没事 (Mei Shi) No Problem

New Addition to the Beijing Skyline

Beijing is constantly in a state of change. That being said, vary rarely has anything of any real cultural significants been created in the last few years (Excluding all of the Olympic projects). But one thing that I have noticed multiple times when traveling south towards Da Wang Lu and into the CBD (Central Business District) is a new building under construction which has the oddest form. It is two buildings growing together.

Looking at this structure one can only wonder, "Will it make it without crashing."

The good money is that it will make it and that it will be a spectacular structure. In fact, due to the recent clear skies, which were preceded by some of the most polluted days ever, I noticed that you can see this A-frame building from a significant distance. It allowed me to realize how short a distance it really is from one point to another, or how far depending on how you like to butter your bread. This structure will become one of the buildings that help people to find their barrings in Beijing - if they can see it.

That sort of landmark is actually something that is missing from the Beijing skyline. I found it much easier to negotiate Jong Ro area in Seoul than the Chao Yang Area in Beijing because I could always find Nam San tower and know where I was in respect to that. I have been in Beijing long enough to be able to easily find my way around the familiar districts, but that is not without many instances of looking aimlessly and a building like the A-frame, or the planed Biggest Ferris Wheel in the World, will help to fix that...provided you can see your hand in front of your face. When clear, Beijing can be a beautiful city, hopefully it can be that way more often.

Ma La Tong

Recently, Jiao Jiao and I decided to go out for a cheap meal. Nothing can be cheaper in China than Chinese fast food. Authentic Chinese fast food does not come from a carbon cut-out KFC look-alike or a hamburger joint. Instead, it is an industrialized street version of Hot Pot called Ma La Tong. I think you can translate it to "Crazy Hot Soup."  It is done on the street by locals with the cheapest of ingredients and oils. You choose all of the vegetables, sausages, fish cakes, fruit or seemingly inedible things that you want and give them to the man next to the boiling water. He boils your stuff, puts in into a bowl and covers it with peanut oil. Then you eat.

Since YouTube is blocked in China, I have embeded this video on my own. Hope it looks ok. Right click on it to view controls.

It is spicy on the way in and on the way out. Here are some pictures of me after eating it.

Since youtube started working again yesterday, I was able to see some of my subscription's recent work. I came across this piece about food safety in Beijing and thought it would fit well with this piece.

Let me just say that we buy our vegetable from wherever, cause they just need to be washed and actually, the farmers markets often have a better selection of vegetables. When it comes to meat on the other hand, everyone in their right mind will be buying that from the supermarket because they have refrigeration and they also have some sort of organization which could be held responsible for the products they sell. If you buy things from the farmers market, there is no receipt, no government controlling them. Even the small super market like the one in video has unsafe meat. The local Chinese are also into cleanliness and are purchasing more and more meat from supermarkets and less from the peasant markets.

On another note, the girls who are talking about the fruit were most certainly Korean. You can tell by the shape of their face, make-up and the way that they pronounce their words. They have a really, really hard time with the "s" sound.

Happy Halloween

One evening last week, I was riding my scooter home and I wanted to stock up on my supply of processed hashed browns from my local Jenny Lou's when I noticed that they had a huge supply of massive pumpkins outside of the door. I inquired the price of the Nan Gua at the counter, "1.5 kuai yi jin" they told me. I thought for a moment the possible ways of getting the things home and the benefits that it could bring. I finally decided on a medium sized one that would be easy enough to strap to my scooter and I took it in. My total price was 28 kuai and I was on my way with a bag of frozen potatoes and one Halloween decoration.

I called Jiao Jiao on the way and told her to meet me outside with her camera. It must have been a sight for the Chinese people to see a foreigner riding down the street with a massive pumpkin strapped to his scooter. Here are the pictures.

Thank goodness for all of those bungee cords I bought at Macro Mart. As we were taking the pumpkin upstairs, the elevator lady was intrigued by the size of the beast and inquired about it. Most pumpkins in China can fit into your two hands together and they are greenish. This was something very new to the girl. So, I told her that Jiao Jiao loves pumpkin so much that I cannot keep enough of the small ones in the house and therefore, I bought a big one to give her food for a few days. Of course I was speaking sarcastically, but they thought I was serious. Someone could really love pumpkin that much.

I have never been a big eater of pumpkin dishes. Before moving to Korea, I had never eaten anything other than pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving and one time I had pumpkin seeds instead of sunflower seeds at a baseball tournament when I was about 11. In Korea I learned to enjoy pumpkin soup and in China, all sorts of pumpkin dishes were available. It can actually be eaten in the same ways as potato, but I still prefer potato - it's an Idaho thing.

None the less, I decided that I wanted to save some of the meat from this massive vegetable (or is it a fruit?) and I recalled how we used to just waste tons of good pumpkin meat in order to cut a face into a plant. However, this pumpkin was not ripe when it was taken off of the vine and the meat inside was rather tough to remove. We spent a lot of time digging away with a spoon, remembering that our main purpose was to make a jack-o-lantern. Finally, we gave up after getting two bags full of pumpkin. Here are the pictures of us working.

 

Couple of Pics of Me

This is me before a Cowboy themed party. Howdy.

This is me on my scooter. Notice the Thundercats belt buckle. Sweet!!!!

This is Ridiculous!!!

Here is a link to an article.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071016/ap_on_re_us/cockfighting_bust_4

Cockfighting Bust Nets 5,000 Chickens

So the Humane Society is in on this deal, they are seeking 50 people that can face up to a year in jail and a $5,000 fine. And here is the funny thing at the bottom. Direct quote, I shit you not!!!!

"About 80 percent of the birds seized have been euthanized, Levikow said."

So, you are going to throw 50 dudes in jail for raising birds to fight, and as the freedom fighters for birds you kill those you save. Idiots!!!!

The story goes on to say that the rest of the birds were sent to the Philippines or Hawaii.

What it does not say is that those birds will for sure be fought in the Philippines and Hawaii.

I have watched the cock fights on TV many times and I tell you, the birds have a fighting chance and choose to fight. I am sure they would prefer that to being euthanized. haha

The Public Has Gas

Coming back home on day, we jumped off the bus and almost ran smack into a real safety hazard that made our hair stand on end.

My Chinese reading is not up to snuff, but I can get the drift of this sign by looking at it. Jiao Jiao also told me what it meant at the time and she was a little bit put off by the whole thing.

"Danger! Gas Pipe"

Which of course implies,  "Don't touch! Stay Clear!" and of course...

"STAND ON ME AND SMOKE CIGARETTES"

In defense of the idiots pictured, I did not wait around to see if they were actually smoking cigarettes. But, having been here as long as I have...I bet good money they were smoking...and that is just plainly, stupidly ...

 typical!!!!

I had only been here about a year when the story came out about a school being blown up in northern China because a mine owner had stored a bunch of dynamite in his apartment next to the school. Of course, it went off killing him, his friend, his wife and more than a few kids. The newspaper article did not offer any reason for the ignition of the explosives, but I can imagine the guy in his house smoking and putting out his butts on the floor and getting blown up!

These pipes have not blown up yet.

WHEW!!!

Chinese Portable Toilet

We were walking down the road one night and we walked past a Chinese portable toilet, or Blue Poo as we used to call them. I decided to examine closer and YUP, they manufacture their portable toilets with a squat-style seat which is elevated to where a western seat would be. Check it out!

This leads me to more toilet business. The other day we took a trip down to Wang Fu Jing and we were charging up our IC cards so we do not have to buy bus or subway tickets. Well, I noticed a terrible funk coming from the area of the public toilets. So, I looked and this is what I saw!

That looks clean enough - modern and technological. So what was causing the stink? Oh, it must have been the barrels of SH#T that they placed right next to the toilet in the underground tunnel with poor ventilation that is used for public transport.

I could not believe that they would actually empty crap into barrels and store them in the basement. Well, actually I could! But, I wanted to see for myself and Jiao Jiao stood in line watching me walk toward the radioactive crap cylinders with a cringe on her face as though she had just drank a large gulp of expired milk. I looked in and for sure it was waste, but no real dooker in my line of sight. My nose told me otherwise and we quickly walked into oriental plaza.

Lots of toilet humor coming from me lately, what a cultural experience!

Larry Craig's Shitty Story

After University, I was an intern in the United States Senate for an Idaho Senator, Mike Crapo. Knowing I had worked in the Senate, one of my friends asked me about the current situation with Larry Craig, so I sent him my opinions. It is pretty useful information, so I decided I would place it here since I have not had time to post anything recently.

For more information, you can look at the http://www.idahostatesman.com/politics/story/146504.html  and you can hear the actual interview all over the net.

I did not work for Larry Craig, I worked for Mike Crapo. Larry Craig was the higher position and so it was more difficult to get an internship with him. I have met the guy though. I do not believe that it is true, I certainly do not think he is gay. Instead, he is retiring and he is giving up his political career for the sake of hiding a bill or some other action in the congress. I am sure that he will be rewarded for his services. He is 62 and has spent like 25 years in the Senate.

If you look at http://thomas.loc.gov you can see what congress is doing. The House just passed the DoD appropriations I noticed, maybe that is on the Senates desk when they return on the 4rth. Why did he wait until the 30th to quit? He is going to hide the action!!!! Gary Condit was hiding the foreign affairs appropriations when his scandal hit, I think Larry Craig is doing it as well.

When I listened to the radio conversation, it sounded scripted almost. I would imagine a conversation between police and a criminal to be a bit different. Also, he never admitted anything, so he can still stand up for himself and say he did not do it.  A good retirement.

Anyway, those are my thoughts...

Our Wedding Video

The Summer Palace (2007)

Been back almost a week, but have not had a moment to write about the summer. I will get it soon. Expect a great deal more content coming directly.