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I only have one crazy story from my time in China that I haven’t shared, and this one doesn't involve breaking any laws. While I was in China, I was promoted to school manager after 6 months. One of the perks of this was of course more money, but I was also paid to travel around the country for company events and meetings. It was just before New Year’s Eve in 2009 when I was having my last round of interviews, and this time it was with a gentleman that was second in command at the entire company, and lived near the HQ in Texas, but traveled to China often. During the interview, I asked him his thoughts and predictions on the upcoming National Championship game between my alma mater, University of Alabama, and the University of Texas. He got all excited with the change of topic, spoke highly of the mighty Longhorns (UT) and how he was going to attend the game against Alabama, and finished it off by letting me know that he himself had gone to University of Texas, so he wasn’t just a ‘bandwagon’ fan. I laughed and told him that I went to the University of Alabama myself and was excited to watch the game illegally in China, to which he laughed and finished off the call by not only offering me the job, but also proposed a friendly bet that at our next meeting, the loser of the game would have the pay for the bar tab for the winner. Simple enough; I wanted the job and therefore I agreed. (In early January of 2010, Alabama and Texas play for the National Championship, with Alabama winning 37-21). Around the end of January or early February, I flew to Jinan, China, for our annual manager’s meeting. I arrive at this upscale restaurant, meet staff from around the country, and of course, meet the Texas manager with whom I made our wager with earlier. As the night progresses, the drinks start flowing and people are getting absolutely toasted, me included. It was late by now, and I’m sure some people had already headed to their hotel, but at some point, it was just me, my new manager, and Mr. Texas, drinking, laughing, and just having a jolly time. I guess I made a joke about the wager and said something along the lines that this ‘dinner’ didn’t count towards the settling the bet, as he was just going to have the school pay for it, to which I’m sure we laughed and drank more. Well, someone, and I’m almost sure it was Mr. Texas, decided the 3 of us were going to go out and continue the celebration and epic night. Now, I must address one thing for you to grasp the rest of this story. I’m 24 years old at the time, roughly 6’1”, 176lbs, and about as average as can be. My Manager was mid-30’s, probably 6’5”, ex Rugby player from South Africa, and very good looking. Mr. Texas was probably upper 50’s or even 60’s, 5’3” ish, and overweight as you’d imagine most American to be. So, we are drunk, outside the restaurant/bar, and Texas calls a taxi. One arrives, we get in, and Texas either can’t speak Chinese, or just is too drunk, so instead of saying anything or telling us where we are heading, he gets the drivers attention, making a circle with one hand, and using the index on his other hand, make the world recognizable signal for sex. So we go to this place, get out, pay. At the front, there is a counter with prices, but since Texas is paying, we don’t mind them and instead just walk on back to a changing room. I walk to the corner, undress, and put on a robe provided in my person cubby. Once everyone is ready, we walk to a large room where massage tables are lined up, we each pick a table, and lay down. A female comes to me, takes off my robe, and begins to massage me and run my body with some sort of soap. I’m not sure how long this takes, but I know that afterwards my lady takes me to a private stall, and showers off my entire body, only to place a new robe for coverage after the shower. As I walk out of the stall, I meet up with Texas and Manager, and together the three of us are taken upstairs. We are motioned to stop in the hallway. The carpet was dark blue, and the walls were a lighter shade of blue, but the overall look was dark as the lighting was dimmed. As we stand there, a few words of the employees are said, and a line of girls walk out in front of us, maybe 10 or so, and once they are all out in front of us, they remove their robes and stare at us completely naked. Texas is the first to ‘pick’ and walks up and down grabbing, touching, feeling the girls before settling on TWO girls that are right in front of him. Manager goes next, walks up and down the line before choosing on a girl, meanwhile I am left with 7 girls and feeling completely out of my element, so I quickly choose the girl right in front of me. My girl leads me into a room, that just so happens to be beside Manager, who is between me and Texas. In my room, I sit down, ask the girl to sit, and we begin to talk. I’m a conservative guy, so I’m both embarrassed, confused, and honestly, not really to have sex with this girl I don’t even know. She goes to a side table, opens the drawer, and pulls out all the tools and devices one could possibly think of when about to have sex. I ask her again to sit down and talk, and soon after, I hear screaming, both male and female, followed by doors slamming. I quickly robe, walk back into the hallway, to see Texas, naked, yelling as the manager about the two girls. Texas is yelling that the girls refused to have sex because penis was too large. Manager is also out at the time, and we try not to laugh as it’s clear the girls just don’t want THAT, in them. But the manager is obviously embarrassed, and so he begins to hit both girls that refused sex, to which I go back immediately inside my room. Now I’m confused, angry, and just want to head home, but as I try to calm down, I hearing this pounding followed by a loud banging against the walls, and in no time, I realize that Manager and his girl had obviously started the dance of love and were having a blast in doing so. Now here I sit, drunk, and really feeling uncomfortable, so I tell my girl that I don’t want to have sex, which immediately get her scared as she assumes that she’ll meet a fate like her friend(s). I calm her down, and just say that I’ll pay, but I only want to talk. So for the better half of 45 minutes, I sat there in my robe, with a prostitute in her robe, and talked about her time growing up in China, where her family was from, her goals and all that, and I also answered questions about America and my experiences and travels within China. When it was time to leave, we hugged, walked out of the room, and were heading to the counter to pay, where Texas was already waiting, having paid, and based on the smile on his face, having satisfied his needs. The three of us got back into the taxi and went back to the hotel we were staying at and back into our respective rooms, never to speak about the night again.

Apologise for not doing this sooner but Hi, I'm Juniper (middle name but means youthful) I'm 33 and originally from Denmark but have lived in the UK for a very long time. MY links to football are through my father as you can imagine English football is massive in Scandinavia. Although I have a chosen team I do like all teams so don't discriminate other teams, I really like the culture and buzz of the English game. Hej og du er velkommen til at stille rimelige spørgsmål.

Game 101 had a solitary goal, coming in the 86th minute. Game 102 had a 13th-minute goal, and all the winners! 2 points 3 points! 1 point 2 points 2 points & of course @nudge getting 3 points for her pick! Table after Game 102:

Some late submissions. Schnitzel Day! and Pasta Tuna Bake (Gratin)

Yeah, almost as confusing as a Peruvian supporting Ipswich. Or Millwall.

I read all this fully expecting you to be forced to pay for the whole night because of that wager

I love it how you used both temperature units in one post Any chance of doing it in Kelvin, too?

Results - Gameweek Four Casualties (1) We are one step closer to the end of this round, with @nudge eliminated in Gameweek Four. A 93rd minute own goal denied Real Sociedad a home victory over Celta Vigo on Saturday and denied our league leader the chance to extend her lead. 3 points on the board this round and still a chance of a bonus point for 3rd place if 2nd place is a tie, see you in the next round! Survivors (3) Those that went with the big hitters reaped the reward of a 4th consecutive victory. Antoine Griezmann's strike was enough to secure Atletico Madrid a win over Athletic Club, sending @6666 into Gameweek Five. He was followed shortly after on Sunday by @Dan and @Tommy who backed Barcelona ahead of their 2-0 win over Cadiz. Congratulations on your progress! Another week where the tie breaker picks didn't come into effect but they'll still be needed this weekend! Preview - Gameweek Five With everyone having used up both Real Madrid and Barcelona, it's going to start getting trickier now! Please remember to pick a match winner you haven't already used, an anytime goalscorer and a time of first goal for the randomly selected fixture, Valencia vs Real Sociedad. Below are the fixtures, starting on Friday night: Elche vs Real Betis Espanyol vs Mallorca Cadiz vs Rayo Vallecano Real Madrid vs Atletico Madrid Valencia vs Real Sociedad Athletic Club vs Girona Celta Vigo vs Real Valladolid Almeria vs Barcelona Sevilla vs Osasuna Villarreal vs Getafe Good luck!

Must be really tired this morning as my eyes keep getting watery...

Fuck me has Titanic only just come out in Manchester?

Also I love Union's old fashioned scoreboard, where they actually still have people who bring out the right numbers.

Homemade sea-bass, marinated in fresh lemon, garlic, salt, pepper, mixed herbs and chilli flakes, sweet potato fries and a homemade spicy tomato sauce.

Lets get these rolling again. A few sheep memes upcoming @nudge @Stan @Harry @Lucas @Beelzebub @CaaC (John) @Dr. Gonzo @Pyfish @Eco Trying to understand Sheep answers. 3 for Nudge Lucas seeing him get less points than Nudge and Gonzo despite not getting an ace Dr Gonzo

Just turned on Sky Sports News to hear David Sullivan, the man who sold Birmingham City to a person who is now in prison for money laundering, say that football does not need an independent regulator in terms of governance and ownership.

That 4 year old is more composed than most of the adults I know.

Oh shit @SirBalon is back.

Casemiro allows Fred to be that box to box player. Been brilliant lately. Not sure what he did wrong there. The ball was in play when he kicked it. Weird yellow.

Union Berlin have taken the lead against Ajax, thanks to a penalty from Knoche! Union Berlin 1-0 Ajax Amsterdam

Or get Tim Burton to do a spinoff from an existing franchise that was popular, but make it absolute shite. Thank fuck I don't pay for the Netflix account I'm using because I think most of the content is absolute crap and anytime they've got any good exclusives it's either some shite they've bought the licensing from the BBC or Korean shows from... or it's something like Mindhunter that they'll cancel without giving a good reason while continuing to churn out these absolute turd shows. And when they buy the rights to shows to have them as Netflix exclusives where Netflix is given creative control, they churn out more shite. Arrested Development is one of the best American sitcoms of the last 20 years... and when Netflix got it and brought it back they botched it so badly, if crimes against television are a thing... that was definitely one.

This Monaco v Leverkusen match has been incredible to watch. End to end stuff and both sides attacking like mad.

I think China's a pretty interesting country to look at politically right now. Xi has undone a lot of the good work that China has done to progress and develop a lot as a country that came under Deng. The company I work for has an office in Beijing and another in Hong Kong and it's been startling seeing how many of them have requested transfers to offices in other countries. One transferred to my office and he says it's terrible what's happened to China and how things are going back to how they were before the 90s there & basically anyone who's got money and an education has thought about leaving as soon as they can. And that's me hearing that from people I've been told really don't like to talk about anything political because of the fear of repercussion... so I wasn't expecting to hear anything like that. COVID sort of forced a sudden swift to authoritarianism (not that China felt very non-authoritarian to me when I was there in 2018 - because to me, it very much felt authoritarian) and before the pandemic, Xi had really consolidated his power over the CCP. And recently they've just drastically shifted their foreign policy to what they call the "warrior wolf" policy, even though in January they've moved the "face" of the warrior wolf policy to another role instead of as FM. But the warrior wolf (the stupid name comes from a Chinese nationalistic action movie) policy involves taking a very confrontational approach to foreign policy. Meanwhile Chinese-Western relations are probably about as bad as they've been since Deng. It's an interesting situation because China seems to be moving away from the path it was on before, but the west and China are both incredibly dependent on each other. I think Russia's invasion of Ukraine has sort of shown a massive red flag on having economic dependence with an authoritarian government that is getting increasingly confrontational. But it's also a different kettle of fish, China's an economic powerhouse & the world's manufacturing hub. Getting western business to drop China will be tough, profits almost always come before morality. But that spy balloon sent over the US nuclear silos that was shot down recently is I think making a lot more people in the US at least look at China in a different way to how they would have been looked at 3 years ago. But China's already broken their treaty with the UK over Hong Kong and the world largely stayed silent, similar... but different... to Russia seizing Crimea. Will China see what's going on in Ukraine as a sign to not try something similar with Taiwan? Or are they on a crash course to trying to "reclaim" Taiwan and putting the west in a situation where they've got to think about serious economic ramifications vs. defending Taiwan, an important Asian ally... and I'm pretty sure also the largest supplier of semiconductors/microchips to the world?

The driver that goes fastest normally... *lip smack* ... wins the race - Will Buxton

Malta 1.4 C° One of the reasons I love(d) going there. Even in October I usually had fantastic weather and warm temperatures.

Well, to be fair, since Tromsö is at the seaside, Vancouver is a much fairer comparison than a Continental climate city like Calgary.

I mean it couldn't be any worse, right?

Haha, did I say something bad? I was trying to be welcoming here

@Michael, @Bluewolf, @nawoo, @Coma, @londonerlilie, @Relling Last reminder!

The best part of this story is that you paid this girl just to have a conversation. I bet that was a nice change for her, compared to the guys who just see her as a sex item.

A large round sphere on a beach in Japan? That's clearly a Godzilla egg...

It's almost as if you are unaware teams can improve. You are referencing 2 games that were 4-5 months ago.

Wtf is that supposed to mean? Should she start doing singalongs for senior citizens in care homes instead of making the kind of music she wants to just because she's past a certain age?

I just hope Karius has an incredible redemption arc.

Once they implement that "don't share passwords with your friends" shite, I'll be sailing those high seas with you.

Man I think I made it about 4 episdoes into the Netflix season before throwing in the towel. What an absolute mail in of a final season. Yeah I agree. The fact that they turn out shit movie after shit movie with massive budgets and let real gems like this go just goes to show you shouldnt give them your money. Its the pirate life for me....

Fortune favours the bold

Ooooh yea, I didn't even think of that. I was just rather impressed with his Oxford degrees.

He's been such an advocate of diversity within the grid.

I'm in. My nan passed away recently and she loved F1, my son seems to take a liking to cars and ive always been a casual F1 fan so it's something I want to gain more knowledge about as a hobby to pass on to him in a couple of years.

Yeah, pretty decent!

You seem a class act from what I've seen in the football league threads. Welcome, although a Danish person supporting Luton Town does confuse me a bit, given the general identity of the town Hopefully you stick around. I've recently come back and the place seems a bit more dead than it used to be. I guess that's the quirk of a forum in 2023

@Michael, @Bluewolf, @Coma, @nawoo, @londonerlilie Last reminder!

I have to get the low net spend in now because we are going crazy in the summer lol

Just finished watching it other day for the third time. Now I'm just looking up Jordan trash talking anecdotes on Youtube.

Just watch Last Dance on repeat. Absolutely amazing documentary.

Brian, for the 100th time, I have nothing against you. I was just asking why not just mention you're back instead of creating an entire thread dedicated to people taking time to ask questions about you? I get that you have people who have asked about, but a simple PM would have sufficed, but alas, I'm just trying to give you feedback man. And @Toinho, you can sack off for all I care man. My family has it's fair share of people diagnosed as autistic and my wife and I have actually fostered two children with it, so your assumption that people don't do their research is complete and utter shit and condescending. I know you have worked with people on the ASD, but please quit the 'holier than thou' mentality that the rest of us are just ignorant.

Say “who’s there?”

What would be interesting would be if there was an official meet up, you all met up and you weren't allowed to reveal which forum member you were by username. The aim of the game could you figure out which forum member was which from just talking to them and asking them questions. Obviously be difficult with myself as I've not been around for long but would be a fun game for a lot of the long term members who havent actually met.

Most of you I don't know what you look like so I'd be highly confused. For all those that I speak to normally, I'd likely pull out the good liquor, cook a good meal, and let you stay at my house for as long as you wanted.