Shaun's space

Well we have been on the road for a few weeks now. And here is an update...

 

We started in Xi`an and really enjoyed the 'old' city. My parents were very impressed with the city walls, but more so with the terracotta soldiers. It was really incredible, although I though all of the empty shops lining the 1.5km walk up to the soldiers was a little much. From there we went on to Hong Kong.

 

My parents were put in charge of finding the hotels for the trip, and they have done a great job. In HK our hotel was right next to Times Square which had a major shopping center there. When we are not walking around the city to see the sights, they are shopping...buying electronics, jewelry, silk and medicines. Yes, medicines. My dad can't walk past a pharmacy without stopping in to load up on his prescription medicine. I started taking pictures of him in each one, but I finally got bored. About half of our time travelling has been spent on shopping. They are loving it, but it is a little boring for me. I mean, I can buy a camera in Beijing...why go all the way to Hong Kong to shop! haha The weather in HK was not too bad, but a little cloudy. After a couple days in HK we took the ferry over to Macau (Ao Men)

 

Macau/Aomen was great also. The weather was pretty warm, but cloudy most of the time. Our hotel was a block away from the new Wynn Casino, and seeing that we Carver's like to gamble, it was part of our daily routine. The first day I won 3000rmb playing 21, and the second day I won 5000rmb... it has been a good trip for me. I lost my camera in the hotel bar, but it was found the next day and someone actually turned it into the hotel lost and found. I got it back the next day!!! Year of the Golden Pig indeed! If the year keeps going like this I will retire by May !! We walked around the city for a couple fo days and really enjoyed the museums. We have been to the museums in all of the cities and my parents have been really impressed. They have been beautiful.

 

We are now in Shanghai, and will be here for the next 5 days. The weather has been crap so it's been difficult to walk around much. But we have been able to go to the TV tower, ride through the tourist tunnel, walk down Nanjing Shopping street, and visit the museum. If the weather is ok we plan to go to Suzhou and/or Hangzhou over the next few days.

 

If anyone is in Shanghai call me ! I need someone to go out with and have fun. My parents are in their room by 6pm and I spend most nights watch HBO :-P Bai ai de Shaun !

 

Hahaha Chun Jie Kuaile... and I miss everyone !

 

 

Well mom and dad arrived in Beijing this week. Unfortunately I have to work a few more days, so I was unable to spend all my time with them. But I have not finished work, more or less, and we will be travelling for the next three weeks around China. This week I sent them on a tour of the Summer Palace. My mom took a fall and hurt herself a little bit. Not a great way to start the trip! She banged her chin on the ground (big purple bruise in some of the pictures) scraped her shin, and injured her knee. She has been able to get around, but is a little slow going up and down stairs.

 

Today we got up, went to Starbuck's and then to the Temple of Heaven. It was a beautiful day in Beijing. The temperature was around the 50's, and the sky was blue. It has been really windy the last few days, so most of the pollution has been blown out...at least for now. Afterwards we went to lunch, and then came home.

 

A few more days in Beijing, then we are off to Xi`an to see the Terracotta Soldiers, and the last walled city in China.

Well just got back from a long weekend in Shanghai going to the Formula 1 race with Chris. Quite a fun time, especially since one of my colleagues was also getting married that weekend...in Shanghai haha

 

I won't go into details of the bachelor party, but it was a good time and exactly the kind of night I needed. Our plane landed in Pudong airport at 9:30 and by 11 we were in a bar with a bunch of rowdy friends...and then we went to a bar called Windows where we drank a few beers before hitting the town. yada-yada-yada...got home at 5am. That's all anyone needs to know about that night!

 

Anyway, we went to see the Qualifying race on Saturday morning. I only had about 3 hours of sleep and was pretty tired. The weather was pretty cool, and it didn't rain on Saturday. We had great seats with a giant TV in front of our grandstand. We smuggled in a bunch of beer and just spent the day watching cars race by, eating yang rou chuan'r and buying everything we could find. We walked right past the guard and got into the grandstand in front of the starting grid for the qualifying. The word "loud" doesn't describe the sound of 22 Formula 1 cars racing by at 300kmH! We went home later in the afternoon and went to a nice dinner next to the Shanghai tower. Later we ended up in a bar called Max's, where Chris was telling everyone I was one of the F1 drivers haha.

 

The next day we rented a car to take us to the races. We got there around 11am and did more shopping. Chris bought 3 hats, a flag, and umbrella (it was raining) and who knows what else. I just stuck to my Ferrari shirt and watch :-P The race was great. It was an exciting race with Schumacher winning at the end and we really enjoyed it. We came back to the hotel that night pretty tired, but wanted one last meal out in SH...so we went to the Four Season's and ate like kings. Got up this monring, jumped on a plane and came home. A fun weekend was had.

OK, yeah I know....The Backstreet Boys. Is there any worse humiliation? Probably not....but as I said... I haven't been myself lately. One, maybe two more weeks and I will be moved on and back to my old self. Superman Ressurected? no...but better anyways I think. Thanks to those who have supported me and given me some "what the f*ck is wrong with you?" butt kicking over the last month. Although I would have preferred someone to complain to, to tell my probelms to and a little sympathy...telling me I'm an ass for doubting myself is helpful sometimes too. If I had a mao for everytime I heard..."there is nothing wrong with you. I still think you are great!" I would be a rich man...and that's OK sometimes too. Ends up I am just rich in true friends, not in quantity but in quality. Thanks all of you :)

 

Still thinking too much about... but at least I feel like I can start thinking about the future again sometime soon.

 

My chinese lessons are finally starting to pay off. Last week I learned peng (fat) and qi (to ride).  So I put that with the chinglish I already know to say... Wo Peng. Bu qi xiao ma. ..."I'm fat. I can't ride a small horse." It reminded my of my trip to Inner Mongolia with Brooke last fall. I thought I finally learned something I could have used. See the picture for a reference. I am sure the horse was wishing I learned that phrase before my trip. But hey...I'm stubborn as a mule, so the horse will just have to deal with it.

 

I could tell you about the time I tried to have something delivered to a friend...by myself, in chinese. First I had to learn the word for "deliver", which is "song"... then I had to go to the internet to find the phone number of the company they worked at, then I had find the number of the office in BJ, and then I had to call and try to get the the builidngs address in Chinese!!! (by the way...I don't speak Chinese!!!)...and then I had to look up my old UIBE records to get the persons name right (pinyin is easy, but the chinese characters I haven't studied) Then I had to go to the market, tell them what I wanted and give all the information to the salesperson, arrange to have it delivered on the right date, at the right time, to the right place to the right person....man.... it is so much easier back home haha. It took a whole day to do what I could have done in 5 minutes back home. hahaha after all that...it didn't pay off like I would have wanted, but I did learn something about myself :P I leaned I really need to learn Chinese to have a happy life here.

Well the last two months have been eventful, although not always for good reasons. Anyone who really knows me already knows that I have not been myself lately. I've had a new friend leave way too soon, some old friends turn out not to really be friends, met a few old friends all over again, met a few new people, had the death of "Superman" and even had the return of Mr. Pappy, an "old friend" indeed. A picture of Mr. Pappy in all his glory is attached.

 

My school schedule is starting to pick-up a little again and I have even been offered more responsibility (and hopefully more money, although in China that is not always the case). I am spending more time helping out my friends at the marketing company in Beijing. We just did a presentation for Mitsubishi yesterday, which could be interesting...and they have been teaching me mahjiang after work. I will begin my long over due Chinese language lessons next week or so, just after I find an appropriate experienced teacher.

 

My plants are alive and doing well after 1 month...which just proves that I can take care of some things. My new TV is living up to my expectations, and with football season starting I am sure it will get a lot of use.

 

But even with all of that, I still have too much free time to think. Thinking about...