I’ve read some interesting news concerning China lately.

Story #1 is about McDonald’s drive-thrus attached to Sinopec (China’s automotive fueling giants) gas stations. Read it here:  http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/Extra/McDonaldsEyesAsiaForGrowth.aspx.

Story #2 is about what China is doing to citizens who are considered addicted to the Internet. Read it here: http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7006548947.

Story #3 is about recent political issues surrounding North Korea bomb testing. Read it here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15206884.

Number of views as of this blog entry: 4498.

Today has been very active as Seth, Katherine, Jonny, Rachel, 小 Wu (the unborn Wu baby), and Jason returned from their travels to Siping. It’s good to see everyone again. Seth, Kat & Jason were in Hanoi, Vietnam for about a week while the Wu’s were in Phuket, Thailand. Yesterday marked the day that most everyone returned to work. Last night around 9 PM I could hear the middle school students doing their evening walk home from classes for the day. All of the buses are running, stores are open, and street vendors are out in droves. We don’t begin teaching until March 5^th, so there’s still plenty of time to chill.

Number of views as of this blog entry: 4491.

Not much has been going around in the “Sonny world”. I’ve been back to Siping about one week and it’s been nothing but relaxation. I’ve watched some movies, finally packed away Christmas decorations, and have enjoyed (?) listening to non-stop fireworks. Yup, they’re still going strong. Every morning I’ve been woken up with this beautiful sound. Even as I am typing this, I hear them.

The good thing is the gym is open, so I hung out there for a while and was talking with the boys. It’s quite a happening place. From when it started to now, there are a lot of people who come. I’m started to like that place more and more.

Most of the stores aren’t open yet either. The small market area in front of our school has been a real ghost town. The buses did start running, so for many people life is resuming.

Number of views as of this blog entry: 4451.

Let me share with you my Spring Festival Day travel. I left the Mac (my organization’s hostel HQ in Beijing) at noon. I waited about 20 minutes for a taxi, which is quite a long time in Beijing since taxis are EVERYWHERE. But being that it’s Spring Festival, it would be like traveling at Christmas time in the US. During the ride, I was amazed at what a ghost town Beijing was. If you’ve ever been there, you now it’s activity on every corner and every street with TONS of cars and buses. However, this day there was nothing. I saw buses with only three people on the them. And some of you know how “crowd-ded” a Beijing bus can get. At the airport, I waited for a few hours, munched on some KFC popcorn chicken and boarded my flight.

I flew with Hainan Airlines (a Chinese carrier) for the first time. I had booked the e-ticket through eLong.com for only 360 Yuan (about $45) because getting a night train may be almost impossible on Spring Festival. So I boarded the airplane and found my seat. It was serendipity that brought a woman from American (and her son) to my row. She was Chinese by birth but had married an American. She hailed from San Jose, CA. We talked about Chinese culture, her being a Chinese in America and me being an American in China. It was a wonderful conversation. I then arrived at the Shenyang airport.

Now, I noticed a sign at the airport stating that some people had been accosted by non-taxi drivers and to be aware. When I got my luggage a man approached me for a taxi ride, I said sure but then thought about the sign. As we where walking to his car, I asked him if he had a meter. He said yes. Often non-taxi drivers just charge you a price...and don't have a meter. He started the meter and off we went. After small talk, he discovered that I was going to Siping. He then offered to take me there (it’s about 2 hours away) for 800 Yuan! I was like “forget you, freak”, but I counter offered for 300 Yuan. I think he thought “forget you, freak” because that conversation ended promptly. He also told me the train station had no tickets, but I was going to brave the “Iron Rooster” anyway. Also, as we traveled, he switched prices on me. Instead of charging me by meter, he stated 100 Yuan. I thought something was a little fishy when I couldn’t see the meter running. It was dark, plus the meter light wasn’t working. In any event, I got taken for 100 (I don't have the Chinese language available to argue and debate yet), but I thought at least I’m at the train station and am only one short leg away from home. At this time it’s about 8 PM.

I lug my stuff to the ticket window and buy a ticket for the 8:31 PM train. Now, what you have to know is 1) the train I’m one has no “letter” and 2) my ticket has no seat number. The 1) means that it will be slow. The speed of a train is measured by Z, T and K respectively. The lack of a letter before the train number didn’t appease my soul. The 2) means I may have to stand since all the ticket “seats” have been taken. Yikes! On the upside, the train station had a McDonald’s. Rock on! So I bought Robb and me a couple of double-cheeseburgers. Yummy!

When I boarded the train, I was lucky to find a seat. Sure, I had to wake up the woman who was completely asleep across three seats, but I got one. (No, I’m really not a mean man.) After almost a 2 ½ hour train ride, we arrived in Siping around 11:30 PM. It was an easy exit from the train to the exit gate. I then hoped in a taxi and headed for my “home away from home”.

Aaah, it’s good to be back in Siping.

Number of views as of this blog entry: 4418.

Today begins the Spring Festival days of China. Over the past weeks, fireworks have become more and more frequent. I was awoken at 4 AM to the sounds of madness. This will probably continue all through the night tonight, so happy me. This year China meets the year of the fire Pig. So Happy New “Pig” Year to all of my students! If you want to read a "hilarious" article about the Pig Year then click here http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070216/ap_on_fe_st/year_of_the_pig. See random pig pictures below as well.

On another note, I fly out from Beijing tomorrow to Shenyang and will try to get to Siping. I’m traveling during the Spring Festival days, so I have no clue as to what things will be open, such as bus stations, taxis, and trains. Ai-yah!

Number of views as of this blog entry: 4400.

During my teacher’s conference in Thailand, most of you know I got REALLY sick. As of today, my body just “normalized” from it all as my “system” is “producing” “normal” “by-products”. (I hope all of the well-chosen words and “quotation marks” were too overused – hee, hee!) Anyway, I wanted to post a few items from over the past week since I’ve been in Beijing.

First of all, the new baby on the team is Maryssa Hope. And below you can see a couple of pictures of Robb and Katherine holding her. You will also see another teacher in Robb’s picture; her name is Melissa Pope. So I simply wanted a picture of Maryssa Hope with Melissa Pope! (Yeah, I’m a nerd!)

Secondly, I’ve got to know Beijing fairly well, having taken several bus and subway rides over the past week. A student friend and I went to Pizza Hut and, lo and behold, I found another “pile-and-stack”er. You can see her picture below with her masterpiece. She’s holding out the Chinese “victory” sign. Also, in the subway area of the fashionable wangfujing (王府井) district, I saw the completed “invasion” of the iPod. See the two pics below.

Third, I took a small video of my student friend making jiaozi. Most Americans may know it as “pot stickers”. His sister, who is a judge in Beijing, invited me over for dinner, so I enjoyed watching his interaction with his jiejie (姐姐), Chinese for “older sister”. Just last night, I took them out to eat and TGIFriday’s for chicken & beef fajitas, mozzarella sticks, BBQ wings and potato skins. It was a great meal.

Fourth, with the Chinese New Year coming (the 17^th & 18^th), tickets ANYWHERE are hard to come by. Normally, I travel by train out of Beijing’s south train station, but there’s no way I can get a ticket for that. So I’ve had to book a flight to Shenyang (about two hours southwest of Siping) and will attempt to try to get to Siping via train, taxi or bus. Transportation in China can be fairly frustrating at times, especially when you don’t have your own car! Yeah, I’m so American.

Oldest Person Has a Huge Family (February 6, 2007, China Daily)

Slam Kurban, a resident living in Jiashi County in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in Northwest China, has a big family. The 132-year-old man has six sons, four daughters, 43 grandchildren, 91 great-grandchildren and 21 great-great-grandchildren. Born in May 1875, Slam Kurban is still in good health with good memory, eyesight, hearing and appetite, and from 2005, parts of his white hair and beard have turned black.

 

Beijing Spitters Face Heavy Fines as Olympics Approach (February 8, 2007, Xinhua)

People spitting in the streets in Beijing will be fined up to 50 yuan (about US$6.5) in an effort to improve citizens' behavior ahead of the Olympics, an official said Wednesday. After deciding that the 11th day of each month was Queuing Day on which people should queue in an orderly manner, like the two 1s in 11, Beijing has now adopted a different approach to restrain unattractive street behavior. "Fifty yuan is a fairly hefty warning for spitters," said Zhang Huiguang, director of the Beijing Civil Affairs Bureau. In Beijing, 50 yuan is the daily income of a Chinese college graduate and can buy 16 subway tickets or 100 packs of paper handkerchiefs.

 

Beijing Institutes Queuing Day (February 8, 2007, Reuters)

The 11th of every month in Beijing is to be "voluntarily wait in line" day as the city attempts to eradicate queue-jumping before next year's Olympics, a city official said on Wednesday. Orderly queues are a rare sight in a city which is also hard at work trying to put an end to spitting and littering and present a more "civilised" face to the world in 2008. "The reason for establishing such a day is to mobilise the Beijing population to ensure that where there are more than two people, they should wait in line," said Zhang Huiguang, director of the Capital Ethic Development Office. "We are hoping to enlist all the citizens of Beijing to be missionaries of civilisation," she added. The campaign will be launched in the fashionable Wangfujing shopping district on Sunday under the slogan, "It's civilised to queue, it's glorious to be polite". A range of measures include enlisting the support of the media, education campaigns, the use of model citizens, legislation, "punishment and reward schemes" as well as a slogan for each city district.

Number of views as of this blog entry: 4331.

Our teacher’s conference in Chiang Mai is over and I am now sitting at the Bangkok Airport. They just made it within the past year and it’s HUGE. It took me like 20 minutes to walk from my entry gate to my next one. Each gated section is like a whole mall. I even spotted a Burger King! Not to mention the free Wi-Fi...Bangkok rocks!

So I’ll be on a flight to Beijing at 11:05 AM. From there I plan to hang around and try to take some pictures of some of the Olympic venues, find out how to buy tickets for various events and hang out with a couple of my students. I plan to be in China during the 2008 Olympics, so I want to get a jumpstart on gathering information. I’ll update with stuff I’m doing and seeing in Beijing.

Number of views as of this blog entry: 4325.

Yesterday was Katherine’s birthday. Honestly, I don’t know how old she is, but my guess is 24. She joined Team Siping this past term and, thankfully, will be able to survive another term with us. When we were down in Chiang Mai, Sarah drew a pattern for a future T-shirt, then her and Seth did the leg work on getting them made. So for a surprise to Katherine, we all wore them for her birthday. She’s holding up her shirt that we made for her (see below). Happy Monokoru Buko Day, Katherine! (Sorry this entry's late because the Internet wasn't very good yesterday.)

Number of views as of this blog entry: 4322.

On February 2^nd at 5:10 PM David & Jeweliann welcomed their little girl into the world, Maryssa Hope. She was 20” and 6 lbs. and 6 oz. I didn’t take any pictures but I took a small video of her. I’m trying to upload it to YouTube, but my Internet connection is not so good up at the resort. So for now, just celebrate with our team.

Also, if you want to checkout the resort where I'm staying in Chiang Mai, then click on the following link: http://www.baanklangdoi.com/index.php. I have totally enjoyed my large AND soft non-China bed. :-)

Number of views as of this blog entry: 4312.

I basically lost one whole day. Let me explain.

Yesterday morning at 2:10 AM I woke up not quite feeling so well. I had to go to bathroom BAD…and I never wake up to use the restroom. My stomach felt a little queasy – like I wanted to hurl – but I thought it would subside. So I went to bed only to wake up around 3:35 AM with the thought, “I’m gonna hurl.” I held a battle between my mind and stomach. My brain was saying, “You ain’t puking!” And my stomach was shouting, “Oh, yes I am!” Needless to say I ralphed whatever it was out. Then it started coming out the other end (yeah, I know you really wanted to hear that). Then around 5:45 AM I woke up having to go to bathroom again. (Yes, bathroom break #3). After going again, I was really thirsty and drank some water. For some reason the water stimulated my stomach…and I had to puke again. This time MORE came up and I had no idea where it was coming from! I then sat on the great white throne 5 more times that day. It was insane.I haven’t had it come out both ends since my college days back in ’95. Anyway, I’ve survived and feel a little better right now. It’s just when I laugh that my abs hurt.

Number of views as of this blog entry: 4303.

I am now north of Chiangmai for our teachers’ conference. It has been a good time for reconnecting with different teachers – some I haven’t seen in a whole year! The food has been good and my place is awesome! I’m at the BKD (short for some Thai word I can’t pronounce) and staying in a “sweet” suite. The bed is huge and I can so relax. It’s not soft like the YMCA bed I’ve had for two and a half weeks. At least now when I lie down, I’m not relaxing ON THE FLOOR! That’s about all for now.

Number of views as of this blog entry: 4290.