A Violent Weekend

This past weekend turned out to be pretty exciting. On Friday night, at a bar in Futian district, we witnessed what I can only describe as a "brawl" between two posses. While a few of us were just hanging out at a table with some newly made Chinese friends, a man from a neighboring table approached and blindsided one of said friends. The attack seemed totally unprovoked and, naturally, the victim's friends were not very pleased. We Americans just backed away and walked out into the street, but meanwhile the fight had grown to about 5 or 6 people. Wine glasses and bottles were being smashed on people, chairs were being thrown, and things got pretty ugly. Needless to say, we took the closest cab to the nearest American Embassy (McDonald's) and discussed the incident over greasy hamburgers. Crazy.

Saturday night saw us partying in an area of Shenzhen that we had yet to visit. The Nanshan district is accross the city from us, and has a very prominent ex-pat community. It was one of our fellow teachers' birthday, so we met up with a large group at a club in Nanshan. I think we saw more foreigners that night than every other day combined in the city. The club was nice, clean, on the water, and full of ex-pats. We had a great time dancing and decided to leave the club around 4am. Upon leaving, we ran into a group of French guys who were very obviously looking to pick a fight with someone, and as Americans, we fit the bill perfectly. After some heated words and threats, we just walked away, grabbed a cab, and headed home. Yikes.

Overall, a very fun and exciting weekend. This upcoming week, we have to teach not only our normal schedule of Monday through Friday, but also Saturday and Sunday. This is due to the fact that the following week, Sept. 29th-Oct.5th, is National day: a weeklong holiday celebrating the founding of the People's Republic on Oct. 1, 1949, by none other than Chairman Mao. For us, this translates into a week of travelling around China. Where are we going? no idea. But when I know, I'll be sure to write about it. Zaijian...