SonMan Is In China! (Year Four)

Yet again, I leave for China and miss my nephews' birthdays. As always, we celebrated it at Chuck-E-Cheese. Nehemiah turns 4 on August 25th & Zao turned 1 yesterday (August 18th). The manager at Chuck-E-Cheese asked, "Who's 5?" I guess he thought the kid in question was a math wiz (4 + 1 from the "cupcake cake" below). Enjoy the video and pics.

By my estimation, Beijing 2008 is somewhat of a bust. Here's my chance to rant and rave:

1) Tickets are being unused. For the five events I've gone to, there are a ton of seats open. I can literally choose to seat anywhere and no volunteer has ever said otherwise. It's scarily silent at times. The Beijing 2008 Committee has actually bused in workers to cheer for the teams to make the venues seem more packed and enjoyably awesome. Two words: weak sauce!

2) Lines can be insane. When the Olympics website said arrive 2 hours before an event, they weren't lying. For the non-eventful events at small venues, no problem. But for large venues, it takes a while. And avoid the snack stands because...

3) Food cannot be found. Unless you're near the Olympic Village, you'll be hard-pressed to find food (where the McDonald's menu is served at lightning speed). And since you can't bring any food in, it pretty much sucks. At the Baseball game yesterday, they had two small stands to feed two large stadiums of fans. Um, let's call this a cosmic blunder when organizing food for a MASS of people. Plus, they were out of my first two food choices.

4) VISA ain't accepted here. If you want the ticket, you gotta pay cold hard cash. Scalpers run amok outside venues and they (Chinese and foreigners) are raising the price of tickets to untold amounts. I read one MSN story where a spectator paid $475 to see the Women's Gymnastic finals. One website in the US I viewed had Basketball tickets going for $1,250 (and it was even for the Finals).

5) Where's the international flair? All I seem to see around these events is Chinese fans screaming "加油中国" (roughly translated "let's go, China") during events where no Chinese competitors are competing. It's strange from a spectator's view to see this...and annoying.

6) The Olympic Green is a bust. No one is there. Apparently, you have to have a ticket to get in, but no one tells you this. Only ticket holders of actual Olympics tickets seem to get in. And then there's nothing going on. I've read different news reports where Olympics sponsors are complaining about the lack of people coming to the Olympic Green - estimates say about 20% of the expectation is being met. But I guess because of security, people are just left outside staring in.

7) Some venues already show signs of wear and tear. At the Field Hockey stadium, large cracks (poorly covered up no less) appear right when you walk up the first set of stairs. The Water Cube for the Swimming events, though completely magnificent, has rust-like stains running over the "bubble effect".

Unless you came to Beijing with 1,000 of Dollars or ideal tickets previously to arrival, then you'll leave China having felt satisfied and at peace. However, for those of us who got screwed by ticketing dates, uniformed venue space, and general lack of specific knowledge of how the Beijing games would be organized, we'll there's no one to complain to. If I had the choice to do this all over again, I would have stayed home and watched from a cozy recliner. The only good thing from all this is the Beijing mascots, the Fuwa. At least I can sleep comfortably with my Beibei.

As I type this entry, I'm in beautiful Branson, MO at a Holiday Inn Express. Dad and I left from Wheaton, IL at around 1 PM yesterday and stopped here for the night around 10 PM. I DID NOT want to drive into the night after an absolutely EXHAUSTING month of Wheaton grad classes.

Yesterday was the "crown jewel" of three years' work: I completed my Master of Arts program from Wheaton College. I turned in my third comprehensive exam and left felt oh-so good. This summer's class time was actually the seventh set of classes I've had (1 summer in Beijing, 3 summers at Wheaton, and 3 winters in Thailand). And now I can think about...

...the Olympics! I'm so stoked. With all the news reports talking about China, I totally can't wait to get back. I have one week in the States until leaving, so I'll enjoy my last few days with the fam. But, since my brother is going with me, it'll be even cooler. Even with the whole year of teaching ahead, I'm even more stoked to see how China will change after having hosted the Olympics.

So for now, I'm eating biscuits and gravy, watching TV (which I wasn't able to do at Wheaton since my dorm room didn't have one), and relaxing before the last three hours of my trip to Oklahoma.

"Mailbox. Open the mailbox!" Check out this video: http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1823766. I guffawed! (Note: This video is for "font snobs".)

Bible to be available free during Games (July 7, 2008, People's Daily) Athletes, officials, spectators and tourists can pick up the Bible or just the New Testament for free during the Olympic Games next month. Tens of thousands of copies of the Bible, the New Testament and booklets with just the four Gospels (according to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) have been printed for the purpose, say officials of China's Christian society. Rev Xu Xiaohong, an official of the Shanghai-based China Christian Council in charge of publishing, says 50,000 bilingual (Chinese and English) editions of the Gospel booklets had already been printed by June. They are on way to six cities hosting the Olympic events in the mainland. As has been the practice at earlier Games, the Gospel booklets will be available mainly in churches and the Olympic Village in Beijing, and in Qingdao, Shanghai, Shenyang, Tianjin and Qinhuangdao, Xu says. Places of worship for people of other religions too have been set up in the Olympic Village, Chen Guangyuan, president of the Islamic Association of China has said. The cover of the Gospel booklet will have the Beijing Olympics logo. Nanjing-based Amity Printing Co, the country's major printer of the Bible, has printed the Gospel booklets. Its general manager Li Chunnong says 30,000 copies of the New Testament (Chinese-English bilingual edition) are being printed for free distribution during the Games. The Beijing Christian Council has placed an order with Amity to reprint 10,000 copies of the bilingual Bible edition to be distributed in the Olympic Village, Li says.

Single-child population tops 100 mln (July 8, 2008, Xinhua) The number of only children in China has surpassed 100 million since the introduction of the one-child policy in the late 1970s, according to a population forum in Shanghai on Sunday. The single children group accounted for about 8 percent of China's 1.3-billion population, according to the forum hosted by Shanghai Population Welfare Charity Fund ahead of the July 11 World Population Day. Families have become smaller and smaller since 1982 when households averaged about 4.4 members. In 2005, the figure was reduced to about 3.1. The "core family," which consisted of a couple and one child, had become the common family pattern in Chinese urban areas, the forum said. The one-child policy has prevented an estimated 400 million births.

Mao dropped from new China note (July 7, 2008, BBC News) For the first time in nearly a decade China is issuing new banknotes without the image of Chairman Mao Zedong. The 10 yuan ($1.5; £0.75) notes instead feature Beijing's new Olympic stadium on the front, with an ancient Greek statue of a discus thrower on the back. Both are set against the backdrop of the Temple of Heaven, sited in Beijing. Six million of the new banknotes will be issued, but most notes in circulation will continue to feature Mao - the founder of Communist China.

Yesterday morning I woke up with 6 hours sleep at 5:30 AM. I knew this would be my big day for getting packed and doing grading. And, believe me, it was long. The most difficult part of the day was gathering the momentum and stamina to grade by writing essays and stories. Finally, this task was finished at 11:00 PM. Throughout the day, I continued to do laundry (three loads), pack up stuff, wash dishes, pack clothes, and entertain visitors that popped in every now and then. By 11:45 PM, I had finished putting all of my six classes' grades on their respective sheets and began the final process of packing my apartment up and getting ready to leave for America.

It was not my intention at all, but I ended up not sleeping a wink. I simply had too much stuff to do. I "de-linted" my clothes, checked final emails, charged all of my electronic equipments, and prepared to leave. I got everything completely done by 5:30 AM, 30 minutes before I was supposed to leave.

I met the Clements & Kat downstairs and we headed to Changchun at 6 AM. They were heading out 2 hours after me, but it was cheaper for the school to take us all together. We said our final goodbyes as everyone except Sarah, Mark & Samantha came to see us off. The school provided a mini-van for us to Changchun.

At the airport, I checked in, had a final drink with the Clems & Kat, then headed to my gate. The flight left on time without a hitch. And I slept off and on.

I arrived at the new Beijing airport by 12:45 PM and then began the process to check-in for my departure flight at 4:10 PM to Chicago. Little did I know that the flight would be 5 hours delayed! When I finally got to the ticket counter, I was apologized to and then told that there were no Saturday night flights to Tulsa (as that was when I was due to arrive), that I would have to book a flight for Sunday morning to get to Tulsa, and that United would put me up in a hotel. I had a choice of an 8 AM or 12:30 PM flight. I chose the later as I thought since I'll get in so late, I want to enjoy my stay and sleep. If not, I'd have to be at the airport quite early.

So this leaves me here, still at the Beijing International Airport, sitting here typing about my travels woes, eating at Burger King, and taking naps on the not-so-comfy chairs.

Well, I am the first one on the team to return home. In about 2 hours, my L-O-N-G day begins. If all things go as planned, I should arrive safely in Tulsa, OK before 10 PM tomorrow night. I'm way stoked!

For Sophomore Oral class, each color group (a total of five) had presented an Oral Final project which encompassed EVERYTHING that they had been studied this term. I have been quite impressed as they have presented very complicated ideas in a very easy and concise way. Their creativity is most impressive and I'm constantly amazed by their abilities - both in using English to describe their created culture and in their actual presentations.

Each group had to create a society "from scratch". They had to make a flag, national holidays, past times, country name, and a capitol city among many other things. The class that presented their project on Thursday @ 8 AM TOTALLY had me busting up. Here below is the money that they had made for their culture.

As you can, their culture was called "Supercloud" and this currency is from the "Bank of Supercloud". You should notice there are black and white flowers. In their folktale (which also had to be made up), they retold the history of a white cloud and a black cloud that had people always at war. However, it was Sonny, their honored superhero featured on their bill, who brought the black and white clouds in harmony. And, of course, I'm deemed with the honor of being in the "666 Luck" club. Does anyone perceive the irony here?

P.S. - I hope this money is never put on the forehead or the right hand!

This Saturday (as in 5 DAYS FROM NOW) I'll be on a plane headin' back to the good ol' USA! I'm totally stoked. In the meantime, I got a slew of things to do. I have my Wheaton homework which is a priority to get done. I don't want to be back home with family and be pressured to do class work. I've completed about half of my packing, so that feels under control. I still have a good amount of grading, but it'll get done (even if it means pulling an "all niter").

But for today, I also want to give thanks for two special people: Jonny & Rachel Wu. Since they are our team leaders, today we have cornered this time (i.e., June 15th), as "Leader Appreciation Day". I have thoroughly enjoyed working with and alongside of them for three years, and I look forward to another year into 2009. Jonny & Rachel (and Samantha), you rock!

I'm getting nervous, excited, anxious, and stressed as I quickly approach my return home date of June 21st. I really am looking forward to seeing my two nephews, telling stories to my family of the past year, graduating with my Master's in August, and "chowing down" on some American food.

Last night, we had a performance to attend. Every graduating class from the Foreign Language Department performs dramas, songs, and dancing as a "final farewell". Well, my INGENIUS team decided to sing "Friends Are Friends Forever" by Michael W. Smith. I totally did my complaining for an evening (which I normally don't do), but, in the end, it was to no avail. I never liked the song because of it's true sappiness. Anyway, the song was enjoyed by the audience (though we could have bounced on our heads and ate bubble gum...all with the same reaction from the audience). Pictures will be forthcoming once I upload them. You'll see them in the album "Farewell Seniors 2008".