Owner: Surviving and Working in Xinjiang China URL:http://summersupdate.blogspot.com Join Date: Thu, 03 Jul 2008 23:09:41 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: News, views, and travel reviews from a couple of expats in Xinjiang, China - essentially the middle of nowhere. Olympics, cultural diversity, and our travel vacation are just a few of things we love to talk about. Site statistics:Click here
A Ban on Plastic Bags: Where Do We Put our Trash? 2008-07-03 12:21:10 Problem:Before June 1st, 2008, whether you bought groceries at the local grocery store or a couple apples from the vendor on the street, you usually took home your purchased goods in a plastic bag. More often than not the seller might double bag your items for the sole reason that the very bag they first gave you is so thin you can see through it. So, considering the insane population here in Ch Read more:Plastic
, Trash
Graduation or a Chinese TV Show: All You Get is Variety 2008-07-01 23:45:07 You can't flip the channel in China more than twice without landing on a show built around the variety show format. It may be focused on kids, teens, or the adult, but this format is without a doubt the most popular in the country. It can best be described by this "SAT-esque" saying:Variety
shows are to China as sitcoms are to America.Wikipedia defines variety shows as:"A variety show or variety Read more:Chinese
An Earthquake Strikes Again... 2008-06-26 09:06:20 If you have been watching the new recently you know that on Monday, May 12th during midday here in China a 7.8 magnitude earthquake devastated areas near Chengdu (which we have previously visited), a city in the south-central part of China. We've received quite a few e-mails from friends and family concerned for our safety so we wanted to make sure everybody knew that we are ok.It is reported at Read more:Earthquake
, Strikes
, Again
June Update 2008-06-26 09:05:21 Hey everybody! It's been a while since we've given you a more personal update of our lives here in China, so here we go:Although school has been out for a while in America now, we're just now coming to a close here in China. We gave our final tests the past two weeks and now the kids are taking all the rest of their finals before school officially ends at the end of this week. This semester fle Read more:Update
China Gives Free Lessons on How to Cheer 2008-06-26 09:05:11 I don't think I ever appreciated cheerleaders as a high school athlete. I'm ashamed to admit it even now and if I ever disrespected a cheerleader and you're reading this - I'm very sorry. It wasn't until I came to China
that I realized how important they were - they don't just invite the crowd to cheer, they teach them how to cheer.Watching Chinese athletics either in person or in on TV, the one Read more:Lessons
, Cheer
Chinese Massage Therapy Sucks - My Experience with Suction Therapy 2008-06-26 09:04:59 I've tried a lot of crazy things in my life, I think. I've eaten things that most people wouldn't dare and tried things that the average person might be scared to do. I've tasted turtle, horse, dog, pig tongue, duck brain, etc; I love to rock climb, rappel, river raft, and gosh-darnit if I go to an amusement park I ride every roller coaster! Ok, so I'm not saying that I'm a daredevil - anybody Read more:Chinese
, Massage
, Therapy
Giving: Public or Private? 2008-06-26 09:04:47 Hey everybody...a big debate has sprouted up here in China and has brought with it some very thought-provoking questions I wanted to pass along. This past few weeks all news and even our blogs have focused heavily on the earthquake disaster that has plagued this country. It's hard not to be focused on it. Because of this there has been heavy pressure from every angle to donate money. The gover Read more:Giving
, Public
, Private
Numbers CAN Lie 2008-06-26 09:04:26 Friday the 13th666The 13th floor of any building (if they even label it the 13th floor)Lucky number 7Anything sound familiar? Regardless of your personal feelings towards these numbers, most everybody in America is well aware of their significance. Even if we don't really believe that the number 13 is unlucky, it just doesn't feel right working on the 13th floor, does it? If your phone number b Read more:Numbers
China Remembers the Earthquake 2008-06-26 09:04:16 The siren blared outside today. Horns honked. All cars stopped, business suspended. The normal sounds of peddlers, trash collectors, and street sweepers were gone. The time was 2:28pm and the noise marked one week since the devastating earthquake that rocked the very core of China
. We were both in bed reading, enjoying our lunch break, when we experienced China mourning. Any person located a Read more:Earthquake
Visiting the Ghost City 魔鬼城 2008-06-26 09:03:40 What do you get when you combine two Americans, six Filipinos, a bunch of cameras, camels, dinosaurs, and a big red bus? Answer: quite a party!Destination: The Ghost
CityLocation: 100km north of Karamay (about 1 1/2 hours by bus)This "city", which is more of a geological park, got its name from the sounds that are made when the frequent winds whistle and howl through various rock formations. T
Happy Birthday Tiffany!! 2008-06-26 09:03:20 Josh:Good news: Tiff had a wonderful birthday!Bad news: Josh forgot the camera. (Am I really my dad's son?)We had a great birthday celebration that weekend, a celebration which started with a small treasure hunt for Tiff based on the show "The Amazing Race". To give you some background, not many of you know, but since our city has installed a new cable television system that requires the purch Read more:Happy
, Birthday
, Tiffany
, Happy Birthday
So Long Pizza Hut...We're Headed for the Border! 2008-06-26 09:03:07 Just last weekend we made a quick visit to the capital city of Urumqi. It's not something that we normally do because, quite frankly, we've never enjoyed that city. In the past it has sometimes felt like taking a trip to the state dump - and paying good money to do so! It is known all over this province as the dirtiest, most crowded city and we think that's a modest description. Up until this Read more:Pizza
, Border
"Journey of Harmony" Protests 2008-06-26 09:02:50 I'm sure most of you haven't been able to escape the amount of news coverage that has been given to all the problems surrounding the Olympic torch relay this last week. London, Paris, and now San Fransisco have become the global stage for regrettable "us-against-them" rallies that has the noble purpose of sending a clear-cut message. The message received, however, will most likely differ from th Read more:Journey
, Harmony
, Protests
Spring Festival Memories Pt. 2 2008-06-26 09:02:28 TRAVELING Memories:**Chinese New Year is a unique holiday here and a good example of why we should thank our lawmakers that firecrackers are illegal within city limits. While we were staying in Xi'an, between the hours of 6pm and 2am that evening (Feb 6th) every Chinese person with the ability to walk outside (which is pretty much all of them) was setting off firecrackers and we were able to expe Read more:Spring
, Festival
, Spring Festival
复活节快乐！(Happy Easter!) 2008-06-26 09:01:22 A very HappyEaster
to all of you! We hope that you were able to enjoy your Easter as much as we did this year. As we have stated earlier, Easter is not a holiday that gets a mention in the news and it is rare that a Chinese person even recognizes the name of the holiday. Try to clear your mind for a moment and imagine explaining this holiday to somebody who has never heard of it before. What wo Read more:Happy Easter
We're Perfectly Safe 2008-06-26 09:01:08 Just wanted to send a quick message to all of you who may have been worried about news of a 7.3 magnitude earthquake that hit our region yesterday morning. The earthquake hit at 6:33am on March 21st along the mountain range that separates Xinjiang from Tibet (the dotted line on the map represents the mountain range and our city is a little further north of Urumqi, the capital city you see on this
Spring Festival Memories Pt. 1 2008-06-26 09:00:49 Hello again. Please keep reading - I promise this isn't another blog talking about inflation and the exchange rate. I must have been drugged up to write that. Last week we finally received two DVDs full of my dad's pictures from their trip to China - if you're wondering, that's over 2,000 pictures! We want to take the time right now to post a few pictures and fun memories of our parents' visit Read more:Spring
, Festival
, Spring Festival
Skiing!....kind of 2008-06-26 09:00:03 So it hasn't snowed in our part of China for about 1 1/2 months and in fact the weather is warming to the point that most of the snow is beginning to melt. Sounds like a perfect time to go skiing, right? Well believe it or not, it was perfect! Granted it was more skiing on ice than snow but it was still tons of fun.Now I know what some of you might be thinking right now - don't you live in a de Read more:Skiing
Quarter-Century Mark 2008-06-26 08:59:50 Well, a late Happy Valentines Day to most of you. I hope it was a special time for you! If by chance you're reading this and you work at a flower shop I send my deepest sympathies and hope your recovery is quick an smooth - I've been there, my friend. Nothing drives away romantic feelings faster than cutting up your hand on rose thorns while dealing with men who not only waited till the last mi Read more:Century
Central Park - Chinese Style 2008-06-26 05:25:26 Anybody who has lived in any city in China with less than a million people can tell you that entertainment is not a Chinese
strong suit. If we want to get out of the apartment to do something our choices are limited to 1) eating 2) bowling or 3) shopping. There's no coffee shops to sit and read in, no high school sports to watch, no movie theater to relax in, few (if any) outdoor pools, and very Read more:Central
, Style
, Central Park
Movie Fun Trivia Game: The Answers 2008-06-15 09:03:37 Well, I'm pretty disappointed by the lack of participation in the Movie Fun trivia game. I got a few people who told me it was just too hard, and I agree it was difficult - but welcome to our world. The art of translating whatever a Chinese person has attempted to say can become such a task that it has earned its own language category - "Chinglish". I'm not making fun of them, though...I know m Read more:Trivia
Movie Fun: Translation Game 2008-05-30 07:53:57 We've been focusing so much on the earthquake lately that we thought we'd take a moment in between blogs to have some fun. We had a friend and his family over last night and had a very nice dinner followed by much conversation. My conversation with the husband was centered on the topic of movies and it was quite an adventure in translation. While talking about some of our favorite movies he tol Read more:Translation
Chinese Hospital 2008-05-11 22:03:50 Hey everybody! We have no big news this week, but still just wanted to let you all know we're alive. Barely. Ha! Something we ate during our trip to Ghost City didn't set well with either of us and our bodies have been punishing it for us ever since. Tiff's body has given her the most beatings - we actually took her to the hospital for a checkup. Here's the entire conversation we had at this Read more:Chinese
My Chauffeur 2008-03-20 04:59:06 Hello all! Don't worry, the second part of our "Spring Festival Memories" series will be coming soon. While we're compiling our favorite memories, though, I thought it might be fun to share some of the new stuff that has been going on this past couple of weeks.First I'll begin by telling you that both of us have taken on extra teaching hours. Tiff now teaches a second class of pre-K students, s
A Lesson in Chinese Economics 2008-02-28 22:05:11 I was standing outside a basketball gym the other day when I struck up a conversation with a Chinese
friend. Usually we talk about pretty mundane and casual things but that day we actually dove into the colorful world of Chinese economics, and it shocked me. I was shocked not so much that I was talking economics with a Chinese man (although that is odd), but that both of us - a 25 year-old from Read more:Economics
Travelogue 2: Traveling to London 2008-07-17 03:21:56 After a late night in the Beijing airport we finally boarded our plane to Qatar, a small peninsula off of Saudi Arabia, ready for a good sleep 35,000 ft in the air. However, just as the sheer size of the new Beijing terminal 3 amazed us, the luxury of this middle-eastern, barely-known airline made us feel like we were in business class. Besides the glorious wonders of exit-row seating (thanks to Read more:Travelogue
, Traveling
Travelogue 1: The New Beijing Airport is MASSIVE! 2008-07-11 11:32:53 Holy cow! I'm no accomplished world traveler, but I've seen my share of airports around the world and Beijing
's new Terminal 3 is - for lack of a better word - MASSIVE. Most airports have some sort of rail or bus system to transport passengers between the different terminals, but here it is so big that this one terminal alone has its own train system!Ok, let me back up for just a moment before I Read more:Travelogue
Preparations to Leave China 2008-07-09 06:08:14 The Olympics are set to kick-off in less than 3o days and we couldn't be more excited to be making our exit! Don't get me wrong - we really enjoy living here in China
, especially our home here in Xinjiang - but we're burnt out on teaching and unless you're going to attend the Olympics this really isn't the best time to be traveling around the country. Here are a few examples of the changes we're Read more:Leave
Travelogue 6: Finally in the US! 2008-07-30 11:52:40 We're back!! It was rough, but we're finally here. We've flown into China, the Middle East, and different parts of Europe on this trip, but nothing prepared us for finally landing in the good 'ol US of A. If you read the opening paragraph of our last post, here's the reason why we slept in so many different locations when we left Paris.First of all, our itinerary was fairly simple (I thought). Read more:Travelogue
, Finally
Travelogue 5: Romantic Paris 2008-07-27 14:19:12 Last you heard from us we were still comfortably situated in a beautiful cottage outside of London with my old roommate Tom and his wife Joanna. In the 7 days that have passed since then, we have slept in a train, a hotel, an airplane, an airport, a car, on the ground in a tent, and finally on a futon! The visiting is fun, but the traveling is making us very tired, to say the least.So we'll give Read more:Travelogue
, Paris
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