The customer is God

It happened last night.  I dreamt in Chinese, or more accurately, I said two words in Chinese in my dream.  But still, milestone...
 
I chanced to walk passed a Chinese gas station and read their slogan (everyone here has a slogan poorly translated into English).  It was "The custumer is God."
Man, the Chinese know how to treat people.  I was taken out to dinner by a student's parents.  They were taking all their child's teachers out.  Very entertaining (and sketchy).  Todd, another Zz English teacher, was telling me that on one ofthe occations he was taken out, they all went and got masages afterwards (all on the parents tab).
 
I've decided, pretty definitively, what I want to do with my life- politics.  I read the New York Times online everyday here (amoung the highlights of my day), and I read from all the different sections on occations (except maybe realistate).  But the two sections I never fail to read are the Op/Ed section and the Washington section.  I find it so facinating.  I also just finished the latest Thomas Friedman book, hardly putting it down.  Lastly, I just watched "The Fog of War", a documentary about Secretary of Defense Robert MacNemara and it was captivating!  I want to be like that (well, not the 'mislead the American public about Vietnam' thing, but the making important decisions about geopolitics).  So, that's what I'm going to do.  I'll fill you in on the details when I have more information.
 

 
National Day is coming up, and that means vacation!  I and some friends will be going to Guilin, a large national park for hiking and such.  We get a week off, but then have to teach on the weekends to make up for the days lost (that's how things work in China).
 
I did the recording for Zhuzhou Cemented Carbides last Sunday.  The film turned out to be a short for potential investers, and will be shown all over the world at expos for mining and drilling companies, and it will have my voice.  I have now achieved the immortality I deserve, and can retire in peace.
 
Random Observations-
The Chinese have horrible teeth, and a good number have limps (even children).  Everybody chain smokes and drinks to excess.  Prostitution is widely accepted.  The idea of personal property really doesn't have the same weight here as it does in the West (I don't know if that's an Eastern thing, or a communist thing).  Everybody has a cell phone (I'm bying one today!)
 
They still haven't hooked up my land line.
 
-the Wandering Norseman-