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1月31日 A Monday Night with KickboxingLast night was so awesome. I had never seen Thai kickboxing before. There were nine bouts. The weight divisions went from 66 to 135 lbs. In the room, it was almost all foreigners (i.e., non-Thai). It was just 400 Baht ($10) to see it all. Thai kickboxing allows you to use your elbows, hands (which are wearing gloves), knees, legs and feet. Two oppononets go from 3 to 5 rounds in a ring that looks much like a boxing ring in the States. Three judges will determine a winner if it goes to the final round. A referree will determine a Knock Out (or a thrown down which gains you points with the judges).
The 66-pounders were probably like 7 years old. It was amazing to see them just go at it with each other. Each successive round was more intense since the older (and heaiver) they were, the more experience they had. The 4th and 5th bouts produces more throws, elbow punches, and "knees-to-the-body" hits. The 6th round produce a knock out. Man, the guy got hit in the face and he just dropped. He wasn't moving. They were rubbing his head, his face, pouring water on him, everything. Eventually, signs of life came after a minute. It was intense to see.
And these guys are ripped. We're talking "abs of steel" here. Even the 7-year-olds were sportin' manly chests. It was insane. Robb said his new goal for the year was to "get ripped like a 7-year-old". <Scary statement...yes, I know...>
The last round was a betting one with a pot of $2,500 (100,000 Baht). I should have bet 'cause my dude (in the red corner) ended up winning. Robb thought the Blue guy would come through, but he failed him. The whole night was 3 and 1/2 hours of kickboxing madness and I loved every minutes of it!
Number of views as of this blog entry: 1280. 1月30日 Killin' TimeSo I'm sitting in an internet cafe killing time with Robb. He just got in yesterday from China. We are going to Thai kickboxing tonight. I'm sure some of you don't know Sagat (from Street Fighter) or watched any martial arts movies (like Ung Bak), but they're all about kickboxing. If you're from Tulsa, maybe you've heard of Apollo Cook. Well, I hope I can get some cool pictures tonight. Thai kickboxing is about the closest thing I can get to other than Pro Wrestling.
Our team just got finished eating Greek food. All eleven of us are in town tonight. It was fun being together again. Rachel's sister Lauren was eating with us as well. Seth actually rented a bike for driving around town. He looks hilarious in his little Thai helmet.
Number of views as of this blog entry: 1274. Fun with JamesI had an enjoyable time yesterday with my buddy James. He is a fellow Ozark grad whose parents do missions work at a fellowship here in Chiang Mai. They are Philipinos who work with indigenous Thai and other tribal groups. They also run an orphange for these tribes as well, so their children can get an education in the "big city" rather than the surrounding villages (some being 4+ hours away from Chiang Mai). To learn more about them, visit http://saltministries.com.
It was fun exploring many of the local sites that James knew very well. I had my first Thai "hot pot" meal. "Hot pot" is where you put vegetables and meat into a pot and make soup or noodles. I was able to grill some beef and chicken which was way good. I also had my first Thai dessert which was ice cream with coconut milk on it. It was slammin'.
At night we walked the Sunday market. The city has a special market time reserved on Sunday. Tons of streets were closed for the vendors. I was able to see some kids do "fire dancing" - you know, like spitting fire out of their mouths while grooving to drum beats. I had never seen that in real life. And the kids were like 12 or so - with gas in their mouths! Cra-zee.
Number of views as of this blog entry: 1268. Happy Chinese New Year (新年快乐)Yesterday, the whole of China rang in the Year of the Dog.
 China has a lunar calendar which is slightly different than the Gregorian one that most people follow. To learn more about the Chinese new year, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_New_Year. So...
Happy New Year (Xīnnián Kuàilè ~ 新年快乐)!
Number of views as of this blog entry: 1268. 1月28日 Back to NatureToday was another day of firsts. Stella, a fellow teacher in Chengdu, invited me on an outing northeast of Chiang Mai with her family and other teachers. The first thing we did was trek 45 minutes up three mountains to a village on top. It was a beautiful walk up trails among the trees. We also crossed a small brook via a makeshift bamboo bridge. I was drained when we got to the top, but I am glad to say “I did it!” The village was made up of the Hmong people (pronounced “Mong”). We saw some of their crafts and toured their village. I played checkers with a little Hmong boy. The rules were wack. I couldn’t figure it out. He jumped like over two of my pieces with a King that was at least three squares away from my nearest piece! I was like, “What the shnard?” He definitely schooled me and, obviously, loved doing it.
After the trek down, we went for an elephant ride. I rode on a male named Dao. He was nice. He was also the only elephant that made any noise. As I sat on top of his neck, I was amazed at how my whole body shook when he made “elephant-talk”. It was like I was hollow or something. So we went through the forest for about an hour. All of the trees at “elephant” eye-level were stripped bare of leaves as they eat food constantly. I was amazed that once we were finished that the local Thai guys just let the elephants wonder. The elephants were in the shade, near the road and just "hanging out". They’re treated just like pets as well. If they do something wrong, the Thai guys just smack them and shout unintelligible Thai (at least to my ears). I assume the elephants talk Thai. J It was a great experience.
Lastly, we went rafting on the river via a bamboo boat. The locals take very long bamboo (about a length of 25 feet) and tie eight of them together. Then they’re ready to go. So it was an hour (most-relaxing) ride. The water was low, as in some places we scraped the bottom. Our guide told us that during the months of July to October, the water raises around 20 feet higher than the current level. He also told us that he gets paid $1 USD for each raft ride. That’s $1/Hour! I know the Baht can go far in Thailand, but it’s amazing how much many parts of the world get paid for working. I’ll post pictures later.
Number of views as of this blog entry: 1245. It's Time for FunNow that I’ve finished the Wheaton courses, my vacation in Chiang Mai has begun. Last night I went out with several other teachers and played at a local Putt-Putt Golf. I ended up with a score of 51 on an 18-Hole course. Jonny pinched me out with a score of 50 (JERK!) and his sister-in-law trailed me with a 52. Rach got like 60. So much for Rachel’s 10th grade lessons in golf, eh? See the album “Putt-ilicous”.
Number of views as of this blog entry: 1245. Term Two Is OverYesterday ended my latest Wheaton term (#2 of 7). Last night we had a get together for all the teachers who completed the program. It was a nice little buffet at a local hotel banquet room. It was highly enjoyable. My next term is in the US at Wheaton near Chicago, IL. I will be there from July 2nd through the 21st for six more credits. See the album “Fellow Wheatonites”.
Number of views as of this blog entry: 1245. 1月25日 Two Days Left!My Grad classes for this Thailand session is almost over. It's hard sometimes gaining the motiviation to work and study after moving half way across the world and teaching English as a foreign language. I do love this opportunity because I am getting more equipped for the life tasks ahead that I have yet to encounter.
This week has been good though. I finally started eating some Thai food - like chicken tempura, fried rice with egg (just like China's) and Thai iced teas which, by the way, are the bomb. I got hooked on them at the Thai place on 31st & Sheridan in Tulsa and now, down here, I can't drink enough of them. So sad I must leave them behind when I head back to China in two weeks.
Well, back to work.
Number of views as of this blog entry: 1218. Google & ChinaI found the following article on MSN interesting. China has a strong (and very stable) position on the use of the Internet within her borders. Read Google agrees to censor results in China. Number of views as of this blog entry: 1217. 1月21日 SonMan Is In Thailand (For Now...)I AM ALIVE! I know I' ve been digitally disconnected from all of you, but SonMan is back online. I've had Wheaton classes all week, so not much time to have fun.
Right now I'm sitting in the "Buddy Cafe" lounge area overlooking a bustlin' busy Saturday afternoon in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The city is absolutely gorgeous and exotic.
I must tell you, dear fellow Netizen, that a lot has happend, so I'll just give you the highlights.
Well, that's about all for now. I will eventually posts some pictures of stuff around here. Number of views as of this blog entry: 1190. 1月13日 Around Beijing with Preston & KevinI arrived in Beijing without a hitch! I was on the sleeper train last night with 10 others teachers. Five are from my university. They are all going to Australia for two months for TESOL certification. (TESOL means Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages.) So I shared "close" quarters with them on the way to BJ. I learned their names (English and Chinese). It will be good to pick up our relationships when they return to China. (By the way, no trip to China is complete without a night sleep on a train!)
I arrived to the MAC, an affectionate name for our teacher headquarters in BJ, and was greeted by Preston and Kevin, two fellow teachers. Kevin is from the same province; Preston is in the province south of me. For lunch we went to Subway - rock on! I had a ham, turkey & cheese melt. It was great to have some Western food.
After this we went west of town to ride an alpine slide. If you remember, I rode one at the Great Wall. There are may in Colorado and they're great fun. You get in a slide and ride downhill on a metal race way. You sit on a plastic "cart" and push forward to go fast, pull back to go slow (or brake). So we arrive there and they say it's open, but when we get to the base of it, they says in closed because of the water. Raggady! In our broken Chinese, the three of us tried to convince them to let us go, but it was useless. They just closed the door on us!
So we decided to trek up this "mountain" and, boy, was it a trek. I was sweatin' like a banshee! (Sorry, mom.) Even though it was like 40 degrees, I was hotter than a mug! (It was so cold and I was so hot that you could see the steam rising from my body.) After about one hour of hiking, we actually got to the top where the slide is. Before we get to the very top, I heard a noise which sounded like someone on the slide. So we ran further and heard it three more times. Again, we tried to convince them to let us go down, but, apparently, they said they were just "testing" it. Suckage. So we walked all the way down the hill, completely unable to enjoy the alpine slide. I know that as one treks up this mountain, you should receive englightenment. Unfortunately, I was "de"-enlightened.
One of the interesting things I took pictures of was one of the temples (there were 8 on this mountain) with some interesting worship statues. There was a golden Buddha with four awfully large (and scary) statues next to him. Each had a "beast/human" holding one foot and another "beast/human" under the other foot. They were beautifully made, though on the imidating side. You'll see them in the album entitled "Mount O' Sadness".
Afterwards, we went to Pete's Tex-Mex, a famous place in BJ. I had a taco salad (with sour cream and Ranch). Aaaah, life is good...
By the way, Happy Friday the 13th! <Mwaa, ha, ha>
Number of views as of this blog entry: 1139. 1月12日 Ready For the Big Ride, Baby...Well, tonight I'm on the train. I leave at 8:30 PM to Beijing in a sleeper car. I should arrive around 6 AM Friday morning. I'll spend the day in BJ then wake up on Saturday and go to the airport. I'll be flying from Beijing to Bangkok then Bangkok to Chiang Mai.
In Chiang Mai, I'll be staying at the YMCA. My Wheaton classes will be there as well. I'll stay at the Y until the 31st. On February 1st, I'll check into the Suan Bua for the conference. I anticipate having a lot of fun. I'll have Western food, a pool to swim in, elephant rides, and Thai cooking classes. I can't wait. I'll try to blog as much as I can. See the "Thai Links" on the bottom right of my blog for information and pictures of where I'll be.
I also updated the Windows Media Player with some new personal selections. Enjoy!
Number of views as of this blog entry: 1118. 1月11日 My Cheesy Humor (a.k.a., "My Entire Personality")On Sunday, when I was with my Chinese colleague and her friends, I was playing with the children. Well, one of them had her hair up in two buns, each resting perfectly on the side of the head (about midway down). If you know Street Fighter, then you can picture her as Chun Li (see pic below), except this little girl had a red styling. Anyway, as we were talking, she said her hair buns were "mán tou" (馒头). "Mán tou" is a kind of bread in northeast China that is charred and small (and smells like Burger King flamed Whoppers!). Sometimes it is steamed. "Mán tou" does indeed look somewhat like her hair buns (as you can see below). This was very funny and I laughed as did everyone else.
So, as were walking to the karaoke place, I remembered the word for head..."tóu năo" (头脑). So I told the little girl that she really has a "mán tóu năo" （馒头脑). Linguistically, I should have said a "mán tou tóu năo", but it was much funnier to combine the two meanings with the "tou" as the link. She repeated it, having realized what I was meaning, then kept repeating it out loud. This made me laugh even more. She realized it was a linguistically-funny Chinese joke as well. The other kids knew it was funny, too.
To me, what makes this more funny is that the translation to English is just as hilarious: "bread head". So this was my first cross-cultural joke. And yes...I'm pouring the Velveeta as I type.
Number of views as of this blog entry: 1108.
To Changchun and BackDavid had to go to Changchun today to get a filling. I decided to go with him just to get out of Siping.
I think that I've told most of you that the main mode of travel is train. On the train from Siping to Changchun, it is standing room only. David and I stood in between the cars in the smoke-filled "lobby". I'm glad I no longer have my asthma! When it's standing room only, it's hard to move when 1) the train employees walk back and forth; 2) passengers walk by to go to the bathroom; 3) the "cart" ladies who have food and merchandise have their lumbering carts; 4) the "sock" guys have to stretch their merchandise to show its elasticity; and 5) you're standing back to back with others. You ain't experienced China until you've had to stand on a train. Mind you, I only stood an hour and a half. Many Chinese will travel across country like this, as in 48+ hours STANDING.
When we walked out of the train station, we told the first cabbie to take us to McDonald's. He responded with which one. He drew an air map and made points with his finger and said, "Mai dang lao, mai dang lao, mai dang lao." So relying on my superior memory, I actually got us to the McDonald's where we always eat. It's conveniently situated in a busy part of town with a lot of cool shops around it.
After I had my Big Mac and fries, we went to a Western store that a lot of the teachers call Ron's. I bought some olives (imported from Spain) and two boxes of Corn Flakes (perfectly made in the US). The store also carries different spices, all types of pasta noodles, spaghetti sauce (Del Monte at that), pickles, Miracle Whip, steak sauce, fruit cocktail and as assortment of other Western items. It is pricey, so I usually buy only two or three things as a treat.
For those of you who have had my "Sonny Surprise", the olives are for it. I have the Velveeta that my dad sent, I have the pasta shells from my last trip to Ron's, and then I'll buy the meat and tomatoes. I'll be set then.
After David finished his dental work, we went around town more. We found the Kingdom of Geekdom - six floors of technology: CDs, DVDs, PCs, MP3s, monitors, mice, keyboards, cameras, printers, everything a Geek needs to survive. (Honestly, I think I'm a Geek that's still "in the closet.")
For supper, we finished off the day by going to Pizza Hut. We ordered a Deep Dish Supreme. Yet again, I felt like I was in America (minus the lack of Ranch dressing). What a pity!
On the way home, we meet a couple of students from Changchun. They were going home in the southeast of China. They were both students of Science & Technology and had amazing English. We talked of American culture, Chinese language, American movies, Bill Clinton, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. We four had a wonderful talk.
Number of views as of this blog entry: 1088. 1月9日 A Day of FirstsI was invited by one of the English teachers at my university to have a day of fun. Little did I know, I would be with seven of her "girlfriends", each of her girlfriends' children (nine of them in total), her brother and a male employee. Not only was I unprepared for this, but I was the "feature." The children asked a lot of questions about me, America and other things.
When we arrived to the restaurant to eat, I was prepared to eat Chinese. What I was unprepared for was the donkey meat. I got served four different dumplings. I was ready to eat them without knowing what was in them. (This is my general policy that I have adopted in China: I just eat; I don't ask.) I ate two and they were acceptable. My fellow English teacher said, "You'll like this one. It is donkey...ass." A lump went immediately to my throat. There before me was two dumplings on my plate...waiting for my consumption. So I swallowed my American instincts and ate the last two. I could swear the fourth one was the donkey.
After this, I was again unprepared for the "Karoke-gone-mad" fun we would have next. Can you picture me singing in Chinese and English? (I actually sang "Livin' La Vida Loca". Craz-zee!) And can you see ME dancing to strobe lights? Really! Even more so, can you imagine me dancing with my fellow teacher and her girlfriends? It was insane! I felt out of my comfort zone the whole time. But, in China, comfort zones don't seem to exist.
Number of views as of this blog entry: 1079. 1月7日 Time With StudentsI had a great time with some students tonight. I had to administer a learning styles test to my students for my Wheaton class. I choose the top seven students with the best overall English. After we finished, I took them out to eat.
We had great conversation. I found out that Chinese law states that a man cannot get married until 22 and a woman is 20. I also discovered that their great-grand-parents had arranged marriages. When Mao Zedong established the PRC (People's Republic of China), this practice was abolished. Now the Chinese may choose their spouse. To my American mind, arranged marriages are quite odd.
Two of my students have siblings in America. One young man's sister is in Omaha. He said his sister and uncle were going to drive to Chicago. They were told to avoid certain parts due to safety issues. He said they got lost downtown and his uncle drove down a street where there was a lot of people outside. One person even had a knife. In no certain terms, I explained racism and its implication on the US. I told them it's a part of my culture that I don't like, but, nonetheless, it's true.
I don't think they have heard of this aspect of America.
Number of views as of this blog entry: 1076. 1月6日 Christmas in JanuaryMerry Christmas to me!
I just got in the mail a Christmas package from my family in Muskogee. Wow, am I stoked or what! I got Doritos (sweet Jesus, they're good), Velveeta cheese, M&M's (peanut AND peanut butter), Reese's Peanut Butter Cups (a really shocker), chocolate-covered Cherries (you know, the Christmas kind), more marshmallows, Hidden Valley Ranch dip (packets of course), and, the real show-stopper, MOUNTAIN DEW (CODE RED). My teammates had to resuscitate me on that one! See the album "Rock On!"
Number of views as of this blog entry: 1050. I Won't Do That AgainLet me give you a word of advice: if you ever leave a camera in the hands of morons, be prepared for the mind-assaulting results. I had inadvertedly left my camera in Seth's room (yes, you can already see the end of the story). Jonny was with him (yes, the plot thickens). They thought it would be "funny" to take some jacked pictures. Well, I'm posting the shots they took; each picture in all of its glory. See the album "NC-17".
Number of views as of this blog entry: 1050. The CallIt was exactly one year ago today that I received the "official" word that I was accepted and going to China. It seemed like such a wild and fearful thing I was going to do back then, but now I'm loving every minute of it.
I remember such small details. I was on a lunch break while teaching a week-long course at Tulsa Community College. I was in Room I-134. Danielle, my program counselor, called me on my cell and told me the wonderful news. Wow! And here I am, still ever so amazed at where my life has taken me.
Number of views as of this entry: 1050. |
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