Poetry lovers out there?

I received a text over this past weekend, but I'm not sure how to take it. Kate, please help me interpret!

"I write a poem give you and wish you and you lover would happinss forever.

i remember

i remenber the perfect smile in shine morning.
i remenber the perfect wint in romantic night
i remenber the perfect ring in love
i remenber the perfect flower in my eyes through windom
i remenber the perfect wind in my face thougt the sea
i remenber the perfect friend in my tear though sation
i remenber the perfect lover in my soul though kissing"


It was not a case of mistaken identity - this text was definitely supposed to go to me. So what the heck does it mean?

In other goings on, I want to report a good time at English corner last Friday. I had the most stimulating academic conversation I've had since coming to China - and it was with Chinese students speaking another language! We talked global economics, free trade, American politics, environmental policy, and architecture, among other things. I was impressed. We'll miss it this coming Friday, but for a good cause - we'll be taking a trip downtown to eat at the Shangri-la hotel. Niiiiiiice.

-alan

if only i had a camera...

Many of you received our newsletter and had a lot to say about my embarrassing moments in China. I'm glad you could find pleasure in my misery. Thankfully, I've been fairly embarrassment free as of late.

Another question on the quiz involved what color we have not seen on a dog since we've been here. The answer was green but tonight I saw a dog whose legs were all dyed green, its ears were orange and there was another color (I think yellow) on its back. I just could not believe it! Below is a pic of the other dogs I was taking about that I took off our friend's facebook page. I don't know why this grooming practice entertains me so much but I can't get enough of it!


-rachel

Phew! One hurdle cleared

Today was the deadline - quarter grades due at school. Though there were some technical snafus along the way, both Rachel and I managed to get our grades in at a reasonable hour (it was still light out, that's all that matters). That means the year is already 1/4 over! Hard to believe. More than anything, though, it is a reminder to speed things up in my classes...

Switching gears, we have filled out our absentee ballots and are ready to send them back to the states. FedEx offers to send ballots from China back for free, so needless to say we are all over that. Now, it's just a matter of finding that FedEx dropoff location....[and let this shame any of you non-voters out there! if we can vote from China, you can vote in the US]

Moving on, it was wonderful to watch NU triumph in their homecoming match against Purdue. It looks like a bowl is very likely, which makes me both proud to see them succeed and sad that I am missing an excuse to go to Florida/Arizona/Texas this winter. Flying from Chengdu is not quite as economical as from Chicago. Oh well. Yeah 6-1! Go Cats!

In other news, there was a power outage this weekend. No storms or accidents - it seems that this was a planned outing. It went out Saturday early morning, so we were darkened already when I woke up. We stuck around the apartment most of the day before finally going to a friend's house who had power. It came back on shortly after we left, around 7. No big deal, right? Well, we woke up the next day to watch the NU game. At 7:45, we had just started the second half when...you guessed it, the power went out again. What timing! So we high-tailed it over to school to see the rest before scootering into town for International Fellowship. It came on again in the evening...around 7. Let's hope this doesn't happen too much once it REALLY gets cold.

Which reminds me, THE WEATHER. The rainy season seems to have ended - there has been very little of it lately. But the fluctuations are remarkable. Friday evening we sat outside at a tea house all night long with no jackets on, and it was very nice. Today, I shivered all through the school day. I could have turned my heat on, but why use the extra energy? I long for the days when I once had double-paned windows...

That's enough for now! Besides, I ran out of transition phrases and so I cannot start another paragraph. Until next time...

alan

Brrrr....a cold heart

Much of that cold heart comes from today's weather. The sun is shining, but it is clearly fall in Chengdu. The air is struggling to warm up, leaving a cool breeze to send shivers down my spine when I walk down the exposed hallway to copy some quizzes for 7th grade science. Though Rachel is "not worried anymore about the winter," I'm afraid. Very afraid.

I'm sure there is a nice school in the Caribbean I could have gone to instead...

But part of that is also coping with Northwestern's first loss of the season, to the rising power Michigan State. (MSU nationally ranked, and UofM losing to MAC teams....am I dreaming?) It was expected, but hard to see nonetheless.


Ah well. I blame it on my brother, who cast his support behind NU in an email to me this weekend.

"I hope all is well with you two. And that'd be pretty cool to see Northwestern win this weekend.

Phil

I figure that after all these years of supporting the Detroit Lions, he's the King Midas of football fans.  But what he's making sure isn't gold!! 

-alan

An artsy look at Xipu

(Zack - you took one of our pictures, so I figure this is fair game)

For those of you wanting to see a little more of the lovely little town we live in, here's your chance. To refresh your memories, we live in Xipu (shee-poo) which is a satellite town to the west of Chengdu. It's around a square mile in size, so we will come to know it well in the next two years.

Last weekend, our friend Zack was entertaining his visiting girlfriend. His favorite past time is taking scooter rides through Xipu, so they spent a good amount of time doing that. This is a video that shows you a bit of what you can see...

These Streets

-alan

A night at the opera

Tonight, we went into the 'Du for a night at the Sichuan opera. We got their an hour and a half before the show, so we had time to walk around the house and the mall it was attached to. Rachel tried her best to imitate the famous masks -


Do you think she nailed it?

We walked through a hallway with recreated scenes from old Chengdu carved into the walls. The detailing was quite amazing.


At the end of the hallway, we heard some loud honking - there was a small artificial pool and 2 big ugly geese. I didn't linger long enough to find out if the restaurant had fois gras on its menu.

We walked around for a bit - Rachel looked at shoes, but still no luck in finding anything worthwhile. What girl needs brown shoes, anyway?

Finally, it was time for the show. There is a connection between the opera and tea, so we sat at tables and sipped jasmine tea all evening. The tea is a show itself - the waiters serve tea from long-spouted pots so that they can perfectly aim the water from far distances. It is clearly important to the teahouse culture - take a look at this statue:

No, that's not a sword or a kung fu pose; it is a waiter serving tea.

So how was the show? From what I understand, Sichuan opera is unique from Beijing opera (which is known for its high-pitched, atonal singing). Though we did only see a shortened sample of an opera, it clearly was different. What we saw was more of a variety show - with music, dancing, and comedy. In all, it was quite enjoyable (and a good cultural experience!)

Here's a video of some of the ladies doing a dance - notice how they work that huge feather on their head!



There was also an amazing hand puppet show, where 2 women mimicked cats, dogs, songbirds, geese, rabbits, and people at various points. Words can't really do justice - but just imagine trying to use your hands to recreate 2 dogs chasing a rabbit, catching it, fighting each other for it, and the then eventualy devouring it whole.

But the most famous element of Sichuan opera is face changing - a lightning fast, on-stage swap of masks that display different colors and designs. I'm sure there is some deeper meaning to it, but I couldn't tell you what it was all about.

So despite being of a different culture and language, I enjoyed the night. It is worth going back for!

-alan

On pins and needles....

In a few short hours, NU will take on Michigan State in Evanston. It's a big game. We'll be up at 6AM tomorrow morning to watch the tape and see if they pulled the mild upset. 6-0 would be mighty exciting!!!

It's a big day for college football - Texas/Oklahoma and Florida/LSU will certainly be watched, at least in part, as well...

alan

Ranked again!!

Congrats to the Northwestern Wildcats football team, for their phenomenal start to the 2008 season! 5-0 sounds pretty good, that's for sure. I checked today, and to my delight the 'Cats showed up at #22 in the Coaches poll. This is the first time they have been ranked in the Fitzgerald era, and it feels good to see them doing well.

Why they had to wait until their loyal young alum season ticket holders left the country, I don't know...

But thankfully, we're taken care of. We've got a Slingbox, which is an ingenious little device that transmits American TV across the Pacific to our laptop. Now, because we splurged on a nice LCD TV, we can also hook up the laptop to it...and presto!


Go 'Cats! We'll be watching! (even if it means watching at 6am on Sunday....argh....)

-alan

apartment painting update

As you saw in a previous post, we were having our apartment painted. The bare chested, smoking painters are long gone and the apartment is nicely cleaned up. Here's a taste of the color palate -

This is an accent wall (and pillows) in the living room:


And this is our very, very green room. If anyone knows the psychology of green, please let us know...

The bedroom is light brown. Neutral. Not worth a picture.

We also added a little more accent to the living room this past weekend, because there was leftover paint. However, we opened the buckets and found that the painters had watered the pain down. (Why - I've still got NO clue. Seriously. Watered it down?) But the walls were taped off already and we had a half bucket of the stuff, so we figured, "why not?"

10 coats later (at least) it was done. Looks pretty darn good!

More pictures to come once we get our new artwork hung. Sounds simple enough, but we've got concrete walls so it is not as east as putting a nail in the wall...

-alan

Back from trip #2!

We just returned earlier today from our school staff retreat near Dujiangyan. We stayed at a nice resort away from the city - a big complex that included all types of fun activities like rock climbing, bowling, tennis, boating, etc. I liked the location!

We stayed in a faux-European section of the resort, which was complete with its own columns and statues.




[this was actually one of the more tasteful and appropriate statues in the place - think about ancient Greeks and let your imagination run wild]

We played around the hotel for the majority of the time, with the highlight being a fantastic game of ultimate frisbee. I'm a little sore today, I'm not afraid to admit!

We also had some serious time to talk about our school and its involvement with Earthquake relief. I helped play some music during this time. Perhaps I'll find some pictures, because I know they were taken. In all, it was a good balance. Exercise, sleep, food, meetings, and of course....

GAMES!


Unfortunately, neither Allmen triumphed in this game of Catan. Rachel sabotage my one good shot at victory a few rounds before the game ended....

Now we've got the rest of the week off for Chinese National Day. Tomorrow - Ikea. Time to finish decorating this place. The painting is done, and pictures will be posted on that soon as well.

-alan