Why yes, I am an international athlete.

Got back from Shenzhen and 4 days of the China Cup. It was a pretty great time. Apparently it's currently the largest regatta in Asia. That's what they said, I don't know if I believe that though.

There were thirty boats in our class, and two other classes with about five boats. Our class of boats was all one design Beneteau First 40.7s. They are about forty feet long and three sailed. (Check out the website here)

We had eight people on board sailing for the Beijing Sailing Center team. Alfie - our skipper from Scotland; Anuj - doing pit, American; Stephen - Spinnaker, Welsh; Martin - didn't really doing much, from Germany; Rick - was on the bow, British; his girlfriend Qian Qian was rail meat; myself on the main sail. It was a real fun group of people. Rick owns the BSC and Alfie is the chief instructor there. Anuj and Stephen work in Beijing and learned to sail this summer at the BSC. Martin works for the German embassy, and I'm still confused how he ended up on the boat. Overall a fun couple of days.

Sadly my flight to HK never got booked while I was in the US and therefore I missed the passage race from Hong Kong to the mainland of China where the inshore racing was located. So when I got to the Yacht Club in Shenzhen the next day, they had a temporary customs and border control station set up. It was really something. So the first thing was free cold beer, then you proceeded to passport control, then to customs. I was pretty jealous.

We didn't win, but we did all right, considering we had a couple people that really had not sailed before. Placing 19th of 30 is decent, considering there were a large number of semi- professional teams involved and most teams had been sailing together training for months, and our whole crew was together for the first time on the first day of sailing in Shenzhen.

Overall, a real fun experience and it makes me an international athlete... sort of.

Price of development

I am convinced Shanxi is one of the dirtiest places on earth.

The province is one of the fastest and richest in north-central China. It is rich in coal and is therefore getting rich from coal power plants. They dot the landscape and keep a dusty cloud hanging over the region.

When you blow your nose it comes out speckled with black dirt. After washing your face and hands the water in the sink is tinted gray and black with the dirt. 

Taiyuan, the capital, is very industrial and a heavy smog sits over the city like an extremely overcast day. The cars are coated and the air is heavy with the dust from the coal. It's a harsh environment for six days of travel. It's amazing that people live full time there. My lungs hurt last night after getting back, but it was nice to breathe the fresh air in a cool rainy night in Beijing.

This is the price of a developing economy. It's not until you can afford to care about the environment that you care about the environment, so why should they worry about it? That was the biggest complaint of Shanxi people, "the air is so bad here." I said that's just the developing economy, when the region is developed the air will get cleaner. It's amazing that they are burning so much coal. I've heard this region used to be worse. Ten years ago it apparently was worse, with totally black mucus. What a great way to explain it, but I feel it's a way to paint the picture.

"Don't say thank you again."

Last week Monday I boarded a bus to head off to Datong in Shanxi province for a little travel during China's Golden Week holiday, a seven day break in which nearly anyone who isn't in the service industry in China has a vacation. Misjudging the time, I delayed buying train tickets... then found they were all sold out. I decided to change my trip destination to Shanxi, from the original location of Suzhou in the south. Suzhou would have been a 17+ hour bus ride as all the plane tickets were also sold out. It's basically like labor day and thanksgiving rolled into one, with five times the population.

So, at about 12:45 I showed up at the bus station and bought a ticket on the 1:40 to Datong, a 4 or 5 hour bus ride. Not too bad. As we got near Datong, I started talking to the woman next to me. She was going home for the break with a family that had basically adopted her and whom she currently lives with in Tianjin. We chatted about the natural 'where you're from' small talk, but also about what to eat and do in Datong. She was surprised I was traveling by myself. Most Chinese are. "Where's your partner?" "It's just me." She told the father of the family and he immediately invited me to eat dinner with them. 

"No, no," I said. "I'm just going to get some noodles and then probably fall asleep."

"Nonsense, we'll eat spicy fish! Can you eat spicy things?"

"Oh sure, I love spicy things, but really I was just going to get some noodles on my own, isn't that what you're supposed to eat here?"

He went back and sat down. And I turned to the woman next to me, their adopted daughter/family friend, saying that I couldn't accept, it's just troubling them when I could really just go find a place to eat on my own. Then the father stood up again, "We have reservations, so you are coming." I again turned to the woman next to me and she made this "you have to accept now" sort of comment. So that was it. And off we went to a room on the third floor of a restaurant that had every food imaginable.

We each drank a small bottle of fenjiu (Shanxi's Special alcohol) and ate some specialty foods of Shanxi. Their lamb is very good as it's close to Inner Mongolia. We had some Cold noodles as well as another version of Shanxi noodles. The whole time we were drinking and talking and talking with his wife, daughter, and their family friend, he kept saying how he was going to take me around Datong. I basically had to fight that off, saying how I can take the bus to the Hanging Temple and the caves. Ok, but I'm going to help you find a place to stay after dinner and then tomorrow after you're back we can meet up again. I said, you really don't have to help, I can go find a place. After dinner we went to a hotel his business uses where he has a discount. Unfortunately they were full. We went across the street to another hotel; 60 RMB ($9) I said, this place is perfect. He said, absolutely not, it's not clean enough. We went down the street and found a place that was 200 RMB (28 USD) a night. I pulled my money out and he fought me off. Now you might ask why I couldn't force him out of the way and pay my own way. Well, it's tough when this Chinese man is 5 inches taller than me and about 50 pounds heavier. He's a big guy... and he paid for two nights in the hotel.

And so it continued. The next day after visiting the Hanging Temple, I came back and called Liu Ge or big brother Liu, as I had come to call him after being told not to call him Uncle. We met up and waited for a friend, a man high up in Datong's local government, and Liu's family to come by. We went to a new restaurant, again more alcohol was poured and chopsticks were lifted. With several toasts I said some 'thank yous' for treating me so well and welcoming me and feeding me so well here in Datong. Liu Ge told me not to say thank you one more time. I said, it's just a cultural custom, I'm just used to saying it. But that was the last time I said it. It really is a weird thing, but the thank you is so different here in China.

Again after telling him he didn't have to drive me anywhere, I could find the caves and temples myself he said that's fine, let me at least take you to a noodle place tomorrow for breakfast. I agreed, on the condition that it was just for noodles, I would go around by myself. The next morning was a rough start after a lot of Shanxi liquor with Liu and friends... I told him I wasn't going to eat anything this morning and was going to sleep a little bit more. He said, fine and to call later. 

He had convinced me to stay another night and take a bus Thursday morning to Wutai Mountain. After a day of temple hopping came a third dinner with Liu, his family, and we were joined by his sister's family. We had Hunan food, delicious and spicy and, of course, washed down with more Shanxi liquor. The next morning, it was agreed that when I woke up I should give him a call and he would drive me to the bus station... he wouldn't take no for an answer. 

He took me back to the hotel, this time I had already prepared the 200 RMB in my pocket and was telling him there was no need to get out of the car, no need to come inside with me. But he was already getting out of the car and coming in with me. At the front desk I was quicker and had already given my money to the receptionist, but Liu reached across the desk, grabbed the money from her hand and shoved it at me, giving her his 200 RMB in stead. I didn't take the money and he put it in my sweatshirt pocket instead. I insisted on giving it to him... but to no avail. I was going to utter a thank you when I changed and said, "you really have been too nice to me here." He said not to be so kind and not to say thank you.

I woke up the next morning to head to the bus station, we got there at about 8.15 only to find that the two buses for the morning had both left at 7.30... the next one wasn't until 4 pm. He said, well, looks like we're going to the Wooden Pagoda! So I bought a ticket on the bus with Liu's money. He wouldn't let me pay my own, I insisted on giving the money back, telling him I brought my own money too. He refused to take it back even when I put it in his jacket pocket. 

I told him that he didn't have to take me anywhere, I could find things to do in Datong for the day. But he stated the wooden pagoda was too far without your own car, so it'd be perfect if he would drive. So he called his sister who had taken his daughter to the park and then called his wife. We picked them both up and headed to breakfast. It was a Shanxi specialty breakfast dish, well two, each had lamb guts: stomach, intestines, congealed blood served two ways one in a soup and one over noodles. It actually was pretty good. Just a surprising breakfast food...

From breakfast we started on our way to the wooden pagoda. His daughter fell asleep. We talked about a variety of things. His wife told me that they had never ridden the bus before, but with train tickets all sold out and them not having a car in Tianjin this month because of the Olympics (restrictions on car usage in and around Beijing) all meant they were left with no choice but to take a bus from Beijing to Datong. "So it's really karma that we met!" she said. I agreed.

We got back to Datong after a morning at the pagoda, and ate "Tofu Brain." A hot pot of soft tofu served with pork ribs. Delicious. And this lunchtime feast was, of course, washed down with a final bottle of Shanxi Liquor each. 

He invited my friends and family to Datong, if I let him know when I was coming, he would come back from Tianjin and take me and other people around. He gave me four bottles of Shanxi liquor to take home to the US. And then asked me to look around for a needle used in surgeries... His business makes products used in surgeries, and Liu wanted me to get a hold of this one kind of needle. He sent me off with a brochure and a picture of the needle he meant... and with that I was left with a friend in both Datong and Tianjin, as he spends most of his time in Tianjin, a port city within easy reach of Beijing. "Give me a call when you come to Tianjin, we'll eat seafood!"

While I didn't say thank you again, I found I could tell him and his wife that these few days in Datong have been great, I've been able to understand Datong and Shanxi's specialty foods and the city's welcoming culture. I've eaten until I was full and drank very well. While it wasn't "thank you" it was still a thank you.

When in Rome...

The day before yesterday I finally bought a bike. I had been putting it off... I am not sure exactly why... but I walked up the street a little bit and bargained for a bike. It was a cheap bike and after biking a little ways it broke. One of the pedals broke off. I found a place that fixes bikes, and had both pedals replaced.

Then yesterday I biked forty five minutes up to where Helen is studying at Beijing Normal University. It was a great ride. The easiest thing was there was only one turn. I biked past the man made lakes Beihai and Qianhai, biked along the back of the Forbidden City and biked down this one road I have always really liked.

It's great living near the center of the city. When I was a student at Beida, it would have been a really long ride to bike down to the Forbidden City. Here I can bike 15 minutes and ride past the picture of Chairman Mao hanging on Tiananmen.

I love biking in Beijing, because it really is a biking city. Though now, most people have electric bikes that are like a cross between a motorcycle and bike. I prefer the original though. It's a great way to exercise, get around quickly, and protect a form of Beijing culture. 

I have read some articles saying how Beijing is losing it's massive bicycle population; they are being replaced by cars. With the roads so clogged with traffic, I can't help but realize how nice it is to bike. And with Beijing being an incredibly flat city, it's really not a painful commute. So I can't help but do as the locals do--or at least as most people did five or ten years ago and use a bike as my primary form of transportation.

The day's done stampede

Yesterday, Grace and Paul (my friends, a very nice couple who have opened their house to me here in Beijing, while I try to find a way to settle down) took me and Fei Fei (a girl from Xinjiang, China) out to dinner. We had some dumplings at a restaurant and then some shaved ice at another restaurant inside this one large shopping center near the apartment.

At about 10, the ice place was going to close so they had the bill paid while we were still eating. When the music stopped, we decided it must be time to go. The server said she would take us out. I thought this was a little bizarre, I mean, sometimes when you eat at someone's house they will walk you out, but not at a restaurant. We had to go down to the first floor and then, instead of using the main entrance, we had to use the staff entrance as the mall had already closed.

When we got to the main floor there was literally a flood--a stampede--of chinese women all aged between 20 and 35 years old. I kept thinking, "Wow! A lot of people wait until the last minute before finishing their shopping!"

When we got to the staff entrance one whole wall was filled with time clocks, used to punch-in and out of work--that's when I realized that all these women stampeding out of the building were store workers who had just got off work. Now they were wearing their normal clothes and racing out. It was just quite a sight and situation to be in. A first for me to have closed a shopping center. I think it's the only time in China when I have felt like I was walking slowly, so many people stepped on my heels as they tried to get to the door.

back to square one

Well, I was supposed to be at work now. But yesterday, on my first day, I was fired.

Ok, not fired... but there's no way for the company to get me a work permit. Apparently it's really hard for someone under 25 and with my skill set (nonexistent) to apply for a work permit. As they already have a lot of foreigners working there, it would be really hard to get another. So the back room administration gave me the axe. I even offered myself as an intern, doing the same amount of work, but less pay and under a student visa... the guy trying to hire me liked that, but the administration said no way--it requires a letter from my university or college saying this internship will be for credit.

So, that put an end to it. My boss (ex-boss, rather) was pretty disappointed. He had no idea.

I'm not sure whether this means that I won't be able to work at all, or that just this company refuses to try and get me through the system. I am going to look for volunteer opportunities around Beijing and possibly some classes, and just basically keep my eyes and ears open for possible interesting things to do like that, or for whatever they might be.

I see it as a positive, it would have been nice to be set and on my way--but maybe going back to square one is a good thing.

Closing Ceremonies

Well. I didn't have a ticket to the closing ceremony.

I heard that there were going to be fireworks in like 19 places around the city. As I had no ticket to get into the Olympic Green, I decided to go to Tiananmen Square. I left for the square around 5ish... turns out the subway stations around there were all closed, so I took the bus. Even the ticket seller was like, "I don't know if the road will be closed or not." In addition to the guards, volunteers, and traffic police, there were soldiers at every intersection and bus stop. Swat tanks and vans were in front of a couple places along Jianguomen street (the street that runs right in front of Mao's picture on Tiananmen).

The bus made it no problem and I got off and made my way to where I thought I was going to watch the fireworks, but I couldn't get through. Everything was closed off. Apparently the fireworks were going to be set off down there--south of Tiananmen square. I was hoping to go there where they have large outdoor television, watch the closing outside and then watch the fireworks. To get to that area, I would have had to go pretty far west. Everything was all closed off.

So instead, on my way to where I could head west and then south, I changed my mind. I headed north, right next to the Forbidden City and ate in a small Beijing restaurant called "the taste of the city." I sat down there and ordered a bunch of food. I was really hungry. I had some dumplings and edamame and then a fried vegetable and meat thing (delicious). 

When the closing ceremony started I had finished my meal and was just having another beer. The restaurant was full now and I was drinking with two other guys. The three of us all planned on heading to Tiananmen to watch the fireworks. 

At about 9:15 we started making our way over to the Square. It was full of people, but really not too crowded. We sat on the ground for a bit and after maybe 10 minutes the fireworks began.

They were really something. If I ever figure out how to link pics and / or get around to putting them up, they probably don't do it justice, but it was amazing.

After that the crowds parted and had to walk a ways to get the subway as all the nearby stations were closed.

It was a great night.

What a crazy week!

My "internship/volunteer turned job" ended yesterday. I was working for YPO (an international organization of presidents of companies). They had a family trip for their members to come to Beijing and see the Olympics. I applied months ago and was told they didn't have enough money to afford me even if I didn't have to stay in the hotel. So I replied that I would come on as a volunteer.

That changed when they had more than enough money to pay me full time... and full time it was. Days averaged over 13 hours. I ended up working on the registration packets and bags making sure everything was situated correctly. That turned into being in charge of the room gifts. Each night at least 5 things had to be distributed to each of the 86 rooms the members were staying in. It fell on me to be in charge, so I ended up managing the logistics and distribution of room gifts. It was a lot of responsibility and a lot of deadlines. The first night didn't turn out so well, as I ended up running through the hotel putting things in each persons room with a couple other staff, trying frantically to finish before they came back from an outing.

After that, I managed to alter the logistics so that all I would have to do is have a bag for each room, so that the right stuff got put down, but of course the problem than is that the hotel and other staff put the things in the right order in the room or on the bed--in the set up that the Program Chair would think would look nice. Just a little pressure.

It turned out really well though. I was a manager of a small staff in a sweat box storage room in the bowels of the basement of the JW Marriott in Beijing. I learned things about my managing style, strengths and weaknesses, as well as how much I love deadlines.

Today is the first day off, and it's weird not having anything to do. I'm glad I have a job starting Monday. Part time work with a student recruiting company that recruits students to go to schools in Australia, the UK, Canada, and the US. I'm excited for the challenges and opportunities that I'll find there, though part of me hopes the hours aren't as crazy!

Only in China?

So I'm working in the JW Marriott for YPO. They have a group that's coming in tomorrow and I'm helping the management team get ready. It's a short term job but a lot of work. I've been working about 12 hours a day the last couple of days, and I think it's going to be longer days once everyone arrives and the program starts. 

At any rate, next to this hotel there is a really tall smoke stack. Nothing is coming out of it now--maybe the factory (or whatever the place is) is closed during the Olympics. At any rate, the reaction to it during the day is nothing pleasant--it's a polluting structure that is unpleasant to look at and is ruining the planet! And it's in the city next to this nice new hotel. It's an obstruction and I don't think you'd often find a smokestack in close proximity to a hotel.

Well, at night this unpleasant product of China's unbelievably fast industrialization lights up. Figures dance on it and spotlights light up. It's actually got it's own light show. Sometimes it has Olympic figures dancing on it, other times it changes colors fully green to blue to purple in slow fades. It's really quite pretty. The first time I saw it, I think I let out a "wow."

And then I think, how often do you say that about a smokestack? Only in China, I guess.

08/08/08

Well, I think it is a little sad, but the smog is still quite heavy.

I was watching on TV yesterday and the IOC had their "Doctor" telling everyone that this is just fog. But I'm pretty sure fog lifts or burns off as the day goes on. Visibility is maybe around half a mile to a mile. It's been worse... but you have to say it's a little sad on the opening day. They've had half their cars on the road for nearly a month and almost all factories in the Beijing area have been closed. I guess you can't rush clean up like this.

For the Ceremony, I'm probably going to go to my Jiujiu's (Host family Uncle's) house for his birthday. I was asking Chen Chen (Gao's daughter) last night what I should bring as a gift. I think I'll bring a box of his favorite cigarettes... But they invited me again multiple times last night. So might as well take them up on the offer. It's that or go to a party at this tea house I've been going to a lot. I think I'd rather go to a Chinese birthday party. I wonder if the traditions are Western... or what happens.

My volunteer position is probably going to start tomorrow. I have to drop some stuff off today, and I think they have some tasks they want to give me for tomorrow. It's really excited to work with a group that's coming over to see the Olympics. And the possibility of getting into some events too... though I'm not going to hold my breath.