

Girl: I do not like children. I do not really want children, but I must.

Why?

Girl: It is my duty to bare children.

She feels an obligation to continue the family line? To give her parents grandbabies?

>

I went to the English Corner last night.

It was my third time. To give you an idea of how much I enjoy the experience, this was the third time I’ve come. In nine months. Twice in October.

Once in May.

Three of us came, up from the usual one. When I arrived, Mary, one of the student organizers, noted this fact.

“None of the foreign teachers want to come. We don’t know why.”

Let’s see…you hold it on Friday night on a campus far away on the outskirts of the city, a bus that doesn’t return until 10 at night.

And you wonder why no foreign teachers are coming? Really?

Besides, I haven’t even begun to mention the spiritual anguish that is an English Corner. That’s coming next.