Superstars in China

Happy Saturday to all, my first real weekend in Hangzhou and man it couldn't be going any better.

The weekend got off to a great start Thursday night as a bunch of my classmates and I (mostly Midd kids) made our way to the local soccer field for the Semi-finals of the Women's 2007 World Cup between the mighty evil Brazil and the always good natured Americans. We had ourselves a regular "Rocky IV" match-up as for some reason the majority of the Chinese crowd (there were a good number of foreigners there as well) rooted wildly for the Brazilians. That did not stop my cohorts and I (decked out in the Red, White, & Blue, me personally sporting Old Glory as a cape) from rallying those around us with "U-S-A," and "美国！加油！“ translated pretty much as "America! Work Hard." By the mid-way point of the second half we'd turned a good portion of the upper reaches of the stands towards the American side, because people always love Rocky and for Thursday night the U.S. Women's Soccer Team = Rocky Balboa. Unfortunately, unlike Sly Stallone in "Rocky IV," the women fell short of their goal and left us fairly depressed as we walked out of the stadium to good natured ribbing from the rest of the crowd.

So that in itself would seem like a good night, but it only got better. As we walked away from the stadium trying to hail a cab, we ended up in the middle of a major intersection with throngs of Chinese cars, bikes, and people stopping to take a look at us. Being the good entertainers we are, we put on a stirring rendition of the "Star Spangled Banner" literally stopping traffic and ending with a burst of flash bulbs and cheers that would make Barry Bonds jealous.

I'm just living the dream, Superstars amongst the Wild Things.

I only have one picture as my camera is broken so this is from good ole Wang Jian Hong (the blurriness is his fault as well).

You get the idea.

3 and Out

So my New York Football Giants finally decided to win a game this past weekend with a goaline stand in the last minute of the game. THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!

Frankly one of the best parts of my weekend along with swimming at 9 Pools, which unfortunately I have no clue where it is (Ruian, but that means nothing to me). Here's what I know about it, its 9 natural mountain pools, but me, Zho Zhing Bo (from here on out known as the BO for the amazing performances he's been putting on. This guy is a total dark horse, back at Midd, I have not seen him out once, then he gets to the Middle Kingdom and totally different guy, is up for going out whenever and wherever, is willing to talk to any and all Chinese people and I'm sure if asked would have no problem belting out the worst Karaoke ever) Charlie, Clary, Pancake, Zach, Dan Lin, Guo Rui, and a few of the Chinese roommates found the Waterfall from the Cliffs of Heaven, which was frankly the coolest sight I may have ever seen. These falls were 200 feet tall if they were 5 and they were gorgeous.

After a day of swimming we hit the trail to our sleeping quarters for the night in a Taoist temple in our tour bus only to have it break down and to run into a few rock slides on the way up to said temple, all the while dealing with pouring rain. Also, funny thing about rural China, you run into some problems, no one's coming to help you, you gotta fix that problem yourself, so how do you deal with a busted bus, beat the engine with a wrench, how do you deal with a rock slide, the men get out and move the rocks, which was a lot of fun actually. Unfortunately, and I know that our fearless leader Lin Jiubi was frustrated as all hell by this, the rain never let up and the trip turned out to be somewhat of a bust.

Tomorrow is the Women's World Cup so I've got a lot of preparing, mentally and physically for that so I'll make sure to write something up soon. Also, anyone who is coming to China (someone already said they were, but I forgot who) just e-mail me and I'll try my damnedest to either meet up with you or at least make sure you know the hot spots in whatever city you'll be in!

Last post I swear, the Heff of Middlebury Fame is making his way down here this weekend from Shanghai, and frankly one of the crazier S.O.B.s I know, so I'm sure I'll have some stories of debauchery to share with you all on Monday or Tuesday. 周末快乐表字！(Happy weekend bitches!)

Reading for a Rainy Afternoon

Typhoon has come ashore, leaving yours truly with very little of interest to do.

With that said, here are some interesting reads and links I've stumbled across in the last few days.

1) Explanation of why middle agers are actually more at risk than their teens and college students for risky behavior: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/17/opinion/17males.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

2) The New Yorker takes a look at the near future in many relevant topics such as morality, big pharmaceuticals, music, and other culturally relevant areas. A great way to burn time: http://www.newyorker.com/promo/conference/index.html

3) A listing of all the new jerseys being revealed this season in the NHL with the incorporation of the new Reebok Equipment System: http://uniwatchblog.com

Finally, a picture from Gulangyu this past weekend (up and to the left). Happy Tuesday!

Because you listen to Coldplay.

In the Movie "40 Year Old Virgin," some of the funniest lines are actually from the deleted scenes. My personal favorite comes from a dialogue between two of the side characters, which essentially boils down to the two of them coming up with ways to question each other's manhood, the ultimate punch-line being "because you listen to Coldplay."

Well I listened to Coldplay this weekend, and I have to disagree with that scene's premise, because I had a great time climbing an old military turret used to protect the mainland of China for the last 150 years, and I had a great time listening to Buddhist monks chant and play song bowls, and riding an old gondola over a gorge that would even make Indiana Jones think twice about it. Coldplay enhanced the experience. End of story.

I'll say this as well, I'm never staying in a nice hotel in China again, not worth it. Hostels are the way to go. I met a bunch of interesting people this weekend, a few Germans, a Texan, two Taiwanese, an executive at "Qing Dao" Beer (for those stateside, that's Tsing Tao), all while hanging out at this hostel on Gu Lang Yu Island.

So for the record, expensive doesn't always equal awesome (something to keep in mind down the road).

Also, I've now started eating more and more crazy stuff, and I will say this, I have no clue why I didn't eat fish before, because Grouper, Red Snapper, Crab, and Shrimp are all awesome dishes. For those keeping track at home, add Snail, Shrimp Head, Fish Head Soup, Sheep Liver on Bread, and Eel to the weird things I've eaten list. All (with the exception of the Fish Head Soup) being suprisingly tasty.

Final note, as this post has been very haphazardly put together (like my life now, no?). If anyone ever has the chance to go to Gu Lang Yu, take it. The island has everything, its buildings are all old colonial villas of the Portugese and British, it has an aviary and aquarium, and the most famous citizen has preserved an 1800s Garden, which is unlike anything I've ever seen. Not to mention the ancient Chinese art and piano museum. Gu Lang Yu has the most pianos per capita of any town in the world so no matter where you walk, instead of hearing the constant noise of construction or traffic, all you get is lazy music on cool tree covered streets amongst crumbling ruins of historical cottages and compounds. For one weekend, we escaped the place where the Wild Things Are. (as per my wonderful mom's suggestion, the bike has been named Max, after the main character in that children's book) Until next time.

Good God Almighty Look at What We Have Here!

Just finished inhaling five roasted jiaozi in about two minutes, along with a gift from God called blueberry iced tea (I've already forgotten the Chinese name). Can it get any better?

On other notes, I just bought an electric bike (pretty much equivalent to America's moped for about $130US. Women go out and buy purses, bags, carryalls, and so on, men, we buy hogs and by hogs I mean electric bikes that go 25 km/hour. 一放面 my main reason was for convenience as I hate waiting an hour to get on a crowded bus to go to Starbuck's and study, but 另外一方面 is that Charlie has already gotten one, and frankly its a blast just cruising the city with a good friend. Say what you want about studying abroad without good friends, but so far the experience has only been enhanced because one of my good friends is along for the ride.

Friends always make shit more fun.

Going on a solo excursion to Gulang Yu this weekend, which one of my professors stated was the Chinese equivalent of the Greek Islands, only it only costs $75US there and back. I'll update everyone upon my return. Hopefully I'll have pictures both of Gulang Yu and of me on my new hog (also name suggestions for the bike are appreciated)! Until next time...

Homework, the final frontier

Frankly I don't understand Middlebury College sometimes. I love the place, don't get me wrong, but the disparity between their classes and study abroad programs makes no sense to me. Granted, China is China and Chinese is Chinese, but I didn't come to this country (which has been sweet by the way), to do homework in a Starbucks for five hours a day!

I want to travel, I want to spend three hours in a tea shop on the side of one of the most famous lakes in China just b.s.-ing with guys from Ha'arbin (clearly spelled wrong). I'll put it to you my loyal reader(s) What's more interesting, the Lesson 2: I like to go shopping in the Supermarket! or talking hockey with a Korean and Ha'arbin native? I rest my case, and I'm sending this to John Buccigross from ESPN Hockey, lets see what he has to say!

A side note, I am really loving China, I just find I can't express my happiness with China as well here as I can by simply talking about it. Traveling by myself this coming weekend, can't wait. I think I'm going to take a sleeper train west, under the pretext that I'm sure to run into some interesting folk along the way. Even in the Wild Wild East, the West is always Wilder!

Gotta Love that Exchange Rate

How do people come up with such catchy titles for their blog posts? I read other people's, mainly "Sex and the Ivy" (link on the right) and then write my own and feel like I have the brain capacity of an eight year old.
On to the interesting stuff. This weekend, as per our study abroad program's wishes, we set off on a short excursion with our roommates. In anticipation of this, me, Charlie (my best friend on this program) YoYo, Gao Lifang (two friends from Middlebury who's Chinese names are too cool to not use when referencing them) Xiao Bei (another girl on the program) and Zach (last friend name for this weekend, swear) took off for a night in Tiantai and then a day hiking in the area.
After a four hour bus ride highlighted by a game of poker in which Xiao Bei referred to the Jack of Clubs as the Jack of Clovers we arrived in what looked to be a small town's shitty little bus station. We couldn't have been more wrong, Tiantai turns out to be a bustling metropolis, which we only discover after requesting to be taken to the best hotel in the city. We lived like kings for a night on about a total of $25US per person. Drinks, swimming, girls in ugly one piece bathing suits, shady South Africans, you can find it all in Tiantai! (new slogan for that city)
The following day, 6:45 Am bright and early wake up call and off to the mountain where we saw blue skies, gorgeous bogodas and views and sweat the hangover off, frankly I think that this was the most fun part of the weekend. Most interesting to me were these ladies, old and young, situated in various spots on the path with enough supplies to actually set up shop and sell. How they lug their shit up this hill (more like a mountain path, but they insisted it was a hill) I have no idea, but its fun when you're struggling with a small backpack up this hill and these women look like they didn't even break a sweat. 21 years old and in the best shape of my life!...maybe not.
We finished the trip up with a night in Shipu, a small ocean town that I best equate to Kingston, Jamaica. They're not well off, but everyone we met, with the exception of two con artists seemed content. I don't think I'd have a problem living their kind of life, everyday waking up to the waves crashing on the shore and realizing you've got nothing to do but chill in your ocean side shop. That would be the life, now its off to Starbucks to do my homework! China, gotta love it!

The first of hopefully many

Welcome!

I expect zero people to read this, but if someone does happen across it, please let it be known you are more than welcome here. First, an introduction is in order, in case you couldn't guess that's me on the right of the page sporting the mohawk, which I unfortunately had to get rid of prior to my departure for Hangzhou six days ago. I am a senior "feb" (I'm sure I'll touch on that in some later post, so I'll leave it be for now) at Middlebury College in Vermont and during the winter pretend to be a hockey player (hence the defenseman line in my "About Me").

Needless to say, Hangzhou is a bit different from anything I've ever experienced. A "Medium Sized City" of eight million people and with enough pollution to create an ever present fog, certainly worse than the smog of LA that I experienced last year. Moreover it is my first time spending an extended period of time outside the friendly confines of the U.S., a little intimidating, yes, but also, when am I ever going to have this type of opportunity again?!? So far so good. I think an even bigger adjustment than going from the States and speaking English has been the transition from rural and suburbia lifestyles to the 100% urban lifestyle, the omnipotence of the goddamn cars and noise is a little difficult to get used to, but I think I'm starting to get there.

On a better note, city life and China life for that matter, certainly have some pluses as does, mainly the nightlife. What a blast! Our second night here (I'm here with 35 other American students, although we're not aloud to speak English) we went out to a small karaoke bar near our host college's back gate, a bar, mind you, that none of our Chinese roommates said we'd like. They could not have been more wrong! It was dirty and grimy and loud, but the music was fun, Maroon 5 anyone? and the crowd even better. I can't picture a more fun time than sitting or standing in a crowded dive bar with five Americans and twenty Chinese screaming Guns N' Roses at the tops of our lungs. Good to know that even thousands of miles from home the people are still infected with the need to drunkenly belt out the crappiest of American songs. BORN IN THE USA! as the Boss would shout...apparently not a requirement to make an ass out of yourself at crappy dive bars.

I also had my first true club experience and am happy to report that those same sketchy over 40 year old (不三不四) guys exist in both the bowels of a Middlebury, Vermont watering hole and in a major super-club in Hangzhou, China, and yes, us men still are required to act as the buffers between the girls and these sketch-balls (who says Chivalry is dead?), which although I understand, does not mean I enjoy being the one who has the old dude bumping into me either! eh 算了把... Just gotta roll with the punches, I'm where the wild things are now, and that's pretty cool.