Gymnastics World Cup

I went to see the gymnastics World Cup last week. Tianjin hosted it and I've wanted to see a big gymnastics meet like this since I was little. The even ran into the director of the whole thing at Rajdeep's restaurant during the 3 hour break between finals. He said the US wasn't there because they were too busy preparing for the Olympics. China cleaned up on most of the events. Especially Chang Fei. I bet she'll win a few medals at the Olympics this August. The North Korean gymnasts were especially small. I wonder if that is because of hard living conditions or genetics.

I made signs to cheer on China. The other side says 加油！(go!)

Cheng Fei on beam. She looks 10 years old but she's probably 20.

Earthquake

Hi everyone. Just to let you know, the big earthquake that hit southcentral China did not really affect where I am. I'm hearing that thousands are dead and the shocks of the earthquake were felt all over the country and bordering countries. But there was no damage. I didn't even realize anything happened until I saw it on the news.

So no worries, all is fine!

My Grade 3 Students

I took my camera to school to get a few pics of my classes. I actually forgot to take it to all my classes but I did take it along to my grade 3 class. These are my cutest kids too and they are by no means camera-shy!

This is my grade 3 class. Can you guess which group are the little angels and which ones are the trouble makers?

Well, Jimmy was camera shy.

A few of the girls. Babara (no, not Barbara) the one in pink, wears those pearls every day. She's so cute but oh so temperamental.

Jerry is my favorite! I love his rosy cheeks.

And these three are the biggest mischiefs in the class.

If you crash, they will come

Chinese people are the most curious people I have ever encountered. That's not curious in the sense of interesting (although they surely are), I mean they are snoopy. They like to have their noses in everything, especially if it doesn't concern them. Let's take a car crash as an example.

I've had the opportunity many times to witness how passersby react at the scene of a car crash. They flock towards the action. You could have a crash in the middle of nowhere and within an instant you'd have a herd of spectators crowding around to assess the damage for themselves. I just happened to be walking by this quiet intersection in Tianjin the other day and I saw a car bump into a motorcart. There are three rules in China when you have an accident:

1. Do not move your vehicles from the crime scene. Not even a foot to let other traffic by. - I once saw a bus knock a bicycle over. The bus had been crossing 3 lanes of traffic at a diagonal and would not move, therefore blocking 3 lanes of rush hour traffic. genius

2. Shout loudly and insist that the accident was the other driver's fault (even if it was yours)

3. Always call the police. (you're supposed to) unless it is clearly your fault then haggle with the other driver about compensation, shell out some cash, and rush off.

So this car/motorcart accident I saw amounted to no more than a small scratch on the van and it could have been dealt with in a few minutes but...

The police and some curious onlookers arrive.


Then there were more. I don't even know where the guy with the hard hat came from.

Anyway, I think its interesting that so many people are interested in other people's affairs. In the end, I'm just like them though. After all, I was standing there watching and taking photos too!

Sunday Out

Hi everyone. Keep commenting, I really enjoy hearing from all of you. Problem is I (yet again) can't access the page where I can reply to your comments. That doesn't mean I'm not seeing what you write though!
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Today was a beautiful Sunday in Tianjin so I got off my lazy butt and took the bus to a coffee shop where I studied Bengali for a while and then met up with a few friends and walked to a big book store. It's really big - 6 floors. But only 1/4 of one floor has English books. Anyway, here are a few photos from my day.

The first one here is my apartment area. Lovely little yu shui yuan (jade water garden). Lots of Koreans and some Japanese live here. Still, I feel like the only foreigner.


Below here is the canal that separates my housing area from downtown Tianjin. The air is noticeably cleaner where I live. Don't judge by the picture - I changed the colors on the photo. This city does have a little color :)


The third photo here is quite random really. As I was walking to the bus stop I passed a group of workers who were digging up trees and replanting them along the sidewalk. I don't know what was wrong with the original trees but I guess it gives these guys work. They're probably getting paid about 600yuan a month (around $90 a month).

Last is the cover of a Chinese textbook my friend and I were checking out. I think a better title would be "Upper Intermediate" but we found their translation of "Quasi Advanced" a little more amusing.

End of winter vacation

Well sadly my long winter vacation is about to come to an end. I've had over a month and a half off and it was wonderful. After traveling with my sister and brother-in-law, I still had a month of idleness. I made use of my time by going to the gym and studying Bengali like there's no tomorrow. Here are just a few photos from my break.

To the right is a photo on the ice at the Tianjin TV tower, Tianjin's one and only landmark. Left to right: my friends Robin, Sudev, and Sumanta. You could rent skates or these little sleds on runners that you sit on and push yourself around with long picks. We just walked around since the ice seemed too bumpy and skate rental seemed a little pricy (20 yuan per person! - $2.50)






Left is Rajdeep checking out the skates.








The two photos below are from Valentine's Day. I had never actually celebrated it before, and doing so in China was something special in itself.

























Last but not least, Chef Lyndsey. Like the apron? It's the year of the rat folks.

Spring Festival

Happy Chinese New Year everybody!

The New Year was on February 7. On the eve of the new year everybody, including small children who should be nowhere near explosives, goes out to a fireworks stand to load up for the big night. You can get anything from sparklers to industrial sized stadium show fireworks. At midnight on the eve of the new year everyone goes out in front of their apartment gate to set them off. I guess the idea is that on the eve of the new year the evil spirits come to earth and the firecrackers help to scare them away.

So this New Years Eve I loaded my bicycle basket up with a long chain of firecrackers, rockets, and the like and road to Rajdeep's apartment. We set them off outside his apartment gate (not that I really believe evil spirits were going to get us but, better to be safe right?) then we road to our friends' place on the 21st floor of an apartment building - a great place to look down over Tianjin and watch the fireworks madness. We got to their apartment just around midnight and I swear every Chinese person was out in the streets with firecrackers in hand.

There wasn't a second of silence - fireworks filled the sky and the deafening sound of thousands of simultaneous firecrackers being set off was almost unbearable. They were setting these things off in the middle of the street even as cars drove by. ... the view of all this from my friends' flat was really wonderful. It was like a very colorful doomsday.

Well, 5 days later and the fireworks are still going off every second. My crazy neighbors seem to find if necessary to set off long chains of firecrackers outside my apartment building all night long, every hour on the hour. They begin at 4am and continue until about 9am. EVERY NIGHT!! I'm going insane. I can't hear myself think. I can't even hear my TV with the volume on high! I thought of calling the police last night but then, what's the point? This is a national holiday. Everyone is setting off firecrackers. Heck, it's probably the police who are setting those things off outside my window!

The lesson here folks is that, Chinese New Year may sound like an exciting holiday but do yourself a favor and never, NEVER come to China at this time of year! I'll try to get some photos of the fireworks salesmen but I haven't had a chance yet.