The Rawpinions Weblog

On my way out of the uni gates a few minutes ago (to buy snacks), I noticed this HUGE board that had “Bejing Olympics” at the top and “Huashan Hospital” (in both English and Mandarin) at the bottom.

*Done with my first ice-cream cup*

The other day, the ’shifu’ downstairs told me to register my canteen smart card, so it will be able to open/close the dorm gate (we used to be able to come and go as we please without the gate thing).

All these changes are solely for the Beijing Olympics…I hope.

Yup, it’s true…they eat dogs here in China.

I’m in Shanghai so I don’t get to see the “real” China.  In fact, I don’t think many Chinese living here in Shanghai really understand the “real” China.

Everytime I ask one of my Chinese friends to confirm that Chinese people do eat dogs, they tell me that dogs here are regarded as delicacies and the “dog” they eat is just called “dog” but isn’t really the ‘dog’ we all are very familiar with (i.e. the ones we keep as pets).

*Note: not all Chinese are ok with eating dogs.

So yeah…my sister is currently at “Tonghua, Jilin” on a field trip.  She sent me an sms the other day telling me about how revolted she was when she saw a dead dog in a baby bathtub on the pavement outside a restaurant.  Apparently, the dog was just boiled (she could smell it…and she told me it “smelled like boiled beef”) and there was a woman who was plucking the fur off the dog.  The dog was white “sort of like what a chicken looks like after it’s been boiled”.  My sister also said the dog was a doberman pinscher (check out the picture I’ve attached).

I’ve never really seen anything like that here in Shanghai.  I might have come across dog restaurants but I’m extra careful when I go to Chinese restaurants in case they’re serving dogs.  Dogs are more expensive than chicken, duck, pork and beef so there’s nothing to worry half the time.  Although I would suggest staying away from street stalls…’coz you never know, haha…come to think of it, mongrels are rare here.

Ultimately, I think meat is meat.  If you’re a dog lover because dogs are awesome animals then it’s definitely immoral to eat dog meat.  But for those guys who don’t really care much about dogs, this shouldn’t be that big a deal.

I was telling a friend of mine that people in Seychelles actually eat fruit bats and shark.  She thought it was gross.  I didn’t tell her that I thought it was gross to eat fruit bats (or fruit bat soup)…esp. because bats are not only cute but they’re harmless.

But as for sharks…that’s a whole other thing.  Some (or most?) people think it’s crazy for us to eat shark…although I personally don’t know many Seychellois who’d think it’s not normal.  I love tuna (and WOW I really do)…but I’d honestly swap tuna salad or tuna-anything with ’satini reken’ (shark chutney) ANYDAY.

LOL, I just checked wikipedia and there’s an entry on satini reken (not written by me).

Interesting read:
Tom Cruise planning to eat placenta (he’s always up to something), isn’t he?

Yesterday, I was feeling a bit tired so I decided to browse paipai.com (China auction site).  I actually like paipai.com more than taobao.com (most popular China auction site), ‘coz it’s more…colourful.

So I decided to search for “塞舌尔” which is Chinese for “Seychelles”.  Apparently, 2 people are trying to sell 10 rupees for 20 and another for 30 yuan.

So now I know what “rupee” is in Chinese: “卢比” - I used to think it was “塞舌尔元” or something along those lines.  I don’t think I was entirely wrong though…just not entirely correct. *lol*

When I first got here a few years ago, the rupees was valued at 5.5688 to the dollar, and RMB was at around 8.1.  Now, rupees is at 8, and RMB is at 6.8 (or 6.9).

(It’s obviously better to keep RMB than dollars at this point).

*Sigh* if we could only find a value for the Seychelles rupees…then people would start wanting it again.  Somehow I feel, tourists should not be allowed to pay for stuff in foreign exchange (incl. hotel accomodation, island hopping, etc.).  The foreign exchange goes to the wrong hands anyway (or is that the point; is that how corrupt we are?).

A few people have telling me that Facebook has been blocked in China.  I doubt it…because I’ve always been able to access it.  If you’re having probs accessing it through www.facebook.com, try the following:

http://login.facebook.com

or

http://www.facebook.com/home.php

One of my friends just pissed me off.  I’ve always been very respectful when it comes to my female friends, there’s a huge difference between the way I treat the guys in my life, and the way I treat the gals.  But anger is anger; when a guy friend pisses me off he’s just being a jerk.  When a gal pal pisses me off, she’s being a b*tch…and that’s worse, esp. because I don’t deserve such treatment from the girls.

So yeah, the other day the birthday girl tells us that the bday party will continue on the beach this Sunday (tomorrow).  She joked that we’re only allowed to enter the beach with our swimsuits, so we’ll have to strip at the entrance.  It was already a “planned and confirmed” thing, everyone already agreed to go.

This one friend of mine then tells me she’s got the ‘hots’ for one of my male friends, so she forced me to invite him.  So I invited him the other day, telling him “my friend really wants you to be there…”.

This morning, I checked my emails and this woman had the audacity to send me a “wow, I’m so tired…I won’t make it to the beach this Sunday…”! We all know her real reason: she thinks she’s gained weight and is too ashamed of her body to show it off.

So what exactly am I supposed to do now? She just made me invite a guy, and I haven’t a clue on how to disinvite people.  The reason I’m so pissed off, is because I’m going to be stuck entertaining him the whole day.

See now normally, if it was a girl with a heart I’d make out with the guy she’s into so 10 years into their marriage she’d find out and hate me for it.  But this so-called friend of mine is not only a playgirl but a big time playa…and we all know women playa are screwed up in the head.  It’s like her heart went off to Barbados 10 years ago for a much needed vacation and hasn’t returned.

So the only way I can pay her back is to have fun and send her the pics, to show her what she’s missed out on.

Don’t ask me how, but somehow, my friends and I ended up at a pub in the wee hours of this morning.  I’m dehydrated so I have a freakn headache, and it’s a combination of that booze together with all the walking we did.  A few weird things happened last night:

- When we went to order our drinks, I ordered a s*x on the beach (why the heck not) and the friend I ordered with ordered a Margarita - the friend who claims to be a pro at drinking because she “drinks booze everyday”.  When the bartender brought the drinks over, I reached for my sizzling pinkish drink and she said “no, no, no, that’s mine!” I turned to her and asked her what she ordered, she said “a Margarita”.  So I pointed to the Margarita and said “that” is a Margarita and she didn’t believe me so I gave in ‘coz I didn’t want to make a fuss and gave her the s*x on the beach.  Darnit!

FOR ANYONE WHO DOESN’T KNOW WHAT A MARGARITA IS LIKE, IT’S THE LIME/LEMON DRINK WITH THE SALT SPRINKLED ALL AROUND THE RIM OF THE GLASS.  Better yet, just don’t order one.  Thanks to my “put-your-friends-before-yourself” attitude, I did not have s*x on the beach (maybe that’s why I’m a little cranky).

So I spent the “night” with one single glass of Margarita and that b*tch got me tipsy! OMG my tolerance to alcohol is gone! It’s been a century since the last time I drank anything.

Last night, before the party I bought two bottles of booze: a Malibu and a bottle of red wine.  I was going to bring the red wine to the party but I switched the bottle at the last minute.  To my surprise, it was not a bottle party (wo0t?!) so one of my friends and I were the only one who brought the booze (it’s also probably why we’re always invited to the cool parties).

Which means I deliberately left the red wine in my fridge for me to drink.  I’ve never had a bottle of wine to myself, and everyone keeps talking about it so I might as well try it.  Now to find that bottle opener…

I’m so bummed about my lack of tolerance to alcohol.  I used to be able to drink 4-5 glasses of Vodka on the rocks before getting affected.  I’m a small person so that’s not bad at all.  That one glass of Margarita was enough for me last night, and worst - I was actually just hanging out with the ones that were relaxing on the sofas…but ooh I got cheered up soon enough!

For the first time ever, I saw two white guys making out. The most interesting about white guys “rolling the other way” is that they’re so “pretty”.  Most of the time, they’re ‘prettier’ than the straight boys.  One of the girls (the one who recommended the place to us) then turned to me and said “someone just told me that we’re at a gay bar”, so I turned to my other friend (the one who had my s*x on the beach and said “she said she thinks we’re in a gay bar” and she said “I know! That’s totally what I was thinking!” So I guess they indirectly listened to me before we actually left the party, when I said “hey I have an idea, let’s go to a gay bar!” The brit dude who was hanging out with us seemed up for it.

I’m drinking a cup of warm tea.

Yum…

Woohoo…

Yeehaw…

*Sigh*

An old friend of mine just called to invite me to her birthday party tomorrow.  Of course I didn’t forget her birthday…I just didn’t know that she was having a party esp. because she hadn’t spoken to me for almost 5-7 months (can’t remember) so I haven’t gotten her anything yet.

This made me realize that this is going to be the fourth time I attend her birthday gathering.  Which means I’ve been here in China for four whole years already.  Lots have changed.

4 years ago she had a gethering at her “elder sister’s” place.  Her “elder sister” being a family friend.  4 years ago she told me that she loved school (true, because she was always in time and never skipped a single class), she was a “very happy” person and that she had her whole life planned out.  She plaanned to graduate, get married and then have kids.  At that time, I was like “wow…so you can actually say you’re ‘happy’…wow”.

3 years ago, I don’t think we did anything that special.  LOL.  We hung out, I remember the deal was that she had to choose her own present (I know, I really do suck at buying presents) and she didn’t so I bought dinner.  Awkward.

2 years ago she had her party here at school.  I even did a little Windows Movie Maker clip (my first clip ever).  LOL.  She started partying a lot (uh oh?), and went out a whole lot more than I did.  But she had a “curfew” so she was still alright.

Last year she had her party here at school again.  Unfortunately, most of the people who ended up showing were my friends (50%), another 25% who showed up were our common friends.  That was weird.  But she’s the one who told me to invite as many people as I could so that’s sort of what I did.  I bought most of the food/booze so she had no reason to complain.

Last year was sort of a bad year for her…basically she had no choice but to drop out of uni (but it was a life she chose).  So now she’s working.  Plans do change, we just have to roll with the punches.

So this evening I’ll have to go shopping for a present and some booze.  Don’t be surprised if I end up with the bottle and no present.  Like I said, I suck at buying presents.  The last bday party I attended, I only brought a bottle.  Awkward.

My inability to buy presents is due to the fact that I don’t care much for presents myself.  The best presents are the ones you can gobble up and not worry about where to keep them for the next century.  The last present I received was at a random day.  It was a “thank you for being so wonderful” present: a box of chocolates.  Yes, believe it or not, some people do think I’m wonderful…maybe it’s because they don’t take the time to read my blog, LOL but yeah.

But buying someone chocolates for their birthday - esp. handing it to them during a party is the most inconsiderate thing ever (esp. because they don’t have much choice but to share it) so a box of chocolates is definitely out. *sigh*

Most people here in China like to give stuffed toys as gifts.  If you don’t know what to give your friend; you give them a stuffed toy/animal…no matter how old they are.  These things are not necessarily cheap though…but I don’t like buying my friends that.  Hello? We’re adults.  If you want a cat that looks like Garfield, tell me and I’ll go buy you a real ginger marmalade cat.  Please don’t make me buy you something that should be bought for your child…even if you don’t have one yet.

Ok whatever.  I’ll figure it out later.

It’s the 1st of July and CSC has decided to be even nicer to us…they’ve increased our monthly allowance by 75% (I think)…and decided to give us a 6-month backpay! I’m so tempted to go shopping (I’m in need of a new gadget in my life).  But then again, I really shouldn’t.

So because we got back paid, most of the Seychellois here in China will be heading home (with big fat suitcases for their very lucky family members).

I will not be going back home for the summer holidays…instead, I’ve decided to have my mum come visit again.  It was my sister who called her up yesterday to tell her about coming over.  She then sent me an MSN messenger asking me if it’s true.  She’s already so excited about her visit, esp. because this time we’re going down to Yiwu (a manufacturing city) to shop! Watching my mum shop for stuff at wholesale prices is like watching a kid shop at a toy store.  I’ve yet to find something that makes me equally psyched.

My little brother will be coming over too, I’m so glad.  Coincidentally, some football matches for the Olympics will be held here in Shanghai and I wish I could get him a ticket to watch just one match at least.  Except these tickets are so freakn costly…

Here’s an even cheaper way to make local calls within China.  Although there’s a possibility that they’ll automatically charge you monthly…:

(Shown in the purple block)
- 44 yuan/month package: 10′000 minutes
- 121 yuan/month package: 30′000 minutes
- 440 yuan/month package: 120′000 minutes

The green block is for international minutes (whatever that means):
- 99 yuan/month package: 10′000 minutes
- 275 yuan/month package: 30′000 minutes
- 990 yuan/month package: 120′000 minutes

I spend tons of hours a day infront of my PC, and sometimes when I really need to speak to a friend of mine who’s not online I have no choice but to call them on their mobile phone.  Ok…to be honest, I only ever call my sister haha, and we spend hours on the phone.

But yeah, I call a few other people once or twice…a year.

As for people calling me…did I ever mention my fear of picking up the phone? It’s true…it freaks me out on a very serious level.  I can’t explain it.  Please don’t call me…ever.  Unless you enjoy my panic attacks.

Anyway, my phone bill this month has shot up to 200-300 yuan ($29 - $44).  Ever since December 2006 when I actually paid 1000 yuan for that month alone, I had been trying my best to cut it down to 50 - 100 yuan per month.  So I sort of overdid it this month.

Enough BLAH for now, here’s how to use Skype (China) aka “Tom-Skype” for cheaper calls.

*You don’t need to create a new account, you can use the one you have.

1 - Download & Install Tom-Skype. Apparently, you can only do this on the “Tom-Skype” software and not the ones you download from the English (official) website.  Download Tom-Skype HERE (click on the green button).

2 - Buy Credit. Here’s the direct link if you’re going to use your China debit card.  You’ll see a bunch of cards on the page, what you want is to select any of the bottom 4 cards (depending on the denomination you want):
- RMB 100 for 900 minutes
- RMB 50 for 400 minutes
- RMB 20 for 150 minutes
- RMB 5 for 30 minutes

Then fill in both box fields below, with your Skype username -> Click the button -> Pay!

3 - Call Somebody…Anybody! How do you make a call? Simple.  Add an asterisk “*” right before the number you want to dial.  Did I mention it only works for China numbers? Ok, so it should look like this:
Mobile numbers: (+86)*13812345678
Landlines: (+86)(city code)(number)

**Here’s the thing though - I don’t know if the receiver has to pay when they pick up your call…so it’s best you call their landline.

BUT IS THERE AN EVEN CHEAPER WAY???

I think so…but I haven’t tried it yet (but I will…).

“Unlimited Calls to Landlines…” and China is in the list! What they really mean by “unlimited” is that you get 10′000 calling minutes for a price of $5.95 a month.  But in this case, you won’t be able to use your local (China) debit card.  You’ll have to use Moneybookers and whatever it is that’s usually compatible with Skype.