New Suit

Today, Monday, was the first day of our Western New Year vacation. We had Sunday off; however, we had to work on Saturday. The reasoning behind that was that we only, officially had Tuesday and Wednesday off. So, in order to have Monday off, we worked on Saturday.

It makes some demented sense. The fact that we even have a Western New Year holiday is new to this year. The Chinese government is trying to bring about a change and go away from the Chinese system of a few long holidays, where the entire country shuts down for a week several times a year, to the Western model of several short holidays. How well it works out is something that only time will tell.

At church on Sunday I had noticed the suits that both Mark and Joe were wearing. Both were somewhat similar and tailored to fit them. In further discussion they told me that they had been made locally. The process is somewhat simple and we decided to go on Monday and see about having a suit made for me.

After church I spent the day trying to get all of the data files moved over to the new computer that the college had issued me. After that I had my violin lessons.

The lessons are going pretty well, the teacher speaks pretty good English and comes over to my place once a week and gives a lesson. She is very fixated on teaching songs, somewhat before I have even gotten the basics down cold; however, I am learning some. He Zhi Qing also comes with her in order to help with the lesson. Seeing as she is, for all intents and purposes, taking part in the lessons, I have already decided that I will give her this violin as soon as I get a better one. This one is fair, but not great, when I got it I really did not know what I was looking for. Now I have a much better idea and, after my vacation with Zeneta, it is due for replacement.

Monday I called He Zhi Qing, arranged for her to come along, and the minor confusions ensued. About forty-five minutes later she called to inform me that she was waiting at the main gate. I then told her to come up to my flat while I lit a fire under Mark and Joe. I had spoken to them about an hour prior, about going, and they had said that they would get ready. Well, they were still lounging about in pajamas.

About this time Rachel, a Chinese Tourism student, arrived to help them during the day and they started moving. We then went down to find a cab and realized that there are four seats in a cab, and with the two girls, there were five of us. The good thing is that neither Rachel nor He Zhi Qing are very big and we had no issues with a couple of pretty girls sitting on our laps ( to give you an idea, next to He Zhi Qing [who, by Chinese standards, is not small] Debra looked like a giant; and, as you may recall, had giant sized problems finding clothing to fit).

We went to a clothing market that neither I nor He Zhi Qing were familiar with. Outside the shops were large bolts of fabric with the better fabric inside. We wandered to the shop that Mark and Joe had previously gone to and I looked at the fabric and pointed to a long bolt of a Grey wool. At that point the haggling ensued; little details, like the material and cost of the liner, for the coat, had to be discussed.

I will say that Rachel did an excellent job of working on the price. So, the first thing I did was to purchase the cloth. Then I was measured and arrangements were made to phone He Zhi Qing if there was a need for re-measurement. At that point the fabric was packaged for a courier to pick it up, by motorcycle, and take it to the tailor who is to turn it into a coat and pants. The total cost is 450RMB and the current exchange rate is about 7.6RMB/1USD. I have to say I am very curious how it turns out; if I like the end result I will probably order more.

After that we (Mark, Joe, Rachel, He Zhi Qing, and I) wandered for a while, until Mark and Joe saw the electric massaging chairs in a shop. At that point they were lost into their own little land of bliss and He Zhi Qing and I wandered off.

Those ain't sheep

Christmas Parties

What a day, first an all schools English teacher (and any other foreigners that could be roped in) lunch. Then a big activity planned evening and formal dinner with the city outdoor activity club.

I barely have the energy to sit down

(added to the 5 kilos that I have probably put on today)

The plan was actually worked out well in advance; pretty much as soon as it started getting cold we began over-planning the Christmas dinner. For the Chinese this is a reason to have more loud parties.

When the Western New Years and Christmas parties were combined, there were a total of nine parties that I was expected to be at. Zeneta misunderstood one of the invites and thought that the fourth was intended to be a business meeting, it was no business meeting.

All but the second were very Chinese; however, only the third, the one with the bike club, was truly Chinese, more of which I will explain later. The first party was hosted by Hua Rui College, which is a division of XYNU and is where I teach (and is the correct spelling, according to Ju Hai Ying, aka, Julia).

Most of the college leaders were there already when Julia walked us over to the restaurant on campus. It is one of the two main restaurants on campus, not counting the canteens, and is well within the old residential section (as I have said, this "small campus" is a city of over fifty thousand residents, many of whom live here year round).

The meal was very typically Chinese, served on a large revolving table and featured a great deal of toasting. One of the harder things for westerners to become accustomed to is the Chinese hesitance to drink alone; they will toast someone when they intend to drink, which leads to, what seem to be, loud, uproarious, meals.

It was also at this meal the we gave Julia her Christmas present, in order to insure that we got something proper we assigned a few of our aids to help shop for her (One teacher's idea was to get her some satin sheets, it was at that point that I decided to ask some of our girls to be the Julia shopping sub-committee). We ended up getting her a silver necklace.

The party was pretty much normal. One thing I noticed was the older man next to me was putting water in his bi jiu (a Saki like drink) cup. By doing this he was able to get away with drinking a lot less because, as one of the main leaders, it seemed that everyone wanted to toast him at least once. It was a good, if sneaky approach. My approach was to just tell them that I did not drink bi jiu (Wo bu he bi jiu).

There were no real shocking stories from this party. We all had a good time and the westerners all left sober.

The next was one held at one of the coffee shops in town and was hosted by the westerners. It was attended, not only by the teachers here, but also by teachers from the Agricultural College (Don't expect much from the Agricultural College, it is no Davis. It has a very small campus in the center of town and has no farm. The Ag project is a small, trash strewn, concrete pond in the center of the campus. [here is a List of Higher Education Institutes in Henan Province]).

The Coffee shops are not what an American would think of as a coffee shop. They are a chain of restaurants that serve western style food and are generally very plush. Due to some confusion we were not given a room but combined some tables in the front of the restaurant. The main confusion was caused by our attempt to reserve. The Chinese seldom reserve for dinner so they did not understand when Ken went to reserve several weeks in advance. We all took a guest so there were also a large number of Chinese students, I took Gao Jing and Zeneta took Huang Yun. It was necessary for both Zeneta and I to take an aid because I was going somewhere else after the dinner and Zeneta still has trouble getting around town by herself; so, Huang Yan was there to insure that Zeneta made it home.

From there Gao Jing and I caught a cab over to the bike shop. The bike shop was hosting a Christmas dinner and activities for the outdoor club. The first things done were a couple of skill challenges. There was the standard cone weave and there was a track-standing, or slow riding, competition. I was not on my own bike and ended up borrowing a bike from the shop. As a result, I did not do as well as I would have hoped; however, I did not do poorly. I could not even get Gao Jing to try to compete, she was busy talking to a Chinese club member who had been to Nebraska, USA, to study American farming techniques.

It surprised the people there that I did not hit a single cone. There is a trick to the cone weave; it is simple, do not look at the cone that you are coming to. You have already set up your angle, either you will hit it or you wont, look at the next cone.

After the contest (where I won both the foreigner class and the foreigners over forty class) we went to a nearby restaurant. I was surprised at the number of people there and we used quite a few tables. The food was very Chinese and I ended up next to my doctor who at least understood my eating preferences and habits. Of course, the toasting was de rigeur here too. As an interesting variation on the pattern, many people wandered from table to table pouring drinks and, by way of a common toast, leading the table in the making of a loud roar. I asked Gao Jing if we were supposed to be forming any particular word, she told me, "no, just noise, but it is important to be loud."

After the dinner we went outside for the fireworks; in China, any excuse is a good excuse for fireworks. This is the first time I have really looked at the launching of the mortars. A common method is the use of a prepackaged box. The box has a single fuse that is lit then there is no longer any timing or operation issues. Two boxes were lit off and then we went back inside.

When we returned back inside the tables had been cleared of the meal and snacks, such as nuts and oranges, were placed on the tables. At this point the show started. It was an interesting observation; for a people who do not plan much of anything, they do plan their parties. The schedule was full with presentations and dances. I received an award that essentially says, "foreign friend."

Later I was asked to present some gifts; however, I had trouble understanding what they were asking. I was to select five names and read them out. I was then to give them awards of the Olympic mascots. As stared, I was having a bit of trouble understanding just what it was that I was being asked to do. So, there I was on stage, they thrust a microphone in my hands and the first thing I said was, "Jing Jing, where are you?" She promptly waved, smiled, laughed at me, and returned to taking pictures of me, up on the stage.

It is noticeable how the whole country is excited and proud of the planned Olympics. It was not like this the times that the Olympics were in America. I hope I am wrong; but, I foresee disaster.

When the program ended, like most Chinese events, everyone quickly filed out. The people here do not linger and mingle. Gao Jing and I quickly found a cab and headed back to the college. The rule is that students are not to ride in cabs onto the campus; so, I rode the cab through the gate, where the cabbie told the guard' "I have an American in the car," and we were flagged through. I then sent her, and the car up to her dorm. It was too late for her to be out walking alone; particularly considering that a couple of students, both girls, had been killed walking through the woods, on campus, at night in the previous month.

School is back in session

I have now met my classes. They are of mixed size, from about forty-five to about eighty students in each. I have a mix of both non English majors and English majors.

The big difference, between the two classes, is that the non English majors only have me once a week and their classes tend to be larger. I, also, do not have the book that I am supposed to be using for them.

Today is a vacation day. The first week in October is a national holiday. It is really only a three day holiday so I did Thursday and Fridays classes both this last Thursday and Friday, and then again on Saturday and Sunday. This is the schools (and pretty much the rest of the countries) plan for turning a three day holiday into a week off.

Because it was a special session, we did material that was not in the book and I think they liked it. It was, primarily, another, "get them comfortable talking in class," exercise. We used the editorial cartons in the China Daily (the English news paper intended for Aliens to read) and broke up into groups. I then had them tell me what the artist drew. Then I had another person tell me what the message of the cartoon was.

We then took short news stories, there is a section that summarizes news stories from all around the country in short one or two paragraph stories, and gave each person one. They then summarized it. On some stories we did the, "is this a good thing?" That was then followed with why/why not.

I was planning to ride to Gushi with the local riding club. However, it started to rain so the plans have been canceled.

The puppy is sick; so, taking it to and from the vet is keeping Zeneta occupied. Today she is taking it to the Hospital for an x-ray. For this, she will have to put it in a box so that it is, pretty well, hidden until she gets to radiology.

I have decided that, when Zeneta gets back to The States, I am going to have her sell my motorcycle. I have been looking at a small bike to replace it with. The one I have is a 650cc and I am thinking of replacing it with a 250cc bike. Oddly enough, the smaller bike puts out slightly more power and gives significantly better fuel economy. It also sells new for about what I expect my current bike to sell, used, for. So, why didn't I get this bike in the first place? I think the style sort of put me off.

I have looked at these before. However, Kawasaki has totally updated the model and I have decided that I like the look.... even if it is not much faster than the bike I currently have.

Almost ready to start another year

I went riding again this weekend. I have been having some trouble contacting the bicycle group's message board; however, on a ride, at the 10Km point, I ran into a teacher at the university. He told me that on Saturday was going to be a women's ride, but that on Sunday would be a general group ride that was leaving at eight am. He estimated about 100km (it turned out to only be 90) and stated that the route had some strong hills.

Gao Jing is in the green and white shirt on the right, Zhang Pei is the third fom the Left, looking at the camera and wearing glasses.

Gao Jing was not able to go on this ride (in truth, she has no intention of going on any of the long rides) because she got a job for the weekend. She was selling convenient noodles, these are what we call ramen noodles, in front of a market. Several of her roommates were also selling noodles at this market, and another market in town.

The ride was supposed to start at eight so I headed off, a bit behind schedule and I ate some bread as I was riding. Eating while riding, or driving, is not common here; however, talking on the cell phone certainly is (and in a nation where no one has any sense of social responsibility, it can be scary). As a result I did manage to arrive a few minutes early.

A few people noticed that I did some stuff to my bike. Because I am having some trouble finding an affordable shipping company to return it to the states (UPS quoted about 3500RMB) I am hesitating on getting a road specific bike; so, I started looking at what I can do to this bike. There are two issues that I wanted to address. The first was rattles. The second was weight. When I got it, it was what I wanted for certain tasks. I wanted a quality bike for trips to the store, this necessitated racks and carrying capacity. The second thing I wanted was a touring bike. For long rides, like the one I made in the summer. For these tasks the bike I have is close to ideal.

However, I am now using the scooter for trips on campus. And, simply, the increased carrying capacity makes the scooter well suited for trips to the store. This leaves the bikes main use as a sporting bike.

With this in mind, I removed the front rack and basket, which was a lot of the rattles. I also removed the kickstand, which was over a kilogram by itself. Being as I am riding it in, generally, good weather, I also removed the fenders. Removing the fenders took care of the occasional maladjustments' that caused tyre rubbing, noise and friction. I left the rear rack on. This was because I needed a place to put the lock. That may eventually go to, as I do not stop anywhere on my recreational rides.

Doing all this made my bike more suited to the type of riding that I am now doing. The weight removed, particularly on the front, made the bike more responsive and with the fenders gone, there was nothing for road debris to get hung up on. Of course, everything done was fully reversible; so, if I change my mind it is a simple task of bolting it all back on.

The front runners and some of us taking a break (the guy in the red shirt also teaches at XYNU)

Of those of us who were there on time, there were about six others that were present and ready to go. So, we simply left while the others were assembling, we did tell them that we were leaving. All six of us were relatively fast riders and kept a strong pace, which lead to a lot of spreading in the pack. We stopped at one spot, about 25Km down the road to insure that all were present, and then we kept going. At about 303Km we turned off the main road onto a mixed pavement road the quickly led to a village that was not noticeable from the road.

It is fun going through these little villages. We all enjoy the look of the small children when we go through their streets. It is not like automobile, or airplane, or even motorcycle racing. We are on bicycles. This is something that they can relate to; yet, when we go through faster than they have ever seen bicycles go, in formation, and with riding gear that basically provides an identifiable uniform, their eyes light up. It is something that they know is a realistic thing to think about doing.

After leaving the village we were on a narrow road, about three meters in total width. Many people were drying their crops on the road and the only way through was to ride right over. It did not seem to be a problem with anyone as we did so.

We went through one little village and something surprising happened. In general, the dogs in China do not chase bicyclists. They grow up around them and are broken of chasing at an early age. Well, this dog was an exception to that rule. It just happened to be an exception to the "dogs in China are small" rule also. I was in the back of the pack and a police officer I sometimes joke with was in the middle. When this dog came out we all went to full power. What was funny was the way I just shot through the pack from the back. Because of the admonition that I am not to ride fast, I was intentionally loafing near the rear and had a lot of energy to burn. The police officer (that is right, I forgot his name) also pulled to the front. Then another dog came out and we kept pushing (It was like the old joke that ends with "I only have to outrun you"). In a few moments we looked back and we were over a hundred meters in front of the others. We both got a good laugh over our little sprint. When we came across dogs that would bark, later in the day, we both made like we were going to sprint.

This rolling single lane of mixed pavement and dirt continued until we got to the last four Km. then it turned into a narrow, about 3 meter wide, road that was well paved. It was just outlandishly steep. There was one spot we measured; it had more than a meter of rise for four meters of run. Some of it was rideable. However, we all had to make the walk of shame. I was not the first, and I was not the last to start walking.

When we got to the top of the road there was a large, rather new, roadhouse. We all went in to watch the Beijing World Cup Triathlon (Spain won) on television and wait for the others. It was sort of embarrassing when they arrived and asked us when we had gotten there. We had been there for over an hour when they arrived.

We then walked to the top of the mountain. The climbing was not hard but I really need to start wearing something other than sandals for these activities. The view from the top was blocked by trees but there was a great rock shelf that offered a great look at the road we had just ridden and the rest of the valley.

After the short hike we returned to the roadhouse for a typical Chinese meal. They have their large meal at mid day; so, the meal consisted of eight dishes and two soups, along with rice and rice crust. This meal went well for me because I did something. I asked Gao Jing to contact the ride leader and let him know what I do eat.

In the past there has been a lot of concern that about all I was eating at lunch was rice and broth. Well, I just can not get into floating head and foot soup. As most of you know, I do not eat really fatty food and avoid pork. I also do not like eating food that leaves me spending more time spiting bones onto the table than I spend eating. Yes, I am picky but I will not starve (just to be sure, I put some bread rolls in my pack before leaving).

After the meal we went on another hike. This one was boulder hopping down a hillside. I did not go all the way down. I came to the conclusion that everything I hopped down, I would have to climb back up. I went back up to the pools by the small waterfall and waited there.

We then returned to the roadhouse, where they had moved our bikes to keep the seats out of the sun; however, that made mine hard to get to. We then got some water and prepared to leave.

Leaving was harder than it seemed. Not because of all the photo opps that took so much time (trying to get that many people in a single picture is not always easy, particularly when the person taking the pictures wants to be in them and does not have a tripod). Instead it was because of the hill that had tested us as we rode to the roadhouse. Going down it was its own challenge. Several people's brakes were barely up to it. I even had some problems with over heating, this was a place that the disk brakes, that some of the bikes were equipped with, showed their worth.

The ride back was quick and easy. We regrouped once; however, I was one of the first into the rest point, and, as such, I was also one of the first out. Having actually eaten lunch helped my riding a lot.

Just another rest stop, only about half the riders are in this picture.

I was asked by a person what it was like living in China. I pointed them at my, rather lengthy, blog. I think if it were ever printed out that it would come to a couple hundred pages; and, I do hope that, somewhere, in this mountainous haystack of, largely repetitive, diatribe are a few needles. So, if you are reading this, make a few comments now and again so I will know that, at least, someone is reading it. Also, comments help me to zero in on what people are interested in hearing about.

Later in the week I went to take part in the evening fitness ride instead of going alone. I was under the impression that they leave at six thirty. However, I discovered at they leave at six. So, I ended up riding alone anyway.

I went back the next night and went riding with the mechanic and a girl. I then had all kinds of bike trouble. Either, it was a good thing the mechanic was with me, or, he was bad luck. He ended up taking my bike back to the shop where we determined that the derailleur was not repairable. I ended up taking a cab back.

While we were at the shop, we saw a bike that Zeneta liked and we added another to the stable. I will post some pictures of her riding soon.

I was planning to go, with the other teacher, Ken, and visit a coal mine and power plant during the past week. As we understand, the coal mine is an open mine; as such, it should be entirely safe. We were then to travel on the route that the coal takes to a power plant. We are told that this plant has been in service for over one hundred years.

The problem is getting there. This shows one of the cultural differences between westerners and Chinese. As westerners, we insist on a plan. We have worked out the itinerary and the trains that we will need to, both, depart and return. However, train tickets are, generally, not available in advance. It is simple; if you do not plan then purchasing tickets in advance is not a problem because you do not do it. Like I have mentioned, if a Chinese Citizen needs to go somewhere they wait until they are ready to go and then go to the train station and try to see what kinds of tickets are available. If they can only get a standing ticket, then they stand.

For us, this is a last option, not the plan. So, I first look up the trains on the internet and find the time and cost. At that point I go to the advance sales ticket office. The problem is that I then am told that the first train on my list is available, but the others are not. The suggestion is, as expected, to take that train and try to get tickets when I get to the next town.

Part of the problem is the ticketing system. It is a holdover from the pre-computer days. Each city is permitted to sell a certain number of tickets for each train. If they sell those tickets, then the train is sold out. This is another part of the problem that leads to people being told that there are no tickets on a train that is running practically empty. It made sense in the mail pouch days when stations were mailed tickets. However, now that they all use terminals that are tied into the same ticketing computer, it makes no sense.

The D train, being an entirely new system, does not use this method of ticketing; they use a unified ticket management instead of a city based ticket management system. As such, it is easy to get a ticket on that train. However, the D train only takes us as far as Zhengzhou and does not get us back.

The new plan is to go during the October holiday instead. We are still trying to work out the tickets and to be sure we can get them. To add to the confusion, tickets can only be sold ten days in advance. While this does help prevent unexpected problems from throwing the entire system out of whack, it makes it hard to travel for people who insist on planning

I got my class schedule last night, about nine p.m. on the Friday before classes are scheduled to start on Monday. I still do not have my books. I am told that they will be delivered later today.

Last Wednesday we had a meeting to discuss what we will be teaching. By this, I mean the pedagogy, or the method of teaching. We had some proponents of teaching through films. Others wanted to use the dialog book. It appears that the dialog book people won.

One difference this year is that all of the foreign teachers will be teaching freshmen. There are about 2000 new freshmen at Haurai College, which is a small art of Xinyang Normal University, and it is where I, and four other foreign teachers, teach. The plan is that all new freshmen will have a foreign teacher for their English class. Some of the teachers still have a couple of classes of sophomores; however, I have, as expected, all freshmen.

Waiting for school

As I stated prior, school has not restarted. However, the students are all back. I am having the most contact with the students, who attended class, from class four. It turns out that they do not have an assigned foreign teacher. So, they have been visiting a lot. I am getting tutoring on my Chinese and they are getting tutoring on their English.

HZQ (He Zhi Qing) has informed me that there is a violin teacher near the campus. So, I expect to begin visiting him soon.

This coming weekend I had intended to go to a Coal Mine and Power plant; basically, to follow a lump of coal from the ground to the lines. However, the plans got interrupted because of a lack of available trains. I worked out a train schedule and went to purchase all of the tickets (there are three of us going, so that as a total of twelve tickets). When I got there I was told that all but the high-speed train from Xinyang to Zhengzhou were not available. It was then recommended that we go to Zhengzhou and try to get a train form there. Very simply, I was not going to play that game.

As you can see, we have a new toy. Zeneta has ridden it a little. The main reason I got it was for trips on campus. There is a bicycle rule that irritates me just about every day. I decided that instead of being angry about it all the time I would just do what the law is, partially, to encourage me to do and stop riding my bike on campus.

We got a small one. I was about to get a bigger scooter when I was at a shop that I was about to buy from; because, they both had the lowest price and an established service department. Then they did something that even the Chinese I had assisting me considered to be unethical. I then wandered off to the bicycle shop I often frequent. They had an older, smaller, model for a bit less.

The building next to us is being knocked down to make way for something. It is interesting to watch these people. There will be a guy standing on the top of a wall, five floors above the ground, knocking the bricks between his feet out with a sledge. The other picture I took is a nice detail picture of roof construction.

We still haven't done much cooking. I Think I did more cooking before Zeneta came back than has been done in my kitchen since she returned. One evening Gao Jing mentioned that she and her roommates were trying to figure out how to cook in their dorm room without getting caught (it is not permitted). I mentioned that they were welcome to use my kitchen; they just had to feed me as part of the deal.

And that's the news from Xinyang

School started and Slow Down!!!

Well, school has started again. All of the students are back and the shops along the street are open again. Of course, the renovations that are currently underway along the street are not finished so it is even more haphazard chaos than it was last year and the traffic is back up to school year intensities and the street is still torn up as the city continues with its beautification project.

Much to my surprise, I have been assigned freshman English, Oral English. One good thing about this class is that it has a book. The bad thing is that not all of my students will be English majors. This means that the level of both competency and expectations will be reduced from last year.

That means that I will be spending a lot less time in class preparation than I spent last year as I do not need to completely develop every bit of activity that occurs in the classroom. The book is a book of stock dialogues. This will be easy for the students as the Chinese students are the best in the world. Their entire educational system is built around memorizing and repeating exactly; unfortunately, understanding what was memorized is not necessary to do well.

I am not actually in class yet as the freshman will not arrive on campus for two more weeks. As with last year, the freshman do not start at the same time as the other students; however, I am officially "on the clock."

After the students arrive they will then begin their military training. When that is completed they will begin class. This means that I have about another month before I start

************************************************************

I just got the strangest message from Gao Jing. Technically, Gao Jing is not one of my students, at this point, she is now a junior and is not in any of my classes. For that matter, the way her schedule currently looks, she has no foreign teacher this year at all.

Telling about this message requires a bit of background. After Zeneta returned I stopped going on the evening fitness rides with the group because she wants to be eating dinner right when they want to be out riding.

I want to be out riding because it is important to remain active for reasons of fitness, and, I enjoy it. So, I have been going alone. I also make my loop in the opposite direction as the bike club rides. There are three reasons for this. First, it just feels like a better direction to start in from where I am living. Second, it gets the big hills out near the beginning and feels more fun. Third, because it is the opposite direction as the club rides I have a chance of seeing some of them as I am on my ride.

This evening I passed about two small packs of people from the club as I was riding and I stopped by the shop, in order to have a small repair made. My dork disk had broken. They just removed it, which was fine with me. In addition they talked to me about an upcoming backpacking trip.

Then, about nine thirty tonight I got a message from Gao Jing. The messages are text messages which accounts for much of the strange grammar. Gao Jing told me, "I just received a call from Mr. Qi (the bicycle shop owner) he asked me to tell you that you ride too fast and it is too dangerous. They are worried about very much. So please slow down and release their worry when you go riding with them next time. He also told me that the camping time hasn't been fixed."

Of course I ride fast! If I wanted to ride slow I'd… well, I'd ride slow! I also do not want them to feel like I am holding them up, and I am not riding in front (for one thing, I seldom know the way to where we are going). I am about third in the pack. I replied to Gao Jing, "What! I am not in front! I am trying to keep up with them so they won't feel that I am slowing them down."

Gao Jing's reply was, "But I do not know why he called me and just told me that especially."

Well, the reason that he called Jing was, of course, my number, that he has, is her number. We can only just barely understand each other in person; so, for him to call me directly would be a waste of time. I think that it just sunk in to him that I am out "riding by myself." They do tend to ride, and do pretty much everything, in groups. I think while I was having the repair done he looked at my trip time and distance on the bike computer and realized my route (keep in mind, in China, the word privacy has only negative connotations). It is also probable that some of the club members called him (where I saw the club members, the last couple of days, have been fast stretches).

I am not upset; in fact I find it somewhat funny. At least, when the head of the local bicycle racing club calls to tell me to slow down, that I am too reckless, I am secure that the city racing club stickers on my bike are earned.

Prices

2 Sep 06

There is not much to report from today. I convinced Zeneta to go outside with me and we went shopping.

We got Michelle to come along with us and the three of us hit several shops in an attempt to get the things that Zeneta had on her list. Instead of starting with the large shops, we made an attempt to shop at several of the smaller places.

Although I do not need it at this time, I did see (or at least I think I saw) a place to get my hair cut. It seemed to be identifiable by the sign out side that had a picture of a large pair of scissors and the barber-style chairs inside.

After shopping we returned to our apartment and read for a while. As I looked at the book I was reading, I saw one of the reasons that the US has trouble competing in this marketplace. The book, Mario Puzo's, The Fortunate Pilgrim, it cost 67 Yuan. This comes out to a price, after conversion, which is very close to the cover price in USD. The trouble with this is that the economy here is different and people do not earn as much in converted dollars. It also bears mention that normal, non-imported product, prices also reflect this lower price scale. As a couple of examples: a large banquet dinner for eight people, with many leftovers, cost 260 Yuan, Daily groceries typically cost about 10 Yuan, and we do not have the local knowledge to shop cheap, a breakfast of noodles, at a street cafe, cost about 1-4 Yuan, and our bicycles cost about 450 Yuan for two, better than average, bicycles. With this in mind, 67 Yuan for a book is an extravagance.

We still do not have our Internet enabled computer fixed. The silly part is that all I want out of it is the information out of IP config. Then I will probably put it in another room or set it to running some distributed computing and remove the monitor and keyboard.

Zeneta did go over to Michelle¡¯s apartment and used her computer for a bit in order to send messages to people in order to let them know that we are in China and doing fine.

Yep, he smells like a puppy

Qingdao; but, not the beer festival

After returning from my bicycle ride I decided on another course of activity. I decided to go to Qingdao. This is the same city that Debra shipped out of in route to North Korea. It is on the north East coast of China and has been the home of the Chinese Navy along with the location of the largest US Marine Corp contingent in China prior to WWII.

Qingdao was settled by the Germans and boasts a tremendous number of turn of the century German buildings. Because Qingdao was expanded in different directions, most of these buildings have been left standing. They continue to serve as homes, churches, office and administrative buildings.

I went and got the tickets at the expedited ticket window. I believe that I have mentioned it in the past. I wanted a ticket for a future date and HZQ and I were sent to this ticket office that she had never heard of (It took us the better part of an afternoon to find it, the first time, because she kept getting the wrong directions from people). It is located through an unmarked door, past the freight office, and then up another unmarked flight of stairs.

The first time I visited this office with a teacher from South Africa and Mr. Lou (the teacher from South Africa was trying to get tickets to Hong Kong and was being told that the only tickets were standing room only) I found that neither of them were aware of the existence of this office. As we were walking to ward it, Mr. Lou's question was why we wanted to send freight. They do a real good job of hiding this office.

One of the advantages of this office is that they have very few people in line and the staff will look instead of just saying, "Mayo." When I first arrived I was told that there were no tickets. Then, after taking care of the other customer in the lobby the ticket officer went back to checking other alternatives and found me both out and return tickets on the days I had asked for. It turned out that they were top bunk, but that was okay, I just slept and read for most of the trip.

When I went to the ticket office I went with Lily and it was all I could do to keep her from doing the typical Chinese thing of cutting in line. I realize that it is part of their culture. However, they agree that it is wrong and then go ahead and do it anyway. I have embarrassed a good number of them for calling them out for this, what they agree to be, rude behavior. As such, there is no way I could, in good conscious engage in it. Here was Lily, trying to elbow the person out of line when there was only one other person in line, "no, we will wait our turn!" I think that this was one of the reasons that the ticket agent was willing to continue researching my ticket even after I had been told that it was not available.

At the VIP waiting room I was, again, instructed to wait with a small group of Army officers that were getting on the same train. They were in the same car so we chatted a little; however, they were in a compartment on the other end. The advantage of walking out with them was that we went out to board first and this left me time to load my pack in the storage rack before the crowd was released.

Other than that, the trip was rather uneventful. I did not travel directly to Qingdao because the main Qingdao station is still under renovation for the 2008 Olympics; instead, I went to Cangkou. There was some confusion because Cangkou is clearly not set up for foreign travelers and is also not prepared to handle the amount of traffic that it is seeing now that the Qingdao station is closed.

When I arrived I took a three wheel cab to the hostel. The driver was not able to find the road that took me directly to the doors of the hostel and dropped me at the bottom of the long stairway.

I stayed at the Old Qingdao Observatory Youth Hostel, it was an attractive building. As far as negatives go, I had mostly small issues. First, the menu was more limited than I am used to. That would not have been a big deal except for the next issue, which was that; although, the hostel was on the top of a hill in the middle of the old city, as the name, Old Observatory would imply. It is located on the top of a hill, in this old section of town the streets wind a lot. The result was that it was easy to get misdirected and spend more time returning to the hostel than had been planned.

The first room I checked into was the budget room; very simply, it was a little too budget for my tastes. A single level of upgrade got me a place that I was a lot happier with. It had a western toilet and separate shower areas. There were also less people in the rooms, the rooms were nicer in general, and I could access wi-fi from my bunk.

The building was interesting and, as the name would imply, an old observatory. There were several observatories originally placed on this hill by the Germans. The observatory is now the center of a large park. As a result, there are many Chinese milling about playing cards and chess, along with morning exercises.

That evening I went for a walk and ended up at a typical Chinese street café. After I finished my dinner I sat with some other Chinese and the shopkeeper immediately brought me another plate so that I would be able to eat and drink with them for a little while. I was able to speak to them a little as we ate what amounted to light, after dinner, nibbles of noodles and drank. I then returned to my hostel for the night.

The next day I set off to find a place that sold plastic scale models. They are not popular in China and I, previously, had only seen them only sold in a single shop in Kunming. However, Debra reported to me that, whilst she was in Qingdao, she had seen a person walking in the street with a kit box. This led to the belief that, somewhere, these kits were sold in Qingdao.

I had also been told that saltwater pearl necklaces could be gotten for a low price in this city. So, before I left the hostel I asked where I would be able to find the pearls. I was given a street name to check and a map. Of course, the map was entirely in Chinese so the people at the hotel were pretty sure that it would do me no good at all. As it turned out, it was quite useful throughout my stay in Qingdao.

I walked, through several street bazaars, to the indicated street and did not find the necklaces, or anything else that looked like what I was interested in. At that point I decided to, simply, continue on. Often, my choice in what direction to walk seems to be based more on the guidance of a Ouija board than on any real plan. In my random wanderings I did happen into several camera shops and managed, but not on the first try, to locate a UV filter for my Fuji camera in fifty-five millimeter (yes, I was able to say what size I needed; however, I was left pointing to the general product area for the item) and a lens cap. I have been into several camera shops looking for these items and had, until this point, been unable to locate what I needed.

Having my confidence Bolstered by finding the camera accessories, something I had looked for, with Debra, in several cities, I continued on, looking for something for Zeneta. While walking I saw a very pretty Victorian style dress. I saw a couple of small things that it needed, such a cover over the zipper, with ties; but, beyond that, it was very pretty. I went in and asked about the price. I was told 360Y. At that point I called Zeneta and asked her size.

It turned out that there was no way that it could have been altered to fit Zeneta. It was a good idea; however, I would have to keep looking for something to bring back to Zeneta.

My walk took me to a small park. From there I turned toward to beaches. I stopped by an English bookstore and purchased Zeneta a copy of the latest Harry Potter book. The Harry Potter books here are the ones written in UK. There is a slight difference, at least I have been told that there is, between the US and UK versions. According to Debra, some of the humor falls a bit flat in the US versions.

I was a bit more satisfied as at this point; I at least had something to give to Zeneta upon my return. I continued to the beaches, which were quite crowded and nothing like the beaches I had visited in Vietnam. From there I strolled and eventually, at the Naval museum, turned back toward the hostel.

The next day was much of the same; I got interested and did start tracking the amount I was walking. I determined that over my vacation I walked (not counting breaks and the like) for, on average, slightly more than four hours a day.

I went and purchased some DVDs and visited a dive shop. It was curious to note that there were no PADI requirements on dive equipment. Very simply, if you know enough to know what you are buying, then they assume that you know how to use it. Like I commented to one person, I would be very leery of buying air in China, there just isn't enough attention given to maintenance. I also saw no places that tested tanks.

Eventually I returned to the hostel and it was then that I met a number of students from Perdue University that were doing their Hospitality Management internship in a hotel in Nanning. They were on vacation and I spent the evening with them. It was at this point that I arranged to meet them the next morning to go and visit a Chinese gentleman's home. He wanted to take some pictures of them.

We had planned to meet at 8:45 the next morning but they were no where to be found. In all honesty, I expected that they had decided to give me the slip when I did not see them by 9:30a.m.; about that point Leslie came wandering out and told me that no one had managed to get up on time. Some time later we assembled and headed for Philip's home.

When we got there, he ushered us from his yard and into his home. There we had tea and fruit while he made arrangements for us to meet him, and his friends, in the early afternoon. We then returned to his yard and took some photos and began walking to the beach.

We had agreed to meet him at beach number three. This left us with a long walk past the many other beaches and features along the seaside walkway. While walking I did happen to see a store that sold plastic scale models. I did not get them then but I did note the location of the shop for later. I simply did not want to be packing a number of boxes with me for the remainder of the day.

We stopped at other beaches along the way and enjoyed the water and the sand. We even lost part of our cadre at one of the beaches, as they were finished with walking.

When we finally arrived at beach number three I was the last remaining male member of our small group. I did strike up a conversation (at the request of one of the ladies with me) with a young man from Mississippi and invited him to sit with us for a while as we sat on the sand and swam in the water. After he departed, we prepared to leave and discovered that Philip and his friends had been there, nearby, waiting for us to come join them, which we did.

A number of photos were taken and one of the girls played a form of beach Volleyball while others of us sat in the shade and drank tea. The comment was often made, as we sat and looked at the skyline across the bay, that this, Qingdao, was China's San Francisco. As I have said, I was impressed that it was a clean, modern, city that had managed to modernize without destroying the beauty of its past.

From there we were given a ride back to our hostel. We still had not made it to the world famous Qingdao beer festival.

That evening was spent laughing about the sunburns we had gotten that day. We also met more foreigners at the hostel, and just, in general, spent the evening being loud. I got to know one of the people in my room, a student from Finland and on his way to an exchange semester in South Korea. I also met a German couple that were traveling through China, and another couple who where teaching in Anhui Province, where I had just ridden to.

The next morning I walked and took a bus to the location of the Qingdao beer festival. However, when I got there it was closed. The very idea of a "festival" being closed for lunch (remembering that lunch is from about 11:30-3:00) was a very Chinese thing. I then went and walked along the boardwalk, purchased lunch and some strands of pearls. As I noted, I had been looking for pearls like these earlier. I then returned to the general vicinity of the beer festival building and rested a while. I fully intended to enter when it reopened at three in the afternoon.

However, I got a phone call telling me that I was invited to a "last night in Qingdao" dinner for the American interns with Philip and his friends. I immediately changed my plans and got on a bus that took me back to the German quarter. I met about three of the interns at a street café and we were shortly joined by the others.

From there we went to a restaurant where we had a lot of interesting "food on a stick." A lot of the food in China is eaten on sticks. We had a dinner that consisted of, among other things, squid, both the head and the tentacles, on sticks. Small fish that were to be eaten whole were also served, along with normal fare such as chicken necks. And, probably the strangest food of the evening, silkworms, were served near the end. We all tried them; however, the first person to try one did not know that he was supposed to spit out the shell, which elicited laughs from the Chinese at the table.

In all, it was a great dinner and definitely one of the high points of the trip. From there we went to the bus station so that the students could begin their trip, returning to Nanning. I was given a ride back to my hostel; however, the driver dropped me off at the wrong place. I tried to get some directions from the desk clerk; however he simply had no idea where my hostel was, and, of course, I had forgotten my map. I was rescued by a tall, and attractive, British woman who remarked that they could just not let a westerner wander around the city lost. It turned out that she knew where I was going and was able to give clear directions to a cab driver.

The next morning I walked and got some small gifts for the Chinese students that had helped me, in various ways, over my summer vacation and made a second try for the shop that sold models. The first time I went by the shop was closed and the shopkeeper next door was sure that they would be open by nine; however, when I returned they were open. I got my models, after a small bit of dickering about the price and returned to begin packing.

After having a pizza on the patio of the hostel I got into my cab and began the return trip to the train station. Instead of a three wheeler, I was in a standard auto-taxi for this trip.

On my way back to the Cangkou station I was riding along and looking at the city. We pulled off the controlled access road and onto a surface street. As I looked at the street I noticed that it was clean. There were modern looking apartment buildings that did not appear to be post-apocalyptic, or industrial-hell, movie props on one side and a small strip mall on the other; it really could have been anywhere in the world.