Proxy fun

Well now this is tedious. Posting on this site requires massive internet trickeries due to scaredy cat government blockage.

Early travelers to China endured months at sea in cramped, filthy wooden ships. They ate worm infested food, drank stale water, suffered scurvy, and often died painful, terrifying deaths.

Nothing like this happened to us. Our flight from Seattle to Beijing was on time, and our seats comfy. The first hardship we faced was the same selection of movies that we had on our trip to the States 6 weeks earlier. Not “Little Miss Sunshine” again! It was also time for the beverage cart, and being the seasoned Hainan Airline passenger, I opted for the red wine, since they don’t understand the concept of cold beer. Cocktails are not offered at any price, but the wine is free. Two glasses is all I have ever managed to get from the crew, although since it is a Chinese airline, I am sure something could be arranged with a surreptitious bribe.

We then were served airplane food. Their airplane food is a few steps better than the swill served on United, and it is weevil free, however, it is airplane food. It fills the stomach, and dealing with the different packaging gives you some diversion from the fact that nobody in their right mind would actually order this in a restaurant. We did get a little cheese and cracker packet with Tillamook cheddar, and I told Brian to enjoy it since we wouldn’t be seeing any of that again for a while.

Somewhere near Beijing the attendants went around with these little guns that took your temperature remotely. Just aim the red dot at your forehead and read. The purpose was to pre select people for H1N1 quarantine. Looks like everyone was OK.

Beijing airport sucks. Our plane to Guangzhou was almost 3 hours late and WAAAAAH!

We eventually got back with no scurvy, pirates, typhoons, or mutinies. I suffered a painful back which was fixed by a very traditional method which I will relate soon.

Engrish

Here was a deserted department store with some really great Chinglish signs. I have no idea why they went out of business.

6 American Weeks

AAAAAAAARGH!
The Chinese government got into some annoying internet meddling recently which included blocking most free blogging sites like blogspot. I managed to make a few entries with a lot of proxy noodling, but couldn't do photos or video. So I will do a bunch of makeup stuff now that I am back in the land of the free internet access.
We are just completing our first full day in Seattle. The day has been sunny and in the 80's. If you had never been here, you would want to move here. If you did this based on today's weather, you would be feeling grimly surprised by Christmas. This is so unlike most of the days here in that it isn't gray, damp and dreary.
Walking down the sidewalk in Jesse's neighbor hood gave me the strange feeling that the place was deserted. Where are the teeming masses? Nobody is staring at me! The cars aren't honking and stay in their lanes and off the sidewalks!
So far I have eaten two hamburgers, pizza and guacamole. I feel fat already.

US checklist

Things to do when in the US:
Eat cheese, drink micro brews, eat Mexican food, eat pizza, eat rare beef, have cocktails with tonic, watch Youtube, pet dogs and cats, drive, look at fat people, play golf, swim in cold water, camp, watch bad American TV, use a knife and fork, eat dill pickles, raft, cross streets in an orderly manner, and marvel at all the efficiency and waste.
Of course spend tons of time loving loving all my relatives and friends.

Rainy thoughts

Loves me some tropical rain. It has been a hot and muggy day today, but it has been raining like the proverbial cow for the last hour with lots of close by lightening.
We should be coming back to the US for a few weeks at the end of the month. My employer wants me back teaching next year, and since the economy in Oregon is what economists refer to as "really shitty", it will be back to the PRC in August.
I have really enjoyed my time here. There are some annoying things, mostly related to the internet, and the fact that my laptop has Windows Vista, which has to be the Chevy Vega of operating systems.
There are so many things here that are alien. Things happen in a way that can only be described as organized chaos. The years I spent trying to figure out efficient ways of doing stuff have all been for naught. Stores and restaurants have zillions of employees. Tardiness is the norm. Trying to organize an event involving a number of people feels like herding cats. Self policing makes up most of the policing that happens here. Something surprising happens almost every day.
A lot has happened in the US in the last six months, not a lot of it good. A lot of bad things are happening to good people. I feel lucky to have made an unconventional move that actually seems to have worked.

Dragon Boat Festival

It was the Dragon Boat Festival last Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. This is one of the truly awesome holidays in China, but only if you are one of the people in the boat, or if you completely stay away from the massive crowds, which we did. According to the unfortunates we know who went it was a sweltering mass of humanity of the type only found in places like China, and India. Of course no one can see the boats. It appears that it was as much fun for most people as the invasion of Manilla.
Our family went with surviving veterans of past Dragon Boat Festivals to our favorite local park, The Forest Park. It is located on the edge of town on a lake. There is an amusement park near the entrance, then you get to the garden area, which since we have been getting lots of tropical rain is luuuuuush. The further into the park you go, the more primitive it gets. You get to the lake, and a large pine and eucalyptus forest with trails.
One of the main features of the park is the barbecue. There are pits where you can do your own, but you really want to have the locals do chicken for you. There is a small village of about 5 or six houses, that make the best chicken I have ever had. They have small rock ovens, that they fire with pine needles, until they get glowing hot. Then they take a whole chicken that they just killed from one of the slower birds chasing bugs around the place. They stuff it with garlic, herbs and spices, wrap it in banana leaves and foil and toss it into the oven along with some sweet potatoes and corn. MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!
Because most of the city was playing "Where's Buddha?" on the other side of town, we enjoyed a quiet day in this tropical paradise. Good friends, family and food.

Muggy!!!

Due to some technical difficulties, pictures and videos will not be shown for a while.
It has been raining at mid day for the last three days. It's also in the mid to high 80's which makes it kind of steamy. I'm good for about 3 showers a day. It really isn't uncomfortable, you just have to resign yourself to sweating a lot.
I work with an English (Welsh, actually) couple. The woman and I sometimes ride the bus together. They are roughly the same age, have a 14 year old son and have lived in China for six years. We spend a lot of time talking about cheese. It's amazing what you might want to eat when you can't readily find it here. I found the good liquor store and mayo. They found an import shop with mustard and real cheese.
Even though I actually prefer the overall cuisine here, it's fun to have something that reminds you of home. Now that I have mustard, I had to make hot dogs for lunch. The local supermarket has fresh baked goods and I found some long rolls to use as buns. They also had some long garlic kielbasa type sausage. Boy howdy, hot dogs!