I’m amazed at how the temperature in Siping is quite comfortable. The past week or so the temp has been around 20-25°C, and I haven’t really been that cold. Usually Siping has really strong wind, but it’s been quite calm. I’ve actually gone to class two times this week with only a short sleeve t-shirt and a fleece. And then when I get to class, I’m actually sweating. Insane, huh? I just really enjoy the winter’s here. I know it will get wicked cold next month, but right now I’m in heaven.

On a completely unrelated note, I took a couple of pictures below on the train this past weekend. The first picture has a sign which says in Chinese and English, “Smoking is harmful to your health.” Ironically, underneath the sign is a small cigarette canister for those who apparently don’t care about the warning. Hmmm…?

The second picture shows how children’s prices are calculated in China – by height. Who cares if your child is 25!? But if he’s under 1.4 meters (米 means “meter”), then he’s got a discount. This logic applies to buffets as well. It’s common to see measuring sticks at restaurants because employees will check the height of children. I guess that is a more empirically logical method than in the US where you get a discount by age. I mean, really, who verifies that anyway? Strange indeed.

Number of views as of this blog entry: 3836.

Yesterday was a good day. On Friday night, I traveled via bus to Changchun and went to the Northeast Normal University. We had a game night with the northeast area teachers and it was way fun. I got to meet new peeps and catch up with old ones. Another teacher had brought Risk which is THE best board game in the known world. Just recently I downloaded it and have been playing it on my PC, but I had really been itchin’ to play a real game. Kevin, a teacher from Tonghua (east of Siping by the North Korean border) and I played a game. Surprisingly, I won the game in nine rounds. It was great fun. What was also cool about the Risk board was that it was in Chinese (traditional characters not simplified ones that I am learning). I soooo want one.

The next day I did some shopping in Changchun, had McDonald’s, then went with the David & Jeweliann clan to the college campus where our dinner was to be held. Our gathering was smaller than last year, but we still had around forty people show. Anyway the food was awesome. I ate some of Katherine’s fried chicken, Melanie from Tonghua’s no bake (a.k.a., “poop cookies” per Seth’s description), Tibetian mashed potatoes (absolutely amazing!), stuffing, turkey, homemade bread and a slew of other goodies. I brought cheeseburger macaroni (thank you, Wal*Mart) and it was a hit! (I didn’t feel like going all out on cooking at this meal.)

After we ate, Jason and I met up with Robin, a student from our school who is a Senior but our university English department is allowing him to teach in Changchun. (It’s very common for Seniors to find a job and move away from the school but still graduate with their degree, though, actually, they did no class work their fourth year.) He shared with us the challenges of teaching English and of just being a teacher. He looked tired but I think he’s enjoying it.

Jason and I had taken Robin to eat at Pizza Hut. And I saw a cultural incident that I’ve soooo got to share. First of all, Pizza Huts in China have a salad bar just like in America. However, there is no “all-you-can-eat” option with them, so it’s one plate for 28 Yuan (roughly equal to $3.50). I’ve been to Pizza Hut several times and have seen Chinese customers simply “pile and stack” their salad bowls. When I say “pile and stack”, I mean “pile and stack”. After watching any Chinese attack the salad bar, you will no longer be in awe of the Great Wall because you’ll see how good they are at buildings – especially a salad.

So there was a young man at the salad bar doing the “pile and stack”. He must have been there a while befre we arrived because he had a nice tower going. I watched him into his fifth or sixth row of cucumber stacking that he was doing. I continued to watch and laugh as he continued his “great wall” building for literally 20 minutes. About 10 minutes before he actually completed his masterpiece, I had Robin ask him if I could take a picture of it. He allowed me to and I was pumped.

My comment on all this was the insight into Chinese culture. I believed that the reason why he was doing this was because he was hungry and he was feeding a group or something. However, Robin said it was because he had an argument with a woman and this was his way of “making up”. We watched him as he slowly walked to his table with his little great wall of cucumbers filled with vegetables and topped with dressing. He finally arrived at a table of two; it was him and a girl (we assumed, girlfriend). They proceed to eat it. To my astonishment, they only ate about a quarter of what he got. And I conceded that Robin was right; he probably was simply doing that to “save face” with his girlfriend. Anyway, below you can see a picture of the masterpiece – not completed, mind you, since he continued to “pile and stack” about ten minutes after the pic was taken.

Number of views as of this blog entry: 3821.

Last night I had an amazing Thanksgiving dinner! The Norrie’s pulled out all the nines with their new Beijing Ikea matching silverware, placemats of hand-drawn turkeys, and complete fall colors coordination. We had a good time afterwards just sitting and talking. As an entire team of 11, that’s often hard to do.

I also finished booking my flights to Thailand. I’m getting my flights, dates and hotels online, so nothing’s solidified yet. When it’s confirmed, I’ll upload it all as a List in my blog.

And new news: my brother also has a blog. Check it out at http://myspace.com/chiefbearking.

Below you’ll also see my pics of the Thanksgiving spread. The awfully scary centerpiece is apparently a Jonny Wu tradition extending back into the dark ages of time. You'll also notice a plate of my "angeled eggs".

Number of views as of this blog entry:3792.

This week has been really busy. First of all, I’ve started giving Mid-Term exams. I gave my two Sophomore Oral classes their exams this week and last week I gave my one Sophomore Writing theirs. Now, next week, I’ll be giving my four Freshman classes theirs. Nonetheless, I’ve had mass piles of exams to grade through, but I know I’m getting better on test management and my grading load this term. It’s still A LOT though.

On a related note, for the Sophomore Oral exam there was one section that had eight words that we learned on a lesson about newspaper stories and writing (e.g., coincidence, lucky break, disaster, and triumph). Well, I had eight blanks where they had to write the best word from the eight vocabulary words that appeared in that lesson. One of the words was “predicament”. So the fill-in-the-blank statement that I had was: “An example of a(n) ________________ would be having to choose between two girlfriends.” I am still learning about Chinese culture because instead of writing “predicament”, I had about three students write “embarrassment”, which wasn’t one of the eight vocab words we learned. I was slightly “embarrassment” that in my mind having two girlfriends would be seen as a predicament (as if I even have one right now!) rather than an embarrassment. Chinese culture is radically different than my American one at times.

On a unrelated note, at the gym I (and Jonny, too) have been helping Jake, one of the trainers, gain better English. I’ve taught him a lot of the parts of the body that we exercise (chest, back, traps, biceps, triceps and abs) and vice versa. I’ve also taught him common phrases for greeting and parting (e.g., “Good morning.” “How are you?” & “See you later.”). He and some of his buddies are picking up quite a lot. He’s doesn’t know a lot of verbs (and neither do I in Chinese), but we can communicate quite effectively in the gym when it comes to “gym vocab”, such as sets, reps, last/first one, too heavy/light, help, and warmup. So, anyway, I began teaching him last week pronouns: he, she, I and you. I showed him how they are the subjects of a sentence. So I would point to a man and he’d say, “he”; I’d point to a woman and he’d say, “she”. Well, this week I added the pronoun “it”. Now, you must know this: in Chinese “tā” means “he”, “she”, and “it”. So pronouns can be very confusing for English majors…much more Jake from the gym. So I’m pointing around the gym and he’s saying pronouns in a reckless fashion. I point to the lat press machine that I’m sitting on and say, “tā”. Jake quickly responds, “Sh….it.” I just busted up! He had no idea what I was laughing at because he asked me in Chinese, “What’s the meaning?”

Needless to say, our pronoun lesson ended promptly on that day.

Number of views as of this blog entry: 3761.

One year ago today (11/11), China unveiled five of the “most-awesomest” mascots on the planet…the “Friendlies”. Despite the official name change to Fúwá, I’m determined to have their legacy continue on. Anyway, today is their first birthday so 生日快乐 (Happy Birthday). It’s an absolute joy of being able to share China’s “Singles’ Day” with the “Friendlies”. And, if you didn’t know, today is “Singles’ Day” in China. So happy me!

Number of views as of this blog entry: 3731.

For those of you who live in China, the following scenario comes as no surprise. But for those of you who have never ridden on a train in China, then listen up. Today was Jeweliann’s birthday, so all of the team (minus Sarah who was stuck with a class she couldn’t get out of) went to Pizza Hut in Changchun. Now, with the help of my students, we secured nine tickets to come back to Siping. We purchased tickets on the T60 from Changchun to Beijing. The T60 is one of the fastest trains on this route, so the tickets were a good choice. But little did we know what awaited us.

The train was due to leave at 8:34 PM. We arrived early (like 10 minutes) to our train and realized that it was “packed”. Now, let me break down the word “packed”. When one usually gets on a train in China, it’s full. Every seat is taken. It’s common to have people stand up in the aisle for awhile as well. Some students of mine have traveled whole 30-hour periods standing up on a train. However, this train was not like the one’s I’ve described. I literally could not move in the aisle. I got on after the Wus, little Sarah, Josiah and Seth. Luckily, our seats where only three aisles away from the door of the train, but it was still quite a “trek”. After getting on the train, I couldn’t sit down. I was stuck in the aisle. (Yes, let that image soak in…) Eventually, “streams” in the aisle broke open and I was able to get to my seat, but, again, I couldn’t move. Seth was near the window seat and Josiah was beside me. I was crowding both of their spaces but for good reason. Let me explain. The aisle had swollen so that the people in the aisle were “overflowing” into the seating area because people had gotten on the train even after it was noticeably full. (“Full” is a relative term anyway.) I actually had my right knee between a man’s thigh sand my left knee resting on a woman’s butt. You may be thinking, “That’s waaaay to personal.” But you don’t know China. It’s quite acceptable to be pushed, tossed, prodded, cajoled, stoked, poked and meshed around in the waves of people…especially on a train. After about 10 minutes, I was able to finally sit in my “whole” seat and not have my knees up someone’s anything. <Yikes!>

All was quite fine until we had to get off. First of all, you have to realize that all of us have a seat. When we leave our seats, this mean the seats are fair game for anyone. Have you ever seen a dam break? You know, like water finds the path of least resistance, right? It’s like that but compounded by human aggression and mass chaos. Once we got up, an absolute swarm of vultures descended upon us (or rather our seats). This is common and expected but it is problematic on this train since there are so many people in the aisle – and I have to get off the train (in two minutes or less) with the mass amounts of bodies simply standing in the aisle.

Now here’s what happened. I partially stood up and the first man pushed me down to get to Josiah’s seat. I stood up again (fully this time) and another man swooped in on my seat. I gathered my stuff and grabbed Sarah’s pizza (Seth bought her one from Pizza Hut since she was alone in Siping) to help out Rachel who was trying to get out except she couldn’t because (1) people were trying to get her and Jonny’s seats and (2) the man selling pop and food had his cart blocking the aisle – all while we are trying to get off. Please! So anyway, they push through and start out.

Then I begin walking. Now I’m very limber for a big guy and I got through quite well except for the pizza. It got stuck between the door and the hallway which had the bathroom. At the time the pizza got stuck, two women who were in the bathroom together (Why? I don’t know) came out and pushed the other people into the door that I was behind, so now me and my pizza have been separated by the door and are only held together by my right hand. So now, with the help of Jason, I push the door all the way, practically smashing the man who was (at least at this point) functioning more as a door jamb than a passenger. Due to this delay, the passengers who were getting on at our stop began coming on. Another door stood in my way because the passengers coming on were blocking the door that I had to get out of. So I pushed the people through the hallway by using my left side, used my left hand (the only one free) to swing the door back and, amazingly, found myself climbing down the steps of train number 16. It was absolutely insane!

Number of views as of this blog entry: 3721.

It has “unofficially” turned cold. I had my first bout of the cold season with a runny nose. But thank God for NyQuil™. I took some around 10:30 PM last night and I was out cold until 7 AM. Usually I get up earlier (between say 5:45 to 6:30 AM) but NyQuil™ just knocks me out. I feel better today with no sign of a runny nose but my throat is a little sore. I did break out my large parka and gloves, soooo technically I guess it is getting cold. The building just turned out the radiators, so winter is quickly approaching.

On another note, Ben from Haerbin took us out to eat. He is our coordinator on the teaching side of what I and my fellow teammates do. He observed some of us and met with each of us to see how our adjustment to being back in China is going. He took us out to eat at Hecto, the new place in town, and I had meat spaghetti, onion rings (yes, again!), and a strawberry milk tea with ice mixed in. I love strawberry milk tea (草莓奶茶), but I never had it frozen. Can it get any better?

Number of views as of this blog entry: 3709.

Well, it’s 1:20 AM and I’m still awake. Yesterday (that is Sunday) I thought I’d take a quick nap, but I found myself asleep from 3 to 6 PM. Yowzers! So I’m up now having just finished compiling some grades and prepping for my Sophomore Oral classes tomorrow.

I just got finished reading another article about the whole Ted Haggard thing. It’s sad I know, but I’m no guiltier of sinning than he is. Nor am I made up of some other substance than what is within humanity already. I just hope that his family isn’t completely crushed by this and that Mr. Haggard finds some peace from this seeming whirlwind of chaos that he’s in now.

On a completely different note, there is a new restaurant recently discovered by the team. The English name is Hecto. It actually has steaks and onion rings on the menu. I’ve been there twice in a week and both times I’ve thrown down the onion rings. (Cathy, just so you know, Sarah’s trying to “fatten up” because she ate a whole steak, soup and bread while we were there last week.) I remembered when I was getting prepared to come to Siping last year that I was told that I’d have hot water for one hour a day and that I’d never find peanut butter. But Siping has changed a lot in two years.

Speaking of changes, the weather is on its way down. I think the temp is expected to be in the mid-30’s to high-40’s this week. But it’s due to get cold soon. I do love the winter, but I’m not ready yet to have my mustache freeze due to the heat of my breath. Wacky stuff!

Final note: I found a slew of pictures that feature the "Friendlies" in their perspective Olympics events. They're beyond cute. Take a look in the latest album.

Number of views as of this blog entry: 3694.

I’m slightly ticked, so I’m coming to the defense of the “Friendlies”.

Here’s the scoop. In 2008 Beijing will host the summer Olympics. Last year Beijing released the mascots for the Olympics, not one, not two but five – five of the cutest, cuddliest, and cleverest idea to come from China. Each of the five mascots are a traditional piece of Chinese culture: a fish, a panda, an Olympic flame, a Tibetan antelope and a swallow. Each of the five also represent a color from the Olympic rings: blue, black, red, yellow and green. Each of them have a clever name (doubled): Bĕibei (贝贝), Jīnging (晶晶), Huānhuan (欢欢), Yíngying (迎迎) and Nĭni (妮妮). Even more amazing is that when you say each of their names in order – “Bĕijīng huānyíng nĭ” – you are saying, “Welcome to Beijing”. They’re freakin’ awesome.

Now here’s the problem. Last week the China Olympics committee “powers that be” decided to change the official name of the “Friendlies” to Fúwá. Fúwá is Chinese for “lucky dolls” (roughly), but their more famous name has been the “Friendlies”. All their merchandise – from hats to pens, dolls to shirts – have “Friendlies” stamped on it. Apparently, Beijing feels that the word “Friendlies” could be misinterpreted as “friendless” or “friend lies”, thus bringing a negative feeling to the mascots. I have to blame Microsoft for this as well. When I right-click in Word on “Friendlies” (since it’s underlined in red), the options are in the following order: friendliest, friendlier, friendliness, friend lies, and friendless. Shame on you, Mr. Gates!

However, I like the term “Friendlies” since no such word exists in English (you could be “friendly” as an adverb but not “Friendlies” as a noun) and I thought it was a clever marketing ploy. However, now “they” are messing with one (or rather five) of the best ambassadors from China to the world. I saw one video on CNN where they interviewed a Brit who thought the mascot should be a dragon or something. Please! She’s obviously not into “Friendlies” culture and probably hates the Olympic Games. On the China Daily website about this name change, the following appeared: “Madhu Chaubey, Indian, company executive: For something like an Olympic event, where you will have a lot of foreign people coming to Beijing it is better to have an English name for those mascots rather than pinyin. So I think "Fuwa" is not that good. If you think "Friendlies" easily causes confusion, you could try other English words, like buddies or togetherness.” Holy cow plop, Batman! Is Madhu serious? “Togetherness” replacing “Friendlies”? You might as well kill them with a more lethal name, like “Los Cinco Locos” or “My Five Little Enemies” or “’N-Sync”.

I own “Friendlies” stickers, cups, dolls, and glasses. I take pictures of them wherever I go because they rock.

I think the Olympic committee made a colossal mistake here. I think the “Friendlies” is an awesome name – Chinglish at its best – and is a huge draw upon the world market. The world knows very little about China as it is. And the “Friendlies” are doing their best to bring the world together – not just for a summer games but for history’s sake. And now they’ve got egg-fried rice thrown on their face with an identity crisis – and they’re not even a year old (11/11 is their b’day).

I love them so much that I’ve decided to dedicate an MSN Spaces list that is all about them. Keep up the work “Friendlies”, the world needs you! I’m also creating a picture album for them as well entitled “The Friendlies Rock!”

Number of views as of this blog entry: 3670.

On Monday and Tuesday nights, we hosted a Halloween Party for our students. The night featured four events: bobbing for apples, a mummy wrapping, a scary story and musical chairs. The students were abso-stinkin’-lutely hilarious. Their “Chinglish” never ceases to surprise me. So I’ve posted a lot of pictures in the album entitled “Halloween Party 06”. You’ll see pictures of some of the events described above. I also stole a picture from Kat’s blog which features me in my costume. The picture below was taken “pre-revealing” at the Halloween Party extravaganza.

Also I’ve posted some new videos on YouTube for your viewing pleasure.

Number of views as of this blog entry: 3666.

I’ve recently become close to a student at my university who is not an English major. His major involves an area of study that is confusing to say in Chinese and even more so in English. I’m clueless. Anyway, he told me he wanted to improve his English, so I’d decided to help him weekly. He’s really funny. He has a good grasp of vocabulary though at times his pronunciation is a little lax. However, he’s an absolute “fun bag” all the time. That’s why I like him so much.

So anyway, every week I give him the topic that I give my Sophomore Oral students for their journal writing. Since last week was Halloween, I gave them this topic: “What happens to a soul when someone dies?” Here is what he wrote (verbatim).

Soul Will Go On

In western countries, there is an Easter festival for the reviving of Jesus. In Japan, there is the “Dead return” a festival is held once a year. It is a cheerful occasion, for on this day, the dead are said to return to their homes and they are welcomed by the living. In China, there is also a “Qingming” festival. On that day, people visit their relatives’ graves, so it is not difficult to come to a conclusion that many people believe soul will go on even if after their deaths.

But how these souls live? It depends on what they have done in their lives. As is know to all, Bible provides spiritual guidance to people, help them behave according to the brotherly love, forgiveness, charity and humility, so a person who was always ready to help others, friendly to every people, makes great contribution to his family, his country as well as the whole world, will certainly live in heaven. There one can live with God and his thousands of angles. There sun always shines. Life is simple and good. One may also come to the joyful of knowing what will happen in the future. A person who was greedy, cruel, cheating and lying will be bound to go to the hell. Life there is wretched. What men can only feel are mountains with its blazing fire, the darkness and the gloom, the storm, the blast of a trumpet, and the sound of a voice. When people hear the voice, they beg not to hear another word, because they couldn’t bear the curse which says: “Once you come here, you will never be set free.” The sight is so terrifying that one is most likely to say, “I am trembling and afraid.”

I also believe souls live with us even though men are still alive, so there is a famous saying: “Though somebody is still alive. In fact he has been dead. Though somebody has been dead, he still lives in our heart. From this view, to be or not to be is no longer a question for someone.

All in all, soul can be good, soul can be bad, soul can be dreams, soul can be though, soul can be dirty, soul also can be painful. But soul is what you made it, so try to make it beautiful.

My favorite part was the description of hell. I was amazed at how he could so accurate describe a place where he had never gone. Not like I’ve been there either (yikes!), but his writing was pretty close to what I think it is. Needless to say, I’ll continue to help his written English because I think it’s getting better.

Number of views as of this blog entry: 3665.

Chinese slow to embrace 'free hugs' campaign

POSTED: 1628 GMT (0028 HKT), October 30, 2006

BEIJING, China (Reuters) -- The Chinese appear not to have warmed to a "free hugs" campaign aimed at cheering up strangers by hugging them on the street, with some huggers even being hauled away by police for questioning, media said on Monday. The campaign hit the streets of Beijing, Changsha and Xi'an over the weekend, with participants opening their arms to embrace passers-by and brandishing cards saying "free hugs," "care from strangers," "refuse to be apathetic," the Beijing News said. In the capital, police moved in and took away four huggers briefly for questioning, baffled by their wacky, Western-style activities on a busy downtown shopping street. In the ancient capital of Xi'an, home to the terra cotta warriors, no more than 20 people, mostly children, had volunteered for the free hugs in two hours. "Passers-by showed interest and curiosity, stopped and asked, but most of them walked away after hearing the explanation," Xinhua news agency said, quoting a local newspaper. "Embracing is a foreign tradition. Chinese are not accustomed to this," a man named Li, a Xi'an citizen, was quoted as saying. The ancient city of Changsha, capital of Hunan province, fared better, a local affairs Web site reported. "Though some people refused (to be hugged), I hugged 20 people in one minute," one girl was quoted as saying. The Free Hugs campaign started in Australia and gained fame with a music video this year.

See the full story at http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/10/30/china.hugs.reut/index.html.

Number of views as of this blog entry: 3653.