Sheraton Dameisha Holiday Decorations

Upon my return to the Sheraton down here on the south China coast, it was cold and rainy (pretty much like the weather I left behind in Oregon); however, the hotel was fully decked out for the holidays.  It's almost like the best of both worlds since I get to see the decorations but don't have to hear the Christmas music playing everywhere I go (not that I really go anywhere besides the factory and the hotel).  I thought I'd share some pictures with all of you.

Christmas Tree with Hanukkah Lights

Santa(s) Climbing the Wall

Santa with his Reindeer

Massive Gingerbread House

It's ACTUALLY Gingerbread!

I leave you all with a gorgeous picture of the sunrise from my balcony this morning.

My Time in the States

I’ve been back in the states twice now since I first got to China in August, and it recently occurred to me that there is no real reason why I can only talk about traveling in Asia on this blog, so here goes…

Trip 1: 10/17-28

When I was back in October, I spent five days on each coast, first in Providence/New York, then in Portland.  The trip to the east coast was an unexpected treat as a thank-you from work for staying in China an extra few weeks.  Luckily, my time there coincided with a gorgeous fall weekend, and Ethan and I took the scenic route back from New York to Providence.  Here are a few pictures of the gorgeous fall leaves of New England along  the Merrit Parkway:

Back in Portland, my friends and I tried to cram as much hangout time as possible in five days.  It was a ton of fun, but definitely exhausting as well.  My most recent recipe for these long flights back to Portland is to stay up the entire night before I fly, so I can sleep on the plane.  I had been joking with my friends about staying up all night Saturday with me, but I never actually expected them to do it!  We weren’t all entirely successful, but it really meant a lot to me to have such an awesome group of friends to even try.

Friends Who Attempted to Stay Up with me: Note Francis is Actually Awake

On my flight back, I captured some pictures of the pollution in Beijing from the air.  Pretty nasty if you ask me…

Trip 2: 11/21-12/3

For my second trip back, I got to spend Thanksgiving with my entire family.  This was the first time that we were all in one place since my sister’s wedding in July 2011, and it was really nice to see everyone together.

From left to right, top to bottom: Grandma Judy, Hal (her boyfriend), Dad (Jeff), Stacie (Dad's fiance), Erin (sister), Jay (brother-in-law), Ethan, Mom (Marsha), Manny (brother), Sue (aunt), me, Heike (Sue's friend from Germany), and Pat (uncle/Sue's husband) 

Following my 5 days in New York, I spent a week in Portland, though I was unsure when I’d be leaving when I arrived.  During this time, some friends and I found a potential group house for when I return, and Caitlin* hosted a Christmas tree decorating party as my sendoff.  Again, all of my friends tried to stay up the night with me to keep me awake.  Unfortunately, this plan was foiled by United screwing me over the next day…more on that later.  It was really awesome to decorate a tree, as I hadn’t done so since I was a kid.  Thanks to Caitlin for making that happen!

Using a Makeshift Plumb Line to get the Tree Straight

Step One: Lights!

Tree Complete with Beer and Port Underneath

*Caitlin deserves a huge shout out as she is serving as my residence right now.  Not only does she collect and deal with my mail and packages, but she hosts me when I’m in town, cooks me food, plans gatherings, and is an all-around awesome friend!

On Sunday morning, after intentionally staying up all night, I went to the airport for my last round trip to China of my 6-month assignment.  I was supposed to be flying PortlandàSan FranciscoàHong Kong.  When I checked in, I was told the flight to SF was delayed and to keep an eye out to make sure I wouldn’t miss my connection.  Then it would be my decision to risk it, go to SF, and potentially have to spend the night or rebook the entire trip for the next day.

At the gate, when the flight delay changed from about half hour to over an hour, I got in line to talk to the agents (my layover was only 1.5 hours).  I was exhausted and ready to sleep, so standing in line itself took some effort.  When I got to the front, the agent said she could re-book on an itinerary that went PortlandàSeattleàTokyoàHong Kong and would only get me in two hours later than planned, so I went with it.

It wasn’t until I was on the flight to Seattle that I realized my new itinerary had a 20-minute layover in Seattle to get to the Tokyo flight.  We landed a few minutes early in Seattle, I was the first one off the plane, the gate to the Tokyo flight was right next-door, and I STILL didn’t get there in time.  They had closed the gate only a few minutes before I got there, the plane was still there, and I was livid.  The agents at the desk said that they are supposed to leave at least a 35-minute layover, and that United Express had to pay for me to stay overnight to fly out the next day…

After much discussion with the United Express agent, I decided to be flown back to Portland and then resume the entire route the next day (I am currently on a plane to Tokyo writing this).  Unfortunately, I was told my bag had taken the San Francisco route, so I didn’t have my clothes with me.  As it turns out, my bag WAS actually in Seattle, so I probably could have gotten it and taken it back with me if I’d been given proper information.

I guess one should expect at least one issue with flights when I’m doing this much travelling…

On the plus side, this re-booking means that I am awake and not sleeping on this flight (I couldn’t stay up two nights in a row), so you all get a bunch of blog updates.

On to my last 6 weeks in China before my glorious return to Portland… 

The Much-Hyped Hangzhou Post

I guess I have left you all in suspense long enough, so here goes the Hangzhou post I’ve been talking about writing for almost a month now.  You all can thank United for screwing up my travel plans, which is now leaving me awake on my flight to type this up…

I went to Hangzhou about a month ago to visit my friend Kevin Reitz and participate in a hat tournament* there, which he was organizing along with some other local players.

*hat tournament- a tournament where you pick teams by pulling names out of a hat.  In most cases, players are placed in different groups by skill first so that the teams are somewhat equal, so, for example, each team gets 5 really experienced players, 4 somewhat experienced, and 3 brand new to the game.  Men and women are also picked separately.

Some background on Kevin:

He was the very first friend I met in Beijing when I first showed up in 2008.  I got to China on a Saturday afternoon and showed up to play in a hat tournament to kick off Beijing’s summer league the next morning.  Kevin was the first to greet me, and we have been friends ever since.  He had only been in China a couple of months and came with little Mandarin abilities, but eager to learn.  He had also thoroughly explored Beijing in that time, so we were a good pair: he showed me new places, I spoke/taught him Mandarin.  He has been living in China ever since (approaching 5 years), and he met the love of his life, Esther, playing Ultimate (of course!) out here.  They are now married and have a beautiful son who is just about two months old.  Kevin is also my blog inspiration, as he keeps his up much better than I do.  Here’s a link with pictures of his adorable son and wife.

I took a Friday off to head down to Hangzhou early and spend some time seeing the city, which I had heard so much about.  I arrived late Thursday night and was picked up by Kevin’s father-in-law.  Esther’s parents live just outside of Hangzhou, and Kevin, Esther, and baby Jordan were staying there as part of a Chinese tradition following childbirth called zuo yue zi.  It’s basically a month of rest after giving birth, but here's what Kevin wrote about it:  "Esther is doing her Zuo Yue Zi, which translates to "sitting out a month". Not just common in China, it's a necessity. Here are two different perspectives on it, both very interesting."

Interesting note about Esther’s parents’ house: it’s a rather massive house in a otherwise somewhat industrial area.  Her family was given the land a long time ago by the government when they moved to the city, and then they were forced by the government to basically knock down the old house and replace it with a much nicer one to match its surroundings a few years back or risk losing the property.  Now they have a gorgeous house in an industrial area that they can’t sell, but will remain in the family, being passed from generation to generation.

Since Esther couldn’t go out, Kevin and I ventured into the actual city of Hangzhou the following afternoon.  The city is centered on a massive lake called “West Lake,” which everything else radiates out from.  In my afternoon with Kevin, we walked around the lake, and then he took me to an area that’s kind of like the hutongs of Hangzhou, but a bit more modern looking.  The reason I have psyched you all up about Hangzhou is really for its beauty, so I won’t bore you with many more words…

West Lake

Gotta Love the Willows

Some Cool Walking Paths Along the Edge of the Lake

Hotel on the Edge of the Lake

Band Playing Around the Lake

Gondolas You Can Take as Water Taxis

Dancing Around the Lake

Squirrel Feeding Ground

Really Cool Tree, for Climbing Perhaps?

Other Cool Tree to Sit In?

Hutong-Like Streets in Hangzhou 

Plate Carving

Beggar's Chicken

These are all Made from Bamboo

Buddha of Buddhas!

Kevin Selecting/Posting Teams

Friday evening, a few more friends from Beijing showed up, and we had a delicious dinner of local Hangzhou food before heading to the registration/team-drawing party.  I was rather impressed that they ACTUALLY drew names from a hat.  It was a lot of fun, particularly watching all the local players’ reactions to which team they were on (I didn’t actually know most of the players).

Saturday morning, we embarked on the scariest car ride of my life (maybe second to doing a 180 on I-95 back in 2008).  Kevin was driving his father-in-law’s car, and his teammate who we had picked up told us to just go straight on this one road to get to the fields.  The road turns out to be underneath some major raised highway construction, and since a concern for safety kind of goes out the window in China frequently, there was essentially highway construction going on above us the entire route.  Here’s a list of some things we encountered:

• constant potholes, changes in road surface, ditches, etc…
• cranes lifting up rebar over our heads onto the raised highway
• cranes pouring cement over our heads onto the highway

Needless to say, we were all praying for our safety the whole drive, and I kind of felt like we were in a video game with all the swerving around potholes and such.  Later on that day, we found out there was a highway we could have taken to get there in about 30 minutes instead of spending an hour on the road of death…

Kevin as Jack Sparrow

The tournament was entitled the “Hangzhou Halloween Hangover Hat,” and so for the party (as all tournaments in Asia are costumed), the theme was open to interpretation.  Some people came in full Halloween costumes and some people in what they would be wearing the day after Halloween when hungover, i.e. still partially in costume or in some sort of pajamas.  Kevin did an AMAZING job of being Jack Sparrow, a costume that has circulated the Ultimate team in Beijing.  The tournament party ended surprisingly early, which meant that we all actually got sleep Saturday night (quite unusual for an Ultimate tourney).

As for the tournament itself, I was quite impressed with the players, skill level, and team distribution.  This was probably the most fun I’ve ever had at a hat tournament.  I really enjoyed playing with everyone on my team, and I made a whole bunch of new friends.  I also personally felt like I played pretty well all weekend, and though we didn’t win (lost in the semi-finals), I did come away with an awesome bruise from being cleated.  I consider myself lucky that it was just a bruise and she didn’t step on me closer to my knee itself, which could have done some major damage.

My Awesome Cleat Bruise

Sunday night, it was back to Shenzhen with me, but the weekend had been exactly what I wanted it to be.  A huge thank you goes out to Kevin for showing me around and organizing the tournament while caring for a newborn.  I hope to be back to visit in my future travels to China.

Cheers from the Philippines!

I know I promised you all an awesome post about Hangzhou, but I haven't quite gotten around to it yet.  I've pretty much been working 10-12 hour days in the factory ever since I got back, and sleep is my number one priority when I get home; yes, I now refer to the Sheraton (whichever one I am in) as "home."
I will actually update you about Hangzhou probably when I get back to the states, but for now, I'll tell you a bit about my adventures of the past few days...

Monday morning, I went on an adventure to the Beijing University Shenzhen Hospital to pick up some medication.  Though everything was actually pretty efficient, it still took 3.5 hours from leaving the hotel to making it back to the factory (Shenzhen city is actually the opposite direction of the factory from our hotel, and it was rush hour).

Brightly Colored Medication from the Chinese Hospital

I was relieved to have my prescription, though I was a bit unsure about it since it required me to take 14 pills instead of the usual 1 pill, and the pills were rather brightly colored (turns out this is what they are supposed to look like).  Surprisingly, the whole trip, taxis, registration, and medication included, only cost about 700RMB (~$112).

Monday night, not really feeling better, I phoned my dad to confirm that I was taking the right thing.  It turns out that what I was taking was actually a different, somewhat weaker drug than the stronger stuff that my prescription was actually for, but he said it should work fine.

Rash on Forearms

Tuesday morning, I woke up to find a rash on my legs.  Assuming it was just heat rash, I continued on with my day; however, after lunch, the rash had spread to my entire body.  Since I am already covered in spots, you couldn't really see it unless you looked at the inside of my forearms (still not sure if you can really tell in this picture).  It's basically just small red dots, and it wasn't itchy, but quite disconcerting.

I got back in touch with the doctor I saw, and she suggested to stop taking the meds she gave me and take some benadryl.  I have pretty much been taking benadryl every four hours or so since then, and the rash is slowly disappearing.

I did not get much sleep Tuesday night as I had to get up at about 4am to check out of the hotel and head to the Hong Kong airport to come here (to the Philippines).  Of course, I would first have any health problems in China as soon as I am going on vacation...

I was a bit weary about coming here with a rash and an infection, but I was hopeful that I could get it taken care of before I start playing Ultimate on Friday.

A driver, recommended by a co-worker, picked me up at the hotel at 5am in a car with right side steering (how they drive in Hong Kong).  It was a bit strange to be driving on the ride side of the road AND steering from the right side of the car, but I guess that's what happens in an area so close to Hong Kong.  He gave me the proper papers to sign, and then drove me straight through immigration and to the airport in about an hour (I was told it would take AT LEAST 1.5-2).  I didn't even have to get out of the car at immigration; he just opened the door and had me look at the guy.  I'm still working on understanding how the roads switch sides after the border crossing.

When I got to the Philippines, it was of course rather hot and humid, but I was (and still am) stoked to be on vacation.  Getting a taxi was rather interesting because your options are:

1. Pay a set fare that's way over-priced and leave immediately (I was offered anywhere from about 500 to 800 pesos, $12-20)
2. Wait in line for about 20 minutes for metered taxis (costs about 200 pesos, $5)

I initially agreed to pay 530, not wanting to wait in line, but after the driver realized her car couldn't go where I needed to go, and they started making me wait for a new car, I decided I may as well wait in the taxi line.  It's not like I REALLY had anywhere to be.

I got to the hotel and checked in to my rather small room at the tourney hotel that I will be sharing with two others later on in the week. The hotel is super cheap, costing only $20/night. One friend is planning to sleep on the floor, and I'm curious to see exactly where.

Tune Hotel Makati

My first goal was to obtain my medication, which was amazingly easy, and only cost $15.  I proceeded to buy myself a beer to celebrate, which cost <$1, and then get lost trying to find my way back to the hotel.  Makati City is not so easy to navigate, and I don't have a phone to depend on here.

After successfully making it back to the hotel, I went out to lunch with my friend Amy, and then we met up with Leigh and Baby Girl (that's his nickname) to head to the Mall of Asia. There is an ice rink right in the middle of the first floor, and we stood on the second floor watching it for awhile.

Ice Rink in the Mall of Asia

We then wandered in to the Lush store, where one of the employees had me play this game below.  I closed my eyes, she spun the color pallet thing, and then I had to open them and choose the first three colors that jumped out at me.  I believe the result is as follows:

Game I Played at the Lush Store

 1st pick (feeling secure)- this is supposedly my biggest worry or concern right now
2nd pick (success)- this is supposedly at the back of my mind (perhaps because I just left the factory for vacation?)
3rd pick (in charge)- this is a big strength of mine

Surprisingly accurate I think...

After a bit more wandering, we had some dinner and headed back to the hotel to sleep, which I am so excited to do in about 20 minutes.  I leave you all with the amazing view of the sunset over the Manila Bay from the 2nd floor terrace of the Mall of Asia.

Sunset over the Manila Bay viewed from the Mall of Asia Terrace

P.S. Please offer comments on the new formatting.  I spent way too long working on it tonight...

Er Gong Park and Tianjin Round Robin

I was all excited to tell you all about my awesome weekend in Hangzhou when I looked back through my posts and realized that I never posted about my day-trip into Tianjin before I even returned to the states.  Seeing as I don't have a ton of time to write these posts these days, this one and the one about Hangzhou will (hopefully) be mostly visual.  Here's a brief recap of my day in Tianjin (that would be the actual city of Tianjin):

Er Gong Park

I took the light rail, which is about a 10-minute walk from the Sheraton, into Tianjin.  Despite Google telling me it would take an hour and a half, it actually took about 50 minutes.  This gave me some time to wander before meeting the Beijing and Tianjin Ultimate teams for our round robin (basically a mini tournament where everyone plays everyone).  I wandered around Er Gong park before finding Er Gong stadium (where we were playing), which was confusingly NOT in Er Gong park.  The park, however, was quite pretty, so I took a bunch of pictures.

Driving Range in the Park

Here are two couples on the Ultimate team for comparison.  I'll let you decide which couple appears to have more energy (this is before we even started playing).

Leigh and Baby Girl Napping 

Joe and Amy Fake Fighting

Full Photo of All Participants

After the round robin, our teams went to a restaurant together to eat, drink, and be merry.  The costume theme (because there is ALWAYS a costume theme at tournaments in Asia for some reason) was "tight  'n bright,"which basically means lots of brightly colored spandex (something I seem to own a lot of).

Chase Finishing off the Corn

Chinese Guy Photographing the "Crazy Foreigners"

Some Teammates Show off their Tight and Bright Attire

Post party, I took the train back to Tianjin while the rest of the Beijing team took a party bus back to Beijing.  At the time, I was sad to leave them all, but it was definitely worth it to FINALLY get a day to sleep in at the hotel, particularly since I had a free massage awaiting me the following afternoon :D