Step 33 - Home, of sorts.

Okay, so, I've obviously been really bad about keeping up to date with this blog. My bad. I started this post ages ago (would have been around the 13th of 14th of February) but never quite got around to continuing it. I'll update the old post as necessary, then keep on going with the original train of thought.

I'm making another 'out-of-correct-order' post, but whatever. I've currently been living in the new apartment for 3 or 4 days now (More like 18 now...). Things are going quite alright. I saw Byron off at the airport, and today said goodbye to the house mate's visiting friends. So now it's the two of us, looking after a puppy which belongs to what appears to be the soon-to-be ex-boyfriend of the house mate (Yep, ex-boyfriend. Also, puppy wasn't as much drama as it could have been). Valentine's day Drama, of course. For my part, my main <3 interest is a girl back in Perth, who I've never met and only know off the internet (Lol). That's not to bitch about net dating, that's how I met my last girlfriend, just complaining about the tyranny of distance/how lame China is.

So, the new apartment. I'll put some pictures up soon, but it's alright here. My room is large enough, the internet works, the location is fine. I have noticed (and am kicking myself for not noticing sooner) large spots/sections of black mould on the wall. Preeeeeeeetty gay. Going to get onto that ASAP with bleach and/or vinegar (so it turns out bleach is only supposed to be effective against mould on hard/non absorbent surfaces. Apparently it just kills the surface colony, which will resurface later on).

Seeing Byron off was pretty bad. I was very sad to see him go, and seeing him disappear off into the security section of the airport gave me a definite sinking feeling in my gut. It's not just that he's a really good friend, but a connection back to my home, my parents, and all my other friends back in Australia.

Alright, I didn't get much written that first time, am I right? I'm feeling quite a bit happier now, and I'm more settled, but I'm still definitely missing home. Not missing the heat you guys are apparently putting up with though. Screw that 40 degree shit -right- off.

Lijiang was, as I said, not that exciting. Big-time tourist action, expensive admission to all the parks etc, and not necessarily worth it. I'll only go there again if passing through to Tiger Leaping Gorge or something.

I feel like I should point out that Byron kept a much better blog of the trip than I did, and writes a whole bunch better too. Check his blog out, seriously.

What else do I have to say? Hm.

Last night I met a bunch of people and joined in for a game of Axis & Allies. It was the first time I've played A&A, and the first boardgame I've played in a really long time. It was quite fun, though quite amusing though. I was worried about slowing the game down with my inexperience, but out of the 6 people there, 3 were also quite new it seemed. Kind of frustratingly, one guy has apparently been playing with them for awhile, but just isn't getting a grip on how to play. I'm not talking strategy, I'm talking basic rules. The 2 experienced guys would be like 'No, dude, what are you doing? You -know- you can't do that', and the guy would be like 'Oh, okay', and try to do the exact same thing again. Not a cheater, just not really following.

It also happened to be the longest game they've ever played, apparently. We went from around 6.30, and still hadn't finished by 12. That was on the one game. It was getting to the closing stages, but dice roles had gone the wrong way in key battles that would have hastened the end of the game. I still enjoyed it, despite the long play time, and I'm glad to have met the people as they seem like a nice bunch.

I've managed to get my passport in for a new residence permit, this time with minimal fuss. Things could very easily have been ultra-frustrating but they didn't. For example, I needed to find a police station to register that I am now living off-campus. No one really knew where it was, but Gosia had done it before and had a vague idea of the area. Looking on Google Maps, there was a single police station in the vague vicinity of where Gosia had suggested I look. I walked over, and it happened to be the right place, so I got registered in like 40 minutes including travel time. If I'd been trying this when I first arrived, I probably would have been hit by 3 buses on the way there, and it still would have been the wrong place.

Going to the Public Security Beauru (PSB) could also have gone wrong. I went there late on a Tuesday or something, around 4pm. It closes at 5pm, so I knew already I was tempting fate. Anyway, I got there around 4.30 and the place was deserted. Awesome. I filled out the forms and was ready by 4.45pm. And then I sat there for about 10 minutes. The girls at the counter were doing what appeared to be 'make-look-busy work'. Just they weren't very good at it. Shuffling papers, and whatnot. Anyway, 5 minutes to go and one of them sighs, presses a button and bing, I'm up. We get done in a few minutes and I'm out of there. Praise to be whatever lords that control the PSB, for making it less painful than last time. I still ended up waiting like an hour and wandering about 1km before I managed to get a free cab, but still, all in all it was a very good run of luck.

So semester starts again on the 8th. I'm sort of keen and sort of not. Keen, because I get more meaning to life. Not keen, because it turns out I never got used to 8.30am classes.

That's it for now, I guess. Seems like I didn't have much to say after all.

Oh wow, totally forgot it's been Chinese New Year. Too many goddamn fireworks, seriously. They're -still- setting off fireworks at like 3am. It's ridiculous. Great if you like fireworks, but if you're a normal human being, 3 weeks is just soooooo annoying.