Red China...
About the only true red that one tends to see anymore is the red eyes from the male dominated Bijuo dinners. China is no longer full of the reds as Americans once feared. No, the reds have been replaced by the almighty capitalists consumption and each time I visit a new city I see more and more of the same thing, rows and rows of shops selling horrible clothes at prices that these people cannot afford, and the shops are not full of the people that are briskly walking down all of the streets.. Lots of window shopping but so little of the real spending that one wonders how the shops actually manage to keep themselves in business.
Perhaps it is like this because of low overhead, but there seems to be something else totally amiss about the Chinese and their idea of socialism. It is just very difficult to quantify all of it together and come up with a valid theory.
Here is what is at issue
1. Most of the people in this country are dirt poor.
2. This system should work that everyone is taken care of, no matter what the cost because it is the People´s Republic.
3. The public officials that are supposed to be providing the services for the people are not poor, but they are driven around in Audi´s, Volkswagon´s and Mercedes.
4. The concept of the amarketplace is being driven out by the mall concept because the less than acceptable merchants are individuals, not corporation.
5. The use of propoganda to the people is of astronomical levels. The World Cup is the greatest example of this. Before the world cup, never any mention of soccer anywhere. The football pitch was usually empty. Now that World Cup fever is here on the tele, it is amazing to see just how these people act like they have enjoyed the sport for all of these years.
And there is more, but I must say good night... Hard to believe its one of my final days here in Hunan. Read more!

Yes, these are Chinese people. The nicest ones, in my opinion. They are the merchants all around China and they are from Xiangjang province. They primarily do a lovely mutton stick BBQ, which I find to be quite lovely. This was taken late in the evening at outside one of the pubs following a world cup match.













Have you seen "A Life Aqautic?"
"He got the crazy eye!!!"
















Ahhh, sob sob... The farewell banquet.
From the left,
Zhifeng Chen "Bob" Foreign Affairs Director
Mr. Chen Chair of the Communist Party and reigning Bijui Champion.
The Xiangnan University President
Timothy Hogg, ChenZhou Icon
The Xiangna University Vice President
Apple, Head of Another Department simillar to ours.















And the whole gang... Same as before, with Mr. Cable, or Cable Guy as I call him and some random woman I might know. Cable is my official boss and a really nice guy with a heart of gold. He would do quite well in America.
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Sometimes change happens so quickly you it is difficult to have much reaction to it all. This week that transistion is certainly happenening to me. I am half way done with my first year of teaching and it seems unreal. The exams are going very well--the students are certainly surprising me with their views on literature and the class and I feel quite accomplished. Its a pretty amazing thing to see the change is people processing skills because of something that you have done for them. Before I began to teach these kids, they knew nothing of literature, they didnt know how to use the internet for anything but talking online and playing games and now, its different and you can see it in their writing and the way that they have prepared their exams. Most of the students have come into the class and have been really well prepared to take the exam.
This makes it more difficult to leave the campus.
Before, I think I was spacing myself from them, finding their faults in order to make it easier for me to just leave and go somewhere else. As the time comes nearer and nearer to come to a close, I begin to see that the reality is that I am going to miss this life.
The other side of the equation is that I am not sure what the next step is just yet. It is seeming more and more like it will be Korea to be the next opportunity, but I am still a little apprehensive about the teaching prospect again. There certainly are pluses and minuses to the teaching trade, I like the freedom of it. However, there is this nagging feeling within me to settle in and get a job doing something where I can establish tenure and benefits. Live the suburban life, just like most of you out there in la la land--but the reality is that it just doesn't seem to be in the cards right now.

I still do not have a plane ticket home yet--mostly because there are lots of options open and available to me at this point and I want to select the right one. A big concern is money, so I am trying to make some of that before I return to the states, even if it is for just a couple of weeks--the problem is that I have not made much in China and it is going to begin to matter very soon as I go back to a country where you need money just to survive.
I have the chance to teach at a couple of summer camps in China and make a little bit of money for a couple of weeks here and there and there is an opportunity to teach in Tianjin in July as well, which is where Lili is. At the end of July, we will head to Chengdu before she goes back to Germany and we figure out the next stages of our lives. Should be interesting.
We will be living together for most of July--in mostly her own enviroment, so it will be a good test to see what we have. Although I am a little apprehensive because I know that my mood in particular is going to be one of stress unless some things develop in the business end.
Regardless, the days are flying by and I find myself looking back at the end of the day wondering what I have actually accomplished and I realize that time has once again defeated my goals.
So it goes...


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World Cup 2006

World Cup Opening Night in Chenzhou... Where Chris and I were the two celebrities of the night. We were invited for what turned out to be a very nice meal in one of the main hotels and then taken to a new club that was decked out for the event. We painted our faces for the event and were told that we could drink for free the entire night.
No Problem!!!
However I have realized that Free Drinks is more costly than paying for your drinks as I discovered the next morning when I woke up with a spliting headache from the previous evenings events.
Last night we watched the games at McDonalds, who are one of the main sponsers of the event and we were invited to go and watch the game for free food and since there was no way I was going to drink, it turned out to be a nice event.

This shot is me practicing my Karate moves with a kid that kept coming over to our table and practicing the four english phrases he knew. It was pretty hilarious.


This is me, about three hours before the opening match, still doing ok.














The opening cheers before the opening ceremony. Typical of the Chinese, the television station was showing some chinese sing-along when the opening ceremony began, so we missed the opening of it and then the pub turned it off so that we could play some dumb ass game. I had a belly full of beer, otherwise I would have complained.
















Here I am, teaching them what little Football chants I know. What a jokeshow.
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China bans DaVinci

CNN) -- The government of China has decided to put a halt to the runaway success of "The DaVinci Code," pulling the high-grossing thriller from all of the country's movie theaters, according to the film's distributor, Sony Pictures.

Jeff Blake, who runs Sony's worldwide marketing and distribution division, said he received word late Wednesday from distributor China Films about the government's decision.

The controversial picture, based on the best selling fiction novel by Dan Brown, deals with sensitive issues about the story of Jesus and the Catholic Church and has raised the ire of Christian groups worldwide.

"We're really pleased that we had the opportunity to exhibit 'The DaVinci Code' for wide release in China and that it enjoyed three weeks of tremendous success," Blake told CNN.

"We're obviously disappointed by this decision ... We were not informed as to why the film was pulled," Blake added.

Maoming Chu, spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington, said that he was not aware that the film had been banned in his country and had no comment from his government.

Though its run was stunted, "The DaVinci Code" enjoyed a remarkable run in China, grossing over $13 million. According to Blake, it was one of the top four grossing Hollywood films ever to be released in China. "Titanic" is the number one all time grossing Hollywood film ever to be featured in the country.

China allows, on average, fewer than 20 foreign films to be released in the country each year. Sony Pictures said "The DaVinci Code" release was the largest ever in the country and was highly uncommon in that Chinese authorities allowed the film to debut in such wide release on May 19, the same date the film opened worldwide.

Richard Malish, an associate in Allen & Overy LLP's China Group who has advised clients on media investments in China, said he believed that Beijing's concern was two-fold.

"The Chinese historically have been concerned with those sensitive foreign influences that fall under the banner of 'cultural pollution'," Malish said.

"This concern has, on occasion, extended to foreign religious practice. There has also been a recent tightening of controls on foreign media and domestic investment by foreign companies, which is driven largely by political concerns."

He added, "'The DaVinci Code' is not the first movie I would expect to pass the censors, and I think the real story is that that the movie made it to the screens at all."

Blake said that he did not expect Chinese authorities to give a reason for their decision.

"We'll wait and see what happens, but we don't expect the opportunity to appeal to the government of China," Blake said. "We've accepted the decision with disappointment."

Read more!

Ooooh, Bush must be sooo happy.
Another one of those terrorists are dead... One per year--not bad for the arsenal of weapons, technology and manpower used in the years following 911 to capture the "evil doers". I would like to see what the cost is in order to carry out such a mission.
How many people have died and been wounded for such a victory?

Lets hear how the republicans celebrate their accomplishments!!! Hooray!!! What a victory!!!

Excuse me while my lunch comes up. Read more!

Decisions, Decisions...

and now, the stress begins.
For the last year, time has been a strange thing. At times, it couldn't click by fast enough, the days dragged on and on, while at other times the days seemed to just fade into the afterlight of memory faster than you could record them.
Every day now gets me closer and closer to the moment when I will finally leave my residency in China and head back to the states for an undetermined amount of time. My ticket has yet to be purchased, my bags are still in a dark corner, waiting...
I expect to book my flight next weekend. I am still waiting to see exactly what is going to happen with the next month--so many variables that I am hoping to make something happen by the end of the week.
We unoffically finish our instruction at the end of the month--and I will be permitted to give my final exams a week early, so that I can spend the correct amount of time grading and marking them and be done by the end of the month. At that time, I will be free to travel. I will more than likely go up to tianjin and stay with Lili for an extended period of time--maybe as long as a month. The time is really going to depend on several different factors, all financially based. I am in a slight pinch financially, so I am looking to possibly teach in a few different summer camps for some extra cash, even though the work is tedious, it will give me a good opportunity to see some other places in China that are still on the list and possibly put enough away to either go home with or go to Tibet--which has always been a dream of mine to do.
--Seems such a shame to not be able to go to Tibet and be this close to it... But we all must live on what we can afford mustn't we?
--Doesnt seem to american to do it, credit credit credit.... but sorry sir, your card appears to be cancelled...
So, it will have to wait until that moment where the American nightmare turns into the American dream... but by then the Chinese will have made Tibet into a giant disneyland and there is no need.

But anyway...

So it goes..

In a couple of months I will be back in American, servicing my debt, just like every other American and Tibet will be a world away and not my neighbor, but none of that really matters does it? Its all perspective.

So, I might have to take a couple of weeks of basically babysitting highschool kids in order to have some pocket money when I come back stateside and hunt down that job that I will need in order to connect the dots together that might put a life together for me. But, I have a lot to do in the next year it would seem--and all the pieces and the dots need to fit nicely together for it all to work...
Lili wants to come to the states and we want to see what happens. It would seem that part of my life is fixed and settled nicely, but all of the shit around it---that is what I must be mindful of...

So, in case you can't understand my hoggspeak, here is the scenerio...
End of June, finished with teaching as Xiangnan University...
July-Not sure
Option #1-Go To Tianjin and live in a dorm for about 5usd a night.
Possibly work in Tianjin for about 12.00 an hour *decent cash* but its not set in stone. There are two options that are in the distant realm of possible.
Work my arse off until about July 18th and head to Chengdu and fly to Tibet for a week.
Tibet, total cost, will be about 500usd, but it would be some of the best experiences I could ever have. So tempting...

Option #2
Go to Tianjin for a week and come back to Chenzhou and teach kids at summer camp for two weeks. Eeeek out a little cash and meet lily around the 21st when she comes back from the Tibet where I wanted to go. Hang out in Chengdu and listen to their stories.
Hang out with her until the end of July and head off to Xian and teach more kids to speak English for another two weeks--get on a flight and head back to Seattle.

Option #3
Head to Tianjin for a few weeks and job search. No job surfaces and I wait for Lili to finish her classes and then debate travelling. Most of this will be directly related to how much money I have.

Regardless of it all, I am coming back to the states for at least two weeks sometime between mid July and mid Aug. Seems fine. If the offer comes to go to Korea, I will more than likely pick up my things and go for another year. In Korea, there will not be a money issue as much as the one here because they are developed and civilized, so I am told.

So, a lot on my mind these days my friends... But in the end, it should all be okay...? At least thats what we hope for... Read more!

Shots from the Summer Palace, Beijing. Another giant park in Beijing that the Chinese are repainting and restoring for the Beijing Olympics. Everything looks nice, but I, as a history buff, prefer the theory of preventative restoration as opposed to this kind of restoring the buildings. But it makes for some beautiful shots.
More on this later.
For now, enjoy the pictures. I have two more weeks of teaching in China and then it will be time to make some decisions about where I will be going next. The intention of the latest trip to Beijing and Tianjin was meant to talk with Lili and see where we stood and where we wanted to go--but the usual complications are going to come into play--mostly money.
I will be talking a lot about this in the coming weeks, so no need to bore you with it now.
:)





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The Summer Palace, Beijing.

This next sequence of photos were taken last weekend from the Summer Palace, in the North End of Beijing. It is without a doubt one of the most beautiful places in China. As usual it is impressive in its total size.
I am at a loss as to where to even begin describing the scale of the project. It was mostly costructed during the Ming and Qing dynasties and was used by the royal court to escape the heat and humidity and winds of the Beijing summers. When the movement occured from the Forbidden City, it was quite the adventure and most of the royal court--the Emporer and all of his Concubines (more than 3,000 of them at the height of his decadence) would be moved by the eunich servants who would load them into their lavish caravans and carry them on their backs to the Palaces which they resided in, which took weeks.
I couldn't help but think what the Emporer and all of his people would think about it now if they saw all of these people touring their little summer getaway. (Not to mention what they must have felt when the British and the French invaded it and robbed it blind during colonization).



You will see a lot of temple dogs--as it is one of my many obsessions. This, is one such creation that you find in the forbidden city as well. It was really difficult to take a picture of it without a Chinese standing in front of it. Chinese people can not take a picture without being in it all the time. Its simply amazing, but I have never seen them simply take a picture to see whatever it is that they are looking at.  Read more!

More of the temple Dogs... You'll see more below from Tianjin. These are pretty awesome ones at the gate to the island on the grounds of the immense Summer Palace.






























Lili and I at the Summer Palace, Beijing...


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Summer Palace.... Probably the most beautiful place I have been in China. Amazing.















My favorite picture.... This was one of the infamous tourist groups of China--they come in such huge numbers and invade like an army of red ants. Just amazing, but these guys were so funny. They came up to this place where Lili and were sitting and just took over. I decided to take this shot and it turned out so perfectly.

Lili at the summer palace, just after the tourist group left us.  Read more!

This, is me.
Hi. This is me. Taken two days ago. I haven't really given a full body shop in a while, but I thought this wall was funny for a full body shot.












Lili and the temple dog--scratching? Who ever thought of a temple dog scratching? This would be something awesome to sell.





hese are the best ones I have seen in all of China. Normally, they are always basically the same... But these are funny ones that line the bridge in Tianjin.










In honor of the DaVinci code, which we saw in Beijing, I give you... A Catholic church in China.  Read more!

Street Food, Tianjin Style

Okay, for all intents and purposes, I must place the following disclaimer on this picture: In all honesty, I don't think this was supposed to be sold as street food, but a street vendor was selling it.



Street Food, Tianjin. It might not look that appetizing to those of you that are used to the jack in the box drive thru, but the food is good and costs about the same as half of a jumbo jack (without cheese).

Lilies favorite--egg, in an omlete like formation, with some vegetables in a pita like thing. Personally, I still think miss the Varsity Inn breakfast, but this one will do nicely.









My own personal favorite.
La Mein noodles with a little beef and lots of veggies. A true hippy delight for the ages. 3rmb, which is about .40cents for the entire wok full of food. I need to bring this guy back with me and have him work at all of the local festivals.  Read more!

Pictures taken from the Summer Palace in Black and Whita stitch mode on the old faithful Canon camera.

The China that is poision. Three reactors of something was a frequent sight along the pathway from tianjin to Changsha and this was one of many pictures that I took that show the China that you don't really see but know exists.

Another shot of more reactors. Read more!

Due to some unforseen techinical difficulities, I will not be uploading pictures until I arrive back in Chenzhou this weekend. Please try to contain yourselves. I have taken some of the best pictures of the trip thus far...
Having a good time in Tianjin and trying to figure out when to go back for the final stretch of teaching in chenzhou.
Mom--I got you some really nice things in Beijing!!! Read more!

In Tianjin for the last couple of days, visiting the University where Lili is living.... The place is much nicer than she described it--many of the things that Chenzhou is missing can be found here. Some of the design and architechture is what I would call chinese standard, such as a varying amount of temple dogs around the city and some rather nice ancient buildings as well.
















A worker at the Summer Palace.















One of the main treats of the trip-the grounds of the Summer Palace are nothing short of amazing and certainly one of my top attractions that I have seen thus far in my time here. The sheer size of the place is amazing-it would take at least a couple of days to cover it all, but in the 6 hours we spent there we managed to cover a lot of it.
(As you will have seen in these pictures.)










The entrance to the Summer palace, stocked with fresh Chinses tour groups!!! Read more!

Ahhhhh, The SNAKE BILE WINE. Don't worry all you boozers out there. I will be bringing back a small bottle of this little hombre for all of you to try....




















A message from Lily, checking to see if I am still alive.... Read more!

Nothing like a fine dinner at a countryside restuarant with some beer and snake bile wine to set the mood for friendship.
It seems like a long time since I have put up drunken pictures of my antics in China...
This was a fun night that I barely remember, but we got some great video.







Nothing quite like the Black and White picture sometimes. Here is myself and Heric, a very nice man with the Chenzhou government who is encouraging me to begin an import business when I go back to the states.
He is the man who helped me get my old, fake nikon replaced... So I owe him a lot







Let the drinking... Begin.














Post drinking. As you can see by red face, which I get now when I drink because I dont do it nearly as often.
The Chinese are classic drinkers--they love to section you out and make you do solo shots with all of them, but the lucky thing is that they don't last very long....

Don't worry mom. I am okay. Its nothing like the old days that you dont know about.
:) Read more!