Olympic Insanity

As the Olympics approach I will be blogging a little more regularly. Things have been moving quickly here and it is hard to believe the games are almost upon us. It is hard to believe because people here are as excited as they were two years ago. The anticipation and excitement probably peaked this past fall. Since then a series of events have caused concern, fear, and disappointment, all helping to take a bit of the shine off of these Olympics. Between the riots in Tibet, the trade wars with the US, and the Beichuan earthquake, people are saying that the games are 'cursed'. The really funny thing about that is people are blaming the 'Fuwa', the Olympic mascots. Some say the five of them represent five ills that have befallen/will befall China.
People say the yellow one named Yingying, whose form is meant to symbolize the deer that inhabit the Tibetan plateau, is responsible for the unrest in that area. Jingjing, the panda looking one, brought the earthquake in Sichuan province, home of the panda. Beibei, the blue one, planted all that algae in the water in Qingdao, the city that will host the sailing events. This leaves us Huanhuan and Nini, whose nefarious plots have yet to be exposed. And you thought they were cute. If you take their names and put them together it reads Beijing Huan Ying Ni, which means Beijing Welcomes You. If you read it backwards it means Paul is dead.
The newest subway lines opened last weekend. I am super excited about them because the subway is a great way to get to new places around the city and the new lines are really nice and clean. With the opening of these two new lines the grand total of subway lines in Beijing stands at six. The mini line that runs to the Olympic venues is numbered eight. Only six lines but one is called line eight? That is because eight is a lucky number, hence the opening ceremonies beginning at 8pm on August 8th 2008. Soooooo lucky. There is a huge run on weddings that day as well. I spoke with a student of mine who planned to get married at the moment that the opening ceremonies start. Speaking of the opening ceremonies, they had the rehearsal last week and wowy were the fireworks spectacular. What else would you expect from the home of black powder?

Back to the subway lines for a second. When I moved to Beijing only two years ago, there were three lines in Beijing. In the last eight months three more have opened. There are plans for six more lines to open by 2012. It is just amazing how quickly Beijing is skipping over the 20th century entirely.

Old Subway Line

New Subway Line

One thing that has changed in Beijing in recent days has been the installation of banners, art, signage, volunteer booths, and designated lanes for the Olympics. The city is certainly getting dressed up. The volunteer program was a huge success here. Two years ago, in an event here in Beijing, Jackie Chan kicked off the volunteer registration. Millions of people submitted their names to do everything from working the aforementioned booths where visitors can have their questions answered to carrying the medals and delivering them to the athletes. Word on the street is that volunteerism has is advantages when applying for membership in the party. Now all over the city volunteers are manning question booths in street corners and subway stops all over the city. All the volunteers got very cool shirts. Based on the number of shirts I have seen there must be nearly 80,000 volunteers. They are everywhere.



In Olympic related news, I bought tickets to see the US Olympic Basketball Team play against Australia in Shanghai in a pre-Olympic tournament on August 5th. I am incredibly excited. Bryne will be in Shanghai by then so I will go there for a quick visit as I need to work the next day. I can't stop smiling, I am just thrilled. On July 25th the remaining Olympic tickets went on sale at the venue's box offices. It was insane. Thousands of people camped out and waited for those tickets to go on sale. It was a madhouse and people were angry when (surprise) many of them tried to run to the front of the line as tickets went on sale. Basketball, diving, ping pong, and gymnastics were the first to go. Badminton tickets were sold out long ago. It should be noted that, for the first time in Olympic history, a stadium entirely devoted to ping pong was constructed. Today I am headed up to the Olympic area via the two newest subway lines (with camera in tow) to see if I can get my hands on some baseball tickets. I can't decide if it would be cooler to see USA vs. Japan or USA vs. Cuba. Why not both?

I plan on posting more pictures, thoughts, and observations as they come in. Until then make sure you keep the Fuwa out of your life.

Summertime in the City

I have been quite busy here in the last couple of weeks. Lots of news stories and mindless drivel in store so lets get started.

The biggest bit of news is that my roommate Bryne has moved out. He left at the end of June and is visiting his girlfriend in Korea before heading to Shanghai to start a new job at a school there. It is the end of an era. Bryne and I came to Beijing and worked the same job last year and decided to room together this year. He is a very good friend and will be missed. Before I start weeping uncontrollably I should let you all know that I will be visiting Bryne in Shanghai in September to relive the helsian days gone by.

Since his departure two things have changed in the apartment: There is more food in the fridge and more dirty dishes in the sink. I am terrible at doing dishes. Call me spoiled, call me a child of the modern age, call me domestically challenged, or just call me lazy but this is the first time I have lived without a dishwasher and my lack of talent in that field has been exposed. And since improving myself is a big hobby of mine, it is something I am working on.

A quick update on a topic I raised in my last post. I solicited ideas for movies to show to my students and received many suggestions. Thanks to all who shared their ideas with me. Two weeks ago I showed what is one of my top 50 movies to the students. I was very excited when I saw it in the video store and purchased it immediately giggling to myself all the way home. Groundhog Day. What a fantastic movie that is. I had been looking for it for a long time because of its obvious appeal to my students. It has broad comedy, a tinge of romance, and repetition, three things they love. It was well received and students were lining up afterwards to borrow the movie. Success.

The glory days of DVD buying seem to be over in Beijing and I have the Olympics to blame. Last week I struggled to find an open DVD shop. My old standby was open but had changed format seemingly overnight. The only DVDs they had for sale were Chinese ones, all the foreign DVDs had been removed from the shelves. I recognized the truth instantly but denied it and headed to another DVD shop. There too I found the same sad situation. I realized instantly that the famed Olympic crackdown was in effect. For months the media in the west has been reporting on Chinese efforts to curtail pirating and enforce international copyright laws. This was the first time I had seen evidence of such efforts and though I knew these tactics would eventually be employed I was saddened by their implementation. I traveled to an area near a local market that caters to Western tourists. Stationed outside the front doors of this market are men who quietly whisper 'CD,?DVD?'. Those men were gone. I walked around the market because I figured that, while I never went down the proverbial rabbit hole and followed these men, some unwitting tourist had. I assumed that they would not have to walk far so I patrolled the perimeter of the market. Soon enough I found a small DVD shop. Within one second I realized the same scourge that had wiped out the Western DVD's at the last two shops I had visited was in effect at this shop as well. As I tuned to walk out a voice called out to me, "Looking for Western DVD sir?", I replied in the affirmative, "Come with me", she whispered. I followed her into a back room with a smaller than normal door. We went through the door and into a hallway for service staff that was attached to the larger market. Down the hall we went and through an unmarked door through the door we made a left, then a right, and finally came to our final door. She knocked three times, slowly. The door opened and a choir of angels sang a beautiful song of celebration as I entered what looked like my dreams. DVD's everywhere. It was great, but is this what Beijing has come to? Secret hallways and knocks now required to procure Western DVDs?

This crackdown on the DVD's is just part of a larger effort to prepare for the Olympics. With the games just more than three weeks away efforts to create a 'safe and secure Olympics' are in full effect. Measures to reach that goal have included beefing up security on the subway. Me looking like a member of a particularly feared and despised ethnic minority in China has led to me being called out for bag inspection a little more than most although such inspections never occur at the stations near my home or near my work. Sporadically well armed police can be seen patrolling major intersections throughout the city center. They are decked out in body armor and carrying serious heat. Surface-to-Air missile installations protect the Bird's Nest and Water Cube as well, just in case they need to shoot down a plane over the center of the city. I've talked with my students about the amped up security and most of them hope that the bag checks in the subway continue after the Olympics. I was a bit surprised by that and hope to engage one of them in a more in depth conversation on the subject in the days to come.

I have plenty of other stories regarding this topic but none I should write down here.

On a lighter note, my office had a party last weekend at a cafe in a rather ritzy shopping area in Beijing. The biggest hit at the party wasn't the food or drink but Jenga. Jenga is a hell of a game that I was introduced to in the early 1990's. A stack of wooden planks are weaved together to form a tower and players take turns pulling the planks out and placing them on top of the structure. If you knock down the tower you lose. Since it can be played with any number of players there is no real winner, only losers. It is a game to identify a loser, which makes it unique in the realm of indoor family entertainment. At work one of the teachers is creating a class based on board games and Jenga was included, that is how it found it's way to the party. Jenga is unknown outside of the US. I didn't know this. Everyone was Jenga crazy including Maggie, my Chiense boss. There was a group of about seven people playing and she was the ringleader. She would call on people who were not even playing the game to come over and take a piece. I think she saw it as some sort of test of mental ability. The entire staff was all over Jenga. After the staff party broke up a contingent of us headed to a bar. There we set up Jenga and resumed play, this time drawing the attention of passers by. We even drew a bit of a crowd once the tower got really high. The Chinese wait staff was also involved in the game. Jenga brings people together.

The day after the party I was invited by a student of mine to join him and several other students in dining at his family's restaurant. I was happy to go on an eating expedition and joined them for lunch on Monday. My students are all adults, between twenty and sixty years old with the average age around twenty-nine. The students I dined with were David, Kiko, and T-Bag. That day we were visiting T-Bag's family at their restaurant. The four of us headed to the south part of Beijing. It had been told that the southside is the stabby side of Beijing, with most of the violent crime in the city happening on its southside. Violent crime is rare in Beijing and even more rarely reported. No one I know in Beijing has had a friend or acquaintance who has been a victim of a violent crime which is amazing. Think about your own life and friends? Amazing, isn't it? I headed to the southside with phone books tucked into my pants ready for a stabbing or a delicious meal. I got the latter, thankfully. T-Bag's family restaurant is located on the fifth floor of a market. It is a small place that specializes in Sichuan food. I had a bowl of spicy noodles and boiled vegetables in a spicy sesame sauce. It was great. We stayed there for about two hours talking and enjoying ourselves. T-Bag's mom, (Mrs. Bag?) thanked me for teaching her son. She was a very nice lady and thanked me profusely. It was great and I plan on getting back there sometime soon.

This weekend I organized basketball on Saturday at Beijing's premier street basketball venue. We had great attendance and I put up some monster stats in limited action (5 points, 1 3-pointer, 5 rebounds, 3 assists in 7 minutes of play), so all was well. Before, during, and after basketball I was being hounded by a clutch of coworkers and students to join them for a hike northeast of Beijing near Mutianyu, a section of The Great Wall. I was on the fence as they would be leaving at 7:30 a.m. and I am unaccustomed to such a time as I don't begin work until 1pm. After much cajoling I agreed to join them. I went to bed early and joined them the next morning at the apartment of one of my coworkers. From there we piled into two cars and made for the mountains. It was a three hour drive full of singing along with Chinese pop songs (not by me of course) and questions about curse words in English. Once we made it to the mountains we emerged from our vehicles to find that it was quite warm, 93 degrees. We began our ascent at 11 a.m. the scenery was beautiful mostly due to the abundant rain we have received in Beijing recently. The trees were incredibly green and the streams were flowing quite rapidly. From the trail you could see unrestored portions of The Great Wall. It seemed as if most of the hike was spent going up up up. Portions were quite steep but the trail was well maintained and clearly marked. We finished the hike around 2 p.m. covered in sweat. It was a fun if exhausting. After we finished the hike we were quite hungry. The area we visited is famed for a special dish that uses some kind of river fish that is found in the area. We went to a local restaurant and enjoyed this delicacy among others. One of the best dished was one I had never had before. It was fried pumpkin in but the batter used salt and sugar and it was dredged in goose egg. It was quite delicious and a great mix of savory and sweet. After the meal we headed back to Beijing, this time the pop songs were not so entertaining. For some reason it was decided that the party could not stop and we had to go out shopping. I was...exhausted. We parted ways after a couple of shops and I headed back home for a long overdue shower around 8:30 p.m.

This morning I have some housekeepers in my apartment cleaning around me as I type this. I hate this. It is awkward. They refuse to come when I am not here so I they have to clean around me while I look like a lazy slob. This could be a way to reform their customers but that would just be hurting their own business which relies on people like me.

Soon I'll be off to find another DVD joint and maybe get some more of that fried pumpkin, soooo good.

Miscellany

Things have been quiet in this neck of the woods. I have been trying to enjoy me free time by getting back to some of the routine which I enjoyed so much last year, when free time was more abundant. Several weeks ago I finished work on a Saturday night and felt like eating some of the lamb kabobs that are a staple of small, slightly dingy, restaurants that dot the streets in many parts of Beijing. I headed down to a hutong near my office in pursuit of such fare. I found a little place that seemed to be hosting a coronation. In the small restaurant were 15 people packed around 20 different dishes. I, being the only white guy for several blocks, drew a bit of attention as I took my seat near their table. The stares are something that I have gotten used to and something that I will miss when I leave China. I took my seat and placed my order which included a glass of Bai Jiu, the famed Chinese liquor. I ate my food and drank my drink as the people at the adjacent tables delivered countless speeches all of of which were followed by toasts. Because I am white and because I was drinking bai jiu I was drawing stares from the oldest gentleman at the party table. He toasted me with some of his 'good' bai jiu. I put quotation marks around good because There is no such thing as good bai jiu. All of it can be used as accelerant and therefore tastes the same. It was obvious that he had been at it a little longer than I had that evening. He began swaying in his chair and I began to worry for him. The other members of the table had to physically restrain him from ordering another bottle. He wouldn't be happy until I was as drunk as he was. He shook off his handlers and got himself together long enough to deliver an impassioned speech. All I got from it was something about how he is the boss, he has worked a long time, he was buying the entire meal, and some diatribe about hot and cold. As he delivered this speech every reveler at the table sat in silence looking everywhere but at the orator. They were being shamed. He stopped at the end of his five minute speech and got what he had asked for. He poured me a glass and I glanced over the faces of the members of his party. They were trying to put the heat on me to make him stop. I had refused his offers for more many times. I had no choice in the matter. I decided to just act more drunk than I actually was since I understood that this was his ultimate goal. After two glasses I began to wobble and sway. He was happy to get me to concede. It was his victory. I paid my bill, said my goodbyes, and left the restaurant. As I walked from the restaurant I realized that I may not had been acting as well as I thought.

Work has been going pretty well. I have been doing a movie corner every Wednesday where I show about 60 students a movie in English and explain the plot, vocabulary, and phrases. Here is a sample of some of the movies I have shown recently:
Jerry Maguire
She's The Man (students' choice)
The Usual Suspects
Gattaca
A Fish Called Wanda
The Shawshank Redemption
Edward Scissorhands
28 Days Later
There's Something About Mary

Of all of these I'd say that Edward Scissorhands, The Shawshank Redemption, and She's The Man have been the most popular. They seem to enjoy movies that are sweet and positive. I tend to hate movies like those. I have been struggling to find movies that I would enjoy showing them. Edward Scissorhands and Shawshank are great movies, but She's The Man? They loved it! I am always looking for more movies so if you have any suggestions please send them my way.

Two weeks ago was my friend Cromwell's birthday. He is a popular dude and even had some friends from Hong Kong come up here to help him celebrate. He had a catered dinner at his apartment on Saturday and we went out for a ridiculous brunch at the Intercontinental Hotel. This whole brunch thing is a monthly event for me and my friends. These brunches are posh and there is no way I would be able to take part in such a decadent tradition were I living in the USA. I say this to clear the air and not mislead people into believing that I could have a comparable lifestyle in the US. The brunches usually feature a great assortment of delicious treats and champagne. Cromwell's friends were great and very funny people. After brunch we all headed for a foot massage followed by cocktails at a nearby bar and restaurant. It was a great weekend full of delicious food. That is the best kind of weekend.

I am a bit sick and I know why. Sports. Sports have made me ill. I don't really blame them. I mean they are so engaging and exciting that it is no wonder I have become dependent on them. I love them and I have no one to blame for my current condition but myself. Recently, I have been staying up late to watch the Euro 2008 soccer tournament. I had several favorites going into this tournament: Holland, Spain, and Portugal. All historically underachieving football nations. The first game of the evening starts at midnight with the second one starting at 2:45 a.m. This second match is difficult to watch all the way through, especially in the face of......

THE NBA FINALS!!!!

I had my sleep drastically reduced considering that all the NBA Finals games started at 9 am and the last Euro 2008 match ended at 4 am. For a week and a half I endured five hours of sleep every other day. But it has been worth it. The Finals were great. I am a Kobe hater and a KG lover. I love to see good guys win. It is fun to see the Celtics on top again after 22 years of futility. I remember watching that series 22 years ago at Joey Holland's house back in McAllen, Texas. I was happy to endure a few droopy eyelids to witness such great sporting events.

What didn't help my situation was terrible weather. The weather in Beijing has gone from very pleasant to stifling in the course of a week. Summer in Beijing is known for two things, both detrimental to the Olympics: pollution and rain. The pollution traps the heat and gives you an awesome first hand experience with the greenhouse effect. Stifling. The occasional rain seems strange in Beijing. Not far south enough to be part of the monsoon region of China and not far west or north enough to be in the desert, Beijing lies at a weather crossroads in China. The winter is extremely dry and the summer quite wet. Four of the last seven days have had rain lasting only about an hour or so. Last Monday was exceptional. I play in a soccer league that meets on Monday nights in Chaoyang park. Our games start late, around 9pm. Last week I was not sure we would have a game. Torrential rain was predicted during the day but never manifested itself. As we prepared for the match lightning raced across the night sky. In the first minute of the match a light drizzle came down that was actually quite a pleasant contrast to the hot, muggy, air. This persisted for about two minutes before the skies opened up. Sheets of rain poured down. It was that big fat rain. We continued to play thinking that such rain could not sustain itself for too long. There were a few good opportunities for goals. We continued to fight for possession and challenge balls in the air. The rain was suffocating. I actually felt as if I was drowning while running up the field spewing water to stay afloat. The setting was great were we two national teams battling for the European Championship but we were The Carpal Tunnel Chopsticks battling The Dulwich Chinese Lions. The referee blew his whistle and I immediately shouted (because that was the only way he would have heard me over the rain), "It's only a little rain!" There are about 7 five-a-side fields in the sports complex and simultaneously everyone had their games canceled and we all sought shelter in a small room in the center of the complex. In about seven minutes of rain I was entirely soaked along with my wallet and all the money in it. Bryne and I ran to catch a taxi ahead of the rush of people who would eventually settle in the same idea. Taxi's never stop in the rain so we had to wait a bit. I could feel a sniffle coming on. Now, one week later, I am speaking like James Earl Jones.

I just spent the last five minutes trying to find a good Darth Vader quote to end this post. An appropriate one does not exist but this one is cool:

"The Rebels are alerted to our presence. Admiral Ozzel came out of lightspeed too close to the system. He is as clumsy as he is stupid. General, prepare your troops for a surface attack"

Earthquake Relief, Police Raids, and Flaming Gas Filled Balls of Glass on My Feet

Viewing my last post now, I regret being so cavalier about the earthquake. At the time I had no idea of the devastation or the human toll the quake exacted in other regions of China. I must apologize for my attitude but I will not delete the post. The post represents how I felt at the time. This whole blog thing is about capturing a moment or two and relating my experiences to those with a passing interest. Since the last post I believe we have all seen the images of collapsed buildings and people being pulled form their rubble. The situation is horrific and especially heart wrenching considering the One Child policy and the damage done to most of the schools in that region. For about 10 days after the quake, Chinese media has been extraordinarily open in the coverage. The media here is more famous for the amount of good news it reports rather than the images of peril and destruction that have flooded the airways recently. This openness is strange but entirely necessary in order to contrast the handling of relief efforts in China to those in Myanmar. The news coverage was immediate and extensive with live feeds from some of the worst hit areas and interviews with top level personnel regarding strategy and government action. I guess the theory is that as long as the government is doing a good job the story will be reported. What has not been reported in the Chinese media is the efforts and donations coming in from abroad. A big deal has been made about the private donations which, in the first week, reached something around 200 million dollars according to some sources in China. There was a telethon about three days after the earthquake. It featured many celebrities and taste-makers pleading with the audience for money. In every taxi I took that day the driver was listening to the telethon. We set up a donation box in our office and collected money from the students and staff. No word yet on how much was collected. During the designated three days of mourning many events were canceled including my weekly soccer game. During the three day mourning period foreign entertainment channels were blacked out and a message explaining the mourning and earthquake took their place. CNN and other foreign news channels still ran but HBO, Cinemax, MTV, and National Geographic were all blocked.

Exactly one week to the minute after the earthquake, China observed a three minute period of silence to honor those lives lost in the disaster. When I first heard this news I doubted very much that China would come to a standstill for three minutes. I was in the silk market getting fitted for s new suit when they announced the period of mourning would be observed. Sure enough even in the bustling silk market, a symbol of the economic voracity and consumerism that China is now becoming known for, all commerce stopped as we all stood in silence alone with our thoughts for those who lost their lives and those whose lives will be forever changed by the tragedy. Moments of silence, both formal and informal, are unheard of in Beijing and China in general. This was the first such event in the history of the country. As such the Chinese have a little to learn about executing such events. As I stood in the silk market I could hear the wail of car horns and sirens coming from the street. People stopped their cars in the road, got out, and honked their horns for three solid minutes. It was a bit eerie and awe inspiring.
The Saturday after the earthquake Bryne's friends Andrew and Paula Smith came to town for a visit. Andrew is Bryne's friend from university and Paula is his wife. They are both very funny and good people. I entertained them on my days off by going with them to Tienanmen Square, Wangfujing shopping street and, how every foreign visitor is treated, taking them to fabulous meals around town. They were with me last Monday at the silk market when the moment of relative silence was observed. During their trip they stayed with Bryne and I in our apartment.

One morning as I was getting ready for work, the door bell rang. Thinking Bryne had ordered a housekeeper to clean I opened the door without a second thought. In stead of a set of housekeepers there were two heavyset cops at my door. I had heard reports that the police were cracking down on all things from drugs to immigration and visas. Some of my colleagues had reported that they were called upon by the police to produce the proper documentation. Hearing this several weeks ago I decided that my time would come eventually so I made sure I had all my documents handy should an occasion such as this would occur. I invited the police in and went to fetch my passport, visa, and proof of temporary residence. I knew my passport and visa were in the room where Andrew and Paula were sleeping so I gently knocked on the door and told them that the police were in the living room and I had to get to my passport. To me this was no big deal but to them it smacked of 'police state'. As I returned with my passport the policeman asked me if there were other people in the house. He knew full well that there were other people and asked me to produce them and their documentation. They were not too comfortable with the whole situation, especially considering the policeman's lack of English skill. I remained calm until I was told that my documentation had 'extinguished'. "Extinguished?!?!", I said. "Extinguished", he said.

As it turns out I gave him the wrong form of temporary residence and it was indeed expired. Not a real difference now that I think about it. Either way I had become an illegal. When the cops told us that they were calling in another officer who was more adept in speaking English I felt a little more relaxed. When the third police officer arrived he was clad in black, which immediately put me on edge. His English was good but a little chilling when he pointed to me and said, "You...have no problem", then turned to Andrew and Paula and said, "You...have big problem."
We were all pretty excited to hear that visitors who come to China and do not stay in a hotel must register with the local police department. Although Andrew and Paula were scheduled to leave in less than 24 hours, the police officer recommended that we all go to the police department that morning to register. I was less than thrilled as I was scheduled to be at work in less than an hour and a trip to the police station is never a good thing no matter which country you are in. We headed down there with our passports and visas in tow, as those were the only documents we would need according to the policeman in black. We got a taxi to the police station and went down the winding alley ways to its front steps. Inside was a crew of crack policemen and women, half of whom were sleeping, the other half filling out dozens of forms in triplicate just to go to the bathroom. Sorry if I seem bitter but hell, how many damn forms and stamps do you need to live in a place and contribute to its economy? Soon it was our turn for scrutiny and we were swiftly rejected for not having the right paperwork. I was furious with my building manager because I was told that all my residence papers were in order eight months ago. Andrew and Paula decided to forget about it as they were leaving the country the next morning anyway. I was not as lucky. That day I just headed for work and decided I would deal with it on my day off.

On Saturday I was at the helm of a mock wedding that we put on at my school. I wrote 20 speaking parts for students to perform during our two hour wedding event. It was a lot like a Tommy and Tina's Wedding thing, although I have never been to one of those. The over all story had no plot. It was basically a two hour role play exercise where the 20 performers were supposed to mingle with the other students and tell them about their problems with the in-laws, unrequited love for the bride or groom, and various other forms of family dysfunction. The students loved it and by all accounts it was a big success. We had 120 students attend. The bride and groom had their first dance to Total Eclipse Of The Heart by Bonnie Tyler. It was hilarious and the students did a great job. That evening I went out with a young lady and we went to dinner and ended up at a foot massage place. She told me that this place was quite famous throughout China. It turned into one of the mos excruciating ordeals of my life. They kneaded my feet and calves like they were making pretzels. The real surprise came when they (the girl I had to get through a full week before that could happen. A full week of teaching 30 classes can be tiring. On top of that I was planning a mock western wedding for our students. I wrote 20 and two masseuses) were discussing things in Chinese. I was struggling to understand and then I heard words that I had been trained to avoid, 'Ba Guan'. Ba Guan ,or cupping, is by far the most alarming and unsettling form of Chinese medicine. It involves glass bulbs that contain a piece of thin gauze that is soaked in alcohol. The alcohol soaked gauze is then set alight and the bulb quickly pressed against your skin to create suction. The whole process is pretty grand. The girl I was with was afraid of it and refused. I pressed on. It was a strange sensation. They put one bulb on the bottoms of each of my feet. They only left the cups on for about 10 minutes. When they are left on for a long time they leave fantastic bruises and even leech a little blood out. It was fun.

Yesterday I worked a bit of overtime and got one day off today. Of course this is the day I had to take care of all the business with the police. This time I was prepared. I am now a legal resident of China and I can be unafraid. It is like I have a new lease on life. I no longer fear the doorbell or the chubby police or even the black clad ones.

Is this normal?

I was just sitting here doing some work on the computer when I felt like I had been struck with a fit of vertigo. I closed my eyes to try to regain my balance. It wasn't coming back to me. I heard creaking and felt that the whole building was swaying. My curtains were swaying and I immediately began looking for my keys. It was a little difficult to walk to my room. I found them and headed for the door. As I made my way there I saw my clothes on the clothesline. They were swaying as if a breeze were coming through the closed window. A sense of danger and urgency filled me as I hurried out of the apartment. I instinctively hit the elevator button but then realized that was probably a terrible idea. I headed for the stairs and flew down them. As I exited the building there were others behind me. I got far away from my complex of buildings and made my way up the street where there was a crush of people in the street all staring at the top of their buildings. We have had stormy weather recently in Beijing and it was quite windy outside. I assumed that the swaying was due to the high winds. I strolled around the streets contemplating my future in an apartment that can't withstand high winds. I questioned Chinese construction codes and procedures. After walking around, getting a bite to eat, and a careful study of the exterior of my building I returned to my apartment. I left the TV on and CNN was reporting a 7.8 magnitude earthquake near Chengdu. I had never been in an earthquake before so now I guess I can check that one off of the list.

Family Visits and Basketball Ringers

China has had a profound effect on me although not in any way I can explain...yet. I know that when I go back to the US I will then realize what I have gained and how I have grown. I am hoping I have gained and grown from this experience and can't wait to find out how. Time spent in China alternately moves at light speed and a snails pace. New buildings go up, friends back home have babies, the old man in the hutong next to my apartment sits and watches things go by. Currently I am stuck on a loop of work and home. My life seemingly stays the same and I can notice all of the changes happening around me, or I thought I could. Nothing shakes an expat out of their routine and removes the blinders like having visitors. Visitors see things the way I saw them when I first arrived. That sense of wonder, confusion, and fear is a powerful tonic and I miss it.

In March my sister (Courtney) and father (Lee) arrived. This was a trip several months in the making and I was extremely excited that they actually made it out here. Courtney had been to Asia before, on a trip in 1998 that included Thailand, Hong Kong and Singapore. My father had never been in Asia. It is not as if previous Asia experience can prepare one for modern Beijing, but it does make you aware of the toilet situation. They arrived on a Sunday and stayed for about nine days. I secured four days off which was phenomenal.

I had done my research before their arrival and found that the new Terminal 3 was receiving flights from Korea. As Courtney and Dad were arriving from Korea I thought it best to meet them at Terminal 3. T3 is as awesome as the movie with the same name (I am not being sarcastic here, I loved T3 the movie). It is said to be the largest building in the world but I don't know who is counting or how they count. The building is quite nice and, as they only send two flights out and receive two flights a day, still quite shiny and new looking. After I realized neither flight arriving that day was theirs, I hurried over to Terminal 2 to collect them.

It was so great to see them strolling out of customs with their heads on a swivel looking for me as I was looking for them. Once collected we caught a taxi and headed for my apartment. After we arrived they settled in and we caught up with each other for a bit. They were both pretty tired but pressed on in order to reset their internal clocks. This was an impressive feat because my father is famous for his inability to sleep on planes. Courtney and I headed to the supermarket to pick up a few things and my dad stayed back and rested. The supermarket was an interesting experience for Courtney. She was able to see some of that famous yet increasingly elusive 'real China'. There is a lot of construction on me street so she was treated to an exhibition of strength by the 70 year old men working at the site when they made their own concrete with sand and water. She also bore witness to the diaper-less babies that excrete judiciously. We wondered whether a diaper-less baby would become potty trained more quickly due to its diaper-less circumstance. Yep, this is me and my sister, two reasonably intelligent people having this discussion. We returned back to the apartment, groceries in tow, and soon afterwards both of my visitors were asleep for the evening.

I must mention that their trip coincided with the 'unrest' in Tibet. I am limited in the comments I can make on these events because I am not up for the scrutiny but..... These events, as I'm sure you all heard, were...'under reported' here on the mainland. CNN was especially frustrating in that regard. Every time pictures of the police and military doing what they do came on the screen the whole thing went black. These events and the Chinese response to them definitely impacted Courtney and Lee's trip. Because the unrest coincided with the annual meeting of the National Peoples Congress which is an annual event where representatives from districts within all provinces meet to vote yes on things, my father and sister were treated to the full show of China's power and control. Security had been ramped up all over town, the news redacted, and on top of all of this a sand storm rolled into town. They were treated to the full show. Their second day in town we headed down to Wangfujing (where I work), Tienanmen Square, and the hutongs near Houhai Lake. We were able to get up close and personal with the new Grand National Theater before heading to Tienanmen which was a madhouse. The entire square was shut down due to the congressional meetings there and because of the Tibet situation, security was at an all time high. This is one of the first images of China that my father and sister had. We walked around in the opening area of the Forbidden City but decided to not go inside as I had arranged for one of my students to take them on a tour while I had to work. From there we went to Houhai Lake and walked around the hutongs for a bit. It was a long day so we returned to my apartment and ate at a Chinese restaurant located nearby. The restaurant specialized in Sichuan food which is notoriously spice. I thought my dad would see it as a challenge. He enjoyed the food and didn't sweat too much. From there it was back to the apartment for some DVD's and a good night's sleep.

The next day we went to the Silk Market where, as anyone who comes to China knows, things can be crazy. I lectured my guests on the finer points of Silk Market etiquette such as "don't show any interest", and "never ask the price if you don't want to buy it." These tips and the etiquette you must follow make a trip to the Silk Market more of a competitive event than a shopping experience. I must say that they did a good job and we got some good deals. The trip went well, due mostly to my impeccable instructions and maneuvers in the market. Things fell apart at the end. We were heading for the exit when one of the stall workers said she remembered me from before. Knowing this tactic and knowing that I had never seen this woman before I said, "This is my first time here." Within nanoseconds of these words exiting my mouth a chorus of stall workers shouted in unison, "First TIME? and we were pounced upon, divided, and assaulted. One lady distracted Dad with some leather jackets or mock turtlenecks or something. Another lady manhandled Courtney and physically dragged her into the stall. A human shield of stall workers prevented me from reaching Courtney momentarily, I then made it over and was able to pry open the death grip that the stall worker had on Courtney's arm. Dad, still jet lagged, was confused and befuddled by the pace with which this very tactical operation took place. I broke Courtney free, we grabbed Dad and we made it out still having some money to our name. I love the Silk Market.

That evening we had a delicious roast duck dinner and made an early night of it. On Wednesday we woke up a bit early and headed to the fruit and vegetable market near my house. The market is divided into meat and vegetable sections for obvious sanitary reasons although precautions taken in the name of sanitation ended there. The meat section was best described by Upton Sinclair in The Jungle. There was blood all over the floors, pig heads just staring people down, organ meat of all kinds, and bullfrogs. I never buy meat from this market but it is a good place to go to see how real Chinese people buy meat. The veggie part is loaded with an incredible assortment of mysterious fruits and vegetables. We had fun walking around there for a while before making out way out east, to Tongzhou, to visit my old stomping grounds from last year and have lunch with Cindy. We headed out by subway and Cindy picked us up from the station. Her erratic and distracted driving was on full display. We had a delightful lunch and then went to LuHe High School so I could show them the grounds. While at LuHe we ran into some of my old students. It was great to see all of them as it was the first time I had seen any of them since the last day of school last year. The kids that seemed to hate me the most were surprised and actually excited to see me. I was happy to see all of them, especially Hot Sauce and Liberty.


The next day I had to return to work so I set Courtney and Dad up with a tour with one of my students. They went to the Forbidden City for the day and endured a Chinglish tour by my student, Apple. The next day they went to The Great Wall with Wendy whose English is considerably better than Apple's. I had to work and in the evening my school had a basketball game against a school from the university district in Beijing. I did not play as to give more students an opportunity to play. Before they game I riled them up with a few famous sports quotes but the one that stuck, and really displayed the character of the team, was, "No autopsy, no foul." This seems appropriate for a team that is coached by yours truly. The game was an epic battle of David verses Goliath. Our team, a bunch of scrappy young professionals fresh out of college with real high powered jobs, against their team, a bunch of students from the sports university. Collegiate athletics are very different here. There are entire universities devoted to sports with no other type of education. These were the students we were up against. Their shortest player was taller than our tallest. It was like all of those 80's movies with all the Russian automatons facing off against the emotional, passionate American team. This time both side was made of communist automatons but theirs were bigger and stronger. (Only kidding) Our players were quite passionate and emotional through out. I couldn't tell if it was due to my pre-game pep talk where I told them I would be fired if we lost, or if it was all the things I told them the other team said about their mothers, but this team was playing great. It was a physical match. I was at times John Thompson, Jerry Tarkanian, and Bob Knight (to the uninitiated, this means I had a towel on my shoulder that I sometimes bit and I also did a lot of yelling). When one of our players took an elbow to the lip I got to play trainer as well. I walked over too him while blood dripped from his chin and asked him, "Are you ok?"
"Sure", he replied but it sounded more like a question.
"He needs to go to the hospital", said one concerned fan.
I asked him, "Do you want to go to the hospital or do you want to play?"
Without hesitation he replied, "Play"
We took a few minutes to stop the bleeding then I subbed him back in. It was a close game but in the end the opposition was too good. After the game my injured student went to the hospital where he received five stitches. After the basketball match I met Bryne, Courtney, Lee, Cromwell and Steve for dinner at a Xinjiani restaurant where we enjoyed a stage performance while we ate. The next day my dad left Beijing so Courtney and I accompanied him to the airport. Of course, this was the best weather over the week he was here. After seeing him off Courtney and I headed to a park and then did some more shopping. The next day I returned to work but not before Courtney took me to get my haircut. My hair was the source of much controversy and she aimed to get my mane shorn, a scary prospect for any Samson. We went to a salon near my office. It was a good haircut. After the haircut, I headed to work and she went on shopping. At worked I looked at the schedule for the day to see what classes I would be teaching and noticed that I was not teaching. A mistake on my part. I left the office in a hurry to track Courtney down so we could take advantage of this new found time by going to see some more sites. Serendipitously, I ran into her as she was about to board the subway. We went back home, I changed, and we headed out to the Temple of Heaven. Again, it was a beautiful day and the pictures we took there were great.

The next day Courtney boarded a plane and went back home. It was great to see the both of them. When I was a child I could have never imagined having a rendezvous in Beijing with my father and sister. It was a great little vacation for me and I think they had a good time as well. The next week it was back to work for me. I told my boss about my basketball failure and hoped my claim to my students wouldn't turn into a self fulfilling prophecy. It wasn't and I keep on working and awaiting more visitors.

Sports Fest!!

These past few weeks have been quite busy at work. I have taken an increased role in planning activities out of the center and, as a result, seen my free time diminish slightly. It is no skin off my back because I love doing this sort of thing. There are a few headaches and worries involved but they are vastly outweighed by the fun of it all. In the last three weeks I have taken students skiing, bowling, and continued China's education on the fundamentals of winning basketball.

Skiing was by far the most difficult to organize. We were originally scheduled to go skiing on the 24th of February but by the time the 15th rolled around it was already 55 degrees in Beijing and we hadn't seen snow since December. I was assured by leading members of Beijing's snowboarding community that none of this would be a problem. After much deliberation between the three teachers who were organizing things, we decided to go ahead and keep the date of the 24th. I woke up at about 6:00 a.m. on that Sunday and was instantly regretting my decision to commit to skiing on my day off. I met some students at the predetermined location (McDonald's) and we waited for the other teachers and students to arrive. Once everyone was accounted for we boarded a chartered bus for the two hour drive to the mountain. Although Beijing lies on a vast plane, it is surrounded by mountains. We headed to one of the more minor ski parks northeast of the city. The bus ride was fun because I was able to hang out with the students and even taught them Texas Hold 'Em. They were a little put off by the gambling aspect (95% of the game) but they enjoyed learning a little about a popular western card game. As we drove further and further away from the city my doubts regarding the suitability of the weather were increasing. It was brown winter death as far as the eye could see and while the topography became more undulating, the snow was nowhere in sight.

As we rounded a bend the ski resort showed itself. One white mountain amongst a forest of brown. When we arrived at the slope it was a bit of a free for all. Students charging this way and that collecting their ski equipment and changing into their ski gear. This was a vastly different experience from my only other attempt at skiing. I went to Breckenridge with some friends about five years ago. This place was much smaller although it was more organized. Lines and lanes reduced the propensity for chaos that can happen in this land where the idea of standing in line patiently has only recently started to take hold. Once everything, and everyone, was in its right place we made for the mountain. We had a ski and snowboarding teacher go with us and he offered to take the beginners, who among our group were many, to the beginner hill to get the basics down. Skiing is a fledgling sport in China. It is definitely a sport for the rich so many of the students were just excited to have the experience. Two of the thirty students could be classified as advanced skiers having skied in several countries on three continents. As we made our way out of the lodge and towards the lifts the improbability of the situation became apparent. They had snow blowers that had laid snow up and down the mountain the previous night, that is how we were able to ski with temperatures in the mid fifties and no snow since before the new year. Another 'Only in China' moment. The mountain was not very big but did have many very short runs, 13 to be exact, ten of which were classified as beginner, two as intermediate and one Colorado 'blue' run classified as advanced. I took one run on the beginner slope just to refresh myself with the physics of skiing. After 10 minutes on the rope lift I took a deep breath and headed down the hill. 45 seconds later I was at the bottom bemoaning the economy of the rope lift. I instantly headed to the intermediate run which was just a longer version of the beginner slope. I was doing well (no falls) but I was feeling a little disappointed. Half the fun of being on the mountain was people watching:

People skiing in jeans, presumably because it cost 30 RMB ($4.15) to rent snow pants.

Men skiing with one pole so they could still smoke while enjoying the crisp mountain air.

70% of people fell as they got off the lift. Pileups were a little dangerous and a lot funny.

Terrible collisions that sounded like being at a football game.

After a couple of runs on the intermediate slope I headed to the advanced run, the only one with a chair lift. I went up there with one student who is something of an accomplished world traveler, Her husband is a well respected, and well published, economist and she has been skiing at Lake Tahoe, Park City, Switzerland, and Japan. She was real heavy on the advice for me but I can't say I didn't need it. The advanced slope provided the challenge I was looking for especially as the day wore on and the fake snow turned to a sheet of ice. I was having a great time when I came down the mountain to find that one of our students had gotten hurt. I immediately asked, "Who is it?"
a student I did not recognize replied, "It was Yo-Yo."
"Who is Yo-Yo?"
"Yo-Yo is not your student."
"Ok", and with that I headed back up the mountain. It seems callous as I tell it but the truth is it was not my responsibility. We had two schools on the trip and this student was not from my school. Her teacher was taking care of her so I headed back up for one last run before we were to board the bus and head back. I went up and karma met me halfway down the mountain when the snow jumped up and grabbed my ski. I spun around landing back first on the icy surface. I was alright, better than the girl who got hurt. Days later we found out that she broke her leg. Yikes. China is not a very litigious society so no wavers or precautions to limit liability were taken. She did not sue and the thought never entered her mind would be my bet.
Later that week I took some students bowling at the lanes near my work. I was not originally supposed to do it but the teacher that was organizing the outing divulged her contempt for it and I leaped on the opportunity to spend my work day bowling as opposed to being in the classroom. Bowling is a sport that seems to have been popular at one time in China but I think its time here has come and gone. That being said one of the largest bowling allies I have ever heard of is here in China, the Gongti 100. 100 bowling lanes that are quite popular with the kids. I have ever been there but I have been by it and seen the throngs. I have been bowling one other time in China and it was last year. The equipment was Brunswick's top of the line...in 1986. This experience was no different. The place where we bowled had a lot of technical glitches one being that we could not control the scoring screen and therefore couldn't enter any funny names, a fundamental aspect of any bowling experience. In all about ten students joined the bowling trip. I gave them a handout the other teacher had prepared and we just bowled for about two hours. None of the students were particularly good, neither was I for that matter. We had fun and I snapped a few pictures of the action.

I have been continuing my basketball lecture series as well. Three weeks ago we tackled the topic of College Basketball. This was a fascinating topic for the students, one they liked even more than I expected. College sports are so unique to North America. Nowhere else are collegiate athletics followed so closely by the sporting public. I taught them about the most prolific basketball programs in the US and their most famous alumni. I also gave them the stat lines of who I believe are the three greatest college basketball players of all time, Bill Walton, Oscar Robertson, and Christian Laettner. The thing that really got them going was the part about the NCAA Tournament. I did a power point presentation and the last slide was a bracket from 2006. As soon as I switched to the slide the entire class cooed. I think there is something inside each and every human that draws us to the organization and aesthetic value of the bracket. I taught them about 10 seeds that beat 7 seeds and Cinderella teams. They were all over it.

This last Saturday I took the basketball education a step further. Defense is something that is almost entirely absent in every form of Chinese basketball I have seen. I decided to teach the virtues of man-to-man defense as well as the art of zone defense. the second half of the lecture was spent on Tex Winter's Triangle Offense. They were intrigued to learn more about the system under which Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant won multiple championships. Late we hit the court to apply some of what we had learned but the translation from the classroom to the court still needs some work.

In two weeks my dad and my sister will be here in Beijing and I have already started to map out the attractions that they need to see and even some off the beaten path that I think they will enjoy. One attraction of the former variety is the vegetable and meat market near my house. There are some very different fruits and veggies there and the energy of the market is a lot of fun. The meat market even has a few meats that will remain nameless in order to keep some of the secrets of this strange and wonderful market ahead of their arrival.Here is a picture of my apartment complex that I took from the road this afternoon. I went for a walk and found a Korean restaurant that I think I will try this evening. Take care all.

China's weather problems

This is hardly the lengthy post I am used to writing but I had a thought I'd like to share. Any feedback or insight would be appreciated.

With all this snow that China has received, I wonder what the effect will be on China's other problems. The central and souther regions of China, the very places that received the devastating snowfall, are prone to yearly floods. Come spring and summer I am expecting reports of extreme flooding. Even though much of China has been under drought conditions for years without fail the rivers flood and dozens of people die every year. The snow is not going to help that problem.

On the other hand, China is approaching a water crisis. Aquifers and reservoirs strain to satisfy water demands for 1.3 billion people. We all know that China is a major world producer of everyday goods and this production requires water. As economic development in China increases, consumer demands worldwide put added stress on China's water supply.

One way that China is attempting to deal with this is by easing the imbalance of water availability in China. The south is wet and the north is dry. The government here is planning yet another epic civil engineering project, an underground river, that will transport untold millions of gallons from the flood ravaged south to the moisture starved north. Again, this is the type of government project that could only happen in China.

Blake's Final Thought: Water is so old. The water in your glass right now is the same water that the dinosaurs drank. Delicious.

The Year of The Rat

Hello everyone and happy new year, again. That is right, its Chinese New Year, also known as Lunar New Year. As I sit here writing to you fireworks are exploding in the distance as well as quite close to my window. Last year I spent my month long holiday touring around parts of southern and central China and, as a result, spent Chinese New Year in Sanya, a tropical island in the South China sea. This year I only had six days off to celebrate and wanted to go to Guilin, the home of the karst topography that has been reproduced in innumerable pain tings. Well, it was not to be.

I am not sure if any of China's weather woes have been broadcast in the western media, but China has been wracked by its most severe winter storms since the late 1950's. The entire south and central part of China became a frozen mess late in January. This storm coincided with the beginning of the largest migration of people in human history. Chinese New Year is like Christmas, Thanksgiving, New Year, and everyone's birthday rolled into one. It is a traditional holiday with roots in agrarian myths and legends about a beast that would come at the end of the lunar cycle to cause havoc in a village. The villagers found that they could scare the beast away with firecrackers and the color red. The holiday has since morphed into an extremely important family gathering. Traditionally, family members return to their hometown to spend a week eating and spending some good quality time with the family. This applies to everyone. Rich or poor, old or young, all are expected to return home. For many, including migrant workers, it is the one time out of the entire year that they get to see their families. The migrant workers have the extra burden of.......well.....being migrant workers. They spend their entire year working and saving money to take back to their families and during Spring Festival they return home to bestow their meager income on their family. This year, the storms laid down inches of ice and topped it with feet of snow grinding the train system to a halt. During Spring Festival it is estimated that 230,000,000 people travel 'home for the holidays'. That is like the population of Germany, Italy, France, and England jumping on trains and switching houses all in one week. It is an amazing feat of organization when it runs smoothly but this year the weather had other plans. There were terrible stories of people waiting for trains for days and once they got on the train their 8 hour trip would turn into a harrowing 30 hour adventure. I was sitting at home the day before I was supposed to go on vacation watching all of this unfold on TV and I had a sudden realization, 'I am heading right into the heart of this tomorrow morning.'. I decided that I had to cancel my trip. I was hesitant to do so because this is my only time off for the foreseeable future. I mean, I like traveling more than most but the prospect of heading into the teeth of the chaos was too much even for me. So I guess I was fated to be here in Beijing for Spring Festival. Without initially realizing it staying in Beijing afforded me opportunities for more new and unique experiences.

Shortly after I refunded my ticket I received an email confirming my bids in the second round of Olympic ticket ordering. I got tickets for boxing and handball. I know what you are thinking, 'Handball? What?'. Here is my explanation: Handball is awesome. It is a fusion of soccer, lacrosse, and basketball. For me it is a must see event every four years. Along with track and field, basketball, swimming, and boxing, it is one of the events that defines the Olympics......for me. I have two tickets each to boxing and handball bringing my total for the games up to 8 tickets to 4 events.

Many of my friends left town/the country for Spring Festival. My two closest friends that remained in town were Bryne and Meskes. Meskes is my Dutch friend. He is kind of like Immanuel Kant for the Pepsi generation. We always have a good time. More about Meskes in a minute.

I was sitting around the apartment looking at my email when Bryne said, 'Hey, the Super Bowl is tomorrow. We should watch it somewhere.' My initial thought was, 'I don't care about the Super Bowl.' In fact I have lost touch with football over the last year and a half and had no real interest in seeing the Pats coronation party. My next thought was, 'Why is this Englishman concerned about American football?' I decided that I should agree in order to spread the interest in the national passion across the pond. Call me the Don Shula of diplomacy. I did some investigating and found that the biggest sports bar in town was having a huge bash starting at 5am. I set my alarm and woke early the next morning to begin a long day of eating and drinking. To my mild surprise the place was packed. It was a Monday morning here, the last working day before Spring Festival. Some people said that they had to go to work after the game. The game was of course phenomenal and the crowd was split down the middle so every play in the second half was met with both a chorus of cheers and boos. It was great fun. the party was sponsored by the NFL and they had some football throwing competitions and other games. Bryne and I ended up taking home a couple of footballs, really useless orbs in China. Watching the game with Bryne and I were his boss and his boss' family. They are form Canada. They were very nice people and the man actually has a passion for basketball. He was making plans with me to watch the NCAA tournament in March. He was a really nice guy and said that he coached against Steve Nash when Nash was in high school. I tend to think that every Canadian who likes basketball has some sort of Steve Nash story but who knows, the basketball loving community in Canada is probably small and closely knit.

Later that evening I went to dinner in a bar and restaurant district in Beijing. After dinner I decided to peruse the local DVD shops for some new movies (There Will Be Blood gets 6 out of 5 stars from me. Charlie Wilson's War gets 4 1/2). After a bit of shopping I was heading home. As I was calling for a taxi a really sad looking guy came up and asked me where something was. I told him and hesitated as I detected a familiar accent. I asked him if he was Israeli and he said he was. He is living and working in Suzhou and was in Beijing visiting his girlfriend. Earlier that evening she had broken up with him and he was quite broken up about it. He was saying how he just wanted to go drink alone and forget about this girl. I didn't think that was a good idea as he already looked to be a little worse for the wear. We chatted a bit more and he gets into a long story about how he has lived in the US for the last 10 years. His father and he moved there after his brother and mother were killed in a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv. He ended up studying English as Columbia University and was now, doing what so many of us foreigners do over here, teaching English. I made a snap decision that this guy should probably come to my apartment to chill out for a bit before going to get a hostel. I mean, the guy divulged all of that info within five minutes of meeting him. I know Israelis are very direct and sometimes emotional but he was down there. Once he found out I was Jewish he smiled and I could see that talking to me was bringing him out of his haze. At my apartment he was telling me about how he thinks that all these bad things have happened to him because he is Jewish. I told him that he should never blame his religion for the bad things in his life. It is a feature of life that terrible things happen. This is the truth. It is equally true that amazing, wonderful things happen. I said that the tragedy that happened to his brother was not a result of him being Jewish but other people's perception and prejudice. His brother was not killed for being a Jew but killed because of someone else's opinions. I was of course speaking way out of my depth and sort of braced for impact after saying this. He decided that he could see my perspective and although he has his own thoughts about the situation he was happy to see it differently. After about 15 minutes of this sort of intense, peaceful, thought provoking conversation he decided he had to go and I was glad he decided because I was starting to question how I would ultimately get him out. As he left he was smiling and thanked me for my hospitality. I am sure I will never meet him again but our short conversation will not be forgotten by me. When he left he was smiling and even joking a bit. I was just happy to give him a port in his storm.

The next day preparations for Spring Festival began in earnest around Beijing. People in the streets finishing their last minute shopping at the markets. At 8 am I was awoken by the sound of fireworks. Now the fireworks are an interesting thing. Not at any other time of the year can you get fireworks in China. It is literally just like the 4th of July in the US. After sulking about the lack of availability of fireworks I was rewarded by a short trip around the block. I bought about 150 RMB ($20)worth of fireworks initially then decided that was not enough. For this I mostly blame my parents. If I were allowed to use fireworks in moderation on the 4th of July I probably wouldn't have this strong desire to buy the biggest baddest fireworks available now. Honestly, at that fireworks tent I channeled 10 year old me but this time with money to burn. I ended up getting 300 RMB worth and headed home to wait for the impending darkness. Later that day I received a call from Meskes inviting me to a 'party' being thrown by one of his colleagues. I accepted the invitation and later met him at this girl's house. The 'party' was little more than the girl, her flatmate, Meskes, and I making jiaozi. Jiaozi are dumplings and they are the traditional food of Spring Festival. While we were preparing the jiaozi the Siege of Beijing began. From 3pm two days ago until now, nothing but solid fireworks. Their apartment is situated at a big intersection in the eastern part of Beijing and it was a great viewing area for the festivities. We cooked and ate our pork, cabbage, onion, and ginger jiaozi and then joined the mayhem outside. They all made fun of me for bringing a giant bag of fireworks but they delighted in the display. It was a lot of fun. Later I went home to shower before meeting them out at the bars. When I got home Bryne had more fireworks so we went to shoot those off before going out. We met up with Meskes and the two girls and had a few drinks before the fireworks reached their peak at midnight. 5 minutes before I went outside and the streets were filled with smoke and the smell of gunpowder and burned cardboard. We made our way to a big street and there was a huge construction site where they were excavating an entire city block to build the foundation for what will undoubtedly be a massive construction project. We crossed into the construction site in order to put a metal barrier between us and the chaos on the streets. From there we had a 360 degree view of all the fireworks in Beijing for miles. It was truly a moment I will remember forever. After that we went to a club for a bit before heading home.

Now, as the celebration winds down and the last vestiges of the once mighty fireworks arsenal in Beijing are used up, I am preparing to head back to work. Bryne is on vacation in Korea visiting his girlfriend, other friends are out of town, and Meskes is going on a business trip. It is my birthday tomorrow and I think I will actually be happy to spend it in quiet reflection. The Year Of The Rat is supposed to be a year of new beginnings and accomplishments. I like the sound of that. We'll have to see how it plays out. Until then.....


Dsai Jien

From Hannukah to Vietnam and back to The Jing

Hello all. It's me, Blake. I know I have been away from the blog for a while so I hope you all remember who I am and what this blog is about. If you can't remember it is about me. Me me me. Well, not just about me but about things I think, do, and say. This is why I have been hesitant to return to the blog. I am not that cool. I have been quite boring in recent months. The details of my boring life do not make for good reading or writing.

This has all changed in the last couple of weeks. Things have happened. Initially I wanted to write this blog twice a month but sticking to that would mean you having to read about my breakfast plans and the new video games and dvd's I've seen recently. You don't want that and I don't want that. It is better to wait, that way I can amass a few anecdotes and have enough time for things to happen to me and around me. The wait was worth it and I hope you'll agree.

This last month has been about uncertainty. Towards the end of 2007 I was uncertain whether I wanted to keep being the good soldier in regards to my job. I was trying to organize a short vacation to South East Asia but that was.....rife with uncertainty. I couldn't decide what to do about learning Chinese (take classes or get a tutor).

Lets begin at the beginning.

December was an unusually warm month in Beijing. The weather couldn't decide what it wanted to do so the temperature remained around 50 degrees for most of the month. This unfamiliar circumstance confused many of the local people and the topic of global warming was discussed openly and often. This is a rare topic of conversation in my experience. Many of the Chinese people I talk to every day were concerned about the environment. Usually this conversation ends up going down the path of the party line, "Economic development is a priority and the environment can be dealt with later." Not this time. Now people are starting to wonder.

As December pressed on I lowered my head and began to focus on ending the year strong at work. Long ago I proposed the creation of a basketball team at my school. My boss, an Englishman, was keen on the idea and left it to me to organize. I had some problems finding a good court but with the help of some eager students and staff members a site was found. We had our first practice before December was out and it served as preview of what is possible. See, my boss, the Englishman, wants to create a team that will compete against the 11 other Wall Street English schools. We think that by the numbers alone we should have the best basketball team among the Wall Street schools in Beijing. We have 2,000 students giving us the largest talent pool from which to draw. Only time and many difficult practices under my watchful eye can mold us into a formidable team to be feared.

As December, and 2007, drew to a close I was at a New Years party. The party was held in the ever popular 798 Factory. This is an old Mao Era factory that has been converted to an art space. There are many many buildings on the grounds and on New Year's Eve one was converted to a club. It was an interesting location for a techno infused New Years party. Immediately after the first kiss of 2008 I shouted, "The Olympics are so close now!" It's true, they are. A second round of ticket orders was supposed to take place in October but, due to technical difficulties in the online ordering process, it was postponed to December. I placed two more ticket orders; one for boxing and one for basketball. I will find out if I get the tickets sometime around January 30th.

On the first morning of 2008 I headed to Vietnam. I had been trying to get there for several weeks but as always, everything in China is difficult. I was heading there to meet up with Dee Dee and Garry for a short four day visit and to take in the sights and landmarks of this oft conflicted land. The first things I noticed after stepping off the plane in Ho Chi Minh City were the humidity and the lush vegetation Both are extremely rare in Beijing which is mostly gray and concrete. The motorbikes, even at 12am, are stunning not only for the awesome visual display the throngs of them create on the street but for the collective hum of the engines as well. The next morning I woke and met Garry and Dee Dee for our first day of touring. It was great to see them and it felt like ages since our last meeting.

The first order of business was heading to the Mekong Delta for a trip to the other side of the Mekong River. We crossed the 2 kilometer long river by boat and arrived at a small fruit plantation where they were making a fresh coconut candy that smelled and tasted terrific. They also had a large, clear, plastic water dispenser. This was no ordinary water dispenser. This container housed a special local liquor made of snakes. In the jug there were about ten snakes coiled up adding their natural juices to this strong alcohol. I tried some and it wasn't bad. I even bought a bottle of it that had a cobra on the inside. I am not sure if it is customary to eat the cobra after the liquor is gone as you would with the worm in a tequila bottle. The trip to the fruit plantation was really great. We even visited a villager's house and were able to see how the average Vietnamese person lives. This was not a scheduled stop on the tour but It was glad we did it. The terrain was mystifying. How could anyone think that a war there was winnable? The Vietnamese have a long history of tossing out invading forces going all the way back to Genghis Kahn and the Chinese. Everyone we encountered was great. They were all very nice and that was something I didn't expect. I thought ill will would persist. Our tour guide told us that her father died in the war. I didn't probe her regarding which side he was fighting for but later in the trip she told us he was fighting with the Americans. She said that he died fighting for American freedom. Is this what she really thought or was she being ironic or making a comment about the nature of the war? I was confused and still am. American freedom? War is a terrible thing and that point was reiterated the next day when we visited the Kuchi Tunnels.

The Kuchi Tunnels are a system of tunnels that the Vietcong used during the war. The site is set up to accommodate the throngs of tourists that must visit there but the day we went there were very few other tourists. The site is chilling. Set in the middle of the jungle about 5 kilometers form the Cambodian border, it serves as part history museum, part war memorial, and part house of horrors. They showed us all the booby traps that were created to maim and kill American soldiers and that was a bit too much for me, thinking of how many of my uncle's friends were hurt or killed by such horrendous devices. At one point in the tour we were given the option of entering the tunnels to see what they were like. I decided to go. The tunnels are quite small, made for Vietnamese men not big westerners. The tunnels were pitch black as well.

Most of the rest of our trip was spent laughing and catching up with one another. We had some great meals together. I never knew much about Vietnamese food but it was all made with very fresh ingredients and lime abounded.

We received some bad news on the second to last day of our trip. Our loving family dog Bari died. She was 17 years old. I got her when I was 8 and we had been through a lot together. We rescued her from the pound where she was weeks from execution. She was a great dog and we all loved her very much. Bari even went to college with me and although she didn't earn her degree she enjoyed the experience. She slipped into a coma and died sometime later. She had been diagnosed with complete kidney and liver failure in May of 2007 and given weeks to live. She hung on long enough for me to see her while I was back in the USA and I appreciated that very much. She had a good long life and she was a very loving dog. She will be missed by everyone she knew.

Here is the last picture taken of Bari in her new winter gear.

I had a really great time in Vietnam with Garry and Dee Dee. They are both a lot of fun. This was my first international vacation with them as an adult. It was great to be alone with them and pick their brains and laugh with them. They are, for some reason, very proud of me. What seems strange for me to say, but it remains true, is that I am proud of them. They go on all these vacations and have tons of fun and that is what they want to do. they are living their dream and I admire that.

After our goodbyes I boarded the plane and returned to Beijing and its frozen plain. When I returned I had the weekend before returning to work. I decided to do something that I had put off doing for several years now. I joined the other members of my generation in the 21st century and bought an iPod. I am glad I did this because I have now discovered podcasts. Podcasts are like radio shows you can download and listen to at any time on your iPod. I have downloaded Chinese lessons and I listen to them on the subway as I commute to and from work every day. This is great because I was starting to become regretful about not maintaining my Chinese study.

In another bit of technology news, I was the recipient of a Slingbox. You may remember from my previous blog entry that I expressed a desire in this fabulous new technology that allows a user to watch and control a TV from across the globe. Well my grandmother bought one for me for Christmas (thank you very much Mimi) and my father installed it on his television (thank you very much Dad). So far I have had a few battles over the remote with my Dad but we generally like the same things (sports).

Things have become a little more comfortable here in Beijing with the addition of the Slingbox and my iPod. I was also given some good news recently. My sister is coming to visit me in March. I am super excited for that. My father will be coming here at some point as well. I welcome all visitors. If as a reader of my blog you would like Blake's Tour of Beijing, just send me an email and I'll see what I can do for you. All visitors are welcome.

In February I will be going on vacation for a week for Spring Festival (Chinese New Year). I am still trying to decide where to go (maybe Taiwan). If anyone has any suggestions please feel free to send them my way.

I wish all of you health and prosperity in this new year.

Dsai jien.