progress update

This picture was taken Saturday. This is the same used-to-be- building as below. I'm just amazed that in 12 days they can demolish an entire 3 story building with only sledge hammers. And now I have to find a new hardware store because I need some light bulbs.

fireworks

My tutor informed me that today is officially the last day of Chinese New Year. At first I thought the fireworks might end on New Year's Day. Nope. Then came the lantern festival, which I thougth was the last day to celebrate the New Year. Nope. It's today.
What does this mean? Another occasion for fireworks. They're going off from every direction right now, like they do almost everday, only a little more so today. I don't typically enjoy them because they're loud and they shake stuff in my house, and folks tend to set them off without warming you first, like today when I was walking down the sidewalk and this dude just lights this strip of them right by my passing feet. It's crazy.
But, when I left for vacation...I was flying out of Beijing on New Year's Eve and that was the 2nd best fireworks show of my life. We've in a plane so we've above them, and we're above Beijing, so as far as the eye can see in every direction there are fireworks of all colors. And, we were far enough above them that there wasn't all the annoying loudness. If I could enjoy these that are going off now from a plane I might like them too.
At least today is the "last day." That is, until another wedding, building construction, holiday, or any other event that merits the driving away of evil spirits.

a little more about my city

Things change everydayhere. You walk outside, a building is gone, a sidewalk is gone, or a new building has been constructed, literally almost overnight. This building is across the street from my house. On Sunday, it was still my hardware store, a place to buy pajamas and long underwear, and some other little clothing or snack shops. When I came outside Monday morning, all the signs were gone and everything had been cleared out of the stores. On Tuesday, it was gutted and most of the top floor was gone. This picture was taken on Wednesday. Today (Friday) most of the second floor is missing too. And no, there's no crane and wrecking ball, just some dudes with big sledge hammers.
We still have bad English here. Some places in China, as it gets more developed, the English translations get better...which is good and bad. When signs are correct, it's not nearly as entertaining. (I heard from another foreigner recently that Beijing has employed a team of folks to go around the city correcting all the Englishin preparation for the Olympics. I better take all these pictures while I can). I pass this sign everyday on my way home from work. Everytime I saw it I would get so distracted by the really bad English, that I would forget to look at the Chinese to find out what kind of place it actually is and what they meant to say. Here's my attempt at translating what they really meant: The first three characters are the word for the Arc d'Triumph, which I guess actually could be translated "Triumphal Arch." The next character relates to the foot. The last one, in this case means way, road, or path. It can also mean say or speak, but I think they should have looked at some of the other definitions in the dictionary before spending money to light it up above their doorway. So anyway, it's an establishment that gives foot massages..."Triumphal Arch Foot Says."

captions

captions: #1 We rode elephants. Here's one getting a bath. #2 We listened to traditional music while we ate tasty fresh fruit. #3 Our elephant trainer guy crafted this grasshopper out of leaves as we rode the elephant, then gave it to us as a gift. #4 On the way back home, I spent the day in Beijing with a dear friend, Abby. Congratulations to her! The day I was in town she was handing in her Master's thesis about the translation of humor from English to Chinese. #5 10 hours by train, 14 more in Beijing, and a few hours into the last flight. Posted mostly to convince the photographer I'm not embarrassed.

vacation pics

back from vacation

Here is a list of the highlights:

• starting each day with a run or a swim.
  
• laughing with friends (old and new)
• walking on the beach, watching the sunset, and listending to the waves
• eating Mexican food!
• eating fresh fruit everyday, multiple times a day
• eating ice cream (more than I should have, maybe)
• not wearing a suit or panyhose or uncomfortable shoes for 9 days
• playing Unlitmate frisbee and getting really really sweaty
• riding an elephant...my elephant riding partner and I had the best little trainer guy of them all. As we were going along, he crafted a grasshopper out of leaves and gave it to us as a gift. It was great.
  
• being warm

And as life goes, you have to take the bad with the good. So the things I didn't like were:

• mosquitoes! I always wish I could live in a tropical location until I get there and have to deal with these pests!
• making a Russian lady VERY angry with me for taking a chair by the pool she thought was hers. It really was a scary experience. My friends had my back though.
• the flight there. I have never been in a smaller airplane seat in my entire life. and I was the shortest of the three of us traveling together.
• running out of bananas while riding the elephants...they wanted more and so they attacked us with their snotty trunks. It was creepy. They were coming at us from three directions. We screamed like girls...we are girls, but I acted like it on this occasion.
  

I'll post pictures soon!

the lost shoes

Here’s a story I didn’t have time to post before I left because it happened in the few hours before I boarded the train. If you haven’t been to/lived in China before, you need a few pieces of cultural information to help understand how the following story could take place. First, you never wear your shoes inside someone’s house. You take them off at the door and put on a pair of tuo xie (slippers) that are worn inside the house.

One of my American friends has a dog (see picture of Jaxon). I had been watching the dog while she was out of the city. She had made plans for a Chinese man (we’ll call him R) to watch the dog when I left for vacation. The dog would stay at another American family’s house and R would come check on it and walk it and such. I had the simple task of dropping the dog off at the house that’s probably only about a mile (maybe less) from mine.

I got off work at 3:00. I needed to deliver the dog, take a shower, prepare a meal for four, and throw the last few things in my suitcases all before 6:00. In three hours that’s possible, but here’s what happened.

It has been snowing off and on all week. The weather was warmer, turning the snow into a sludgy, melting, disgusting mess. Normally, it’s no problem to take the dog in a taxi, but today even the 300 meters or so from my gate to the road made the dog really, really dirty. All the taxis I tried to hail just kept pointing at the dog and shaking their head. I soon realized no taxi was going to let the muddy dog get in. Because I’ve already walked a little way, it’s too late to go back and get my bike. And, I’m not sure that the bike will help all that much because I’m not sure that he would be willing to sit in the basket. So, I ended up having to walk all the way to house. Set back number one.

Remember how I mentioned the messy roads? By the time we get to the house, Jaxon was one dirty dog. I didn’t feel good about leaving the dirty dog for R to have to deal with and I couldn’t let it run around the house until he was clean so now R and I have to give the dog a bath. Now I’m getting nervous about my time constraints.

We successfully cleaned the dog and now I’m ready to go. When I arrived, I had come in the door, taken off my shoes in the doorway, and gone straight to the bathroom to wash the dog. I get ready to leave and my shoes aren’t by the door. I know I didn’t wear them into the bathroom, but I decide to look there anyway. Not there. I haven’t gone in any other room of the house. The only people in the house are R and me…and then there’s Jaxon. I ask R if he sees my shoes. He says no, but that he remembers me taking them off when I came in. This is weird. My only thought is that when I was giving R instructions about the food and so forth, Jaxon must have carried my shoes somewhere. This seems to be the only explanation. I didn’t see or hear him do it, but they aren’t where I left them and I can’t go back home in my panty-hosed feet. So, R and I now begin looking in every room of the house for my missing shoes. We are looking in rooms we hadn’t even opened the door to before. There’s no way they can be in there. I am thinking this is the weirdest thing that’s ever happened to me. I’m not exaggerating when I say we looked for at least 20 minutes. I’m looking under the tables, in closets, everywhere and my shoes are nowhere. R is asking me about them and helping me look. We finally both realize we have exhausted every option. We’re standing in the middle of the living room with looks of confusion and exasperation when I happen to glance down at his feet…..he is WEARING the shoes we both just spent 20 minutes looking for!!!! I am not kidding. Since the shoes I was wearing didn’t have a back…they’re just black leather slip-on shoes, when he saw them sitting by the door where I took them off and assumed they were tuo xie. So, we spent twenty minutes looking for a pair of shoes that he was wearing. It was too funny for me to be frustrated that it wasted so much of my time. And although we ate a little later than planned, everything got done and we made the train on time after dinner.

I realize some of you may find the most surprising part of this story is that I voluntarily allowed a dog to share my living space for more than a week...I did and we both survived. How about that.

Chinese New Year Performance pictures

The pictures aren't great, but the performance was. From the top: a traditional Mongolian dance. 3 of the MCs (the girls are friends of mine who work at the Front Desk). I'm not sure what minority group these costumes or dance is from both I thought it was one of the best acts. The large group is all the upper level managers of the hotel. My boss in on the back row, on the far right.