And today the Olympics end. Time flies.

Sunday August 24 2008

Friday I got up early and caught a cab downtown to my job interview. It went well but they want me to work Sunday mornings. We'll see how things develop. After the interview, I went to Starbucks and got an Americano, then cabbed home. I got some lunch with Sam and then Rick and I went to the pool. It was really sunny and hot, I swam 1km and then we chilled and talked with some Chinese girls at the pool. It was a great afternoon.

Then Rick and I came back to my house and we met up with Sam, Iona and Fran for dinner in the neigborhood. They're both English girls who have been here for 2 years. After dinner they came by our house for a beer and we watched the USA-Argentina basketball game, by far the worst game of the tournament, because it wasn't close enough to be exciting and there were almost no dunks.

After the game, Rick, Sam and I went to Cafe Paname and had some drinks there and then walked over to Panda Bar and stayed out far too late.

Saturday I slept in and then ate some noodles on the way to the bus. Rick and I bussed over to the Sports University to play football with a bunch of other foreigners. We played 10 on 10 on a turf field. I slide tackled and got a great scab on my elbow and knocked Gaven out of the game for a while. When he came back in, it was on our side.

After the game, Terry, Andy, Rick and I all went down to the Shamrock, an expat bar that supports the football with free beer. So we sat around and traded China stories for the afternoon. Norman, a Canadian guy who plays soccer with us, was also there. Rick went home after a while and Andy, Terry, Norman and I stayed until the beer was done, then went to the Leg and Whistle to watch the football matches. Simon was there and watching the rugby with his wife and some other Aussie friends. Liverpool won on a 94th minute winner and I bet Andy 100-to-1 odds that Liverpool would win the league this year, on 100RMB. So if I'm right, he's out 10,000RMB. We'll see what happens in May.

Kevin, an American who also plays football with us, came by the Leg and after the Liverpool match he and I went across the street to another bar, owned by Chinese guys, to watch Arsenal. I started falling asleep during the halftime so I decided it was probably just a good idea to go home and sleep in my bed. It's been a good weekend and I've got a job interview, so there'll be more news soon.