A long time ago I talked about building a meat smoker in China. The project has been developing really slowly for a couple of months (mostly due to laziness, but it is also difficult to locate and acquire certain materials in China). Anyways, last week I was able to track down the last necessary piece (a very small hot plate) with the help of one of my students and TaoBao (China's version of eBay). With all the pieces in place, all that remained was a little metal cutting and hole punching. Unfortunately, I don't have access to the required tools, so yesterday Charlotte and I hit the road in search of tools.
We walked down Wulumuqi Lu past the fruit shops and flower ladies. Eventually we happened upon a bike repair man in an alley. This might sound a little sketchy for our readers outside of China, but its pretty much par for the course out here. So we asked the bike repair man if he could drill some holes in our trashcan/meat smoker and he said no problem, but his friend would have to bring a drill over. We're all just standing around in this alley waiting for the drill to arrive and the guy asks where we're from. We tell him that we're American and he starts talking about 9/11, Obama, and terrorists. It was really weird. Usually, when you tell people that you're American they just smile say "Obama" and give you the thumbs up or they just look at the other Chinese people smile and say "mei guo de" or American... Anyways, this goes on for a little while and then his friends arrives with the drill hops off and starts checking out the trashcan. He decides that it should be 50 RMB to drill 4 little holes and 1 big hole. His price estimate takes me by surprise and we deny it right off the bat. We try to bargain the guy down to 20, but he won't go any lower than 30 RMB. I don't understand why though... The job was for 5 minutes of labor. If I asked a mechanic in the US to drill the holes, he'd probably laugh and do it for free... In the end, the guy gets all angry at us and storms off with his drill and we carry the trashcan back to the apartment.
As we walk into the apartment complex, I realize that the complex's repair guys probably have the tools necessary for the job. We ask the security guards and we are led down to the underground repair man lair (basically a room where all the repair guys just sit around and chat all day). We explain the situation and sure enough, the guys pull out a couple of drills and we go to town on the trashcan. Everybody seemed to enjoy the process - I got the holes I needed and the repairmen thought the whole project was hilarious. We told them that the holes were for an art project...
All in all, it was a solid little adventure and now the smoker is ready for its first test! I'm sure you'll hear more about it in the near future!
- Jon
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Heavy is the head that eats the crayons...
(One of my favorite quotes from the most recent 30 Rock episode)
It's been an eventful week or so. I've been a bit behind on the writing, but I'll try to just keep plugging along.
This past Sunday was one of my favorite days in Shanghai. Things started out in the morning with a cooking lesson from Phil's Mom. Emma and I subwayed over to Line 3 and met Phil at the train station. After a short walk through the pleasant early summer weather, we arrived at Phil's house and started cooking immediately. We all hung out in the kitchen while Phil's Mom began cooking. She taught us how to many tons of amazing Chinese dishes (hong shao niu rou, some crazy tofu wheat gluten thing, delicious monster shrimps, yummy lima-like beans). Emma was taking notes on the process and I was scribbling down all sorts of nonsense in Chinese. It was actually a pretty hilarious conversation to follow. I'd ask for the Chinese name for some sort of mushroom and Phil's Dad would tell me and then I'd write down the characters and ask some other question. Phil'd Dad would respond in Chinese (and sometimes Shanghainese) and I'd try to keep up with the conversation (Phil would back me up with English translations whenever necessary). It was a lot of fun just sitting in the kitchen and chatting! The meal itself was also amazing and Phil's parents were amazing hosts! Emma and I are going to invite them all over some time for a big Italian dinner. Everybody wins :)
After this glorious Chinese feast/cooking lesson we all made our way over to the Century Park fields for a 4-hour frisbee fest. Teams from Nanjing and Ningbo joined us for a 5-team friendly round robin. The weather was perfect and it was great to run around. Nothing like a little sunny frisbee after lunch :) It was awesome to have so many people from the Nanjing and Ningbo areas join us too. Their teams are really making progress and rapidly developing skills. It's great to see!
A good day isn't complete without a trip to the Dong Bei Ren restaurant for some cheap eats and cold beer. The food service was a bit slow (we arrived at 8pm which is too late apparently), but there was plenty of beer and lots of fun drinking games were played. My favorites involved overlapping hands slapping the table and counting games (which are surprisingly difficult when not played in your native language...)
All in all, a very successful day!
- Jon
It's been an eventful week or so. I've been a bit behind on the writing, but I'll try to just keep plugging along.
This past Sunday was one of my favorite days in Shanghai. Things started out in the morning with a cooking lesson from Phil's Mom. Emma and I subwayed over to Line 3 and met Phil at the train station. After a short walk through the pleasant early summer weather, we arrived at Phil's house and started cooking immediately. We all hung out in the kitchen while Phil's Mom began cooking. She taught us how to many tons of amazing Chinese dishes (hong shao niu rou, some crazy tofu wheat gluten thing, delicious monster shrimps, yummy lima-like beans). Emma was taking notes on the process and I was scribbling down all sorts of nonsense in Chinese. It was actually a pretty hilarious conversation to follow. I'd ask for the Chinese name for some sort of mushroom and Phil's Dad would tell me and then I'd write down the characters and ask some other question. Phil'd Dad would respond in Chinese (and sometimes Shanghainese) and I'd try to keep up with the conversation (Phil would back me up with English translations whenever necessary). It was a lot of fun just sitting in the kitchen and chatting! The meal itself was also amazing and Phil's parents were amazing hosts! Emma and I are going to invite them all over some time for a big Italian dinner. Everybody wins :)
After this glorious Chinese feast/cooking lesson we all made our way over to the Century Park fields for a 4-hour frisbee fest. Teams from Nanjing and Ningbo joined us for a 5-team friendly round robin. The weather was perfect and it was great to run around. Nothing like a little sunny frisbee after lunch :) It was awesome to have so many people from the Nanjing and Ningbo areas join us too. Their teams are really making progress and rapidly developing skills. It's great to see!
A good day isn't complete without a trip to the Dong Bei Ren restaurant for some cheap eats and cold beer. The food service was a bit slow (we arrived at 8pm which is too late apparently), but there was plenty of beer and lots of fun drinking games were played. My favorites involved overlapping hands slapping the table and counting games (which are surprisingly difficult when not played in your native language...)
All in all, a very successful day!
- Jon
Monday, April 27, 2009
Midget Obsession
One of my friends in Shanghai recently sent me this unbelievable article.
- Jon
You don't hear about that everyday... Unfortunately, I've been informed that its not true...Lion Mutilates 42 Midgets in Cambodian Ring-FightSpectators cheered as entire Cambodian Midget Fighting League squared off against African Lion
An African Lion much like this is responsible for the death of 28 Cambodian MidgetsTickets had been sold-out three weeks before the much anticipated fight, which took place in the city of Kâmpóng Chhnãng.
The fight was slated when an angry fan contested Yang Sihamoni, President of the CMFL, claiming that one lion could defeat his entire league of 42 fighters.
Sihamoni takes great pride in the league he helped create, as was conveyed in his recent advertising campaign for the CMFL that stated his midgets will "... take on anything; man, beast, or machine."
This campaign is believed to be what sparked the undisclosed fan to challenge the entire league to fight a lion; a challenge that Sihamoni readily accepted.
An African Lion (Panthera Leo) was shipped to centrally located Kâmpóng Chhnãng especially for the event, which took place last Saturday, April 30, 2005 in the city’s coliseum.
The Cambodian Government allowed the fight to take place, under the condition that they receive a 50% commission on each ticket sold, and that no cameras would be allowed in the arena.
The fight was called in only 12 minutes, after which 28 fighters were declared dead, while the other 14 suffered severe injuries including broken bones and lost limbs, rendering them unable to fight back.
Sihamoni was quoted before the fight stating that he felt since his fighters out-numbered the lion 42 to 1, that they “… could out-wit and out-muscle [it].”
Unfortunately, he was wrong.
- Jon
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Jeju: Part II (Frisbee)
There were all sorts of horror stories regarding the Jeju weather. Before we left for Jeju, veterans of the tournament told me stories of 35 mph winds in years past (wind is the bane of a frisbee player's existence). Luckily, the sun was shining and the skies were calm from Saturday morning until the end of the tournament. In fact, I don't think I could have asked for better weather. It was glorious!
I've been to tons of frisbee tournaments in a handful of countries and Jeju stands out in my mind as one of my favorites. The whole tournament is organized by the local Korean government and they cover all expenses for the weekend. They also provide shuttles from the hotel to the fields, delicious Korean lunches (kimchi be damned), and even provide alcohol and food at the party. The games were played on fields that were used when South Korea hosted the World Cup. It's actually kind of unbelieveable. Frisbee players aren't used to getting that kind of official sanction or support.
The tournament facilities and organization were top-notch, but there was a lot of other great things about this tournament. I like the idea behind Gnarly 9's tournaments. (For the non-frisbee players out there: Gnarly 9's are tournaments where each team is limited to 9 players. These tournaments place a special emphasis on endurance and team chemistry.) 9's tournaments force teams to come together and play as a unit. It is a great way to develop team chemistry on the field and I thought that our team did a great job of that this weekend. It was also pretty sweet to play a greater variety of teams. We played teams from China, Korea, and Japan. There was even a team from Guam at the tournament! The frisbee scene in Shanghai is great, but its really nice to see the whole international frisbee community in action.
I don't want to go on too long about the tournament because its over and done with now, but I feel like I should give the readers some sort of report so here goes... The first day consisted of 4 pool play games. We played a Japanese team and 2 tough Korean teams (during one of the Korean games I caught a forearm to the face while marking a huck giving me a nice black eye) and Beijing. Things were pretty messy in the first game, but we rolled to an easy victory (11-2 or so). The next game started off badly with the Korean team getting ahead of us, but at 4-2 we started hitting out stride and didn't look back. I think it was good for our team to go down a bit early in the tournament because it forced us to figure things out offensively (and prompted our effective to switch to vert stack). We ended that game and the next one with decisive victories at 11-6 before playing Beijing. This was a fun game to play in because it contrasted the differing styles of the two Chinese teams. Beijing is full of smaller guys (who have very good throws) and the Shanghai team is full of big runners (who can't throw to save their lives). We set the tone early in this game with some pretty aggressive D and lots of big hucks and rolled to an 11-6 win. It was a satisfying victory! On Sunday we finished up pool play against a team from Jeju Island and then faced Evil HuWa (Shanghai's second team) in the quarterfinals. It was fun to play both of those teams, but the best game of the day came in the semis against a very good Japanese team. I don't remember too many details from this game, but I do remember that both teams played really well. The IKU team took half around 7-5, but we stormed back in the second half to take the game around 13-11. It was a great comeback and I enjoyed the game immensely. Unfortunately, we met a much fresher Korean team in the finals and fell to them 13-7 or so (I cramped up at 4-4 in this game). On a whole, it was a great weekend for frisbee :)
Pictures will follow shortly. I'm still going through the 4398we849854789 pictures taken by Kevin!
- Jon
I've been to tons of frisbee tournaments in a handful of countries and Jeju stands out in my mind as one of my favorites. The whole tournament is organized by the local Korean government and they cover all expenses for the weekend. They also provide shuttles from the hotel to the fields, delicious Korean lunches (kimchi be damned), and even provide alcohol and food at the party. The games were played on fields that were used when South Korea hosted the World Cup. It's actually kind of unbelieveable. Frisbee players aren't used to getting that kind of official sanction or support.
The tournament facilities and organization were top-notch, but there was a lot of other great things about this tournament. I like the idea behind Gnarly 9's tournaments. (For the non-frisbee players out there: Gnarly 9's are tournaments where each team is limited to 9 players. These tournaments place a special emphasis on endurance and team chemistry.) 9's tournaments force teams to come together and play as a unit. It is a great way to develop team chemistry on the field and I thought that our team did a great job of that this weekend. It was also pretty sweet to play a greater variety of teams. We played teams from China, Korea, and Japan. There was even a team from Guam at the tournament! The frisbee scene in Shanghai is great, but its really nice to see the whole international frisbee community in action.
I don't want to go on too long about the tournament because its over and done with now, but I feel like I should give the readers some sort of report so here goes... The first day consisted of 4 pool play games. We played a Japanese team and 2 tough Korean teams (during one of the Korean games I caught a forearm to the face while marking a huck giving me a nice black eye) and Beijing. Things were pretty messy in the first game, but we rolled to an easy victory (11-2 or so). The next game started off badly with the Korean team getting ahead of us, but at 4-2 we started hitting out stride and didn't look back. I think it was good for our team to go down a bit early in the tournament because it forced us to figure things out offensively (and prompted our effective to switch to vert stack). We ended that game and the next one with decisive victories at 11-6 before playing Beijing. This was a fun game to play in because it contrasted the differing styles of the two Chinese teams. Beijing is full of smaller guys (who have very good throws) and the Shanghai team is full of big runners (who can't throw to save their lives). We set the tone early in this game with some pretty aggressive D and lots of big hucks and rolled to an 11-6 win. It was a satisfying victory! On Sunday we finished up pool play against a team from Jeju Island and then faced Evil HuWa (Shanghai's second team) in the quarterfinals. It was fun to play both of those teams, but the best game of the day came in the semis against a very good Japanese team. I don't remember too many details from this game, but I do remember that both teams played really well. The IKU team took half around 7-5, but we stormed back in the second half to take the game around 13-11. It was a great comeback and I enjoyed the game immensely. Unfortunately, we met a much fresher Korean team in the finals and fell to them 13-7 or so (I cramped up at 4-4 in this game). On a whole, it was a great weekend for frisbee :)
Pictures will follow shortly. I'm still going through the 4398we849854789 pictures taken by Kevin!
- Jon
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Jeju: Part I (The Hike)
I spent the past weekend playing frisbee, partying, and exploring Jeju Island. Jeju is a relatively large island located south of South Korea and northeast of Shanghai. It is a common honeymoon destination for Korean couples and, for some reason, the local government has also decided to sponsor an international frisbee tournament there. Bizarre... Anyways, I'm going to break my Jeju blogging up into three sections. This first section will be about my exploration of the island on Friday, The second section will focus on the frisbee tournament and the last part will be about the Rubik Cube party.
About 15 Shanghai frisbee players arrived together in Jeju early Friday afternoon. Our first impressions of Jeju were overwhelmingly positive. I had been told horror stories about the windy/rainy spring conditions in Jeju, but found the island surprisingly clear, sunny, and calm. It was gorgeous! After passing through customs in the airport, we hopped on a bus to our subsidized hotel rooms (thank you Jeju government - China, get on the ball!) Sun Beachy hotel was everything I hoped for (a bed) and more (buffet breakfast) and it had great views of the water to top things off. Side note: pictures will follow as soon as I can snag Kevin's memory card...
Our next stop on the island was a small Korean restaurant. Ordering food was damn near impossible due to our utter incompetence using the Korean language. In the end, we dragged the waitress outside and pointed at pictures of food on the wall. Sad state of affairs... In an odd way, this experience helped me get a better picture of my Chinese skills. In China, I am constantly aware of my language deficiencies. It is always apparent what I am NOT able to say as I fumble through conversations. But, here in Korea for the first time I felt what it was like to be completely useless in another language. It helps me see how far I've come in Chinese and how much I CAN say.
After lunch, Hugh and I wandered down to the water where we bought delicious oranges and explored the bridges and rocky beaches. I stopped ot read on a rock for 20 minutes or so as Hugh went boulder-hopping away. After finishing my chapter, I packed up my book and set off in search of Hugh. I followed the bends of the shoreline for over an hour exploring caves, scaring mountain goats, being scared by pheasants, and yelling for Hugh. I was always confident that I'd find him around the next bend, but around sundown I gave up hope and headed back. It didn't make any sense though - one side of the shore was ocean and the other was a cliff. Where could he have gone? Ah, some mysteries will never be solved. Anyways, the path was beautiful and I enjoyed myself immensely. If Jeju were a cab driver, I'd give it 4 stars.
- Jon
About 15 Shanghai frisbee players arrived together in Jeju early Friday afternoon. Our first impressions of Jeju were overwhelmingly positive. I had been told horror stories about the windy/rainy spring conditions in Jeju, but found the island surprisingly clear, sunny, and calm. It was gorgeous! After passing through customs in the airport, we hopped on a bus to our subsidized hotel rooms (thank you Jeju government - China, get on the ball!) Sun Beachy hotel was everything I hoped for (a bed) and more (buffet breakfast) and it had great views of the water to top things off. Side note: pictures will follow as soon as I can snag Kevin's memory card...
Our next stop on the island was a small Korean restaurant. Ordering food was damn near impossible due to our utter incompetence using the Korean language. In the end, we dragged the waitress outside and pointed at pictures of food on the wall. Sad state of affairs... In an odd way, this experience helped me get a better picture of my Chinese skills. In China, I am constantly aware of my language deficiencies. It is always apparent what I am NOT able to say as I fumble through conversations. But, here in Korea for the first time I felt what it was like to be completely useless in another language. It helps me see how far I've come in Chinese and how much I CAN say.
After lunch, Hugh and I wandered down to the water where we bought delicious oranges and explored the bridges and rocky beaches. I stopped ot read on a rock for 20 minutes or so as Hugh went boulder-hopping away. After finishing my chapter, I packed up my book and set off in search of Hugh. I followed the bends of the shoreline for over an hour exploring caves, scaring mountain goats, being scared by pheasants, and yelling for Hugh. I was always confident that I'd find him around the next bend, but around sundown I gave up hope and headed back. It didn't make any sense though - one side of the shore was ocean and the other was a cliff. Where could he have gone? Ah, some mysteries will never be solved. Anyways, the path was beautiful and I enjoyed myself immensely. If Jeju were a cab driver, I'd give it 4 stars.
- Jon
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
B-Boy Battle & Sake Bar
On Saturday night, I went to see a b-boy battle at Racks, a bar & billiards lounge. Lining the hallway and the floor were skater-looking kids, all Asian, with clothes that looked they had been graffiti and hats with a super stiff rim. For the first hour or so, kids were just goofing around and doing their thing....not much of a show. Which I thought was a huge disappointment....until I realized that the show hadn't started yet! Whew! There was then a combo of crew and individual battles. One crew had a girl, and it was awesome. She mostly did acrobatic stuff, but it was still hot. I got some great footage too....they are so talented and crazily strong and flexible. I am not worthy!!!
One slight disappointment was that I thought the famous Korean crew, The Gamblers, were going to be there. Ever since I saw the documentary Planet Bboy (which you should all see), they've been on my radar. Instead, one guy from the crew, "Bruce Lee," was a judge. At least I got to see his moves at the beginning...he was clearly the best one there.
Later I went to a sake bar with Geoff: 100RMB for all you can drink sake and Japanese Smirnoff Ice-esque beverages. I only had one square cup (yeah, weird) of sake before switching drinks… that stuff was mighty strong for my test buds. The best part, though, were the strange characters I met. One guy looked like the epitomized stereotypical California dude. And where was he from? You got it. When he said where he was from, I somehow heard Washington, so I asked, “Oh, you’re from Washington State?” He responded, “You’re from Washington State?” I said, “No, are you from Washington State?” Again, he asked, “You’re from Washington State?” At which point I gave up: “Yes, I’m from Washington State.” Not like I cared that much anyway…He now lives in Macau (which is the Vegas of China) and is in Shanghai doing market research: he sells diamonds for Ermenegildo Zegna, but only on sunglasses. You know the big bug glasses with studded shiny hints to add bling? That fact alone had me giggling for a while. But more inner laughter ensued when he pitched his “brilliant” idea for a play. He had no plot line, no beginning characters. Just the first two lines of the theme song: “The nights of Shanghai! The lights of Shanghai!” It’s now stuck in my head, so he may be on to something. Silly boy.
After some short yet comical side conversations, another guy comes over to me (mind you, Geoff has abandoned me at his point and is nowhere to be found). Somehow, he gets the idea that Geoff has a crush on me, and though he does adore me, I’m sure….he’s more like my brother than anything else. I tried to deny it to Sir Creepy, as he closed in on me and squinted his eyes all dazed-like, but he wouldn’t budge. That started the story of lies. I just started making stuff up, most of which I can’t remember, but it was really fun to start spewing out fun stories and making up random stuff about me (e.g., I only date Asian and Black guys…Sir Creepy was white, so it seemed convenient). Somewhere in there I did mention that I had a boyfriend, but the creepiness prevailed. The best part was his jacket: an MC Hammer style gold silk jacket with two giant fish on the front boob area…and it was reversible!!! Ha! He even took it off and flipped it inside out to show me. It was all I could do to not laugh…
Later, he asked for my number (persistent bugger), and for some reason I gave him a wrong number: I changed the last digit of my actual number. I know, I know, I should’ve just said something like, “No, sorry…” But I didn’t…and here’s the kicker: he got another digit wrong in addition to the fake one. So I could’ve given him my real number and he still would have gotten it wrong!
Overall, a splendid day.
- Em
Eco Design Fair
On Saturday, I volunteered at the Eco Design Fair, which showcases green products that use organic materials and are environmentally and socially responsible, sold by vendors at little stands. There was organic produce, all natural toothpaste, travel packages for eco-tours, and more. I MC-ed the fashion show, which highlighted really beautiful clothing from a bunch of different designers and stores that use natural fibers, no dyes, organic processes, etc. A huge bonus was that I also got to wear a smokin' hot black dress (boobalicious-ness was a bonus) and a silky coral scarf. I also got my make-up done....so indulgent in girlyness, I love it! I also got free lunch (a delcious falafel wrap)...bonus.
Then I took pictures and paroused....clearly, I bought some stuff: delicious Australian yogurt, yogurt cake, yak cheese, and a t-shirt from the organization Roots & Shoots, which develops organic gardens in Shanghai and was founded by Jane Goodall, who is a rockin' lady.
To top it all off, it was such a gorgeous day! Super warm, beautiful and sunny, a light restorative breeze - it made me so happy! I'm really affected by the weather, which is a bummer since Shanghai is usually so cloudy and gloomy. But when a gorgeous day comes along, I feel so much more relaxed and positive and spontaneous and giddy. :) Don’t worry: I’m not completely devoid of smiles on cloudy days…at least I try not to be…
- Em
Then I took pictures and paroused....clearly, I bought some stuff: delicious Australian yogurt, yogurt cake, yak cheese, and a t-shirt from the organization Roots & Shoots, which develops organic gardens in Shanghai and was founded by Jane Goodall, who is a rockin' lady.
To top it all off, it was such a gorgeous day! Super warm, beautiful and sunny, a light restorative breeze - it made me so happy! I'm really affected by the weather, which is a bummer since Shanghai is usually so cloudy and gloomy. But when a gorgeous day comes along, I feel so much more relaxed and positive and spontaneous and giddy. :) Don’t worry: I’m not completely devoid of smiles on cloudy days…at least I try not to be…
- Em
Friday, April 17, 2009
Dilbert
I love Dilbert and these two made me laugh:
Now I'm off to Jeju Island for a Gnarly Nines tournament! Hooray for frisbee and traveling!
- Jon
Now I'm off to Jeju Island for a Gnarly Nines tournament! Hooray for frisbee and traveling!
- Jon
Thursday, April 16, 2009
More Pictures from Tianjin and Beijing
Checking out a sweet bridge at the Summer Palace
Outside the Bird's Nest in the Olympic Green
Kevin being evil
Workers' Forward!
Pictures at Tiananmen
Milan wearing the wig at the tournament
Celebrating at the top of the Great Wall! Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Standing Room Only
Our return from Beijing happened to coincide with the Tomb Sweeping holiday here, so the train was packed beyond capacity and we were unable to purchase any tickets that included seats. Instead, we were left with tickets that guaranteed us arrival in Shanghai, but no seats for the 13 hour overnight journey. Chinese railways be damned!
We started off crammed in the aisle between seats on car 3 (a hard seat car). Our plan was to make our way to the dining car as quickly as possible and chill there until they kicked us out. Unfortunately, the Chinese railways were one step ahead of us. Knowing that the hard seat compartments would be crowded well past capacity, they locked the doors between hard seat cars and the sleeper cars (effectively sealing us in the 3rd class seating). Luckily, Phil's smooth talking got us entrance to the sleeper cars. We chilled in the dining car just chatting and celebrating Sara's birthday with a little cake until around midnight. At this point, we were kicked out of the dining car. We all spread out in the sleeper cars in a weak attempt to avoid being kicked back into the crowded hard seat compartment. This weak attempt did little good and I was rounded up by an attendant and booted back to where I belonged. Since I was stuck in the hard seat compartment (without a seat), I decided to make the best of things and struck up some friendly conversation with my neighbors. We ended up playing Chinese card games until 3:30am! It was a blast :) After some sweet card games and chatting, I ended up just lying down in between the seats and falling asleep. It was more comfortable than I expected...
Here are some pictures from the trip to Beijing (in reverse order):
Me sleeping on the train back from Beijing
The triumphant team returns home
Artsy shot of the Great Wall
Resting at the top
Marking some territory
We started off crammed in the aisle between seats on car 3 (a hard seat car). Our plan was to make our way to the dining car as quickly as possible and chill there until they kicked us out. Unfortunately, the Chinese railways were one step ahead of us. Knowing that the hard seat compartments would be crowded well past capacity, they locked the doors between hard seat cars and the sleeper cars (effectively sealing us in the 3rd class seating). Luckily, Phil's smooth talking got us entrance to the sleeper cars. We chilled in the dining car just chatting and celebrating Sara's birthday with a little cake until around midnight. At this point, we were kicked out of the dining car. We all spread out in the sleeper cars in a weak attempt to avoid being kicked back into the crowded hard seat compartment. This weak attempt did little good and I was rounded up by an attendant and booted back to where I belonged. Since I was stuck in the hard seat compartment (without a seat), I decided to make the best of things and struck up some friendly conversation with my neighbors. We ended up playing Chinese card games until 3:30am! It was a blast :) After some sweet card games and chatting, I ended up just lying down in between the seats and falling asleep. It was more comfortable than I expected...
Here are some pictures from the trip to Beijing (in reverse order):
Me sleeping on the train back from Beijing
The triumphant team returns home
Artsy shot of the Great Wall
Resting at the top
Marking some territoryOk, I'm bored of posting pictures. I'll get some more up tomorrow...
- Jon
- Jon
Monday, April 13, 2009
Pessach
Last Saturday, I hosted a Passover seder at our apartment. I was a little nervous (more anxious than I should've been) because it was the first seder that I was hosting without the help, guidance, and culinary skills of my mom. But she sent some amazing recipes, like the kosher-for-passover cake (with chocolatey nutty goodness) that is legendary in our household. There's only one place to buy supplies for Passover in Shanghai, and it's at a Jewish center mostly used for kindergarten and Hebrew classes. They had one room on the third floor with some basic Passover needs, like kosher wine, matzo, matzo meal, brisket...but it was by no means a store. I got their last box of matzo meal, for which I was eternally grateful. I cooked a few dishes in the days prior, and then spent most of the day cooking on Saturday....just like my mamma did. I think the biggest hit was the matzo kugel...so scrumptious and delicious. I'm actually thinking of making some more...just cuz.
We had over mostly Jews with a smattering of non-Jews, and we read a uber simplistic kids' version of the Exodus story (part of the Haggadah), sang some songs led by Sara and Dan, read the 4 questions, and told a silly but still humorous joke using the Jewish-grandmother tones and accents. Then we feasted and feasted some more. Overall, it was a pretty big success (even though the nerves of hosting and organizing got the best of me at times), and now we have leftover cake to last at least a month....who am I kidding? A week. Either way, boss'm.
Happy Passover and Happy Easter!- Emma
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Beijing: Part 2
The Great Wall escapade is only part of my tale from Beijing. Day 2 started off with a little train ticket purchasing. Chinese communication was hugely successful, but unfortunately acquiring seats was a dismal failure. Due to the Tomb Sweeping holiday, all seats were already sold, so we ending up with standing room only tickets for our 13 hour return journey to Shanghai (more on that later...)
Anyways, Kevin, Adam, and I kicked off our day with a little exploration of the Summer Palace. On our way out to the Summer Palace we stopped at a little street stand and feasted like kings on chuanr (meat skewers) and rou jia mo (pitas filled with shwarma meat, cucumber, and la jiang). It was AMAZING! Some of the best street food I've had in China... Ok, so we make it to the Summer Palace and the grounds are sweet. I can understand why the emperor wanted to spend his summer months there. There were cool buildings, tree-lined avenues, and beautiful lake views in every direction. Equally omnipresent were saleswomen climbing all over the place with boxes of 1 RMB coconut-flavored popsicles. It was a hot day and we had more than our share of popsicles. Hit the spot. We spent a couple hours wandering around the palace grounds and highlights would include cooling my feet in the lake and reading the plaques at each building (all of which were apparently burned down by the evil Anglo-British forces in the 1860s...)
After checking out the Summer Palace, we made our way over to the Olympic Green (but not before making another stop at the rou jia mo stand and filling up again). The buildings at the Olympic Green were really impressive. I loved the Bird's Nest. It looked like the stadium had an exoskeleton... Very cool. The Water Cube (although equally unusual and iconic) was not nearly as interesting (although I'm told its better viewed at night). We spent a fair amount of time just hanging out and people watching at the Olympic Green. And by people watching I mean using Kevin's sweet long-range lens to take pictures of people really far away. I think we took over 1000 pictures on the weekend and a full 200 were probably taken here...
Daylight was fading at this point, but we decided to hightail it over to Tiananmen Square. It's not everyday we're in Beijing after all... Tiananmen was sweet. I've been before (on my 2006 venture), but I really like the area. I love the workers' statues that line Mao's Mausoleum (which was unfortunately closed by the time we arrived) and there are always crowds of Chinese tourists checking it out and locals flying kites or just enjoying the sun. It was a perfect place to end our whistle-stop tour of Beijing...
Next, I will tell the tale of our standing room only journey home.
- Jon
Anyways, Kevin, Adam, and I kicked off our day with a little exploration of the Summer Palace. On our way out to the Summer Palace we stopped at a little street stand and feasted like kings on chuanr (meat skewers) and rou jia mo (pitas filled with shwarma meat, cucumber, and la jiang). It was AMAZING! Some of the best street food I've had in China... Ok, so we make it to the Summer Palace and the grounds are sweet. I can understand why the emperor wanted to spend his summer months there. There were cool buildings, tree-lined avenues, and beautiful lake views in every direction. Equally omnipresent were saleswomen climbing all over the place with boxes of 1 RMB coconut-flavored popsicles. It was a hot day and we had more than our share of popsicles. Hit the spot. We spent a couple hours wandering around the palace grounds and highlights would include cooling my feet in the lake and reading the plaques at each building (all of which were apparently burned down by the evil Anglo-British forces in the 1860s...)
After checking out the Summer Palace, we made our way over to the Olympic Green (but not before making another stop at the rou jia mo stand and filling up again). The buildings at the Olympic Green were really impressive. I loved the Bird's Nest. It looked like the stadium had an exoskeleton... Very cool. The Water Cube (although equally unusual and iconic) was not nearly as interesting (although I'm told its better viewed at night). We spent a fair amount of time just hanging out and people watching at the Olympic Green. And by people watching I mean using Kevin's sweet long-range lens to take pictures of people really far away. I think we took over 1000 pictures on the weekend and a full 200 were probably taken here...
Daylight was fading at this point, but we decided to hightail it over to Tiananmen Square. It's not everyday we're in Beijing after all... Tiananmen was sweet. I've been before (on my 2006 venture), but I really like the area. I love the workers' statues that line Mao's Mausoleum (which was unfortunately closed by the time we arrived) and there are always crowds of Chinese tourists checking it out and locals flying kites or just enjoying the sun. It was a perfect place to end our whistle-stop tour of Beijing...
Next, I will tell the tale of our standing room only journey home.
- Jon
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Beijing: Part 1
We woke up entirely too early Sunday morning and reconvened the gang at Dongzhimen station where we boarded a bus to the outskirts of the city. We wanted to get out to the Jian Kou (sp?) section of the Great Wall and the idea is to ride the bus as far as we can before switching to an alternate mode of transportation for the last leg of the journey. We got off the bus at the end of the line and were immediately surrounded by a small swarm of drivers all jockeying for position and bickering amongst themselves over the best rate. Luckily, we had Phil serving as tour guide extraordinaire and he bargained to get a deal for all 8 of us to cram into a mian bao che (bread car) for 200 RMB. That's 3 red flags for Phil!
The ride wasn't too exciting (which is how you want it in China) and we arrived at a fish farm at the base of a mountain. We attempted to eat some lunch, but failed miserably. We didn't fail, so much as the waitresses failed. This restaurant was probably one of the most poorly organized establishments I've ever been to... There were hundreds of customers on the roof top (which was beautiful) and they were all yelling "fuwuyuan" (waitress) constantly. It was kind of hilarious actually. Eventually, a couple of waitresses scurried over, took our orders, and then promptly forgot everything. Food was being made, but none of it was going to the right tables. After receiving 1/4 of the food we ordered in an hour, we got fed up, paid for what we ate, and left. On to the wall!
It was a gorgeous day and hiking went swimmingly for the first hour or so. Until our trail dead-ended at a cliff face. At this point, Kevin, Milan, and I monkeyed our way straight up the cliff face (which, in retrospect, was pretty dangerous) and continued trailblazing our way upwards. After some intense bushwacking and rock climbing we made our way to the peak of our little mountain, unfortunately, we weren't really much closer to the Great Wall and now we weren't anywhere close to a path. We decided that going back down the way we came up was too dangerous, so we scrambled/slid down the other side of the mountain until we reached a new path. No more than 5 minutes later, the rest of our gang ambled up. Reunited and rejuvenated, we continued on this new path towards the Wall.
It was pretty late in the afternoon when we summited, but the view was amazing! The skies were clear and blue (a rarity for China) and the weather was perfect. We walked along the wall for a couple of hours and had countless photo taken by Kevin (who is somewhere between professional photographer and stalker). I'm going to weed through the photos tomorrow (we took 1000 on the weekend) and post some of the better ones... Anyways, not too much else to tell, except that the hike was really sweet. I haven't been hiking much out here in China and I missed it.
The day finished up with convincing the gondola man to turn the machine back on for us (so we could get back down the mountain while it was still light), a little frisbee in the parking lot, a ride back to Beijing with Henry (our driver), and a BCD (boozy Chinese dinner) back in the city. Day 1 = Success!
- Jon
The ride wasn't too exciting (which is how you want it in China) and we arrived at a fish farm at the base of a mountain. We attempted to eat some lunch, but failed miserably. We didn't fail, so much as the waitresses failed. This restaurant was probably one of the most poorly organized establishments I've ever been to... There were hundreds of customers on the roof top (which was beautiful) and they were all yelling "fuwuyuan" (waitress) constantly. It was kind of hilarious actually. Eventually, a couple of waitresses scurried over, took our orders, and then promptly forgot everything. Food was being made, but none of it was going to the right tables. After receiving 1/4 of the food we ordered in an hour, we got fed up, paid for what we ate, and left. On to the wall!
It was a gorgeous day and hiking went swimmingly for the first hour or so. Until our trail dead-ended at a cliff face. At this point, Kevin, Milan, and I monkeyed our way straight up the cliff face (which, in retrospect, was pretty dangerous) and continued trailblazing our way upwards. After some intense bushwacking and rock climbing we made our way to the peak of our little mountain, unfortunately, we weren't really much closer to the Great Wall and now we weren't anywhere close to a path. We decided that going back down the way we came up was too dangerous, so we scrambled/slid down the other side of the mountain until we reached a new path. No more than 5 minutes later, the rest of our gang ambled up. Reunited and rejuvenated, we continued on this new path towards the Wall.
It was pretty late in the afternoon when we summited, but the view was amazing! The skies were clear and blue (a rarity for China) and the weather was perfect. We walked along the wall for a couple of hours and had countless photo taken by Kevin (who is somewhere between professional photographer and stalker). I'm going to weed through the photos tomorrow (we took 1000 on the weekend) and post some of the better ones... Anyways, not too much else to tell, except that the hike was really sweet. I haven't been hiking much out here in China and I missed it.
The day finished up with convincing the gondola man to turn the machine back on for us (so we could get back down the mountain while it was still light), a little frisbee in the parking lot, a ride back to Beijing with Henry (our driver), and a BCD (boozy Chinese dinner) back in the city. Day 1 = Success!
- Jon
Friday, April 10, 2009
Tianjin Continued
Post award ceremony, our exhausted Shanghai Hobo/Baijiu heroes jumped on the Beijing bus and joined all tournament participants at a restaurant. We parked ourselves at a big corner table, started eating lots of delicious Chinese food, and opened up a crate of free beer (thank god for sponsorship). The food was amazing and the beer flowed like...beer. No more than 15 minutes go by before we are informed by the Beijing players next to our table that we are being involved in a game. I like to call this game - drink the beer. Anyways, the idea is that any time a cap is thrown into your glass you are obliged to drink. Basically, this means that a veritable hail of caps are being flung back and forth between tables and lots of beer is being consumed. The recipe for a good party :)
I don't want to get into many more details for the night, except to list these highlights:
1) Watching Burrowes and Phil drink in the beer frisbee race. Who knew a 120 lb man could drink so much?
2) Joe being hilarious and ridiculous. I also believe he showed a group of girls his PA.
3) All the MVPs being told to take their shirts off to accept their awards. Jeff's band-aid enhanced nipples were particularly hilarious.
After all of this nonsense, we jumped back on the party bus and headed to Beijing. I don't remember too much from the bus except that I had a great time and left almost all of my belongings on the bus (luckily, they were recovered by Beijing players)...
More Beijing adventures to follow soon...
- Jon
P.S. To read more about Tianjin or Asian Ultimate in general check out Tao's blog (one of many) at http://china-ultimate.blogspot.com/search/label/Tianjin%20tournament
I don't want to get into many more details for the night, except to list these highlights:
1) Watching Burrowes and Phil drink in the beer frisbee race. Who knew a 120 lb man could drink so much?
2) Joe being hilarious and ridiculous. I also believe he showed a group of girls his PA.
3) All the MVPs being told to take their shirts off to accept their awards. Jeff's band-aid enhanced nipples were particularly hilarious.
After all of this nonsense, we jumped back on the party bus and headed to Beijing. I don't remember too much from the bus except that I had a great time and left almost all of my belongings on the bus (luckily, they were recovered by Beijing players)...
More Beijing adventures to follow soon...
- Jon
P.S. To read more about Tianjin or Asian Ultimate in general check out Tao's blog (one of many) at http://china-ultimate.blogspot.com/search/label/Tianjin%20tournament
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Tianjin Madness
I'm back in Shanghai now after an eventful weekend. I'm going to break things up into pieces (mostly because I'm too lazy to write it all out at once). Things kicked off on Friday night when I met up with 6 other silly Shanghai frisbee players in the train station... We packed into our overnight train and we were off! The train ride to Tianjin was pretty uneventful. Mostly it consisted of us trying to play cards in the dining car and being told that we weren't allowed... Who does that?
After a relatively tame night, our train arrived arrived in Tianjin at 6am. We were disgorged into what can only be described as a smoggy haze enveloping the entire city of Tianjin. The pollution was incredible. There was no sunrise or sunset - just reddish, hazy dawn and dusk. We enjoyed some of Mr. Li's Beef Noodles at the train station and trekked over to the fields (stopping in a park on the way to play hackeysack/badminton with old people.) It was ridiculous how many old people were out and about at the crack of dawn. Why do old people wake up so early? After a couple of distractions and a police officer running over, blowing his whistle, and giving us the "time-out" hand signal (trying to get us to stop playing catch), we made it to an industrial park. I mean industrial in every sense of the word. This park brought images of Soviet-era bloc countries and Detroit put together...
The tournament itself was pretty sweet! We picked up two girls from Beijing - Larke and Lauren (who were awesome) and played 5 games with our 9 players. We didn't play particularly well, but we had a blast playing together. We managed to eke out a victory in the finals (although none of us really know how) and were rewarded with a big trophy and gaudy official certificates from the local government. Ah, China :)
Next issue - Tianjin party and bus to Beijing...
- Jon
After a relatively tame night, our train arrived arrived in Tianjin at 6am. We were disgorged into what can only be described as a smoggy haze enveloping the entire city of Tianjin. The pollution was incredible. There was no sunrise or sunset - just reddish, hazy dawn and dusk. We enjoyed some of Mr. Li's Beef Noodles at the train station and trekked over to the fields (stopping in a park on the way to play hackeysack/badminton with old people.) It was ridiculous how many old people were out and about at the crack of dawn. Why do old people wake up so early? After a couple of distractions and a police officer running over, blowing his whistle, and giving us the "time-out" hand signal (trying to get us to stop playing catch), we made it to an industrial park. I mean industrial in every sense of the word. This park brought images of Soviet-era bloc countries and Detroit put together...
The tournament itself was pretty sweet! We picked up two girls from Beijing - Larke and Lauren (who were awesome) and played 5 games with our 9 players. We didn't play particularly well, but we had a blast playing together. We managed to eke out a victory in the finals (although none of us really know how) and were rewarded with a big trophy and gaudy official certificates from the local government. Ah, China :)
Next issue - Tianjin party and bus to Beijing...
- Jon
The Life of a Teacher
Since I started teaching…even when I was student teaching…I have been much more prone to getting sick because of my wonderful germ-ridden munchkin students who just love to slobber, stick their fingers up their noses and in their mouths, and then so kindly and lovingly give me a high-five. But since I’ve started teaching kindergartners in Shanghai, I’ve been sick pretty much all the time, with cold symptoms always hanging around. But recently, it all came to a head. I woke up Saturday morning and I couldn’t open my left eye. Curious…in my still tired and confused state, I rubbed my eye pretty furiously and it finally opened with a bit of gucky resistance. I took a glance in the mirror and saw that my eye was crusty and pussy around the edges and lashes, and was uber red. At least it was only in one eye…oy.
I made sure to wash my eye and my hands frequently. I checked on-line to see what I was in for. Some seemingly reliable source said it should be cleared up within 3-5 days, even with no medicine, especially if it was viral (which, according to the infallible internets, applied to me). I emailed my boss and let her know my condition and that I might need to miss a day of work (that day being Tuesday since I already had Monday off due to some random Chinese national holiday). But I never got a response. After a couple of days of hanging out with some Suzhou friends (with caution, I assure you), I re-contacted my boss to try and find out what was what, seeing as my eye was still scarily red. She said I needed to see a doctor and so I did. And lo and behold, I received good news from the medical genius at the local eyes, ears, nose and throat hospital. He gave me two kinds of eye drops to take every two hours (which have really been helping lessen the redness and the itchy pain), AND he said that I would need another 3 DAYS REST. Yup. No work until Friday. One day work week…not too bad. My boss wasn’t too happy because she needed to find a quick substitute for 3 days. But what could I do? Doctor’s orders…
I still have another 2 days of chillin’ out and recovering. I really can’t complain (well, sans red itchiness I could deal with, but I’m not complaining). Jon is a little afraid of my contagiousness, but I have been super careful and I haven’t touched my eye ONCE! I’m pretty proud of myself.
The kicker now is that I’m also having more cold symptoms (coughing, sore throat…), so the trio combo of back/hip pain, conjunctivitis, and a cold is rocking me pretty hard. But I’m staying pretty positive, and enjoying the time off (even though I don’t get paid for days missed), so all is relatively well.
Take care all, and be careful around snotty kids (pun intended?).
Em
I made sure to wash my eye and my hands frequently. I checked on-line to see what I was in for. Some seemingly reliable source said it should be cleared up within 3-5 days, even with no medicine, especially if it was viral (which, according to the infallible internets, applied to me). I emailed my boss and let her know my condition and that I might need to miss a day of work (that day being Tuesday since I already had Monday off due to some random Chinese national holiday). But I never got a response. After a couple of days of hanging out with some Suzhou friends (with caution, I assure you), I re-contacted my boss to try and find out what was what, seeing as my eye was still scarily red. She said I needed to see a doctor and so I did. And lo and behold, I received good news from the medical genius at the local eyes, ears, nose and throat hospital. He gave me two kinds of eye drops to take every two hours (which have really been helping lessen the redness and the itchy pain), AND he said that I would need another 3 DAYS REST. Yup. No work until Friday. One day work week…not too bad. My boss wasn’t too happy because she needed to find a quick substitute for 3 days. But what could I do? Doctor’s orders…I still have another 2 days of chillin’ out and recovering. I really can’t complain (well, sans red itchiness I could deal with, but I’m not complaining). Jon is a little afraid of my contagiousness, but I have been super careful and I haven’t touched my eye ONCE! I’m pretty proud of myself.
The kicker now is that I’m also having more cold symptoms (coughing, sore throat…), so the trio combo of back/hip pain, conjunctivitis, and a cold is rocking me pretty hard. But I’m staying pretty positive, and enjoying the time off (even though I don’t get paid for days missed), so all is relatively well.
Take care all, and be careful around snotty kids (pun intended?).
Em
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Fireman Training
Everyday after I leave class I pass by the school track. Usually there are a couple of old people wandering around doing tai chi and playing with weird toys (I can't describe them sufficiently, so one of these days I'll just snap a picture). Students sit in small groups on the field in the middle of the track enjoying some sunshine or eating some snacks. All of this is fairly familiar, but there is something special about our Jiaotong University track - fireman training.
Everyday a fire truck pulls up and unloads a couple dozen firemen. They don't train like normal people though, they train like professional athletes. These guys are ridiculous. They sprint around the track carrying all sorts of bizarre parafanelia. Sometimes they run with backpacks full of rocks, sometimes with full gas masks, and sometimes just carrying two rolls of fire hose. These guys are horses... If my building is on fire, I'm glad that these guys are coming to the rescue...
Jon
Everyday a fire truck pulls up and unloads a couple dozen firemen. They don't train like normal people though, they train like professional athletes. These guys are ridiculous. They sprint around the track carrying all sorts of bizarre parafanelia. Sometimes they run with backpacks full of rocks, sometimes with full gas masks, and sometimes just carrying two rolls of fire hose. These guys are horses... If my building is on fire, I'm glad that these guys are coming to the rescue...
Jon
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Ningbo!
I have been lazy about updating this recently, but I'll try to fill you in on some recent happenings...
I spent the weekend playing frisbee in a hat tournament in Ningbo. Even though the weather was on the cold/rainy side, the tournament was still a blast! It was great to get out and run around for the whole weekend. Emma came to hang out and cheer me on too! A pleasant weekend of frisbee and hanging out with good friends. I couldn't really ask for much more... Life has been pretty relaxed recently. I've been studying a lot and working hard on my Chinese, but I think I've adapted to the student life here in Shanghai. I like having the freedom to spend my days as I please. Initially, I was worried that I wouldn't like Shanghai (I think I'm ready to live in a less urban landscape), but I'm appreciating life here. I love the restaurants here and its nice to be close to frisbee and friends.
I guess there isn't too much else to say. Right now, I'm organizing a venture up to Tianjin for a 1-day frisbee tournament and then a couple days of sightseeing in the Beijing area. I'm pretty psyched to get back to being a tourist! I know that I want to re-visit the Great Wall and I want to see all the new Olympic buildings, but I'm not sure what else I should do during my short time up North. Any ideas for the best things to see on a whistle-stop tour of Beijing?
Jon
I spent the weekend playing frisbee in a hat tournament in Ningbo. Even though the weather was on the cold/rainy side, the tournament was still a blast! It was great to get out and run around for the whole weekend. Emma came to hang out and cheer me on too! A pleasant weekend of frisbee and hanging out with good friends. I couldn't really ask for much more... Life has been pretty relaxed recently. I've been studying a lot and working hard on my Chinese, but I think I've adapted to the student life here in Shanghai. I like having the freedom to spend my days as I please. Initially, I was worried that I wouldn't like Shanghai (I think I'm ready to live in a less urban landscape), but I'm appreciating life here. I love the restaurants here and its nice to be close to frisbee and friends.
I guess there isn't too much else to say. Right now, I'm organizing a venture up to Tianjin for a 1-day frisbee tournament and then a couple days of sightseeing in the Beijing area. I'm pretty psyched to get back to being a tourist! I know that I want to re-visit the Great Wall and I want to see all the new Olympic buildings, but I'm not sure what else I should do during my short time up North. Any ideas for the best things to see on a whistle-stop tour of Beijing?
Jon
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