Renovation, Not Demolition!

It looks like they're renovating the building across the street rather than prepping for demolition. I'm certainly glad about that because I've seen them basically gutting the building since I've been here, and I was wondering if I was going to get enough warning to seal the cracks of the windows and doors before the thing came crashing down. I'm glad to know I don't need to worry about that anymore!

I don't think you can see it, but these guy's are repairing the perimeter around this courtyard.











Mike, you might appreciate these photos!





Making concrete "old school"!




























This city is in the middle of change. It's growing, while trying to hold on to it's past, and prepping for the Olympics!



I can't say it enough, it's an exciting time to be here!

Happy Easter!

It's Easter Sunday even in Beijing!


Today I went to a Champagne brunch with a mix of locals and Ex-pat's, it was a blast! The food was great and the conversation was even better.


The food was a mix of everything you can think of, including: sushi, shushimi, grilled lamb, roast duck, and even BBQ'd beef brisket (which made me a bit homesick for good old KC BBQ!). The drink was a mix of some of the best champagnes: Vuve Clicquot, Moet & Chandon, Mumm, and Laurent-Perrier.








He chooses!

He strikes!

We had a mix of folks from China, France, Ireland, and the US (New York, Ohio, and California). It was a great day that was made even better by the clear skies, bright sunshine, and a bit of humidity. It's usually only about 10% humidity at best, but today it was up to 20% and you could actually feel the difference. You spend a lot of time doing skin protection and repair in the mornings and evenings because the air is so dry. I'm guessing it's about the same as living in the US southwest, like say Nevada or Arizona.

I hope you all have a happy Easter!

Happy St. Patrick's Day (And Happy Anniversary Lightnin)!

I just wanted to say Happy St. Patrick's Day from Beijing and to wish Lightnin Happy Anniversary

This past Monday was the 25th anniversary of our very first date! So St. Patrick's day has always had special meaning to us. it became even more meaningful due to the fact that out of the 17 years that we've lived in Cincinnati I have usually been traveling on business on our actual wedding anniversay, but have always been home for St. Patty's Day so we adopted it as the anniversary to celebrate. This year unfortunately that wasn't the case as I'm obvisously on the other side of the earth from home.

I also wanted to share a couple of the sites of celebrating the occasion in China!

Happy Anniversary Sweetie, I wish you could have been here to celebrate!

A City of Change

First I think it's worth mentioning that the movie "Anger Management" is on while I'm writing this. I found that somewhat ironic after today's shopping experience! ;-) Also the sun is about a 1/2 an hour from setting which means it'll soon be rising on the East Coast of the US.

I've written a flurry of posts here today because I've found that I can get a better connection on the weekends, so I'm writing while I can. However for some reason today I can read other posts, but I can't get the comments pages to open so that I can comment. Now back to the current post

One thing I've noticed is that this city is booming with new buildings going up everywhere. However it's not just about placing a new building on the block, it seems to be an architectural competition of sorts where each new building has to be even more challenging and eye-catching then the last.

As an example I give you the CCTV tower:

I don't think that my photos capture it well enough to truly see, but I did what I could from a moving car. This structure is made up of two supports that are leaning towards each other and are connected at the top.












I was told that they waited until the coldest day of the year this past winter to make the actual connection betwen the two supports so that there wouldn't be any expansion of the steel during the process.









It's an exciting time to be here, with many changes happening! Not just because of the coming Olympics, but this is a fast growing city that is also facing the challenge of holding onto it's past.

The Beijing Shopping Experience, Solo!

My new friends here had accompanied me on the frist couple of shopping trips to make sure I got set up with necessities (Of course it didn't hurt to bribe them with the offer to cook for them!). Well today it was time for me to try it solo.

First and foremost: Never and I mean NEVER go grocery shopping on Sunday! What was I thinking? Most folks, in this city of 21 million people, work 6 days a week with Sunday's off, so of course where do they go?

First you fight through a crowd of folks to find what you need, keeping in mind that you took a taxi so don't buy anything you can't carry. Then you stand in line for no less than an hour and a half, inching your way as the line moves in front of you.

Just when I can see the register coming in front of me a fight breaks out between the woman in front of me and someone who is actually crazy enough to try to cut into the line. OMG!!! there was yelling, gesturing, and at this point I'm pretty sure swearing [It was a good thing I can't translate yet because I'm sure it was far too harsh for my sensitive ears ;-) ]. Two of the store employees come over to try to calm the situation down, and as they're doing so the two women in front of me grab my cart and pull it directly behind theirs to basically block this intruder, all the while the women behind me is shoving me forward with her cart to make sure she stays in her spot too. The next thing I know is that the cutter's cart goes scooting down the aisle next to us! When I turn back around to face the register the woman in front of me, who by the way made sure I didn't lose my place in line, is laughing and smiling as if this is just part of the entertainment.

I place my items at the register pay and carry my bags of goodies out to the line of taxi's waiting to run us all back to our residence's. I start down the line showing my address to each driver trying to find one that is willing to go that direction. The fourth one in line accepts the challenge and off we go. The problem is that I live on a fairly well known street, but the specific address is not something that the drivers are familiar with so I always end up having to keep my eyes peeled so that when I'm about a block or two away I can tell them where to turn.

Now if you payed attention earlier you know that I haven't yet learned the language so the interaction between myself and the driver has got to be a hilarious site to someone watching, or listening, but hey it works and I'm back home.

I get back to the room, open the door, and there on the floor is a sheet of paper that was slid under my door. On it is the new schedule of shuttle runs from the apartment complex to the grocery store! I notice that the shuttle doesn't run on Sunday. I think to myself : "Huh, go figure"!

Lucky Street

This is a place called "Lucky Street". I passed it on the way to the park. It's about a 5 minute walk from my place. It's a row of international restaurants and pastry shops.

This is the German Bakery where I can get a Cappuccino on the weekends.












There was also a Thai place there that I decided to stop at for lunch today (sorry no photo, yet). I had Tham Kau Kai (spicy chicken coconut soup), Chrystal Noodle Salad, and Chicken & Black Peppercorns. The good thing about this place was you had a little bit of a choice as to how hot you want the food. Knowing they have a lot more tolerance than I'm even used to, I asked for mine to be a little spicy, but not too hot. It came out perfect, just spicy enough to make my head sweat and my nose run, but not so hot that you lose a layer of skin off your tongue!

The soup is sort of a sweet & sour mixture of lime juice and coconut milk, with chicken, mushrooms, onion, little red Thai chili's (diced), and lemon grass. The Noodle Salad was mixture of clear rice noodles, shrimp, peanuts, a bunch of those Thai chili's (minced), thin strips of carrots and tomatoes, and scallions with a tangy lime juice dressing. The Chicken with Black Peppercorns was chicken with different veggies in a brown sauce, with of course black peppercorns scattered throughout.

I'm definitely taking Lightnin there for at least one meal!

More Photos of the Park

I'm still having some issues maintaining connection to the internet so I needed to split this into a couple of posts.

This was one of the lakes. They had little boat that you could rent and motor around on it if you wanted.

Just a view of some of the trees.

The one that got away. I was really surprised to see this couple, especially not on a serving platter! Duck, it's what's for dinner!

I'll be back to see more of this park during my stay.

Just A Walk In The Park

This past Friday I finally felt as though I had shaken off my jet lag. For the past week I had been living in this sort of foggy state between awake and asleep, but never really being either one. So to celebrate a few of my new friends took me out to dinner and then to see a band that they knew. It was a fun evening and really good band (there'll be more about the band on another post).

I was planning to go shopping yesterday (Saturday) I needed to get a coffee pot, coffee grinder, mixing bowls, and some groceries, but the sun was out and the air was so clear that I cut the shopping trip short with the first store getting the coffee pot and mixing bowls. Because when the air is clear, the sun is out, and it's 60F in Beijing, you get outside and enjoy it. So I did just that!

I decided to visit one of the city parks that was in walking distance from my apartment. It was definitely a good choice. Spring is starting to show here with the trees budding and blooming. It felt good to get out and stretch my legs and get some sun on my face.

I think this is a Cherry tree blooming on the way to the park. There are Dog Woods here too, but I didn't see any this day

Here's a layout of the park

I sort of felt like I was in Central Park with the view of the sky scrapers beyond the trees.

This was a shrine of some sort, I haven't learned the written word yet so I don't know exactly for sure, but there was some really mello jazz music playing on the speaker on the walk up to this so it really helped put you in a calm, relaxed mood when you go up to it.

This one is for you FC! It seemed to be a monument to rocks! ;-)

I walked myself tired and decided to get back to the apartment to get my laundry done, after all I'll have to finish my shopping on Sunday.

Sad News; Spanky the Dog Has Passed Away

While talking to Lightnin, and our friends back in Missouri who she was visiting, I was informed that Spanky had passed away just the other night. It was a sad day for our dear friends Rick and Netter.

Yes Another Sunset, But With Food Too!

First of all let me explain the lack of posts since I've been here. The Internet connection from my apartment has been pretty much hit or miss. I'm sure it's due to the amount of traffic along with other stuff, but I seem to have better luck during the day on the weekend. So you see the problem, when the weather is nice on the weekend I'm not inside blogging!!!!! ;-)

Anyway back to this post!

Yes I know another sunset (blah, blah, blah), but just wait until you see this one. It was a bit smoggy that evening so I used the rather thick atmosphere as a nice filter for some otherwise tricky photography.

Also you have to understand my work schedule. I live between 30 min and 2 hrs from work, depending upon the time of day and day of the week of course, and the experience level of the taxi driver. In the mornings if I leave my apartment at 6:30AM I can be to work by 7AM. If I leave at 7AM I can get there by 8AM. If I leave at 7:30AM I might get there by 9AM, but after that and it's easily 2 hrs or more. On Monday's and Friday's though you never know what's going to happen! I really have no idea distance wise how far I am from work, but the city has 4 rings (Hwys) that go around it. I live just inside the 3rd ring and work just outside the 4th.

Where was i going with this, oh yea, so if I do happen to get home before the sun sets I like to relax and drink a beer or a glass of wine and enjoy the view as I wind down from the day and the ride home! Ok, Ok here come the photos!

And here's the food:

I found wings at the grocery store! Fresh one's at that, and it gets better you can get just drummies or just flappers. As you can probably see from the photo, I like the flappers!

I whipped up a sauce from the juice of some small oranges and limes that I can get along with fresh ginger, garlic, soy sauce, sugar, and these tiny red HOT peppers that I found at the market. Fried the wings in a mixture of olive and sunflower oil, drained them and then tossed them in the sauce.

Oh yea man, and with a bottle of Tsing Tao "Draft" beer they were goooood!

Oh the colorful stuff next to them on the plate. I steamed some tiny brussel sprouts, mushrooms and a carrot, and then marinated them in a basil infused olive oil, salt. pepper, and tossed in a few capers that were jarred in malt vinegar. They went very well with the wings!

That's about it for now I'll try to get on again this weekend and talk about something other than the sunset! ;-)

Sunset and Sunrise from the Balcony

Yesterday was a beautiful clear day, and I was able to get back home (wow, I'm already calling my apartment home!) just in time to catch a spectacular sunset!

This is a much better view of the "Clock Tower" that I spoke off in my earlier post.









As you can see from this photo my balcony faces directly west, so as I took this photo the sun was about an hour from rising in New York.
(think about that one for a minute!).

If you look just to the right of the tall building that the sun is sinking behind you can actually see the mountains in the background.





I was able to grab this shot this morning while drinking a cup of coffee. The sun was rising behind me and reflecting off of the same building as above.









STEB - It's funny that this apartment was my only choice because the other properties where my company places expatriates were already full, but I think that you'll agree that since the sun rises directly on my front door (where there is no view) and sets directly on my balcony that this was meant to be!

Tomorrow will be my first weekend here and it's supposed to be cloudy, but in the 60's (F).
My new friend, and partner on my project, is taking me out shopping for all my kitchen necessities and then I'm having the other expat's over for some curry! This should be the true test of my abilities because most of them have had the opportunity to sample the real deal and are unofficially qualified judges of the cuisine. I'm going to give it my best shot!

I think the hardest part will be trying to keep the conversation away from work!!! ;-)

More Pics of the New Dwelling and My First Meal

Well, I was going to try to get more pics on here.

I'll keep trying and see what I can do. Until the photos show up just use your imagination! ;-)

Here's the bathroom

The bedroom, sorry Lightnin, but I hadn't made the bed yet

Here's a couple of views from my balcony

I don't know if you can see it too clearly, but the third building from the left is the same "clock tower" that I could see from my hotel the first time I was here. I actually live within about a 5 minute walk from there.

And here's my first meal cooked in my new place: Curly pasta with a sort of marinara sauce. I'm already seeing the struggles I'm going to have finding my normal ingredients for stuff. Things like olive oil, fresh basil, etc., but hey that's what's going to keep it interesting!

I still haven't heard anything from the airline as to the whereabouts of my luggage, but I actually go into the office tomorrow. I was at least clever enough to pack some clothes in my carry on, but I hope they don't mind a "casual Thursday" by me.

Short Night and a Brand New Day

In my normal way my body decided that 5 hours of sleep was enough to recover from thelong trip and I'm awake with the sunrise here in Beijing.

I thought I'd try to give a quick tour of my accomodations;




Here's the entance














Then the kitchen to the right. The laundry room is to the left, but nothing exciting to see.













The view of the dining room and living room from the kitchen












I also had a photo of the bathroom, bedroom, and a view from the balcony, but I keep getting knocked off the LAN connection so I'll have to save them for another time.

Zaijin for now!

I'm finally in Beijing!

I'm just going to keep this one brief and then try to send some pictures of my new digs tomorrow.

It's about 12:30AM here and I've been up for a little over 30 hours now and traveled on 4 different flights to 4 cities, with 3 flight changes thrown in just for fun! So of course, none of my luggage made it with me! Hopefully it will be here tomorrow.

I'll blog again after I get a little rest!

Next Stop Beijing!

Yep, I've got my currency and my walkin' papers, so in a about 45 hours I'll board the plane to Beijing!

The time has finally arrived and now starts the slow count down. I've spent the last few hours saying good bye to my friends around here and I'll be spending the next few hours running down the list of what to pack. I know whatever I forget I can have Lightnin bring with her when she comes over to visit, but some things I'll need from day one! Things that we usually take for granted that won't be easy to come by over there.

I do have to admit that I'll take a break from the packing and run the little car around one last time before I put her away! The sun's out and it's supposed to get up to around 60F tomorrow. The road's calling me and I need to get it out of my system because I won't be driving for the next year! A small price to pay for the adventure that lies ahead.

Getting Closer to China

Well the acceptance documents from the Chinese government finally showed up today. That allowed me to file for the final visa that I need in order to leave. Hopefully that will still go through and my passport, complete with approved working permit, will arrive back to me by Friday. If that happens I'm still on track for my twice delayed departure!

I haven't checked yet to see what the latest Las Vegas line is on my current scheduled departure, but I'm not putting any money on it yet! ;-)

Waiting and Weather

I thought I'd start out with the weather!



Today we had temperatures averaging around 27F with flurries on and off all day long. I tried to get a decent shot of the total accumulation, not even quite an inch, but that's because most of it melted during the high temp today. That's fine because it really wasn't a problem just sort of bothersome!

However tomorrow and Friday are looking a bit more interesting. We're supposed to start with snow, move to freezing rain, then to rain, and back to snow! We'll see how it plays out.


Now the waiting game: I've been delayed a few days yet again! My paperwork has been approved by the PROC officials and the documents will soon be back in my hands (Whoo Hoo!), just not soon enough to leave on my second delayed date(Aww man, come on!).

I try to be patient, but once I get my mind set to go and do something it's just not in my nature to accept stopping before I even get started. ;-)

The other issue that comes out of this is that I'm now mingling with the pre Olympic travel rush. In case you haven't heard the summer Olympics are being held in Beijing, China, yep right where I'm heading. Well this latest change in flight plans has landed me in the pre-game's rush. I had a reserved spot on a plane at my initial (twice delayed) date, but now I'm on the "Wait List" no not stand-by, but "Wait List" (What the hey?). Oh well, I have no control over this so "Breath in, Breath out, Move on" as one of my idles relates in his music (JnF you'll probably recognize that in the CD I just gave you).

And so it is with the weather! As I sit here enjoying a nice warm fire, sipping a glass of wine (yes I said wine not beer); "Breath in, Breath out, Move on".

Brief Update on Countdown to China

Only 7 working days left!

Told you it was brief! ;-)

Budding Young Chef!

While we were visiting our Grandson, oh our Son and Daughter-in-law too, "G-Ma" Lightnin and "Little Monkey Butt" decided to back a cake. Santa had given him a cookbook for Christmas and he was dying to try it out! So while we were out shopping we found the little chef outfit that our new chef just "had to have"!

He really did get right in there and helped to make the cake, and decorate it too!



Pouring the cake mix






















Oops! Got a little on the face there buddy!






















Adding the water
























Adding the eggs

















Mixing the batter

Cleaning the beaters

Hey not too bad for a first time!

Afterward he informed his Grandma Lightnin that he doesn't like chocolate cake, or M-n-M's! What a little stinker. I thought it tasted pretty good!

Playing a Little Catch-up

We had an Ice Storm here last night and early this morning so I chose to work from home today. That really wasn't too much of a problem because I had plenty of work that I could catch up on. It also helped me to not have to spend the hour to hour and a half that it would have taken to get home with the roads the way they are, which allowed time for me to get on-line to blog a bit this evening. So I thought I'd take the opportunity to catch up on a few things.





SPC Dude came home to visit in the middle of
January and we took that opportunity to have a small feast. We decided to go with Ribs, Steak, and Italian sausage all cooked to perfection ont he grill. We served this with two types of asparagus (green and white). The green we wrapped in a slice of Prosciuto (Italian ham) and roasted, and the white we served steamed with Hollandaise sauce. It all turned out good.

Like Father like Son

We also took the opportunity to go to lunch with a bunch of the folks that Lightnin works with so they could say hi to SPC Dude and Bon Voyage to your's truly. We had a good time and it was good to see SPC Dude again.

This past week we had to go back to Missouri for Lightnin's Grandmother's funeral, and the auction of her Father's estate. While there we were stayed with our Son, Daughter-in-law, and Grandson. It was good to be able to spend the time with them because when we go back to KC we're usually running from here to there to see everyone and we never get the chance to actually relax and visit with them. This time we were able to get cuaght up with each other. It was really enjoyable!

I was also able to stop by to visit with my folks and my older brother, sorry no photos this time!

I'm glad I was there for Lightnin at the funeral and the auction, and to be able to see everyone one last time before I leave the country. I guess that the delay in my departure was good for a few reasons afterall!

Only 15 days to go! I guess I'd better start making a list of everything I need to pack!

Countdown to China!

Well the countdown starts today (of course I've been counting down since Friday the 1st), because the official announcement of my relocation came out in the company mail today! Only 15 more working days until I hop on a plane and head for the PROC.

The main question is: What can I pack into 4 pieces of luggage? (oh, and 1 carry-on!)

I'm so psyched about this adventure that I can hardly contain myself (ok, I can hardly contain myself on a good day, but this is even worse). I will say though that it was very weird purchasing a one-way ticket to a foreign country!

Both Lightnin and I will be attending a one day Asian Culture course to try to minimize the Culture Shock, both on our part and theirs! ;-)
As preparation for this class we had to fill out one of those personality profile questionaires. They plan to use the information to more personalize the training to our needs, but because the two of us test out at both ends of the spectrum I have a feeling that they'll also want to know how in the world we've managed to stay together for this long! ;-) It should be interesting!

I will also start my language lessons next week too, so I expect my head to explode sometime around mid March!

More updates coming soon (tick-tock)!

Another Great Loss!

This past Saturday morning we received word that Lightnin's Grandmother (Ida Schelp) passed away. This coming June she would have been 100 years old! This was a severe loss for Lightnin and our children because Ida had been so much a part of their lives. She lost her husband many years ago, and yet survived to see her Great Grandchildren and Great, Great Grandchildren.

Humorous Note (Hey you know I can only stay serious for short periods of time): I say Lightnin and our children, and not me because you see they are all Lutheran and I am Catholic which was always the source of a bit of tension between us! Understand that this was mainly in fun, but I always felt like she was keeping an eye on me to make sure I didn't corrupt the others! I also used to joke that she knew Matin Luther personally and had been the one to suggest to him to break away from the Catholic Church. ;-)

Ida was a strong German/American woman who commanded and deserved respect. When you were at her house, you knew who was in charge. This was a good thing because man could she cook! She definitely made the best fried chicken I had ever tasted, but I think the "Old Brick Tavern" gave her some good competition. She also baked some of the best rolls, bread, and cinnamon buns!

I was just thinking about all of the things she had witnessed during her life, so I thought that I'd Google 1908 just to see what happened during the year she was born. It pretty fascinating to see the events, and the famous people that she out lived!

Here's a bit of history that took place in 1908:

• It was the first year that the ball was dropped at Times Square on New Years Eve
• New York city passes a regulation making it illegal for women to smoke in public
• The 1st railway tunnel under the Hudson River opened
• The 46th star was added to the US flag for Oklahoma
• Cincinnati Mayor (Mark Breith) announces to city council that "women are not physically fit to operate automobiles" (At the risk of reprise from my friends, I contest that most Cincinnatians don't know how to drive!) ;-)
• Natural Bridges Monument forms near Lake Powell, Utah
• The 4th modern day Olympic Games were held in London
• A giant fireball impacts in Siberia (Tunguska Event)
• Bulgaria declaired independence from the Ottoman Empire (Turkey)
• Henry Ford introduced the Model T

She had been on earth for every modern day war that the US has been a part of WWI/WWII/Korea/Vietnam/Iraq, she witnessed passenger air flight morph into aerospace and manned space flight, and the invention of tv/color tv/digital HD tv. Not to mention computers to PC's to the new Notebooks and the I-phone!

She out lived the following people, who were all born that same year:
Amy Vanderbilt
Bette Davis
Edward R. Murrow
Jimmy Stewart
Lawrence Welk
Louis L'Amour
L.B.J.
Milton Berle
Rex Harrison
Robert Morley
Thurgood Marshall
Paul Brown (for you Bengals and Browns fans)
Ethel Merman
Greer Garson
Carole Lombard
Grover Cleveland (He died in 1908, but I thought it was worth noting)

This afternoon we'll be flying back to Missouri to attend the service.

Although we morn her passing, given all that she was a witness to I think we should also celebrate her life!

God speed Ida, I know they've been holding a place in Heaven for you!