Sometimes I doubt your commitment to sparkle motion

My [Chinese!] friend Sean will be going back to the UK to study in the next few weeks. Technically, he was originally Josh and Brad's Chinese Friend, though. Each foreigner is entitled to his or her very own Chinese Friend. If a foreigner should claim someone as His or Her Chinese Friend, he or she has effectively called "dibs," and no other foreigner may claim said Chinese Friend as his or her own. It's in the rule book. Seriously, most people have their one Chinese friend, and people ask you if you "have a Chinese friend." It's like a requirement. So he's not technically My Chinese Friend, but we became friends, regardless of ancestry or heritage, and I'll be sad to see him go. It was Sean who brought us our semi-weekly dance parties so it was only appropriate that we hold one last dance party for him before he left. I'm sure the host was excited that his party was so well attended, but he was quickly disappointed when he realized that 90% of the attendees were there to celebrate with Sean, not to ChaCha. The host is probably 50, German, here alone, and not exactly here to find a Chinese wife. Truth be told, he's a bit socially awkward, and the dancing could be a good way for him to make friends. Just... not with me. He's perfectly nice but not someone I would really enjoy spending a lot of time with.

"Isn't this great? You've never had so many people come before!" I said to him. "Yes well, I am afraid that they will not come again, they are only here for Sean," he replied. I mean, what was I supposed to say to that? If Chinese people think we Americans speak too directly, they have clearly never met a German.

There was a young woman from the UK who is teaching in Jinan, and she's loud and hilarious and likes to have a good time, I'm quite sure, seeing as she didn't remember meeting me last time. We exchanged names (again), she asked where I was from in the US (again), and I told her (again), and then she says, "Ooh, isn't that the one they named the musical after? You know, Ooooo... how's it go?" Which is funny in its own right but even more amusing since she said almost the exact same thing, verbatim, last time we met.

After the dancing came to an end, most of us went to Park, a disco not far from here. The best part of the place is the entrance, which is near the Botanical Gardens, and you have to walk through the trees on this long sidewalk before finding your way to the doors. Once we entered, we decided that a party of 15 justified buying a bottle, rather than each of us paying for a drink or two. We found our way to our Mid-Eastern themed semi-private cabana in the corner of the club and waited a bit before giving up on table service and heading to the infamous moving floor for some dancing. AN HOUR AND A HALF LATER, drinks were served. Here is something you perhaps don't know about me: if I order a drink at a bar, I want it right now, and I want it ice cold, and if I don't have it right now, I want to know what the hell is taking so long. So an hour and a half had me (and the rest of the party) quite in a tizzy.

Foreigners arguing with the bar staff. I have never been to a country where they make it so difficult for you to buy things from them.

But all was resolved and I soon made a new friend. Allow me to introduce Calvin. Yes, as in Klein. He would only let me photo is profile:

Ok, I do not go looking for this kind of thing, but it's undeniable. Regardless of the environment, country, or my own attitude, I only manage to attract one kind of man. The ones that sparkle.