Doldrums

Seven days until we get paid. Having squandered most of my reserves two weeks ago on a puppydog, today I am writing with no wine and a dumbass dog licking my besandaled feet. The dog is okay, I can deal with him. All of his actions fall into two non-exclusive categories, gross and stupid. Usually most of what he does falls into just stupid, so it's cute. Being about seven months old and a boxer/bulldog mix, the only thing he does that is really annoying is peeing in the apartment. Having never been housetrained by his Chinese owners, I can understand this. We are making progress, but unfortunately he is still a puppy and has a tiny bladder. A drink of water will make it's way through his system (seemingly) in roughly an hour and a half. Since we will be living together in this apartment, the best solution we can hope for here is to get used to each other's schedules. Like I said, progress is being made. We have accidents, but those are mostly because I am too lazy to take him out as often as he needs rather than willful acts of defiance on his part.
The wine situation, on the other hand, I am having a hard time coping with. Right now I am experimenting with tea and Bai Jiu, that delightful Chinese beverage which they so criminally and enthusiastically like to compare to whiskey. In hot green tea, I suppose that it's better than drinking the stuff straight, but not only does it still taste pretty terrible, it is entirely lacking in that deep satisfaction that I derive from holding a bottle of wine by the neck and taking gulps. If they had paper bags in China, I would keep one in my apartment just to put my wine bottles in before drinking them. I would even name it something appropriate, like The Colonel. Alas, this is a pleasure that will have to wait with many others.
It's so strange to consider that in a week, I will have more money than I know what to do with, and that this will be true until the summer of next year. Now that I'm actually almost out of money, I am finding that I have a difficult time imagining what it will be like. Even making lists in preparation lacks any real inspiration and feels more like just throwing out ideas. I am sure that when I finally go back to the super-mall with thousands and thousands of yuan in hand after two weeks (and more than a year of living off of small-time pay) of maintaining a thirty-yuan per day maximum, it will be one of the more surreal experiences in China.
To cap all this off, enjoy some of the poetry that I asked my students to write about the fall leaves.

Fallen leaves like people in the society
Some will fly to the sky by the wind
enjoying the sunshine;
some will fall to the river, doing a
long travel;
And some will melt into the mud,
giving their children food.

In autumn the trees are brown;
The little leaves come tumbling down;
They do not make the slightest sound;
But lie quietly on the ground;
Until the wind comes puffing by;
And blows them off towards the sky;
The wind will blow their freshness into you,
and the storms their energy;
While cares will drop away from you like the
leaves of autumn.

Winter must be cold for those with no warm
memories
Night must be long for those with no sweet
dreams
So I beg the reddest leaf from the fall
Put it beside my pillow
Warm my memories
And sweeten my dream

When young and in bud,
we can see a heaven in your pretty leaves.
Fall comes, everything changes.
You are attracted bu the love of wind
You leave us without words, dancing and singing in the embrace of it.
Wind is heartless. He deserts you and throws you to the ground.
Everyone can hear your broken hearts, but the wind you are madly in
love with leaves you with bursting laughter.
Then you are old and in mud,
leaves us a hell in your dead.

In love with you art the first sight.
Your beautiful shapes, your various colors,
all made me fascinated.
The moment you are born, you know what's waiting
for you.
You are born for the company of trees.
You are born for the beautifying of environment.
You are born for the stability of the soil.
You know one day you would fall for another
generation.
You just leave the world in your favorite state.
I'm not sad. I know you're waiting for me another spring.

Leaf, a wing which can not fly.
Green, red, yellow and grey.
You end your life in a short fall.
While you pursue freedom by your whole life.
Persistence, insistence.
Like a fallen leaf dancing in the wind.
I keep on drifting, whirling through my life.
Never give up my dream.
Never lose hope.

The sky is blue and high
in this autumn time
With the autumn wind's call
the beautiful leaves begin to fall
Like angels in yellow and red
Dance the last time in their lives