Guys Night Out

On Friday we had a guy's night out on the town. We started with dinner at a Chinese restaurant with great food, especially the ribs with meat so tender it just falls off the bone. With our stomachs full we headed to an indoor GoKart racing track. The picture above shows us with the showercaps we had to wear under our helmets. Even though I didn't go very fast compared to the other guys the experience was pretty exhilerating. I kept getting passed by people who would nudge me into the tires causing me to flail my hands in the air to get the workers to come push me loose.
We left the races around midnight and headed to a new establishment downtown that was playing 80's music. After a short time we left there to go to a Russian restaurant that has a dance and music show. They have dancing woman, breakdancers, and a fire eater. Several times during the performance they drag some sorry soul onto the stage to involve the audience. Since I moved to Beijing, whenever we go to a place with these types of shows, I am ALWAYS one of the first people that gets chosen. Friday night was no exception, I was pulled up not once but twice on stage to dance, once with a live snake wrapped around my neck. I don't necessarily hate the experience, but what is it about me that makes this happen so often?
My favorite performance of the night was from a break dancing group who were incredibly talented. They dressed up like old Russian women and acted out a skit that intersperced break dancing. At around 3AM a group of us decided we had had enough and left right after the fire eating act. When we left the restaurant the party was just getting started.

Gabby Girl

Here are three of my favorite pictures of Gabby in the last couple months.

Thanksgiving - Beijing Style - Part One

While growing up in the USA, Thanksgiving was one of my favorite times of the year. Living in Beijing and working at an international school, neither of the Canadian and US Thanksgiving holidays are days off from school. In general, those that celebrate Thanksgiving have two or more gatherings during the week of Thanksgiving, once at a nice restaurant, and once as a potluck at someone's home. Keeping with expat tradition, we gave Thanks twice last week.

Our first feast was on the evening of November 27th at a middle eastern restaurant called Zhatar. The co-owners of the restaurant both work at our school, and the husband of one of the owners is the Head Chef and Manager. About 50 people attended the private event, many of them from my school. The menu included two kinds of soup, babaganush, hummus, pita bread, zhatar, turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, mashed sweet potato, and three kinds of desert. The price was around $20 and included all you could drink softdrinks, wine, beer, and sangria. The food and drink were excellent, and being around our good friends, many of which will be leaving Beijing this year, made for a wonderful evening.

My friend Stephen who organized the event made a playful toast to recognize Gassan the chef, that went something like this...When I was thinking of a place to have Thanksgiving this year I thought, we need restaurant with a Palestinian chef, raised in Jordan and Italy, trained in Middle Eastern cooking, to prepare an American style Thanksgiving feast, and at Zhatar I found what I was looking for!
The success of this event shows that in Beijing, anything is possible!

Thanksgiving - Beijing Style - Part Two

On Sunday November 30th we went to a potluck Thanksgiving gathering in downtown Beijing. Most people were members of our school staff who come from not only the US but Canada, Australia, New Zealand, UK, and China. One thing I quickly learned when moving away from America, is that people everywhere are eager to adopt the traditions and celebrations of other countries. Every year at Thanksgiving time, people from all over want to join in. From this perspective, I have come to think of Thanksgiving as more of a global holiday.

In many ways, this is the exact same type of gathering I remember as a child. My parents had moved away from where they grew up soon after graduating high school. Our family eventually settled in Bremerton, Washington State with no relatives nearby. During our first Thanksgivings we would go to large parties where the adults got drunk and the kids ran all over the place on a sugar high from too much desert. These occasions made me feel like I wasn't missing out by not having extended family around.

Although it would be great to be back in Bremerton for Thanksgiving with my family, my experiences of the past four Thanksgivings here in China have been some of my most memorable. One of the traditions started at our group's first Thanksgiving gathering is for everyone to share something they are thankful for in the past year. This year one person was thankful that her boyfriend is in remission from cancer, another was thankful for her friends that helped her get through a divorce, overall everyone expressed thankfulness for the community that we had formed, and felt a bit of sadness that so many people will be leaving at the end of this school year.

I couldn't help but think back at my first Thanksgiving in Beijing. It is difficult to cook a large 16 pound turkey in an oven that can barely fit a chicken. The people in charge of the gathering decided to have cooked turkey delivered. None of us knew much Chinese which comes in handy when you are trying communicate the concepts of Giant Turkey, Cooked to Perfection, and Delivered Ontime. The person who negotiated this difficult task was successful in getting a turkey to the door, but instead of it being "fresh cooked", it was just plain "fresh", as in still frozen! Thankfully it was still several hours before meal time. With the help of many knives, at least three ovens, and a six pack of Tsingtao beer (for me, not the turkey) the turkey was cut up and baked just in time for dinner.

Sax in the City

When I was in 5th grade the school band program began. My friends and I wanted to play the saxophone, and who wouldn't at age 9 with the shiny metal, beautiful curves, it had maximum "coolness" appeal. I remember begging my mom to get me one, not really understanding at the time what a huge expense and drain on our family's finances a brand new saxophone might be. Wanting to support my interest in music my mom began searching for an affordable option in the want adds of the local paper. She found a Conn Alto Sax for $350 and told me that she would get it for me if I promised to play it all the way through high school. I eagerly agreed and began practicing in earnest. Like most things with kids, band was just a fad and some began to quit after only one year. By the time sixth grade was through almost all the saxophones had quit and I wanted to join them. In two short years being in band had gone from being the coolest thing you could do to being the lamest thing you could do. No matter how many times I begged to be allowed to quit my mom would hold fast to the promise I had made.

When I got to junior high, band went from being dreadful to being my favorite activity. There were two reasons for this change of heart, making friends with another sax player named Todd (22 years later still my close friend), and getting the chance to play jazz for the first time. It had a transformative affect on me, causing me to practice hours and hours to improve my sound and ability. With my increased passion, my mom paid to have a professional give me lessons and I continued to grow. I went on to play in my high school jazz band, even winning a solist award at a festival in Oregon. When I went to Washington State University I played baritone sax for the jazz band and soon discovered that music was not my future. The truth is, I loved science too much and wanted to study veterinarian medicine. I could have continued down the music path, and most likely would have become a music teacher, but I was 18 and the thought of being a teacher didn't appeal to me. Little did I know that I would eventually choose to teach, this year being number 10. As a result of finally quitting band I played my sax less and less, eventually stopping all together....until yesterday.

In China, if you want a large variety of specialty items you need to go to the street where those items are sold. There is an award products street with every shop selling the exact same trophies and plaques. There are sporting goods streets, jewelry streets, fabric streets, etc etc... I went to musical instrument street yesterday with a music teacher from our school. He wanted to pick up several items he had ordered, and I wanted to see if they had a tenor or soprano sax I would want to buy. The shop we went to was only about three meters wide (~10ft) and seven meters deep (~20ft). The left side held all the wind and brass instruments and the right side was wall to wall guitars. There were a few recognizable brands, but most of the instruments were knockoffs with a random brand stamped on them. I asked to play a black painted tenor sax with the brand name "Ailflow". I'm guessing the brand was going for the name "Airflow" but somehow didn't spell it right. Regardless of the name, the saxophone was surprisingly responsive and full sounding. I have not played seriously for many years, but you couldn't tell by the sound of the horn. After ten minutes or so of scales and random songs from the past, I asked to play a couple other saxes but they couldn't even come close to how the black model felt. For years I have been telling my wife that I wanted to play music again. In that tiny shop, out in West Beijing on musical instrument street I decided that I would start by getting myself a brand new Ailflow tenor sax to practice on. The negotiations didn't take long, both of us finally agreeing to a price equivalent to $350, the same price my mom paid for my first sax 25 years ago. I can't wait to rediscover the passion I felt as a kid, getting caught up in the music.

Beijingers For Obama

With Beijing being 13 hours ahead of US East Coast time we have to constantly do mental math calculations in order to follow any important events back home. On 9PM Tuesday night I arranged to meet someone who works for Democrats abroad so I could get an Obama T-shirt, buttons, and stickers for a big election gathering on Wednesday night. Since we are 13 hours ahead, the voting was just getting started in New York by the time I got home at 10PM. I tried to stay up to follow the news but decided I would get some sleep and check things out in the morning. When I awoke there was still little news from the Internet since polling stations were still open for another couple hours.

A large number of our school's staff had election trackers up on their computer screens throughout Wednesday morning as more and more states became bathed in blue. Before noon, it became obvious that Obama was going to be victorious and a general feeling of giddiness filled the halls. Students spontaneously shouted "Obama" as they walked the halls and teachers smiled and shook hands. I felt a great sense of relief to know that for the first time in my adult life there will be a president in office that makes me feel hopeful that our country can be changed for the better. Among the adults in our school there were very few supporters of McCain, and no supporters of Palin. Leading up to the election the non-Americans seemed perpetually perplexed at how so much of the USA could reject the hopeful message of Obama. When looking at opinions from around the world there was virtually no support for McCain. Stories of Palin's ignorance and ineptness became lunch room conversation for several weeks. Looking at the end result, almost half of the USA voted for McCain/Palin. From my international perspective, this seems incomprehensible. Why did they vote for them? Was it guns, gays, abortion? Was it racism, bigotry, or ignorance that prevented them from voting for the candidate with more melanin than them? Was it absolute loyalty to the party that has completely sold its soul to the religious right? What has happened to the Republican Party? How did the party of Lincoln turn into what it has become today?

On Wednesday night more than 50 people gathered at my friend's house to celebrate the end of this election and an Obama victory. At one point CNN played a portion of Obama's victory speech and the room went very quiet wanting to hear his words of hope. I think Obama appeals to many people because of his confidence, hopeful message, and realistic outlook that it will take hard work. His supporters are under no illusions that he will somehow magically fix the myriad of problems that now exist in our country. Many Americans are ready to roll up their sleeves and begin doing the hard work to repair what has been broken. To me, that is the true definition of a Patriot.

A Bar Mitzvah with Chinese Characteristics

Yesterday, Cara and I had the honor to attend the Bar Mitzvah of a former student of mine. It was a first for both of us and proved to be a wonderful occasion. We bagan the celebration in the morning with a religious service at a downtown hotel in Beijing. For the service women and men were divided and seperated by some planters in the middle of a modest sized room. The rabbi sang most of the prayers in Hebrew with a beautiful voice. For two hours Cara and I stood and sat trying to follow along with the readings with the help of a book in both English and Hebrew and some assistance from our more knowledgable neighbors. During the service, my former student read several passages from the Torah which is a very large scroll. He spoke of the story of Noah and the flood and followed a similar sing song reading as the rabbi. After the service, a lunch was hosted by the family. In addition to very nice food and drink there were several speaches from family members, the rabbi, and my former student. During the meal, the election in the States was the only topic of conversation. The man to my left has been working for the Democratic Party going door to door in rural Virginia to reach out to undecided voters. In the time since August he has sensed a change in attitudes about Obama and he felt strongly that Obama would surely win the election. At one point the rabbi joked about speaking on behalf of Obama, there were catcalls and clapping of agreement. If this small gethering is any indication, the Jewish community is solidly on the side of Obama. In fact, it seems the entire American faculty at our school are also Obama supporters. As an aside, we will be attending a post-election party at a friend's house on Wednesday, so win or lose we can make a toast, or drown our sorrows among friends.

When lunch was finished we went back home, about a 30 minute drive and played with Gabby for awhile. She stayed home with Chen Ayi (In China, the nannies, maids, etc. are called Ayi, it is a bit like Auntie) while were were away, and would be looked after by Chen when we went to our second part of the Bar Mitzvah celeberation, a dinner at a replica of a French Chateau! The hall for the initial reception was simply palatial. It was a three level rotunda with giant entryway stair, a gorgeous painted dome and giant crystal chandalier. The doors opened up to a large patio with gardens and fountains. A folk music group (two of the members are from Port Townsend, Washington) played traditional Jewish folk music which eventually turned into traditional Jewish dancing. Although I did not join in the dancing, I enjoyed watching the events unfold.

We were then lead to the dining hall which was huge and marble clad. We sat with several other teachers from our school and simply relaxed, drank wine (too much) and took in the cultural experience around us. The meal was entirely vegetarian with most items made to look like something else, but made of tofu. There were tofu meatballs, tofu sea cucumber, but also veggies in between courses. Overall the food was great. When we managed to get a ride back home at 10:30 the dancing and singing was still in full swing. I was very grateful we were able to join in this experience and felt honored to be included.