Monday, January 22, 2007
The Great (non)Escape
This afternoon, the phrase "I'd rather owe you than cheat you out of it," sprang from my mouth like a disobedient lab--one minute it's sitting docile at your side, the next it's chasing after a rabbit. It was at this moment that I realized..."Heavens to Betsy!" I'm my parents. Of course I've had these thoughts before: while watching a movie, when the little byline comes on "this show has been formatted to fit your television" and you say "How did they know what size of a TV I had?!" and "If a frog had wings, it would bump it's butt when it jumped." Mostly, these are things which my dad said, and, as a child, I immediately cried out: "Dad, you're such a Dork!" Well, I always knew that I was a dork, so, no surprise, I think it's knee-slapping funny when I use these same overused idioms today. I even throw a little snort into my laugh when I say them (which, I've decided, also came from my dad, and not from when my roommate Vicki and I would snort just to laugh about snorting like I originally thought). So here's to carrying on the "dumb" sayings of our parents, and gravity never pulling the apple just a little further away from the tree. :)
C-Land: Holiday Madness
Wow! It's been so long! Boy are you all in for it.. I mean you're going to have a novel to read by the time I'm done with this... hehe.. maybe.
Lately our internet has been really really really snail stuck in glue speed slow :( So through our phone people sound like a robot whose hard-drive keeps skipping.... and I've had more than a few e-mails get lost in the www after I pushed send and they didn't, but they didn't get saved anywhere either. But enough of that..... I'm going to ramble enough without you all having to listen to me talk about snail speediness etc.
I'll try to make this as interesting and painless as possible.
Christmas New Years Eve Style
A group of us headed down to Hong Kong for Christmas. We were leered by the promise of shinning, flashing, (because if it's a light in China, it's flashing) Christmas Lights, stuffed santas, running elves, fake snow, and the Chinese teachers' gasps of SALES! A group of 5 of us played hostel hot potato the first few days as we tried to find a hostel that didn't have prices sky high because of the Christmas season, that didn't feel like a jail cell, and which didn't have un-identified flying odors. By the second day we had secured a slightly soft bed for only 80 kuai (10USD) per night for 3 nights of our stay. It was located in a GIANT building, up a maze of stairs, next to "the best Indian food in Hong Kong" a restaurant I don't think many people knew how to find, let alone found and thought it was "the best." The perks of our lodging? A central location. Kiosks that sold yummy on the go Indian food. Kenny--the guy who ran the place--who was always willing to loan us tape, or help us find the rest of our group. Separate beds. Private bathrooms (which by the way went RV style where you have a small 2.5 X 2.5 foot box with a toilet and sink squished in...... and a shower head... just remember to remove the toilet paper before you shower!).
But,, onward. Hong Kong was a lot of fun. They had buildings decorated from ground to top floor with Christmas Lights dancing and twirling to form waving santas and messages of "merry Christmas" or "happy holidays." On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day they had a special lights show over the river that runs between Honk Kong Island and the Kawloon side that involved fireworks from boats and laser beams and spotlights shinning from the tops of buildings on both sides of the river.
On Christmas day our whole group met at the Charlie Brown Cafe, ate lunch, did a secret santa gift exchange, and took lots of pictures of Chris Brown next to the Charlie Brown pictures and statues :). We then proceeded down to the Performing Arts Center to watch The Nutcracker Ballet performed by the Hong Kong Ballet. We capped off the day with the fireworks/lights show over the river, and dinner at Outback Steakhouse :)
Hong Kong was much more like a little UK instead of a part of China. They had little red British taxi's, drove on the wrong side of the street, had "mind the gap" signs at the metro, most everyone spoke English (and any recorded English was in a British accent), and there was much more diversity.
There were so many people there for Christmas, it reminded me of what I would imagine New Years Eve in New York to be like.
We returned from Hong Kong to the LQ at 1am Monday morning (yes we had to work the next day) to find the LQ adorned with hundreds of (yes flashing) colored Christmas lights. It was actually quite comical to see our normally quiet LQ path creating such a spectacle (I wasn't so sure if the classical piano music that big brother plays would agree with such pomp and circumstance by the colored lights). Just tonight we were discussing which was our favorite of the decorated trees. I seetled on one, which due to it's height, looked like someone had just thrown the lights up into the branches (which is actually probably what happened) until all the lights had been used up. The result? A tree that actually has more lights hanging below it's branches, in the open seclude created before the ground invaded, than in the actual branches of the tree. Non-the-less, the belit path gives me just that much more joy when I walk down it at night.
New Years with a Bang (literally)
For New Years, a group of us went to The Blues Club. They had a blues and jazz band from Australia playing. There was a group of German's with us whom had purchased a few big Chinese fire-crackers, so at midnight we went out onto the street outside of the club to set them off. Chris or Erik successfully convinced them of my pyromania-ness, and I got the honor of lighting the fuze. We stood back as the whole line of firecrackers exploded preventing a few taxi's from passing. As our wee-little fire-crackers finished, Trey and I heard the sound of larger fireworks exploding down the street. We ran down a block or so to see a round of fireworks, about the size of a large tractor tire, sitting in the middle of the street, and shooting fireworks high into the air. Well, most of them were being shot into the air, some of them, not achieving their height destiny, exploded right near the ground and came propelling toward us. Don't worry we kept our distance. After a little more time at the Blues Club, we came back to the LQ area and got meat-on-a-stick from the street vendors across the way. Disappointingly, we weren't able to find any of our own Chinese firecrackers to set off :( I would say maybe next year, but really, in China, you don't need an excuse to set of firecrackers or fireworks... so ... maybe next week. :)
Ahhh the Kindies!
So right recently the Kindies learned the phrase "What are you doing?" and answers such as "I'm eating, swimming, reading, watching tv...etc." As a morning warm-up, I've started "calling" a few of the Kindies with our fake phone. I go "ring, ring......ring, ring"......"hello Teacher Janai"......"Hi Tony HOW ARE YOU?" (you have to emphasize this so they don't answer: I'M SIX! thinking that you asked 'how old are you?')....."I'm fine thanks"....."oh, that's good......What are you doing?"......"I'm Pushing" (hmmmm not a normal response)..."You're PUSHing??"...."yes"...."what are you pushing?" ...... "I'm pushing ......chairs!". So now they all think it's hilarious to say that they're pushing chairs or tables. Hmmmmm we might have to find a different warm-up activity.
Food?
The other week, all of the English and Chinese Kindergarten teachers went out to eat at a Hot Pot (a restaurant where you have a grill and bowl of boiling soup water at each table, then order whatever you want to put in your soup, or cook) Place that is one of the Chinese Teachers' favorites. Trey and I squeezed our way into a table with 4 of the K2 teachers. They were offering us tongue, stomach lining, and my favorite, cooked blood. Actually I think I only took one very small bite of the blood before I got a mental block and just couldn't eat the rest. I also learned a very interesting thing about the Chinese style of eating: they like to intermix the dessert with the food. The balance of something hot with something cold. Only part-way through the meal Jane (a K2 Chinese teacher) asked me if I wanted to go see their ice-cream... I exclaimed that she was already done eating... only to find out about the whole hot/cold balance thing. Afterward a group of 11 or 12 of us went to a KTV (karaoke place where you get a private room for your group and chose whatever songs you want to sing). They had both Chinese and English music, so we just alternated throughout the night. I was able to get a good taste of Chinese music.... which I then asked our Secretary Sharon (who was there) to make me a CD of. So now I'm sitting at my desk listening to all my new Chinese music... it's quite fun. :)
Chinese New Years... YEAH
In about 4 weeks it will be time for yet another traveling adventure. At the beginning of Feb we begin our 3 week long break for Chinese New Years. We are planning a trip through Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand. I'll be sad to miss so much pyro-action over the holiday, but am sure that our travel plan will more than make up for it.
Well, I'm sure that you are all tired of reading.... and I think that I dried up most of my interesting stories for the time being. I hope that all is well where you are. Drop me a line and let me know what you're up to! I love hearing from everyone!
Lately our internet has been really really really snail stuck in glue speed slow :( So through our phone people sound like a robot whose hard-drive keeps skipping.... and I've had more than a few e-mails get lost in the www after I pushed send and they didn't, but they didn't get saved anywhere either. But enough of that..... I'm going to ramble enough without you all having to listen to me talk about snail speediness etc.
I'll try to make this as interesting and painless as possible.
Christmas New Years Eve Style
A group of us headed down to Hong Kong for Christmas. We were leered by the promise of shinning, flashing, (because if it's a light in China, it's flashing) Christmas Lights, stuffed santas, running elves, fake snow, and the Chinese teachers' gasps of SALES! A group of 5 of us played hostel hot potato the first few days as we tried to find a hostel that didn't have prices sky high because of the Christmas season, that didn't feel like a jail cell, and which didn't have un-identified flying odors. By the second day we had secured a slightly soft bed for only 80 kuai (10USD) per night for 3 nights of our stay. It was located in a GIANT building, up a maze of stairs, next to "the best Indian food in Hong Kong" a restaurant I don't think many people knew how to find, let alone found and thought it was "the best." The perks of our lodging? A central location. Kiosks that sold yummy on the go Indian food. Kenny--the guy who ran the place--who was always willing to loan us tape, or help us find the rest of our group. Separate beds. Private bathrooms (which by the way went RV style where you have a small 2.5 X 2.5 foot box with a toilet and sink squished in...... and a shower head... just remember to remove the toilet paper before you shower!).
But,, onward. Hong Kong was a lot of fun. They had buildings decorated from ground to top floor with Christmas Lights dancing and twirling to form waving santas and messages of "merry Christmas" or "happy holidays." On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day they had a special lights show over the river that runs between Honk Kong Island and the Kawloon side that involved fireworks from boats and laser beams and spotlights shinning from the tops of buildings on both sides of the river.
On Christmas day our whole group met at the Charlie Brown Cafe, ate lunch, did a secret santa gift exchange, and took lots of pictures of Chris Brown next to the Charlie Brown pictures and statues :). We then proceeded down to the Performing Arts Center to watch The Nutcracker Ballet performed by the Hong Kong Ballet. We capped off the day with the fireworks/lights show over the river, and dinner at Outback Steakhouse :)
Hong Kong was much more like a little UK instead of a part of China. They had little red British taxi's, drove on the wrong side of the street, had "mind the gap" signs at the metro, most everyone spoke English (and any recorded English was in a British accent), and there was much more diversity.
There were so many people there for Christmas, it reminded me of what I would imagine New Years Eve in New York to be like.
We returned from Hong Kong to the LQ at 1am Monday morning (yes we had to work the next day) to find the LQ adorned with hundreds of (yes flashing) colored Christmas lights. It was actually quite comical to see our normally quiet LQ path creating such a spectacle (I wasn't so sure if the classical piano music that big brother plays would agree with such pomp and circumstance by the colored lights). Just tonight we were discussing which was our favorite of the decorated trees. I seetled on one, which due to it's height, looked like someone had just thrown the lights up into the branches (which is actually probably what happened) until all the lights had been used up. The result? A tree that actually has more lights hanging below it's branches, in the open seclude created before the ground invaded, than in the actual branches of the tree. Non-the-less, the belit path gives me just that much more joy when I walk down it at night.
New Years with a Bang (literally)
For New Years, a group of us went to The Blues Club. They had a blues and jazz band from Australia playing. There was a group of German's with us whom had purchased a few big Chinese fire-crackers, so at midnight we went out onto the street outside of the club to set them off. Chris or Erik successfully convinced them of my pyromania-ness, and I got the honor of lighting the fuze. We stood back as the whole line of firecrackers exploded preventing a few taxi's from passing. As our wee-little fire-crackers finished, Trey and I heard the sound of larger fireworks exploding down the street. We ran down a block or so to see a round of fireworks, about the size of a large tractor tire, sitting in the middle of the street, and shooting fireworks high into the air. Well, most of them were being shot into the air, some of them, not achieving their height destiny, exploded right near the ground and came propelling toward us. Don't worry we kept our distance. After a little more time at the Blues Club, we came back to the LQ area and got meat-on-a-stick from the street vendors across the way. Disappointingly, we weren't able to find any of our own Chinese firecrackers to set off :( I would say maybe next year, but really, in China, you don't need an excuse to set of firecrackers or fireworks... so ... maybe next week. :)
Ahhh the Kindies!
So right recently the Kindies learned the phrase "What are you doing?" and answers such as "I'm eating, swimming, reading, watching tv...etc." As a morning warm-up, I've started "calling" a few of the Kindies with our fake phone. I go "ring, ring......ring, ring"......"hello Teacher Janai"......"Hi Tony HOW ARE YOU?" (you have to emphasize this so they don't answer: I'M SIX! thinking that you asked 'how old are you?')....."I'm fine thanks"....."oh, that's good......What are you doing?"......"I'm Pushing" (hmmmm not a normal response)..."You're PUSHing??"...."yes"...."what are you pushing?" ...... "I'm pushing ......chairs!". So now they all think it's hilarious to say that they're pushing chairs or tables. Hmmmmm we might have to find a different warm-up activity.
Food?
The other week, all of the English and Chinese Kindergarten teachers went out to eat at a Hot Pot (a restaurant where you have a grill and bowl of boiling soup water at each table, then order whatever you want to put in your soup, or cook) Place that is one of the Chinese Teachers' favorites. Trey and I squeezed our way into a table with 4 of the K2 teachers. They were offering us tongue, stomach lining, and my favorite, cooked blood. Actually I think I only took one very small bite of the blood before I got a mental block and just couldn't eat the rest. I also learned a very interesting thing about the Chinese style of eating: they like to intermix the dessert with the food. The balance of something hot with something cold. Only part-way through the meal Jane (a K2 Chinese teacher) asked me if I wanted to go see their ice-cream... I exclaimed that she was already done eating... only to find out about the whole hot/cold balance thing. Afterward a group of 11 or 12 of us went to a KTV (karaoke place where you get a private room for your group and chose whatever songs you want to sing). They had both Chinese and English music, so we just alternated throughout the night. I was able to get a good taste of Chinese music.... which I then asked our Secretary Sharon (who was there) to make me a CD of. So now I'm sitting at my desk listening to all my new Chinese music... it's quite fun. :)
Chinese New Years... YEAH
In about 4 weeks it will be time for yet another traveling adventure. At the beginning of Feb we begin our 3 week long break for Chinese New Years. We are planning a trip through Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand. I'll be sad to miss so much pyro-action over the holiday, but am sure that our travel plan will more than make up for it.
Well, I'm sure that you are all tired of reading.... and I think that I dried up most of my interesting stories for the time being. I hope that all is well where you are. Drop me a line and let me know what you're up to! I love hearing from everyone!
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Grandpa
a grey bike,
with fury seat,
and spokes that sang,
as down the street,
in delight I rode,
my feet held out,
my hands wrapped tight,
'round Grandpa's belt.
cousins smiling,
stood and watched,
with bated breath,
and whirring thoughts.
until their turn,
it came to ride,
Grandpa's super,
soaring, pride.
with fury seat,
and spokes that sang,
as down the street,
in delight I rode,
my feet held out,
my hands wrapped tight,
'round Grandpa's belt.
cousins smiling,
stood and watched,
with bated breath,
and whirring thoughts.
until their turn,
it came to ride,
Grandpa's super,
soaring, pride.
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