Fall Holidays

I am running behind on my posts once again. I meant to put this up about a month ago, but I have had a lot on my plate lately. I just got back from a great vacation in Bali and the Gili Islands, which I will be blogging about in the future. I want to dedicate this post, particularly the part about Chuseok, to my Grandfather, who passed away just before Christmas. Grandpa was very excited when I told him that I had decided to go to Korea, and he encouraged me to make the most of this great opportunity. I was lucky enough to visit with him one last time before I left. I will miss him very much.

Chuseok

Chuseok is the Korean harvest festival and is celebrated in September, but the exact dates depend on the lunar calendar. Most Koreans explained it to me as the "Korean Thanksgiving." It is mostly a family holiday where Koreans feast on traditional foods and honor the harvest. It is the most important holiday I have been in Korea for so far. During Chuseok, Koreans return to their home town and visit the graves of their ancestors to perform rituals. I had to resort to Wikipedia to find the connection between ancestors and good harvests, and it is this: good harvests are attributable to blessings bestowed by one's ancestors.

Our school devoted an entire day to our Chuseok celebration before closing for four days (giving me a six day weekend in China). During Chuseok, Koreans wear elaborate traditional outfits called hanboks. Many students wore them for the day's festivities.

The photo above features Lina, Jenna, and Jenny; all girls from the Kindergarten drama class I teach once a week. The women's hanboks are flowing colorful dresses. On my way to Excellence class (my homeroom), I stopped in Dream Class (my support class) to snap some pictures. Ryan and Jack (right) provide an example of what a man's hanbok looks like. Still colorful, but more of a robe. Sally and Adela are on the left.

The first activity planned for the day was making songpyeon, the pumpkin pie of the Korean Thanksgiving. Songpyeon are sweet rice cakes stuffed with sesame. You begin by rolling the dough into a ball. Next, you hollow out the ball into a bowl, fill it with sesame, and seal it up. Naturally, some of the kids were better at this than others. There were some perfectly oblong rice cakes with no filling visible. There were also some mashed up balls where you could hardly differentiate the filling from the cake. After we completed our songpyeon, the cakes were collected, cooked, and returned to the students at the end of the day. Real songpyeon is steamed over pine needles, but I don't know if that's how ours was prepared. Below is a picture of Ian and Henry making songpyeon and a picture of the filled treat before it is sealed up.

After the songpyeon making session it was time for the talent show. I usually decide what my class will do for the talent show, whether it's a song, speech, or play, and spend a week or two before the talent show preparing and practicing. I had no clue what an ideal Chuseok performance would be, so I differed to my Korean partner teacher. She suggested having them write a letter to their ancestors, memorize it, and recite it to the rest of the school. This seemed like a steep task to me. It would involve teaching my kids how to write letters and teaching them the concept of "ancestor." These would probably be difficult concepts for American kindergartners to grasp, let alone those that don't speak English as their first language. I began by drawing a big family tree on the board, ending with the word "you," then branching off to mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, etc. When the tree grew several layers, I circled it all and said, "ancestors." I got a lot of blank stares. This was going to be difficult. After several failed attempts, I realized they would not be able to complete the letter and the rest of the lesson in time. I decided to have my partner teacher explain the assignment to them in Korean the following day, and moved on to the next part of the lesson.

Once the kids understood the assignment, they were able to do a very good job. They all chose to write the letter to a specific ancestor, which made an assignment that may have seemed ambiguous to them more concrete. It was actually very touching to hear all of them read their letters. One student of mine, Henry, had a grandfather who had passed away within the past month. His letter included his memories of his grandfather, like being taken to the barbershop. I almost choked up when he turned in his letter. I was able to get some video of the students giving their performances, but many were difficult to hear. Christine has never had a problem with projection, so I decided to include her performance. She wrote a letter to her great grandmother, who died when she was young.

After the talent show, the ssireum wrestling tournament began, but I already wrote about that in my last post. Ssireum is a tradition during Chuseok as well.

Halloween

Chuseok, with its colorful costumes and ancient rituals, is the quintessential Korean holiday. Halloween, with its costumes and high-fructose-corn-syrup-infused candies , is an uniquely American institution. It was time to hold up my end of the cultural exchange. After a September talent show which emphasized somber reflection and respect for one's ancestors, I decided to lighten the mood in October. Excellence Class wrote a Halloween story, two lines at a time. I wrote the first two sentences, each kid added two lines, then we repeated the process. I gave them some help with syntax, grammar, and word order. The only other guidelines were that we were writing a Halloween story.

We ended up with a powerful saga of good and evil, trials and tribulations. Against staggering odds and countless villains, a hero emerges. Being plot driven more so than character driven, our tale is more of a timeless epic than a modern novel. Without further ado, I give you Excellence Class's Halloween Story.

Eric: Once upon a time there was a man named Eric Teacher (That is what I'm called. Don't ask why, that's just how all the kids address their teachers). It was a spooky Halloween night.

Rena: Eric Teacher was making ghosts by cutting out paper. Some scary bats knocked on the door.

Harry: Eric Teacher opened the door. The bats flew into his house.

Henry: Eric Teacher was scared, so he hid. A monster came in the house too.

Brian: It had three big, green eyes. It had an ugly red nose.

Rodin: A black and red vampire was in the room too. The vampire attacked Eric Teacher.

Christine: The vampire ate the bats. The monster fought the vampire.

Justin: The vampire and the monster died. Eric Teacher ran out of his home.

Ian: A ghost was outside. The ghost threw Eric Teacher's house.

Eena: Eric Teacher's house was gone. The ghost was a monkey ghost.

Rena: The villains shot fire at the world (yes, that's a direct quote). Witches flew in the sky.

Harry: The witches attacked Eric Teacher. Eric Teacher attacked them back.

Henry: Eric Teacher was scared. 100 monsters fought 100 Eric Teachers.

Brian: A tornado blew away the 100 monsters. The 100 Eric Teachers were blown away too.

Rodin: The vampire wasn't dead. The vampire attacked Eric Teacher with lightning.

Christine: Eric Teacher shot fire our of his mouth. The vampire died.

Justin: A girl turned into a ghost. The ghost fought Eric Teacher.

Ian: The ghost won. Eric Teacher was hurt.

Eena: Eric Teacher shot laser out of his mouth. The ghost flew away.

The End.

Each kid read his or her lines for our talent show performance. It was riveting. While he is able to fend of monsters and shoot fire out of his mouth, Eric Teacher was unable to remember the camera on Halloween. The kids came in costumes, we did Halloween activities, and we trick-or-treated quickly.

Thanksgiving

I'll keep this one brief since we didn't celebrate the holiday in school. If you want to celebrate Thanksgiving in Korea, you really have to seek it out. Several bars in Itaewon (the foreigners neighborhood) offered buffets on Thursday, and we hit up one of those. There is a Costco several bus stops from where we live that sold pumpkin pies, so I bought a few throughout the course of November. On Saturday, one of the other teachers hosted a potluck, which featured some tasty food. About the only thing missing was the chance to watch the annual sacrificing of the Lions at Ford Field. At least Tom Brady got to pad his stats.

Many more posts to come (including one about vacation), but I am incredibly busy right now. Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season.

Update

I know all of you that watch the news may be worried about me, but I am doing just fine. The North Korean attack was on an island along the desputed border between North and South Korea. The island consisted of a small population of fishermen and soldiers (about 1300). I am registered with the US State Department, and receive security updates through e-mail. If the conflict were to escalate, the State Department and US Military would help all US citizens evacuate. Such an escalation is very unlikely at this point, but if it happens I will be on my way home.

March Madness in September

Quick note: These events happened almost two months ago during our Chuseok celebration, right before I left for China. Had it not been for the amazing six days in China that I have devoted the last three posts to, I would have reported on this much sooner. I will tell you more about the holiday of Chuseok in my next post.

Now for this post....

Sports capture the very essence of what means is to be human. We thrive on the heart-pounding excitement of competition. Players and fans endure the emotional roller coaster through the elation of victory and the soul-crushing devastation of defeat. We love the narrative that sports provide: the comebacks, the vilified odds-on-favorites, the blue collar underdogs, the idea that if you just work hard enough you can succeed at anything. I have witnessed many great moments in sports history: I lived through the Jordan Era in the NBA, watched homeruns turn players to heroes only to have performance enhancing drugs turn them into villains a few short years later, watched the Patriots go from everyone's favorite underdog in 2002 to losing their perfect season in the Super Bowl in 2008. I saw my favorite hockey team end a 42 year Stanley Cup drought in 1997, and watched the Wolverines knock off #1 Ohio State in 1996 and go on to win a National Championship the following year. And now I submit another chapter to the great moments in sports history: The 2010 GDA Junior Chuseok Ssireum Wrestling Tournament.

As with every other great sports story, there is a back story that allows one to fully appreciate the events they witness. I will being with the back story. Ssireum Wrestling is the Korean equivalent of sumo. The two competitors grasp each other by the waist belt and try to use their strength and leg maneuvering to topple their opponent to the ground. Victory is achieved when any part of your opponent above his knee hits the ground. The other part of the back story is that Koreans are crazy competitive. In America everyone gets a trophy; in Korea we have spelling bee champions, running champions, and wrestling champions...in kindergarten. My kids argue over who gets to pass out the most books, so you can imagine what it's like when the competition is official.

I was teaching one day in my support class (Dream) when Jack excitedly exclaimed that he was the class wrestling champion. Jack regularly informs me of his accomplishments in gym class (or in anything else for that matter), so at the time I responded "Wow! Good job, Jack," and continued teaching my lesson. Jack reminded me of his status as class champion the next day, and the next. Maybe this was more important than a simple game to kill time in gym class. Then, during my gym break (I get three gym breaks every two weeks where the gym teacher teaches my kids) I walked by the gym to see my homeroom kids (Excellence) wrestling. My cute little kindergartners with their jaws clenched, locked in opposition. It was hilarious. I could not stop watching. When I was in kindergarten, we played with giant colorful parachutes in gym; in Korea, they fight to the death. I asked the director what all the wrestling was about, and she explained that the school was going to have a tournament during the Chuseok celebration. Each class would send its top two wrestlers to the tournament to compete for intraschool dominance.

Quarter Finals

The day of the tournament, the wipe board in the gym had two NCAA-style March Madness brackets drawn up, one for the five and six year olds (in Korea when you're born you're 1, then on New Year's Day everyone turns a year older, so the five and six year olds are anywhere from three to five) and one for the seven year olds. From my homeroom class Eena and Rodin made it in to the tournament, and from my support class Jack and Tristen were through. Eena was a bit of a surprise; she loves all things pink and beautiful, but she can be feisty when she needs to be. Given that this was a kindergarten competition just for fun, I did nothing to over-hype the event or get my kids riled up. I was a detached observer with no clear bias toward the kids in my classes.

The AWWWWWW was because I thought Eena hit first, but she didn't, and she advanced to the semifinal. In fact, all four kids from my homeroom class (Excellence) and my support class (Dream) advanced. Both semifinals consisted of entirely kids that I taught.

Semifinals

I felt like a mother does when her son competes against a nephew. You want both to do well, but clearly you want your own child to win. In this semifinal, Rodin does just that.

Rodin's tactics feature using upper body strength to overpower his opponents. This worked well against the long and lanky Tristen, who had a high center of gravity. In the other semi-final, Jack took care of Eena with ease, setting up a Dream v. Excellence final for the ages.

The Championship

The excitement began to mount as the clear-cut top two performers entered the ring. Rodin against Jack. Both students of mine. Both had clearly learned from their teacher, and now sought to make a name for themselves in sporting history.

After a hard fought 23 second battle, the official blew the whistle. I couldn't figure out what had happened. It didn't appear that either wrestler had emerged victorious to me...and then I noticed the blood oozing out of Jack's nose. The match had to be stopped. The injured wrestler was removed from the ring and bandaged up. Would Jack be able to return from injury and challenge for the crown, or would Rodin win on a technicality? In the meantime, the five and six year old final took place while Jack was being tended to, and the whole arena (okay, gym) waited with baited breath to see what would happen next.

Jack was in tears, agonizing over the thought that injuries might prevent him from claiming what he believed to be his. I wanted Rodin (from my homeroom) to win, but not like this. GDA needed to have a true wrestling champion, and it had to be decided in the ring. Following the crowning of the five and six year old champion, Jack wiped away his tears and prepared to do battle once more. He was a tenacious foe for Rodin. One to be respected, admired.

Rodin's best asset as a wrestler is his strength to weight ratio. He may be skinny, but he is extremely strong as he demonstrated against Tristen, pinning him to the ground with sheer brute force. Jack would prove a trickier opponent. Jack is dense and short, with a lower center of gravity. On top of that, Jack has mastered the footwork and the ability to hook is opponent with his leg, then go for the kill.

That move proved to be Rodin's downfall. After avoiding several of Jack's early attempts, Rodin was finally hooked and taken down. It was a bittersweet moment for me, as I had strong connections to both athletes. My horse lost the race, but Jack clearly deserved the win. He battled back against all odds, through trials and tribulations.

It was now time for the presentation of the medals:

Clearly Jack was still writhing in pain, as he was unable to muster a smile for the championship photo. This demonstrates how truly Herculean his victory was. Rodin and Tristen tried to be content with second and third places, but the pain for them was emotional. Jack was excited about his victory, he was just too exhausted to show it that day. I know this because following the tournament, Jack reminded everyone in his class that he was the wrestling champion. When we learned about adjectives that compare, Jack informed the class that he was strongest because he was the wrestling champion.

Beijing Part 3

Lama Temple

After a busy first four days in China, we opted for a more relaxed pace on the fifth. After a later start and a large lunch, we headed to the Lama Temple. It was built in the late 17th Century by the Qing Dynasty as the residence of a prince. Once he became emperor, it was converted into a lamasery (a temple of Tibetan Buddhists), which is what it remains to this day. Many practicing Chinese Buddhists visit the temple on a regular basis. The entire complex smelled of incense, which is lit for ceremonial purposes. The smoke you see in the picture below is form the incense.

The architecture becomes more impressive as you walk along the axis of the temple complex towards the back. The final structure you reach is the one pictured below on the left. It houses a massive statue of Buddha that I sneaked a quick picture of.

Confucius Temple

Right across the street from the Lama Temple is the Confucius Temple, which was built to honor the most influential Eastern philosopher. Confucius is to the East what Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle combined are to the West. Confucianism is actually most deeply embedded in Korea because Mao sought to rid China of its influence when he came to power. That said, China is still a deeply Confucian society. Understanding Confucius can help you understand a lot about Asian culture, even why Asians tend to out perform Americans in school.

Confucius was born in 551 B.C. He was a teacher and an on-and-off adviser to many administrators and rulers. He emphasized the importance of studying because education could be a form of social mobility. He stressed that people should receive government positions based on merit, as opposed to heredity. Thus the harder you worked and the more you studied, the better position you deserved. Imperial China did not always work out that way, with its long ruling family dynasties, but the work ethic and obsession with studying stuck. Confucius also emphasized the correct roles that certain groups were supposed to play in society. Harmony could be achieved when each group performed their role without challenging the other groups. This meant natural inequality between the rulers and the people, children and parents, men and women, etc. You can see how this is not particularly compatible with Marxism, which is why Mao sought to diminish Confucian influence. Confucius also taught that rulers should be moral; he was a staunch opponent of corruption and coercion. He thought rulers should lead by example and help their subjects internalize a sense of right and wrong. According to Confucius, shame and sense of duty, not fear of punishment, should guide human actions.

The temple itself was not that impressive in comparison to the other sites we saw, but I really enjoyed learning about the history and philosophy of the influential thinker. Here are a couple pictures of the temple:

Massage

After visiting the temple we headed back to the hostel, but not before stopping at a massage parlor that Alvin had recommended to us earlier. There are plenty of options if you want a massage in Beijing, but this place looked very professional. The full-body massage lasted an hour and cost about $20 USD. It was performed in a candle-lit room and was extremely relaxing. We were all satisfied with the experience, and you certainly can't beat the value.

Drum and Bell Towers

We began the final day of the trip at the Drum and Bell Towers, which are right across from each other. The Drum Tower (right) has an hourly drum performance, but we missed it by about 5 minutes. We could hear the performance finishing as we approached the tower. We found out that they take a two hour break for lunch, so we couldn't stick around for the next one. The tower contains several different sized drums and that's about it. It was unfortunate that we missed the performance because everyone we talked to said it was very impressive. The Bell Tower (left) features a giant bell that was used to keep track of time in the imperial era.

Pandas

Growing up near the Toledo Zoo, which had pandas until recently, I assumed pandas were a staple of any reputable zoo. If they had them at a regional zoo like Toledo, I figured they had them at most major zoos. Apparently this is not the case. Ian and Kristy (our co-teachers from Canada) had never seen pandas, so we headed for the zoo. After an overpriced cab ride for which the driver had obviously rigged the meter, we arrived at the zoo. There are hoards of people around the glass looking into the panda area, so you have to fight your way just to catch a glimpse. I got one good picture of a panda by holding my camera over the masses and snapping a picture. Generally Asian zoos are a PETA member's worst nightmare. They throw three or four tigers in a 25 foot x 30 foot pit. The pandas, however, had more than enough room. In fact, all of the pandas sat within five feet of the zookeeper's door waiting for their next meal. All these animals do is eat and sleep. Some of the pandas had an entire pit to themselves, complete with a playground the monkeys would envy, yet all they did was sit by the door waiting for food.

One of the reasons pandas are becoming extinct, despite the best efforts of all kinds of activists, is that they are the only species that would rather eat than reproduce. Panda pornography is actually used to get them "in the mood". Here is a humorous example below:

Food

One of the best things about China was the food. I'd heard from many people that real Chinese food is nothing like American Chinese food. I found that some of the flavors were similar, but there were much fewer fried dishes, though we did find some. Also, in China you can find dishes with any animal part in them, so there are many dishes we avoided. Most of what we did eat though was delicious.

Food in China is so cheap, but instead of eating for next to nothing, we opted to feast for the price of a normal meal. Occasionally we would grab a quick lunch, but when we sat down we bought an entree for every person, fried rice, dumplings, vegetables, and maybe a soup. Above are two such feasts. On the right you may notice an untouched noodle dish that was called "noodles in potato sauce". We thought it was a low mein dish, but it actually was spaghetti and tomato sauce. It wasn't great, so we focused on the other dishes which had a more local flavor.

These are pictures from the Peking Duck dinner. They carve the duck up in front of your, giving you pieces of meat and fat. You eat the fat after dipping it in sugar; it melts in your mouth. You eat the meat by placing it on pancakes with spring onions, carrots, and sauce.

Left: Kung Pao Chicken. This was my favorite dish. It is from the Sichuan region of China and contains peanuts, peppers, and onions. It was much better than the Kung Pao Chicken in the US. Right: Dumplings; very yummy.

We also had hotpot, which was similar to the shabu shabu we had in Japan. You dip meats and vegetables in boilings both, then eat. The dish originated in Mongolia, then spread to China when the Mongols ruled. There were such an array of dishes because China is a very ethnically diverse country. The Han Chinese are the largest group by far, but there are many minority groups. China also has a sizable Muslim community, resulting in some delicious lamb dishes with a Middle Eastern flavor.

Now for the not-so-appetizing dishes. The Wangfujing snack street was really close to our hostel. It featured some good looking snacks, like noodles, interspersed with some of the most exotic snacks in the world. I could not bring myself to try any of them. To the right are sheep testicle skewers.

Centipedes and Snakes. Yum!

Scorpions too. There were a lot of humorous Engrish signs on menus too. I did not have any pee beef ball soup.

The most exotic thing I did try was donkey. It actually tasted okay, but it didn't have any sauce on it, and was kind of dry. That's all for China. It was a great trip and I had a lot of fun. I only got to see Beijing though, so I will have to go back to the country for another trip eventually.

Beijing Part 2

Great Wall

Ask anyone the first thing that comes to mind when he thinks of China, and you will likely here: The Great Wall. We went on the third day of our trip. I'll give you a little bit of narrative and some history up front, but the pictures and videos do a better job of telling the story than I could. We decided to visit the Mutianyu section, which is a little bit out of the way, but much less crowded than the Badaling section. This section winds its ways through the mountains, providing some breathtaking views. The Wall is literally built along the crest of mountains, and you have to either climb the mountain or take a cable car to get there. We decided to take a cable car to the top to save our energy for walking along the Wall. The Great Wall may be the most impressive thing I have ever seen, but it takes some time spent hiking it to fully appreciate it. It doesn't immediately take your breath away the way some other historical monuments do. The wall itself is only about 20-25 feet tall and 15 feet wide. You need to get to a good vantage point, with the wall extending farther than the eye can see in either direction, before you realize just how majestic it really is.

The Mutianyu section of the Wall was built by the Ming Dynasty in the 14th Century in order to keep out the Mongols (it has since been restored). The Mongols were a nomadic people that relied on cavalry to overrun their opponents, so the Wall was especially helpful in keeping the horses out. It curves and winds in many "U" shapes to allow archers to surround the attacking enemy and rain arrows down on them. The bricks are held together with a mashed-up rice paste. This paste that was originally used actually is more intact than the concrete that was used to renovate the Wall hundreds of years later. At the time of the Ming Dynasty all men owed 1 month of labor each year to the government, unless they were able to buy their way out. It was the labor of these men (which according to our guide was not slave labor) that built the Great Wall.

Now for some pictures:

This is how Alexa and I made our way along the Great Wall:


More Pictures

We couldn't have asked for a better day to visit, other than the fact that it rained for about 15 minutes. The clouds and fog rolling over the Wall gave it a mystic quality.

There came a point where we had to hike some stairs as the Wall literally went up a mountain's peak.

The view at the top was the best.

Ming Tombs

After visiting the Wall we headed to the Ming Tombs, the burial place of the emperors from the Ming Dynasty. When planning our trip our guide warned us that they were a bit underwhelming, and were only included on most itineraries because they were close to the Badaling Section of the Wall. Given that we had six days in Beijing, we decided to include them. The best part of the Ming Tombs by far is the Spirit Way (below right), a long cobblestone pathway flanked by willow trees and statues of Chinese animals, both real and mythical. A soul tower (left) marks the tomb of each individual emperor. The actual tomb we visited, called Dingling, is almost entirely empty, and the interior is reminiscent of an unfinished basement. Some of the treasures that have been excavated are on display in a museum outside the tomb, but there are no English explanations, and there is a lot of overlap between what was there and what we had seen at the Forbidden City. All of us agreed that we would have used the half day spent traveling to and visiting the tombs differently knowing what we know now.

One of the statues along the Spirit Way


Temple of Heaven

When Alvin (our tour guide) dropped us off at our hostel, we bid him farewell (we only used a guide for the first three days of the trip). The next day, after returning to Tiananmen to see the square from above and Chairman Mao (see previous post), we headed to the Temple of Heaven. Like so many of Beijing's historic monuments, it too was built by the Ming Dynasty. The main building of the complex is the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests (below), but the Temple grounds are more like a park, and are larger than the Forbidden City. The emperors prayed once a year at the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests for, well, good harvests. For Kirk, Karl, and other former (or current) Age of Empires II players, the hall is the wonder for the Chinese civilization.

To give you some perspective, the black figure standing next to the hall is Alexa.





Below is the Imperial Vault of Heaven used to store the Emperor's tablets that were used once a year to pray for good weather.


















Shopping

After visiting the temple we headed to a market, which was essentially a 5 story building with sellers of clothes, appliances, trinkets, and just about anything else you can think of. I wanted to buy some souvenirs, and a former teacher at our school had recommended this market to me. Those that know me are aware that I am a hunter type of shopper, as opposed to a gatherer. I go in, buy what I need, and come out. The shopping experience in the US (outside of books) is not something I really enjoy. Shopping at this market, however, was the most fun I have ever had at a store. These markets are known for their negotiable prices, and haggling is a must. By the end of the day I had it down to a routine:

I would walk up to a vendor, who immediately perked up when she realized I was interested. In broken English she would tell me how good the prices are, or how fine the quality is, even if she is only selling T-shirts. I would ask "How much?" and she would give me an exorbitantly high price that is more than the product would cost in the United States. For some T-shirts we bought the first price was about $20 and for a pair of shoes I bought the starting price was about $200. I would immediately put the product down and say, "No, too much," and pretend to lose interest. She would pull me back and beg me not to leave, then gesture for me to name my price. I would name something absurdly low to start as my anchor, $1 for a T-shirt or $5 for a pair of shoes. The vendor would say, "You joking," reiterate how fine the product is ("this shirt 100% cotton"), then say, "No joking price, serious price." The more stubborn you are in terms of sticking to your anchor, the lower the final price. I get the sense that they make money at just about any price, but they want as much profit as possible, which is why their anchor starts 10-20 times higher than the price you will get the item for. I would try to get them to lower their price a few times before I upped mine, so they could see I meant business.

There would always come a point where they refused to lower their price anymore, and I would respond by walking away. Again, they pulled me back and lowered the price even more. By the end of our trip, Antonio had perfected the role of shopping wingman. Just when it appeared I was about to settle on the price the vendor was offering, he would swoop in and ask what the price I was getting was. Then, he would shake his head and say too much, forcing the vendor to further lower the price. The whole experience was like a competition, a battle of wills. I felt that I won most of those battles (T-shirts for $2, shoes for $20, an 8 gig memory card for my camera for $10, an authentic Steve Yzerman Jersey for $35), but maybe they were laughing at me for the price I finally settled on.

These were some interesting shirts:

I'm not sure if the ObaMao T-shirt is intended for Tea Partiers, or hipsters ironically making fun of them, but either way it was funny. Mao must be rolling over in his grave due to the types of products his face was used to sell in capitalist markets everywhere. It's as if he is the face of a communist-on-the-outside, capitalist-on-the-inside new economy, wrought with all kinds of contradictions. The above shirt with the Nike slogan and Mao's face was the most ironic of the bunch.

Streets

The streets in Asia are bad everywhere. Drivers are aggressive and prone to using their horns. In China this was even worse than Korea. Crosswalk signs changed with minimal warning, and pedestrians often got stuck in the middle like these poor people:

I had to turn back once when I was 1/3 of the way across the street (normally in that situation I'd just finish walking across) because the drivers were so aggressive. Also, just because you have the green light to walk across the street does not mean that drivers turning right will stop or even slow down for you.

We did find some nice pedestrian shopping streets like the one below, but even those had occasional cars and trucks driving on them.

Drivers also make very risky, poor decisions. One night, Alexa, Antonio, and I were trying to catch up with Ian and Kristy, who were already at a bar outside Olympic Park. We wanted desperately to find a taxi, but only certain taxi are legit, and many of them won't stop for foreigners at night because they aren't heading to the traditional tourist stops. We found a group of taxi drivers waiting outside their taxis, so that they could negotiate a flat rate to rip people off. Just like when we were shopping, we had to barter. The driver was stubborn though, so we ended up settling on the exorbitant flat rate of 100 RMB (which was still only about $5 a person for us, but in China that's a ton of money for a cab ride). Once the ride started though, he was the most friendly cab driver in the world (most likely because he was pocketing all the extra cash). He told us he loved "America people" and loved "America people music". He then popped in a CD and started blaring Backstreet Boys and Lady Gaga. He laughed loudly and was generally a lot of fun. I took a lot of videos of this cab ride. After a while though, he started swerving in an out of lanes, as if he was dancing to the music. It got scary. I happened to be taking a video as this happened.

Water Cube and Bird's Nest

One of the few disappointments of the trip was that when we got to the lounge overlooking the Water Cube and Bird's Nest from the 2008 Olympics, the stadiums were not lit up with the colorful lights. I did get a drive by shot of the bird's nest the first day of the trip when it was still light.

Okay, that's all for now. Still one more to come.