Vibes

This is the promised post about going out and meeting people in Dalian. I've come up the brilliant idea of posting a series of videos and pictures 'detailing' nights out, so you can be wildly entertained by our gallivanting - be warned, we get progressively more.....intoxicated.


Just to explain, the title of this post - Vibes - is kind of a private joke between us flatmates. If your a person of normal intelligence, it's probably not a riddle as to what it's in reference to, I won't spell it out as I've been requested to use my discretion...







So you can put names to faces I'll just give you a quick run down of the most important people who appear in these photos. 
There's me [obviously] the only non-white-or-asian to appear in any photo I believe. There's also Holly and Serrena - Holly being the tiny white girl with short hair and Serrena the petite asian with massive hair. The two Chinese ladies who apparently high-jacked my camera at some point are our Chinese 姐姐 [jiějie, elder sister(s)] Connie [short hair] and Vivian [long, brown hair]. Connie's husband Jimmy [or he could be Jamie...we're never quite sure] also pops up every now and again - he's more Connie's bodyguard and chaparone and they run a French Café together.

Hopscotch's DJ and mine and Serrena's adopted 哥哥 [gēge, older brother] JiaoZi is floating around in some of the pictures and even in some of the videos when he can escape from the pressures of putting on a 3 hour playlist and bringing us free shots - the reason why he's not Holly's gege will be explained later on of course, I would never leave you hanging.

The foreign looking guy [you have to admit, he does look foreign] is Alex - he's from Belarus and features more heavily later on in the story.
Finally there are our two American 朋友 [péngyou, friend(s)] Eric [bald, head and shoulders taller than pretty much everyone] and Warren [almost as tall as Eric, but actually has hair and is quite good-looking].


Most of these pictures are taken at a bar called Hopscotch which is pretty much one of four decent places to go in Dalian. The only 'club' club for westerners is a place called JD's which is really not worth the packed bar, lecherous 30-something-year-olds and really, really bad music. Like really bad - I do not have good taste in music but even I can recognize. There are a few other places that are quite enjoyable such as Joe's, Transformer's and Hertz Bar, but the clubbing scene is pretty 马马虎虎[mamahuhu, so-so - literally the most common phrased bandied about] to be honest.




Also I have something to tell you...I'm not gonna lie to you guys - we've started living for the weekends. With 8 o'clock starts everyday and nothing to do in the evening except work, eat and go to bed at 10:30, its all we can do to remember that there is a meaning to life, somewhere. I mean, Serrena does keep me going with such gems as "What would you do if you found out the guy you were sleeping with only has one leg/ a glass eye" and "What would you do if you found out your friend was a prostitute" - but still, livin' ain't easy.


It's a small scene in Dalian, but really enjoyable with the right people. A typical Saturday [so far] has been a mix of going to someone's house, drinking a horrendous amount, going to Hopscotch, drinking even more and then going to Asian Karaoke [KTV], probably with a stop off for McDonalds somewhere along the way. Just so you know, as if you couldn't have guessed, I love KTV - I think it's a magical invention and whoever did invent it made it with me in mind. Surprisingly, noone else is as big a fan as I am - maybe they're just not as cool as me.

Oh yeah - We had our house warming as well! I almost forgot [although this is early on in the story for you guys, I actually added this bit after I had posted] - Pictures below. We managed to bring in a huge crowd, including an impressive number of Koreans [breaking the Koreans is considered an achievement - they move as a pack].


OH and there's bumper cars at the beach [about 3 minutes away from hopscotch] - so basically we become so inebriated that we believe driving into each other at top speed in 'bumper' cars that wouldn't pass a health and safety at the dodgiest fun-fare in Yorkshire is a good idea. Needless to say you feel it on a Sunday morning, and Mondays usually consist of showing off your bruises to those also in pain. Alex neglected to tell me till after I had gone on them for the first time that one time after a session he wasn't able to turn his head for a week. I told you driving in China was dangerous.




Ok, so to explain about Holly and JiaoZi. I know you've been waiting for it. It's not anything too exciting, but it gets amusing in places. So basically [I really need to stop starting sentences like that], Holly and Serrena had met this drumming society before I got to Dalian [African drumming, not Chinese] and had seen JiaoZi playing with them at Hopscotch. Seriously, Hopscotch is the focal point of our lives, so I might just have to shorten it to H - be prepared for that. Long story short, Holly cornered him later on, demanded his phone number along with other private information such as his relationship status. I was obviously informed of the situation before being taken to H for the first time. She had been texting him since this first meeting and was being... well, rather forward and obvious to put it bluntly.
"I don't think he's getting the vibes," she explained when I asked how it was going. She was soon to be proved wrong. I mean, when a guy brings you a Hello Kitty blanket when you mention that it's a bit chilly, there must be something going on right? One time I was sitting in between them and actually had to move because I was being crushed by the vibes. After a long period of 'not getting the vibes' JiaoZi invited Holly back to his place to 'watch a film'....except they really did only just watch a film, which was as disappointing as you could possibly imagine. But ever persistent, Holly eventually just sent him a text message that essentially said "你要不要?" [Directly - and accurately -translated as "Do you want or not?"]. It turns out he did 要 - and the rest is history ;).

Oh, this day was also christened Candle Day - as JiaoZi was sweet enough to bring around his own candle, which he then proceeded to light before...hand. It has been a great source of amusement for us ever since. I like jiaoZi - he's very sweet and extremely polite, sometimes when we wake up in the morning he's even cleaned our house for us! He also enjoys KTV - he's a keeper in my books.


Don't think I was gonna let Serrena get away with it either - she's done enough vibing for 50 people and the doughnut references need a shout out.  So basically, any guy who's...well, any guy really catches her eye. Don't get me wrong, she's not that kinda girl, she's just not very...focused. Well, she's likes boys is what I'm tryna say.

I think she's got some sort of focus now at any rate, which is good, and is also where Alex reappears in the story. She's taken a fancy to him [I think it's his deadpan Russianess] and it all started with a doughnut. Basically, she had already decided that he was attractive, but then he bought her doughnuts. Now, if you're looking for any advice on how to snag Serrena, all you need to know is that Food is the Way to her Heart. Note the capitalization. Then he brought her even more doughnuts, and now he's all she can bloody talk about.

"I caught Alex staring at me, but I don't know if he was just staring at my eyelashes." Is one such gem. She's also taken to learning Russian, or at least enough to impress him...or impress upon him what she wants depending on your interpretation of the situation. Despite warnings that she may be being too forward, especially for a guy as...traditional as Alex, she's persevering, which is very admirable in my opinion. "He knows what he wants" she insists - well, at least there's no mistaking what she wants. I'm a bit worried she's becoming obsessed actually - she's a pro fb stalker, to the extent that she knows when he was last online, and has suddenly developed an interest in becoming fitter. Well, each to their own


And me? Well, I don't really kiss and tell [not about myself anyway], so you're just gonna have to do with other people's gossip! Besides, too many members of my family read this for me to be casually giving out certain details of my...experiences.....
So if we're friends in real life, you can ask me about it [that is not a guarantee that I will tell you] and you can also see the pictures on facebook if it's not working for you here. I hope that's enough information for now, enough to warrant the fact that I haven't posted anything in over a week anyway! Bear in mind that I still don't have the internet on my own computer, and am planning on buying a smaller, functional model soon enough.

The first time you read this post it may not have all the photos/videos up - I just wanted to get something out there for you guys to be jealing over!


Comments & Questions xx *^_^*