Home at last. I like this picture because of what is happening over there with Marcs eyes. How does he do that? He does it a lot, even, it's like an expression I'm familiar with. Geez. Creepy.
When we were safely back in Zhongxiang, Marc and I started exploring the countryside on weekends with bikes. We found this strange...structure, that we immediately dubbed Ancient Playground.
Weird lookin', huh.
Marc scaling the thing.
The Ming Tombs, in Zhongxiang. The only clean part of Zhongxiang, it was actually quite a cool place. Here I am pictured desecrating it.
Marc mocking me.
Wow.
This whole wall is built in the shape of a ying yang, as I recall. So cool.
On our way home from the Ming Tombs, we got lost and chased by dogs.
Seriously.
Somewhere in the midst of my life I was moved into my stunning new flat. Things weren't quite completed yet, but it did have heat (not much use in the summer now, but eh) and a western toilet.
One thing it did not have was floors. Or rather, it had a floor, it was just the floor of a garage. My school informed me that if I wanted floors I should pay for them. With the help of Therese and Marc my school was eventually persuaded to lay down vinyl floors.
I particularly liked my kitchen.
This is a thing that I drew onto Johns leg, that he has always wanted as a tattoo. It says "Kata Ton Aaimona Eaytoy" which apparently can translate to either "the demons live within me" or "the divine spirit dwells in me". Hm! He came up with the idea, I just drew in cool lettering (partially based off of his own normal lettering).
Here is the tattooist in Jingmen inking over my blue pen. He started very professionally, initially, with rubber gloves, but about half an hour into his work he jettisoned the gloves in favour of a cigarette.
I brought a gameboy, because after the first 20 minutes, this got kind of boring. Here john is pictured unsuccessfully taking his mind off the pain. Note the grimace.
The finished product, with yellow stuff smeared on it.
Not bad, methinks.
John being weird at Marcs house after the tattoo.
John again, at a completely different date, threatening me with something, but see the tattoo? I'm so proud. At the time, when it was getting done, John suggested that I sign the thing, because he's insane. I declined, because I figured he might regret JG/04 on his leg for all eternity. Sigh.
Here is the outside of the local bus station in Zhongxiang. It seems to me we were taking a trip to Wuhan for pizza and... I forget why this picture is here. But yeah, that's what it looked like.
...Yep.
Aha, I remember this. This is what a flood in China looks like. That is a road, folks. I remember that we couldn't open the doors, because water was just sloshing in. To this day, I have no idea what caused this.
'
Marc being deranged on the bus, some bus, somewhere. He is hungry for McDonalds.
This section is just random Zhongxiang-ian photos from my last month, I guess, they don't really have a narrative to go with them. Here John is pictured wearing blue nail polish, flipping Marc off, whilst I look like a ten year-old boy. Your fairly standard ZX shenanigan.
Yeah, it's a long story, I don't want to talk about it. It's uh, not what it looks like.
...There may have been a dare involved.
At some point I went to Hong Kong with Therese! John met us there.
The architecture there is basically on crack, and how I love it.
Therese and I. Therese is pretty much officially my favourite person to travel with.
John and Therese. I'm pretty sure John stole the camera for this shot.
On second thought, I have no idea what's going on.
During my stay in Hong Kong, a series of incriminating photos were taken of my first ever cigarette, and me drinking a lot. I do not have a good excuse for my actions, other than it was a week away from my leaving the ZX4, and I became sentimental and open to suggestion.
Also, hey, I bet you can't even tell I've never held a cigarette before. Look what a badass I am! I don't look like a robot with a cigarette at all.
...God, that's embarrassing.
John keeps an eye on me to make sure I finish my second pint at the same rate he does his. Therese laughs evilly in the corner with a camera. Not pictured are the second, third, fourth and fifth cigarettes I consumed that evening. It's their fault. really. They kept offering me them, and I've always secretly thought smoking looked really cool.
This picture will never stop making me laugh. Ever.
I don't remember this picture being taken, but I was told Therese found us in some hallway, wearing each others glasses.
Sigh. I miss Hong Kong.
When I came home, my school was kicking me out, so here is a picture of me freaking out at how much crap I have. Please note that I am the girl who took books to China instead of clothing. I took it all to Therese's house and slept on her couch for a few days. My school wanted to take me out of the city as soon as my contract with them was completed, because I think they wanted to make it look like I'd left the country so they could justify charging the parents for a foreign teacher for the whole year.
I have no home, I work for no man, I have no name.