Madness in the Middle Kingdom

On The Road Again

2010-01-10T15:12:00.002+08:00

Well not physically on the road again (but we will be in a few weeks). This blog is MOVING YET AGAIN.

The new (well actually old/original) blog can be found by clicking this link. If you want to type it in yourself then the address is
http://mabrown.blogsome.com

Reason for the switch??
I used to be on blogsome and then it got blocked. Blogspot was recommended as one that was not being blocked in China but lo and behold after a few months of pain free blogging at this site it too was blocked.

The silver lining in this cloud is that blogsome is now unblocked so I am going back to the original site. If I get time I will try to port this site over to the new one.

I am not going to play the jump around game anymore and will remain at blogsome for the foreseeable future (even if it gets blocked again).

Happy Birthday Pops!

2010-01-07T21:52:00.001+08:00

At your age (which shall remain a secret) you should get to do a lot more of this

Enjoy the cheaper insurance!

Track #24

2010-01-06T21:32:00.002+08:00

Our car stereo is able to use a memory card (SD to be exact) as well as a CD to play music. I put quite a few songs on for the boys to keep them somewhat occupied while Alice negotiates Chinese traffic. I also had put some songs on for Alice for her grade 1 class to play a "freeze" game. She wanted some fast paced upbeat music and so song #24 is none other than "The Ballroom Blitz" by Sweet from 1973. The boys LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this song and that's all they let us play. They keep saying "Er Shi Si Hao" which is #24 in Chinese.

Enjoy

Baby It's Cold Outside

2010-01-03T22:07:00.002+08:00

Here is the weather report for the next week in our fair city of Dalian.

Apparently northern China is being hit with a winter storm that is the worst in decades. In Beijing and Tianjin the middle and elementary schools are closed tomorrow.
Here is a shot of people waiting to get into a Beijing subway station

We'll bundle up and hope for the best tomorrow. Now let Dino and Doris Day tell you what you can do when it's cold outside.

Simply Had a Wonderful Christmas Time

2009-12-28T22:51:00.002+08:00

The boys were pretty excited about the jolly old elf's visit and had been looking forward to it the entire month of December. Christmas morning arrived and when the clock struck 5:30 AM the boys were up and dancing around yelling "Santa came!" We wasted no time and got right into the thick of it. Got mom and dad on Skype to watch the boys open their gifts. Marshall couldn't bear to watch as it still was only Christmas Eve in Canada and Santa had yet to arrive.

By 7 AM the gifts were done and that's when Carter looked out his window and yelled in delight "Mama xia xuele!" which is Chinese for "Mom it's snowing!". Our first snowfall of the year arrived on Christmas day .. how poetic was that. Breakfast in the form of French Toast, Bacon and Scrambled Eggs followed. Then the real fun began .. playing with the new Wii we bought ourselves. Hard to tell who the real children were that day.

Carter's Candy Cane

2009-12-22T21:39:00.002+08:00

The fam spent some quality time colouring together tonight. Carter is showing some serious talent with this candy cane he coloured. His colouring and cutting are better than mine. I'm going back to preschool.

Santa's Big Scene

2009-12-20T08:32:00.004+08:00

Once again as Christmas approaches Santa is busily making toys and gifts for all the good boys and girls in this world including those living in China. He is never too busy, however, to take time to stop by our little suburb of Kai Fa Qu and visit our children. Yesterday we got word the jolly old elf was headed our way so we bundled up and headed down to La Provence - Kai Fa Qu's premiere and only French restaurant. We had a great breakfast buffet with loads o' coffee and watched the excitement build among the little ones. Santa arrived with a bag full of toys and somehow managed to know exactly what each one wanted. Truly amazing

Santa purveying the scene

Nathan bolted up when his name was called. He was very happy indeed

The boy and his toys

What a beautiful picture. Carter was the second to last kid to get his turn on Santa's knee but he waited patiently like a trooper. He kept reminding his mama to take his picture when he got up to Santa and was worried she would forget.

WrestleMania Dalian - WinterSlam

2009-12-20T08:27:00.002+08:00

This past weekend we had a visit from Santa in our fair city of Dalian. Prior to his arrival the kids were very excited as you can imagine. To channel his energy Nathan and his best buddy Brendan entertained the adults with a little display of the art of wrestling.

Say It Ain't So Tony!

2009-12-16T21:27:00.002+08:00

I just read in the Vancouver Sun (of course online .. you don't think we get the Vancouver Sun in China do you?) .. anyway .. I just read that after 35 years with Global (formerly BCTV) that Tony Parson is calling it quits. The final one of the Big Three of broadcasting from my youth is leaving. The Big Three consisted of Tony Parsons, Bernie Pascall, and Norm Grohman.

I grew up with Tony Parsons as THE voice of news in our household. Truly the end of an era. Gretzky retires in 1999 and now Tony in 2009. What will 2019 bring?

Tony with Jack "9 AM precisely" Webster

Mama and Son

2009-12-16T21:07:00.002+08:00

Nathan got a little personal time with his Mama so that she could help him with an activity workbook. Carter is usually honing in on the action but this particular day he decided to leave well enough alone. What can I say but "cute eh?"

Deck The Tree with Bows of Holly

2009-12-10T21:53:00.002+08:00

The Brown-Ma tree went up last week and it was a raving success. This is one of Carter's favourite activities and it is great to watch the joy in his face. Nathan is starting to get into it more and more as well. You'll notice that I get out of decking the tree by being the "official" photographer.

I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas

2009-12-08T23:13:00.001+08:00

Super catchy .. now I want a hippopotamus for Christmas.

Mmmm ....

2009-12-08T22:04:00.003+08:00

Picked up this lovely bit 'o tea whilst in Shanghai a few weekends back. Can't get enough. Would love to blog more about its wonderful rich aroma and taste but I'm off to make my second cup.

Cheerio.

Christmas

2009-12-05T07:17:00.002+08:00

The beginning of the Christmas starts a slew of Christmas posts. The first goes out to mom whose favourite Christmas song is Little Drummer Boy (am I right?)

The Far Side

2009-12-01T20:35:00.002+08:00

In 1986 I attended UBC for the first time and for the first time read a newspaper other than the Quesnel Cariboo Observer. It was The Province which I know is a tabloid .. whatever! I read it was because the sports section was superior to the Vancouver Sun. Anyway in that newspaper I saw, for the first time, The Far Side cartoon by Gary Larson. I was instantly hooked. His nutty, twisted take on life struck a chord. The first cartoon I read was this one

God as a kid tries to make a chicken in his room

I lived in "res" (Okanagan House in Place Vanier) and as such shared a bathroom with 17 other guys. One day while using the urinal I realized how mindnumbingly boring that procedure is (staring at tile walls). I thought others might have been just as bored so I cut The Far Side out of the paper each day and taped it to the wall above the urinal. It was a smash hit and while I didn't command a great deal of respect this was enough to raise my rank among the second and third year students.

The Far Side ran from 1980 to 1995 after which Gary Larson went into retirement as he felt he was getting stale. I did not share this opinion. I miss it and if Gary is reading this I am sure that enough time has past that there are fresh ideas.

I think possibly the most famous of all his cartoons is this one

How can you not love it? If you don't then get an application to Midvale.

Carter and Nathan's Room

2009-11-24T18:18:00.002+08:00

In the continuing cARTer series the latest creation is a drawing of the boys room.

First the model

Now the drawing

He has an eye for colour to be sure. In the middle is the window with clouds, sun and a bird. He drew his bed with the red bedspread but we are unclear as to the reason for the fish swimming in his room. The fish are Dory and Nemo in case you were wondering.

Geeky Gathering

2009-11-17T21:52:00.002+08:00

This little piece of technology is the TI-83 produced by Texas Instruments. The Math 12 program in BC requires a graphing calculator be used on the provincial exam and we have been using TI-83+ at our school for 10 years now. So why am I writing about it now? Glad you asked.

Tomorrow I and another staff member depart for Shanghai to attend the CaoYang No.2 High School Math Conference and TI Workshop 2009. 2 days of sharing how many geeky things you can do with this calculator to better the teaching of students. Yup .. should be a real humdinger. Actually I'm kind of excited by it and 2 days in Shanghai is nothing to sneeze at.

By the way if you don't have one of these technical marvels there are still some things you can do with a regular calculator that will amaze and wow your friends.

I'm A Nut

2009-11-17T21:50:00.002+08:00

Heard this song on my nephew Marshall's Ipod this summer. Been humming it off and on ever since.

Catchy Tune of the Day

2009-11-12T22:55:00.001+08:00

With all due respect to Eric Idle of Monty Python fame I give you Clint Black's rendition of The Galaxy Song.

A Picture of Daddy

2009-11-12T22:37:00.001+08:00

Carter drew this picture of me (and clouds and grass) at school last week. It's pretty cool to know that your kids do think of you once in a while.

Ao Te Man!

2009-11-12T22:27:00.002+08:00

Ao Te Man is how the Chinese pronounce Ultraman - a Japanese sci-fi collection of superheroes. Carter and Nathan are absolutely fixated with every Ultraman character (they are many Di Jia, Cai Wen, etc) and they know all the moves. They spend most nights watching UM and then choreographing fight scenes. There is the occasional cry from Nathan as Carter simply refuses to be any of the monster characters (Guai Shou) but for the most part it occupies them for hours.

For Halloween (yeah I haven't updated in awhile eh?) they both had to be Ao Te Man characters ... as posted on Craig's blog here it was a great event but mind numbingly cold and by the end of the hour of trick or treating many kids refused to leave the warmth of the car.
My Ultramen

Hooked On Phonics!

2009-10-28T22:58:00.002+08:00

Ok .. everyone tells you how wonderful parenthood is and "they" always talk about the joys of watching your children learn and grow. I never paid much attention to prior to having children but "they" were right.

Carter has been curious about reading for a long while now (about a year) but tonight was the first breakthrough moment (like on Star Trek when they made First Contact with the Vulcans). He knows his alphabet and the sounds of all the letters. He's learned to spell words like his name and several superheroes and he can write anything he can spell. All very cool things and I loved watching each of those skills develop BUT tonight he figured out how to sound out words. NOTHING has been as cool as that moment was tonight.

We had just started reading Bambi Grows Up. He opened the book and pointed at the word 'deep' and asked how to read it. He asked what sound does 'e' make. I had to tell him the sound of 'ee' and then he slowly put it all together. When he read the word he didn't even know what he had said. It was a beautiful moment and we were both so happy and excited we hollered for Alice to come and see his new talent. With much prompting he read 'Bambi' 'Grows' and 'Up'. He needed much less prompting for 'Jack' and 'and'. I had to tell him what 'the' was and I think 'beanstalk' was a bit much for me to hope for.

I'm verklempt.

Pumpkins

2009-10-26T21:39:00.002+08:00

Alice and the kids along with the Defieuxs and the Englesons ventured out in the countryside for a second consecutive weekend. This trip wasn't for apples but pumpkins. With Halloween fast approaching it has become something of a tradition to venture forth to farming villages to buy pumpkins. The procedure is simple enough. Find a small community/village/neighbourhood and ask if they have pumpkins for sale. Most do at this time of the year and they are only too willing to part with them for the requisite $$. I can only imagine they stories they tell around the dinner table about the van of foreigners that pulled up with kids in tow seeking to buy pumpkins.

For a second straight weekend I didn't join the group as walking around the countryside on crutches just isn't that much fun. I did it last year but this year I've just struggled and laboured a bit more with them and elected to stay home. I am not sure if it was the right decision .. it certainly wasn't a happy one but I think it was necessary. Well enough self-pity .. the pics.

I contributed to the venture in the only way I can which is to carve the pumpkins with the boys. Carter took his turn at the knife and did a pretty good job for the most part. Nathan "had a stab at it" so to speak but I've decided he can wait a year before trying again.

The first one we carved was a simple Ultraman face. Next up?? Keep checking back.

An Apple A Day

2009-10-22T19:38:00.002+08:00

Last weekend the family set out to the Chinese countryside to pick fresh apples. Unfortunately traipsing around the countryside on crutches is not very enjoyable and I opted out on a cool activity. Nathan asked me "How come you always stay home?" Alice and the kids were in good company however as they were joined by the Englesons and the Moshers for what looked like a beautiful day. Carter made sure to pick the biggest, shiniest and juiciest apple for me (or so he says) which warmed this father's heart.

Never Assume

2009-10-21T21:44:00.002+08:00

Cause as the old line goes you make and ass out of u and an ass out of me.

On that note I give you "The Assumption Song"

Where The Wild Things Are

2009-10-19T21:52:00.003+08:00

Some memories of childhood are so pervasive that even through the hazy looking glass of a life that has been lived they are crystal clear.

Grade 2 Ms. (or Mrs.) Bunnell's Grade 2 class as we looked through the Scholastic book order with as much anticipation as the Sears Christmas catalogue. The Scholastic catalogue was a cornucopia of all the goodness that books had to offer a young child. I am not sure when I lost the passion (or maybe I just have less time) but when I was young I loved to read. Sure it was mostly comic books but just books in general especially new ones were particularly exciting. In Ms. Bunnell's class was when I saw the writeup and the front page graphic for one of the most well known children's books of all time, "Where The Wild Things Are."

What a beautiful book. A timeless classic written in 1963 by Maurice Sendak. He reportedly based the creatures in the book on relatives that would come over for weekly dinners. That makes it even more charming.

The movie adaptation by Spike Jonze was released this week and I for one am clamouring to see it. Hopefully our local cinema in Dalian takes pity and decides to show this one in English. I'd love love love to take the boys.

Lavender Bath

2009-10-12T00:32:00.002+08:00

When you are on crutches the daily shower gets replaced with the (hopefully) daily bath. We should all take the time to slow down and enjoy a good hot bath now and then. Unfortunately until the stitches come out I am forced to drape one leg out of the tub but soon (Tuesday) the stitches are gone and I am going to enjoy this small luxury.

The bath is THE ONLY GOOD THING about being on crutches and nothing says bath like the soothing smell of lavender bath salts and bubble bath. Yes I am secure enough in my masculinity to admit that it's lavender all the way for me.

Cheers

Tibial Nail

2009-10-08T20:23:00.002+08:00

This past week I entered in the Kai Fa Qu #3 Hospital to have the rod/nail (both terms are used) that was holding my broken bones together removed. It was held in place by several screws and as fate would have it one of them was broken. Bone had grown enough to hold it in place so I was unaware it had even happened.

The complications of the broken screw turned a 30 minute surgery into a 2 hour affair. Essentially an extra hole was drilled into my ankle to reach the broken piece and it was tapped out of the newly drilled hole. After all screws were removed the kneecap and patellar tendon were moved aside and the rod/nail was pulled from my tibia. I was fortunate to be able to keep the hardware and have brought it into my classes for show and tell.

I put a CD beside it to give a size reference.
Note the broken screw.

One more month on crutches to allow some bone to fill in the screw holes left behind and I should be back to walking in no time.

Carter

2009-10-02T10:54:00.002+08:00

Time for another update of one of the children .. this time its Carter. This morning he woke me up and asked if I wanted to see a drawing of a hot air balloon. Naturally I said yes and he trucked off to the easel and drew this.

While he may not be a Picasso he has reached another mental development stage - drawing from memory something which he has not been shown how to draw.

He has taken a keen interest in Math since he was very young which of course makes his Math teacher father very happy. Below is some of his work.
This first page he did mentally (without using any manipulatives like rocks, cubes or even fingers).

This next page was difficult for him but he chose the page to do and we let him do his thing. He first started using hangers from the clothes rack as countable objects but when he realized he didn't have enough he switched to Pogs (or kapian in Chinese).

And perhaps 11-1 is 16 in another form of mathematics. He said he was trying to write 10 but got mixed up.

It's very interesting to watch the young minds develop along the paths they do.

The Operation

2009-09-26T04:42:00.003+08:00

I check into the hospital on Sunday and hopefully go back again on Tuesday or Wednesday to have this removed from my leg.

This will put me on crutches for a month but supposedly it won't be too bad according to the fine medical professionals at the #3 Hospital. I'm hoping this will put the whole thing to rest.

A New Car!

2009-09-19T07:17:00.002+08:00

You're the next contestant on The Price is Right. I loved seeing the people's joy when they find out the prize they are playing for was a new car.

We had much the same level of excitement here last week when we took possession of our new (well .. new to us) car! Yes it is official we are officially "keeping up with the Zhangs" so to speak. After several weeks of searching and deliberating we are now the proud owners of a 2002 Volkswagen Jetta. It's pretty exciting but those that have witnessed Chinese traffic know we have a steep learning curve ahead of us. Chinese traffic can be summed up as "a bicycle mentality behind the wheel of a car." Will keep you posted on our adventures with that.

Here are the pics

And for those that have never driven in China here is my wife's hometown in winter 2004

A Day Out

2009-09-13T23:03:00.002+08:00

Ventured out to the new campus of our school for a day with friends. Carter tagged along and had some friends of his own to play with. He proved to be a good hitter in T-Ball but catching needs a bit of work. A friend was kind enough to snap these beautiful photos

Nathan needed his afternoon nap so he went shopping with his Mama instead of making the trek.

Ma Jiang 麻將

2009-09-13T08:29:00.002+08:00

Last night Alice and I along with the Englesons had adults night out. Did we go to a bar? Dancing? A movie? No.. when in China do as the Chinese do .. we went to a tea house and rented a room to play Ma Jiang (麻將). In North America it is called Mahjong. I'm not talking about the solitaire type computer game .. that is not even closely related to the real game.

Ma Jiang is played by 4 players around a table. You get 13 (or sometimes 16) tiles of various values and various suits. A remaining wall (the Chinese are fascinated with their walls) of tiles stays in the middle for you to draw from. Here is a game in progress.

As I've described the basic play is very similar to most card games. The tiles make all the difference though. There is something cool about handling those tiles that a card hand can never achieve. The sound they make when "shuffling" them is pretty cool as well.

The set pictured above is very similar to the one we use. Although there are a few tiles I don't recognize.

There are many variations on the game but the basic idea is similar to each variation. In our variation to win you have to have four melds (3 of a kind, 4 of a kind or "run" of 3)in addition to 1 pair. The total is thus 14 tiles (13 in your hand plus the 14th one required to complete all the melds). There are additional requirements
1) One of them MUST be a 3 or 4 of a kind.
2) You must have a 1 OR 9 in one of your melds or pair.
There are other small intricacies about how you draw these tiles but that is the general idea.

The first to go out collects money from everyone else based on some very complicated schemes which always seem to leave me paying much more than everyone else (ie. dealer pays double if they lose, you pay double if you give the winning tile etc).

It looks remarkably complex when you first start to play and there are times when you think you might never get it. We found that after 3 or 4 games we were proficient enough to play but were very slow compared to the Chinese.

I'm hooked .. plain and simple.

To Live - Huo Zhe 活者

2009-09-09T00:34:00.003+08:00

One of the most beautiful movies I have ever seen is a Chinese film called Huo Zhe (活者) which means "To Live" or "Lifetimes". It chronicles the story of a couple (Fu Gui and Jia Zhen) as they "live" through the various ages of China's 20th century. The story follows their lives from the 40's through to the Cultural Revolutionary times of the 1970's. The cinematography, the music, the characters and the story weave together to form a fascinating tale. Not sure if you can rent it at a store near you but it is possible to watch it in its entirety on YouTube (part by part of course). Watch the sample below.

Hi

2009-09-07T06:24:00.002+08:00

Well ..haven't posted in awhile but life has still been going on.

We have moved to a new campus at my teaching job and moved from 50 minute to 75 minute classes. These big changes have kept me pretty busy workwise.

The kids are back in school and are now there full days. We are hoping to start swimming lessons for them this month but that awaits to be seen.

We have started "kicking the tires" in terms of looking at buying a used car. Promises to be a fun adventure and I will keep updating our progress.

All I have to offer today is a picture of Nathan and his friend Brendan showing off the latest art project they did in school.

Maybe He Shoulda Wore A Helmet

2009-08-26T19:20:00.002+08:00

Upon our return to China several of us have commented on the difference in our cultures when it comes to safety. China is at the end of the spectrum where very little attention is paid to safety and Darwinism is allowed to run its course. Canada is at the other end of the spectrum where our safety requirements and regulations almost hamper the society. In either event I am sure that neither country warns against putting small mechanical motor cars on your head however if you do this might happen to you . . .

Nathan's hair was inextricably wound around the rear axle of the car and no amount of twisting and turning would free it. In the end we had to cut it free. He found no where near as funny as we did.

Just to be safe we are going to put a helmet on him 24/7

Thanks A Million!

2009-08-21T11:12:00.002+08:00

We probably don't say it often enough but we love you. The whole fam damily wants to thank you both for putting us up and putting up with us for the whole summer. We always wish we could stay longer and there seems there is never enough time but we appreciate the time we do get to spend together.

We are sorry for invading your room and your privacy but you were a great host kid! Your cousins love you and miss you and I certainly miss swordfighting on the Wii. Look out though we are probably going to get one for Christmas and I am going to practice a lot! Alice looks forward to playing 31 for loonies next year!

Love to you all
Darren, Alice, Carter and Nathan

World Pipe Band Champions!

2009-08-16T15:00:00.002+08:00

For the 6th time Simon Fraser University's Pipe Band has won the World Pipe Band Championships in Scotland. Take that ya redhaired, haggis eating bahstarrrrd sods!

As Leonard Cohen might say
First we take curling
Then we taking Piping

CandyLand

2009-08-16T14:23:00.002+08:00

Marshall was a great cousin and babysat Nathan while we were at the pool so that I could enjoy some relaxing time in the hot tub. His reward? $$$$? Well .. not exactly. A trip to the Candy Store just up the road where he purchased candy with reckless abandon. A nice couple with a 4 year old boy run this CandyStore (affectionately called CandyLand in our household) on their private property.

They have all flavours of candy both new and throwbacks to the 19th century. I felt like the Olsen kids on Little House on the Prairie just stuffing my hands in the jars and gobbing mouthfuls of candy.

They have put up a few displays on the property that you can pose beside. Here are the posers.

The store has been open for years but then closed down as the original propietors sold the property. The new owners had no intention of running a business and were merely looking for a place to call home. They underestimated the popularity of the joint and the first weekend they moved in they had 25 cars stop in looking for candy. Thus it has now become their life. And we were glad for that tonight.

A Boy and His Grampa

2009-08-13T15:10:00.002+08:00

Carter was tired, cranky and beyond consoling prior to this picture being taken. What changed the mood? An ice cream cone and sitting in the La-Z-Boy with his Grampa.

Sleep followed not longer after . . . . . ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Gymkhana 2009

2009-08-13T14:56:00.002+08:00

My 9 year old niece Natasha has a passion for riding horses (it's part of the bigger picture of her love for animals) so like last summer we watched her perform at Gymkhana. She did 2 events: 'slalom' through poles and barrel racing. While it would be cruel to call the horse she rides "GlueStick" it wouldn't be far from the truth. She does a great job of controlling him and getting what she can out of the horse.

Marshall, Carter and Nathan had a great time riding as my brother walked the horse around. Nathan is pretty pumped about owning a horse now. Great! Some pics and vids.

The Spruce Capital of BC

2009-08-11T13:12:00.004+08:00

This past weekend the Ma-Brown clan travelled to Prince George to visit some longtime friends who used to live in Dalian as well as a family that is still there. Carter and Nathan loved making new acquaintances and revitalizing old ones. We loved just hanging out listening to great tunes, drinking great coffee, sipping good wine and enjoying some good conversation. Totally relaxing and worth every minute.

The great thing about this pic is that all 4 of them are hunkered around a 7" portable DVD player while half a room away there was the coolest BENQ projector system with full wall screen. We tried to sell the big screen but they clearly liked the intimacy of the small one.

I mentioned listening to great tunes but neglected to mention that we listened only to stacks of vinyl on a retro Toshiba system with funky turntable. It was so great to hear music with the rich full tones that only a turntable can provide. The first album up was this one

Reading the album covers was almost as much fun as listening to the music. I loved the fact that this was dug out of storage and so had a great musty smell as well as the requisite unidentifiable stains. High Fidelity at its finest.
The selection of music was varied and wonderful as we ended our visit with a great Sunday morning breakfast while listening to the sounds of Marty Robbins. Coffee, bacon and eggs taste a great deal better with "Devil Woman" playing in the background.

Hopefully we get to do it all again next summer.

Long Weekend - Canim Lake

2009-08-05T07:39:00.002+08:00

For $200,000 give or take you too can buy a beautiful lot on Canim Lake. I don't want to be misleading .. we didn't buy a lot but after this long weekend it sure was tempting.

My cousin Darlene and her husband Scott (and son Jordy) invited us out to their cabin on Canim lake. We left on Saturday and were unfortunately delayed several hours by a horrific accident (not ours) just south of 150 Mile House which closed Highway 97 for 7 hours. During this long wait and long drive my wife remarked .. "this better be worth it when we get there." She was not disappointed.

Scott had all the toys you could want for a lake (powerboat, Seadoo, water skis, tubes, kayaks etc). We did a tour of the lake, some kneeboarding (well with my gimpy leg I didn't but it sure looked like fun), slalom water skiing (again not me) and tons of fun eating, drinking, and swimming. Carter absolutely LOVED the water and we couldn't keep him out of it. The lake dropped off pretty quickly so he was clad in a life jacket for safety. Nathan was a tad more reserved about swimming but had tons of fun chasing dogs, throwing rocks and continually opening the doors to let ALL the mosquitoes in the Cariboo inside.

Scott and Dar are talking about going for a week next summer and I for one would not argue .. a truly great great weekend. Once I get the vids edited and posted I will show you some of the LIVE action!

Winning Over Gramma and Grandpa

2009-07-31T14:49:00.002+08:00

Despite a jetlagged first week Nathan has now been pouring on the charm in an effort to win over his grandparents hearts. I think its working well.

Experiencing a Canadian kids rite of passage.

Chilling in the hotel.

Kamloops - Riverside Park

2009-07-31T00:06:00.002+08:00

In Kamloops we headed down to the Riverside park to beat the heat. Although Kamloops is not blessed like Kelowna, Vernon or Penticton by being on the shores of a lake it does border the Thompson river. The Riverside park is a great little place with a small beach, waterpark and tons of grassy area for the kids to run until they drop.

Kamloops - The Hotel

2009-07-30T01:32:00.004+08:00

We stayed at the Thompson Rivers University Residence and Conference Center. It was nice but not as grand as the title makes it seem. I got this shot of it from a flickr account but believe me it was NOT snowing when we arrived

The following pics show hotel life at its finest (well not really) including a shot of the view from our room. There were 4 rooms (shared by 2 families) and Carter loved having his own TV with his own remote control. Hardly heard a peep from him when he was in the hotel. (Open a Virtual Tour Here)

On The Road

2009-07-24T14:26:00.001+08:00

The lack of recent posting activity is the result of me and the fam being on a little vacation .. yeah that's right a vacation within a summer vacation. We have travelled with my parents and nephew to Kamloops so that he can attend a hockey school. I used to live in Kamloops from 1993-1998 to attend university and it has been great to get back to the old stomping grounds. A great deal has changed since my time here but the community spirit and feeling remain alive and well as far as I am concerned.

We brought the camera but have taken frighteningly few photos .. oh well .. next time.

Billy Barker Days - The Parade

2009-07-19T15:45:00.003+08:00

For 37 years running BBDays has hosted its annual parade and today was no different. We set up our lawn chairs outside of our friend Marge's shop "Expressions By Ewe" (yes its a hobby and craft shop) and with Robin's coffee and donuts firmly in hand we commenced observing. The promised thundershowers managed to hold off to create some beautiful parade viewing weather. I was particularly happy to see 2 bands (a marching band and a pipe band) as part of the route because to me no parade is complete without them.

3/4ths of the happy family

Marshall looking sooo cool in his new fedora bought in China

Carter was pretty happy to see Ronald (or Uncle McDonald as he is known in China)

Carter had been dying for days to meet this Billy Barker character we had been talking about.

Billy Barker Days - The Rides

2009-07-19T15:35:00.004+08:00

In LeBourdais Park in the downtown core of Quesnel there is a midway with plenty of rides but only for BBDays. For $30 per day the kids (and adults too) can ride an unlimited number of rides. They have all the vomit inducing small town midway standards such as the Salt-N-Pepper Shaker, the Octopus, The Zipper, The Sizzler and Zero Gravity. In addition there are many small merry-go-round, airplane-go-round, funhouse, air filled bouncy slides and of course the Ferris Wheel for the kids

On Thursday we were in the park from 10 AM until 10:30 PM with only a small afternoon break for the kids nap. Actually only Alice and Nathan did the park that long as Carter, Marshall and I took in the Crash To Pass stockcar races for 3 hours. Friday was a 12 Noon to 8 PM shift only this time my brother Doug and his daughter Natasha joined us. Needless to say we were all pretty beat by Friday night and hit the hay as soon as we got home so that we could get up early on Saturday and go watch the BBDays Parade.

The Family in The Park

Alice and Carter on the Octopus

Nathan chilling out on a Merry-Go-Round.

He did the Ferris Wheel and another ride called the Monkey Barrel which is a few slides and then running through a huge rotating tube trying not to fall flat.

Carter Showing the lamest Monkey Barrel technique.

Come to think of it he does look like a monkey doing it.

Marshall and Carter on the Sizzler

I did not dub the music for this video this is what the carnies were playing

Billy Barker Days - Crash To Pass

2009-07-18T00:10:00.003+08:00

In 1862 Billy Barker from Cambridgeshire, England struck gold in 1862 in what is now known as Barkerville. During its heyday it was reported that Barkerville was the largest city north of San Francisco and west of Chicago. Barkerville is located 90 km east of Quesnel and its existence eventually led to the formation of this humble little town of Quesnel. For 37 years and counting every 3rd week in July Quesnel pays homage to this humble gold miner in the form of Billy Barker Days.

There are many events that take place over the 4 days of the celebration but the main kickoff event is the Crash To Pass stock car races. Imagine old beater stock cars reinforced with ultraheavy duty roll cages and concrete in a no hits barred demolition derby. The rule is simple if you want to pass another car you MUST contact that car or you cannot be eligible to win your race. That 'contact' usually takes the form of a crash. There are many small races (6 to 8 cars on the track) but the main event is the 40 car Battle Royale .. it's simply mayhem and more fun to watch than you can imagine.

I forgot to bring my camera to last night's event but found this video on YouTube which captures the event fairly well.

Tour De Dandong Follow-Up

2009-07-17T07:14:00.002+08:00

I'm dismayed that I didn't find the following video while blogging about the Tour De Dandong (to read about it again click here). Better late than never I guess. From Monty Python a tribute to our bicycle mechanics and to all those riders who did their own on the fly repairs

Trampoline!

2009-07-16T14:06:00.001+08:00

The boys are loving Canada and I am sure a trampoline in Gramma and Grandpa's backyard doesn't hurt.

Sofa Surfer Girl

2009-07-16T13:49:00.003+08:00

From the early 1980's I have been proud to call Scott Perry a good friend. Actually the summer of 1987 was a bit of an exception but merely a short respite. We had been roommates in our first year at UBC and we had enough of living together in the same jail cell sized room. However we returned the following year to the same floor in residence albeit in different rooms and all was cool. We spent a few nights and weekends jamming on our new guitars when we really should have been studying. I was merely a minor player and hanger-on to the greater talents of Scott, Jon Dawes and Dave Bessler. I knew then that Scotty had talent and definitely had desire and motivation to make his "music thing" work out.

He and Jon took that act down to Granville street for some weekend night busking. Some thought he had fallen on hard times and had resorted to this to make ends meet but that was far from the truth. It was a ton of fun and a great place to cut your musical chops. I hung with them a few nights but they were hardier souls than I and playing music really wasn't my thing anyway.

During that time he formed associations that later become the band Orbit in Bloom and they had a few great tunes (James Dean, In The Sun, I Hate Cops). Through these contacts Scott would eventually many years later find himself playing guitar for a band called The Orchid Highway. I may be incorrect on this point but I believe he was at first a drop in lead guitarist they tried out from time to time. His musical talent has now transformed that into a permanent spot in the band.

This past month they released the video "Sofa Surfer Girl" which has now been picked up and played on MuchMusic .. the Nation's Music Station. It is a great tune and I love the video as well.

Proud of ya Scotty!

Oh yeah .. Scotty is to your right with glasses, beard?, longish hair tied up and "something" in his hand

What Beast Strikes Fear In The Hearts of Men?

2009-07-15T00:01:00.002+08:00

(Image in Photo Not Actual Size)

He is no bigger than a good sized New York City rat but this little creature has the potential to strike fear in the hearts of the Brown boys. Carter and Nathan have had to adapt to a new country, new culture, new time zone and also this fearsome beast you see in the picture above.

His name is Yoda but that name belies the exuberance he shows as he runs with toy in mouth from one boy to another in the hopes that they will play with him. The boys however do not come from a dog culture (Canada is just such a culture, China is not) and so they have been a tad afraid (to put it mildly) of the little beast.

A few days have now gone by since our arrival and Nathan has begun to show signs of warming up to Yoda however Carter still reserves his right to climb up on the table to avoid him. It's a mixture of both bemusement and frustration and yes as a father just a bit of disappointment. I guess we'll have to hit dog central - the park!

Jet Lag

2009-07-13T16:50:00.002+08:00

We are back in Canada. We were tired. It was 8 pm.
We are still in Canada. Our body clocks are in China. We are not tired. We are wide awake. It is 1:30 AM.

Midwest Watches

Bye bye

2009-07-12T09:25:00.001+08:00

Today we are embarking on our annual odyssey to Quesnel from Dalian via Tokyo via Vancouver. Here's hoping for minimal stress and tons o' fun. Alice's first trip to Canada as a permanent resident!

Le Tour - Stage 7

2009-07-11T00:57:00.002+08:00

As alluded to in an earlier post I am a huge fan of the Tour De France. Tonight I caught the last 15 km of Stage 7. This was the first of 3 successive mountain stage in the Pyrenees and it was not short on drama. If you don't follow the Tour much you should know that the biggest drama so far this year has been the leadership of Team Astana which has Alberto Contador as the designated team leader. In a Tour team the other riders are supposed to be unselfish and do all they can to ensure their leader either wins or gets a spot on the podium. The problem with Astana is that Lance Armstrong, a former 7 time winner and the ONLY 7 time winner, joined the team and thus it raises questions about who is really leading the team. Prior to entering today's stage Armstrong held a 19 second lead over Contador after Armstrong selfishly broke away on a previous flat stage. The big question was could he hold that lead after the arduous mountain stages?

In Stage 7 Contador stamped his authority on the race as he easily sprinted away from the field during the final ascent. He let it be known that he is the team leader and Armstrong's days in the sun are over. I'm not selling Armstrong short because he rode phenomenally after a 3 year absence and at 37 years of age which is geriatric in cycling years. Although Armstrong only finished 22 seconds back of Contador he had no answer for Contador's breakaway sprint and now finds himself in 3rd place in the overall general classification. Tomorrow is another Pyrenees stage .. stay tuned.

I don't have stage 7 highlights on video so how about another Kraftwerk TDF song? This one written in 1983 and featured in the movie "Breakin'"

Happy Birthday Mr. E

2009-07-10T00:08:00.001+08:00

Ya gotta be getting close to 40 by now right?? Anyhoodle .. hope there is a rum and coke in your hand and the love of your family warming your heart.

Cheers
Dalong

Nathan

2009-07-08T15:51:00.000+08:00

Hi Magnus From Carter

2009-07-08T15:45:00.002+08:00

I miss ya pengyou! Can't wait to play again in the fall.

Be careful .... I might sneak up on ya!

Where Art Thou Facebook?

2009-07-07T21:12:00.002+08:00

As of this evening July 7th Facebook is the latest casualty in the Chinese Great Firewall blockade. When will it end????

Soooo glad to be leaving here in a few days.

Le Tour De Song Hai Li

2009-07-06T17:00:00.002+08:00

Yesterday we took Carter out on his bike without training wheels. He was pretty scared to go on the bike at first but with enough threatening and coaxing and promising of treats he finally gave it a go. All of you have raised children know the routine
1) Ensure the child you are holding on.
2) Hold on as they continually check to see if you are upholding your end of the deal.
3) Let go slightly and grab whenever they check.
4) Run beside not holding at all but pretend you are.
5) Let go completely without faking like you are holding.
6) Watch the inevitable crash when they look back and realize the situation.
7) Make all kinds of promises in order to repeat steps 1 to 6.

Once Carter realized he could do it by himself however I then got curtly instructed to "Go away from me Daddy I can do it myself."

Attaboy!

Le Tour De France

2009-07-05T02:39:00.002+08:00

Today began the grandest sporting event in the world .. Le Tour De France. Being a proud Canadian I should value the Stanley Cup above all else but I get the most thrill and excitement from following the Tour. I suppose it might be because I can ride a road bike with much more skill than I can play hockey.

What I love about the Tour is that it is a war fought over 23 stages throughout the French countryside. Each stage is a small battle in that war but it is the cyclist who prevails above all others that claims victory. The winner does not have to win every stage nor do they even have to win any of them but they must complete the race in the shortest possible time. The role of the team is paramount to an individual's success with each teammate playing an integral role (the climbers, the plodders, the sprinters etc). Lance Armstrong could not have won 7 in a row without the help of some excellent teammates.

Speaking of Lance Armstrong he has returned to this year's Tour at the ripe old age of 37 which puts him 1 year older than the oldest person to have ever won (Firmin Lambot age 36 in 1922). No one expects him to win again as he is merely doing this to raise more money and awareness for cancer research but he could grab a top 5 finish if all goes well.

Gotta head out now and watch Stage 1 the 15.5 km time trial.

Forever Came Today

2009-06-27T08:48:00.002+08:00

Unless you are living under a rock you know that Michael Jackson died this week. Like Elvis before him his passing will be remembered and mourned by millions .. no .. billions. Living in China I can tell you that he was a huge star here as he was in the Western world. This is not always true of China as most of the "famous" celebrities we know are hardly recognized in this land of billions.

I was not necessarily shocked nor particularly saddened as I could never have really counted myself as a Michael Jackson fan. I did enjoy a few tracks from Thriller and Off The Wall but in a search of the thousands mp3's I have on my computer there is nary a Michael Jackson nor Jackson 5 tune.

His death and life will be analyzed a million ways with everyone offering their opinion on his tragically flawed superstar life. I offer no such analysis except to say that many probably thought like the kids of Fame this kid was going to live forever .. well as the Jackson 5 sang in 1975 Forever Came Today.

Evolution

2009-06-24T22:00:00.002+08:00

1973 - 5 Years Old

1984 - Grade 10. Nice zit and puberty moustache

1987 - 19th Birthday. Judging by the rotary dial phone and decor it could have been 1977

Happy Father's Day!

2009-06-21T22:14:00.002+08:00

Happy Father's Day Dad!

You're a hole in one in my books.

For my special day I was awoken to Carter and Nathan wishing me a Happy Father's Day and Carter telling me I had to find my Father's Day Card. He's pretty sneaky at hiding things so it took awhile but I finally found this

(Outside .. Nathan glued the fish. Carter drew me and my Chinese Name)

(Inside .. Alice did most of the writing except for Carter's part. He did that by himself although Mama helped him spell the words.)

Alice then took the kids to a birthday party while I had the morning to myself to relax. In the early evening we took the boys to Discovery Kingdom (a scaled down Disneyland) for rides, games and just general goofing around.

We had too much fun playing around and only managed to take these few shots.

Carter and his buds

Alice and her buds

A great family and a great day!

In Your Head All Day

2009-06-20T05:38:00.002+08:00

Feeling down? Feeling blue? Need a pick me up? The best drug to get you through your day is a little shot of Numma Numma!

Tears

2009-06-18T22:35:00.002+08:00

Flipping through some photos from this spring and ran across this one of Nathan at Discovery Kingdom. Do you think he would have been happier if he had a Pittsburgh Penguins hat rather than a Canucks hat?

My Classes

2009-06-17T21:53:00.003+08:00

The photos are of my classes for 2008-2009. I had 3 classes of Math 12 and 3 classes of Calculus 12. Today was the last day of teaching them all and as always there was happiness and sadness all rolled into one. The students at our school are a fantastic group who really respect (mostly) and care for their teachers.

This is my 9th year of sending bright young minds out in the world to make it a better place to live. At times with the increased size of our school (600 grade 12's alone) it begins to feel a bit like a diploma factory however each year offers its own surprises, challenges and nuisances that set it apart from all the rest.

Congratulations to all of them on a job well done!

Block A - Math 12

They made me do this pose!

Block C - Calculus 12 (the picture with me didn't turn out)

Block E - Math 12

Block F - Math 12

Block G - Calculus 12

Block H - Calculus 12

To All The Teachers

2009-06-15T18:14:00.002+08:00

No occupation is more maligned, celebrated, ridiculed, exalted, necessary, pointless, welcomed or disdained than that of a teacher. The holidays, the working hours at school, the working hours at home, the weekends, the joy of seeing kids learn, the frustration of having kids not give a rats a**. Being praised, being insulted. Being their everything, being nothing to them at all. On my worst days I wouldn't trade this job for the world (just don't ask me on that worst day cause I might make a liar out of myself).

The summer is quickly arriving and the schools will remain silent for some weeks to come until we start it all up again with different kids but the same routine. For all you teachers who have done your best to brighten the minds of tomorrow ... the end is near.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes!

2009-06-13T11:08:00.003+08:00

This morning was a morning to revel in changes. I came to China in August 2000 and have witnessed an almost breakneck pace of change in this little corner of the world. When I arrived here the big news was that WalMart had opened up downtown in the previous year and Pizza Hut had just arrived in the city the same month I did. My internet was a basic telephone modem with poor wiring in the walls so that the interference made it all but impossible to do even basic surfing. Sometimes simple emails would take minutes to load. I had a VCD player for watching movies (essentially a glorified CD .. movies were split on 2 discs and were of very poor quality).

Fast forward to June 13, 2009 and I find myself sitting in my apartment which is significantly more spacious and modern than the first apartment I lived in here. My my wife and children (I was single and childless when I arrived) were puttering around the house as I sat and watched Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals on my high speed cable internet connection. I was sipping my Starbuck's Coffee (we got one 3 years back) and eating some chocolate from IKEA (just opened this February).

As I watched the rematchfrom 2008 I realized that my life had changed about as much as the fortunes of Detroit and Pittsburgh. I felt for a moment connected to those youngsters on the ice (Crosby 21, Malkin 22, Stall 20) as we both were swept along in a sea of change. Mine is like a slow rolling wave that lazily washes the gentle sands of time. It changes so slowly as to be imperceptible but in the long run the effect is tremendous. Pittsburgh's is like the photos of the giant crashing waves with the surfer riding confidently inside a tube of water enjoying the coolness of it all quite separate from the entire world around them but all the while realizing their special moment in time and space.

To the Penguins I give you the quote from David Bowie's "Changes"
"And these children that you spit on
As they try to change their world
Are immune to your consultations.
They're quite aware of what they're going through.
Ch-ch-ch-changes.
Don't tell them to grow up and out of it"

The song is almost 40 years old (1971) but it's as beautiful and poignant now as it was then.

Summer Nights

2009-06-12T00:12:00.003+08:00

As the school year winds down and the summer begins we have been spending a great deal of time in "the square" of Song Hai Li during the evenings.

I started thinking about our summer nights when this song naturally popped into my head. Oh .. those summer nights.

Game 7

2009-06-10T22:13:00.005+08:00

It doesn't get any better than this. Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals. Every kid who has skated on a pond or played ball hockey in the street knows the thrill. Pretending to be your hero scoring in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

What makes this one extra special is the rematch between last year's combatants Pittsburgh and Detroit. This series has been back and forth with a continuous seesawing of momentum shifts. Both teams deserve to be where they are at and are truly the best in their conferences.

How does it fair for the Penguins after being down 2-0 in the series? Well only 2 teams have come back from this deficit to win Lord Stanley's Cup. Here is a breakdown of all game 7's in Stanley Cup history. The odds are against Pittsburgh but it ain't over until the last whistle sounds.

YEAR	CUP CHAMPION	FINAL OPPONENT	SCORE
Stanley Cup Final Game Sevens
2006	* Carolina Hurricanes	Edmonton Oilers	3-1
2004	* Tampa Bay Lightning	Calgary Flames	2-1
2003	* New Jersey Devils	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim	3-0
2001	* Colorado Avalanche	New Jersey Devils	3-1
1994	* New York Rangers	Vancouver Canucks	3-2
1987	* Edmonton Oilers	Philadelphia Flyers	3-1
1971	Montreal Canadiens	Chicago Black Hawks	3-2
1965	* Montreal Canadiens	Chicago Black Hawks	4-0
1964	* Toronto Maple Leafs	Detroit Red Wings	4-0
1955	* Detroit Red Wings	Montreal Canadiens	3-1
1954	* Detroit Red Wings	Montreal Canadiens	2-1 (OT)
1950	* Detroit Red Wings	New York Rangers	4-3 (OT)
1945	Toronto Maple Leafs	Detroit Red Wings	2-1
1942	* Toronto Maple Leafs	Detroit Red Wings	3-1

* Home Team Winner

Nathan is 3!

2009-06-09T20:43:00.002+08:00

Today was Nathan's 3rd birthday although when you ask him how old he is he still only puts up 2 fingers. When you tell him is now 3 he says he wants to be 5 like his big brother.

We did the (now) traditional KFC dinner and then returned home for cake and presents. Nathan was soooo excited to eat cake that was all he could talk about. He went with us to the "cake place" in the Kai Fa Qu market to pick out his own cake. Nathan saw the cake he wanted when Carter was picking his out 10 days ago and he had not forgotten which one it was when we went today. We tried to play a joke on him and say we left the cake at KFC. He said he was going to take a taxi by himself to go to KFC and get it.

Thanks to the Englesons for popping down and sharing cake and for snapping the following photos.

School Uniforms

2009-06-08T22:06:00.001+08:00

The boys were required to wear their school unis today. I came home to these 2 cute little boys playing games and pretending to be Ultraman.

A Bad Day for Kung Fu

2009-06-05T21:51:00.004+08:00

On Wednesday the world of 1970's Kung Fu lost two of its most famous members.

David Carradine was found dead at age 72 in a hotel room in Bangkok

Shih Kien known for his role as the evil Han in Enter The Dragon died at age 96 in Hong Kong.

Kung Fu The 1972 Pilot Movie

Willams v. Han in Enter The Dragon

The Boy's Birthday Party

2009-06-03T05:28:00.003+08:00

In the continuing saga of the Brown boys birthdays we have the latest post .. the combined party with friends. Last Sunday morning (we had a mandatory fun day at school on Saturday) Carter and Nathan and pals headed to the Jinzhou pool for some a swim, a soak and some water slides. The whole gang then came back to our apartment to have jiaozi (Chinese dumplings) and other tasty snacks. Oh and cake of course. Some shots of the boys and happy crew.

Happy 25th Birthday Tetris

2009-06-03T05:24:00.002+08:00

Yes it's another birthday post but this time it isn't one of us.

Invented in 1984 by a Russian computer programmer the game of Tetris celebrates its 25th birthday this week. It has shown a resiliency that no other computer game has displayed - PacMan, Defender, Donkey Kong are relics of the past but Tetris lives on.

To put into perspective for the 80's music fan the top hits during this week of 1984 include "Jump" by Van Halen, "Hello" by Lionel Richie, "Footloose" Kenny Loggins.

Video of a Grand Master playing Tetris. This kid has hyperactive disorder.

Watch Fastest Tetris Player on CollegeHumor

Shoop, Shoop Diddy Wop

2009-06-01T21:29:00.001+08:00

Posted this one before on the old blog (mabrown.blogsome.com) but thought it was time to rehash it again cause this song is so damn good! Love the singer's moustache. Hope this has you singing all day long.

Carter's 5th Birthday Celebration

2009-05-31T15:37:00.002+08:00

Well .. it's Birthday month around our household and I apologize but the last post, this post AND the next one will be a combination of Carter and Nathan's Birthdays. To break it down
May 28th - Carter's actual birthday. We did dinner at KFC (his choice) and followed it up with cake outside in the guangchang (square aka play area) in our apartment complex. Photos below
May 31st - Combined party celebrating Carter and Nathan's birthdays. The next post is about this one
June 9th - Nathan's actual birthday. Post to come then.

Without further adieu .. Carter's 5th BDay

Carter selected this cake cause he likes snowmen.

Dinner at KFC. Got to wear his Batman costume cause it's his day.

Getting ready for cake.

The happy fam.

Happy 5th Birthday Carter!!

2009-05-27T23:05:00.003+08:00

May 28th

The past 5 years have flown by and I love you more each day. You are a truly special guy and I hope you have the best birthday ever!

Here are a few of the pictures you took with our camera. You're a big boy now.

Carter's Photos

2009-05-27T06:14:00.002+08:00

It has been quite difficult to get back in to the blogging mode after being blocked yet again in China. There are (obviously) workarounds but they are a pain in the butt and very few people from here can view them. Anyhow .. today's post

Carter has taken an interest in our camera and taking pictures. He has taken many and here is a small sample.

BLOCKED!!!!

2009-05-15T23:44:00.002+08:00

This is flipping ridiculous! This blog (and all blogspot.com blogs) are blocked in China. I moved from blogsome.com because that one was blocked.

I can't win for trying.

Tour De Dandong - The Final Day

2009-05-09T21:58:00.003+08:00

Day 3 was the final push from Mu Er Shan to Dandong. By the schedule it was supposed to be another 120 km day but of course nothing in this race went according to schedule.

As mentioned in the previous post the boys and crew were up at the crack of dawn getting bike and body ready for the last day of the Tour. Up until this point it was extremely doubtful that all would make it however after 3 frames breaking and ALL being repaired it seemed like nothing could stop these fearless souls.

Two of the teams (FengHuang and Jin Lu) took the opportunity to stop in LiZiFang village for a quick breakfast of jiaozi (Chinese dumplings) washed down with a beer or two. In China it's never too early to enjoy a beer. Quite a crowd gathered to watch the "big noses" eat (they call us big nose "da bizi" instead of round eye). There was slurping, burping and laughter all around as the locals had something to talk about for the next week.

As mentioned the day was supposed to be 120km of riding but the gods intervened in the form of bridge maintenance and MOST of the riders were forced to detour about 15 or 20 km. Team Phoenix (remember them?) decided to have an extended breakfast at a restaurant near the bridge whereupon they discovered that by talking nicely to the toll and maintenance people they were allowed to sneak their bikes across. They were understandably happy and no doubt thought this would really give them a leg up on the competitors. By taking over an hour to eat breakfast meant that this "shortcut" really just got them back into the swing of things. Most of the teams had been looong gone by the time Phoenix had finished their sweet and sour pork.

The days ride took the crew along the G201 highway through BeijingZi (not the city that hosted the Olympics but a small village with a similar name). The highway then head into DongGan at which point the race course called for the riders to leave the G201 and traverse a country road that parallels the Ya Lu river. At times they were riding alongside a barbed wire fence that separated China from North Korea. When I use the term "stone's throw" from North Korea I really mean it.

We were tailing and filming teams Jin Lu and HongQi as they met up and travelled the last 40 km together. Team YongJiu (including the intrepid race organizer Craig Engleson) was well ahead as they decided to skip lunch and instead attempted to be the first team to roll into Dandong. During the trip from DongGan a black car carrying someone official and military looking stopped Jin Lu and HongQi. He (whose name shall not be spoken) asked to see passports from all the riders and queried them on exactly what the hell they were doing. He got quite a kick out of the story of the race and sent everyone on their merry way. At this point FengHuang and Phoenix were behind and still trying to navigate through DongGan.

A short time later one of the Jin Lu team members ran low on gas so he and a teammate pulled over to fuel up from the gas can they were carrying for just such an emergency. At that point another police/military vehicle pulled up behind them on the road shoulder and monitored the whole proceeding. This vehicle was marked with police insignias and had the red and blues on top. As the riders got back on the road and rejoined their teams the police vehicle trailed closely behind.

Further up the road Mike from Team HongQi who had been so instrumental in helping Billy of FengHuang fix his broken chain and who also towed Adrian (also of HongQi) for 45 km on the previous day experienced a mechanical breakdown. The bolts mounting the engine had worked loose and one had snapped off. As the two teams stopped to assist Mike (10 riders in total) the trailing police vehicle stopped and 3 officers got out. We were only about 100 to 200 meters from North Korean soil and these guys were getting antsy. They told us that a large group of white faces stopped by the side of the road was very dangerous and that our safety was in jeopardy. We initially brushed it off but the looks on their faces made it clear they weren't kidding around. They ordered all of the riders to get moving but unfortunately Mike simply could not comply with that order. They agreed that Mike could try to fix his problem but only Adrian could stay behind to help and the rest had to get going. The problem could not be fixed easily and Adrian got a chance to repay Mike for his previous day's kindness as he towed Mike the final 20 km into Dandong.

As we were on the road filming and assisting with all of the aforementioned problems we got word that at 2:10 in the afternoon Team YongJiu had arrived in Dandong! All team members had made it to the "Broken Bridge" finishing point and were understandably overjoyed. We stuck with Jin Lu and HongQi as all members of their teams finished about 30 to 45 minutes later. Team FengHuang was plugging along and came in as a group (first time for their ride I think) not long after. As fate would have it Team Phoenix was still a bit behind and experienced a few more mechanical difficulties as well as running low on fuel. With all of their Hobbitlike food breaks along the way they ensured their bodies were fueled but the same due care and attention was not given to their bikes.

Finally at 3:50 PM a beaming Team Phoenix arrived at the finish line to chants they had heard the first night at 11 PM at the ChengZiTan bathhouse "Phoe - Nix! Phoe- Nix! Phoe - Nix!" For their troubles they were each greeted in the same fashion as the other teams - a nice cold YaLu Jiang beer. Bet it was the tastiest one they had ever drank in their lives.

As we stood in the shadow of the Broken Bridge with a beer in our hands, a smile on our faces and warmth in our hearts it was clear to all of us, competitors and crew alike, they we had just been part of something truly amazing. The smiles on the faces said it all. The joy and elation at completing this odyssey which took place in a small corner of Northeastern China cannot be explained and can never be repeated. As a spectator to it all I can only say that it reaffirmed my faith in the human spirit as people from 2 cultures banded together to spin a yarn of togetherness which now forever stretches along the highways and country roads from Dalian to Dandong. It shall never be broken.

Tour De Dandong - Day 2 Part II

2009-05-06T20:00:00.003+08:00

On the evening of Day 2, Craig and his Chinese counterpart Leon, organized the most amazing accommodations for the riders and support crew. We stayed in a set of neighbourhood country homes in the small village of Mu Er Shan about 8 km outside of LiZiFang Town. The ride up from LiZiFang to Mu Er Shan was short but kind of frightening for the night riders as it was along an unlit country road and it was a New Moon. Several riders shut off their engines and pedalled because they were simply going too fast to avoid the many fist sized rocks and huge potholes in the road. It would have been a tragedy to ride for so long only to have a mishap at this stage. Fortunately all riders made it in safely.

As mentioned previously about 2/3rds of the riders made it in before dark but the remaining 1/3rd arrived between 9 and 10 PM. When they did arrive the riders and crew were treated to a great feast of dozens of home made Chinese dishes and enough beer to drown a small army. As some of the riders had been on and off the bikes for 10 to 12 hours the festivities were a bit subdued. It was still great though to sit around sharing a few beers and trading war stories of the day. I was envious of the trials and tribulations of the riders and wished I had been part of a team for this amazing adventure.

When we finally did retire for the evening we did so at the gracious hospitality of the homeowners who kindly offered up their sleeping places for us to rest our weary heads. Each small home had basically 2 rooms which comprised a kitchen/eating area and then a sleeping/living room. The beds were built from brick and are called Kangs which are designed to sleep a small family. Underneath the kang is a place to burn wood or other materials in order to keep the bed warm. So essentially you are sleeping on a stove. For our particular venue they were burning corn husks.

I have mentioned that the kangs are designed to sleep a small family but in this instance they were used to sleep 5 guys. Yes all the team members slept on the same bed in an effort to build team unity I guess. Since Team HongQi only had 4 members I was lucky enough to share the bed with their team. 5 guys, 1 bed and a fire burning below (NO! NO! NO! not what you think .. the fire below the kang) meant for some sweaty good times. For whatever reason I have lost the only photos I took of the "men" on the kang and no it wasn't on purpose either. I am hoping that I can get one from someone else because words do not really do this thing justice.

With all the furor now erupting over swine flu I should point out that we slept only a few feet away from pigs and cows but rest assured they were not actually in the house.

In the morning we arose with the sun around 6 AM and the teams went about their business getting themselves and their rides together for the final push to Dandong. The mechanics were up as well going through their usual morning maintenance of tightening bolts, fixing flats etc.

Probably one of the cooler things happened on this morning. If you remember from the night before Trevor had his frame snap in two and it didn't look too good for his tour. We thought that maybe we could give him a lift into town or even all the way back to ZhuangHe (60 km away) in order to find a welder who could fix his bike. The kindly spirits who had presided over the riders in darkness just two nights previous were weaving their magic again however. Just several meters down the road from the places we were staying was a welder with his equipment. He had Trevor's bike up and running in an hour. It was at this point that I knew nothing could stop the teams from reaching their final desination ... Dandong.

Check back again soon for Tour De Dandong - Day 3.

Some shots of the accommodations taken on the morning of Day 3.

Tour De Dandong - Day 2 Part I

2009-05-04T20:46:00.003+08:00

Continuing in the exciting adventures of the Tour De Dandong day 2 turned out to be a fairly adventurous day for the riders. I will split this post into 2 parts: 1) Part I the day's ride and Part II the night's accommodation. For now - Part I.

The plan was to set off from the ChengZiTan bathhouse at 9 AM with Team Phoenix getting the lead spot in light of their 11 PM arrival the evening before. Our plans were scrubbed when 3 of the riders awoke in the morning to find that a thief had made off with 2000 rmb (400 Cdn), an Ipod, and a camera. The bathhouse owners were alerted and they promptly brought in the police. This is where things got strange. The police dragged their investigative heels suggesting that we would all have to stay for a full day while the "investigation" took place. We were on a pretty tight schedule so that was out. At that point the hotel owners wanted a meeting with our Chinese racer, Leon. We were instructed to turn off the cameras as Leon told us we were about to engage in some "dirty Chinese business." The owner initially offered 6000 rmb in compensation for making the police go away but as the hours of the morning progressed this quickly got reduced to 2000 rmb and then finally nothing. "Dirty Chinese business" indeed.

As far as the race goes however Team Phoenix eventually left at 10AM and made great time on Day 2 -- mostly. The team of YongJiu and Jin Lu were not far behind as they all made a smooth exit. However for FengHuang things went wrong in the form of Billy's broken chain. What should have been a routine 10 or 15 minute fix turned into a 4 hour delay as the mechanics went AWOL and Billy had to resort to help from Team HongQi in order to get him rolling. Without adequate tools it was quite a patch-up job but eventually he got rolling. In addition Team HongQi also suffered a huge setback when Adrian's motor conked out and he spent time in ChengZiTan trying to get a new one or have the old one repaired.

While this was going on Team Phoenix suffered its first big setback of the day. Fouad and Jack's frames broke in the midafternoon. Not cracked, but broken completely through! On the sloping downtube where the motor mounts is a great deal of the motor's weight coupled with metal fatigue from being bolted on and the vibrations of a 2 stroke engine make for a perfect storm. They spent the better part of 4 hours in the city of ZhuangHe at a welder's shop where he did all of the repair work FOR FREE! You read it right - FREE. Simply amazing.

Meanwhile Adrian got his motor working enough to putter down the road but at a significantly reduced average speed of about 25 km/h (the bikes could do 40+ at full throttle). The luck didn't stick with Adrian however as his motor just deteriorated further and further. Finally a fellow team member, Mike, had to rope-tow him 45 km into the city of ZhuangHe where Marshall (one of the marshalls coincidentally enough) found a replacement motor. The mechanics had assured us that there wouldn't be one to find in ZhuangHe and that they had checked around. Not sure why but they really sh*t the bed on Day 2. They refused to help some people, went AWOL for hours and then made no effort to locate a replacement motor.

Also in terms of support crew we had a cameraman quit and hop a bus in ZhuangHe back to Dalian because he had to work the following day. Before leaving he spent 15 minutes telling one of the driver's friends how to operate the camera and ta-dah we had a new cameraman! It remains to be seen the quality of his work however.

In ZhuangHe the teams of FengHuang, Hong Qi and 2 members of Team Phoenix (Jack and Fouad) waited patiently as the mechanics worked through the necessary repairs. I have neglected to mention that Trevor (of FengHuang) had his gas tank fall off (bolts rattled loose) and break his throttle cable and numerous other things. The mechanics paid dearly for their 3-4 hours of inaction by being put under the gun to get things done quickly as darkness was approaching and the final destination lay another 60 km away.

At around 6 PM 4 members of Team Phoenix, all of YongJiu and all of Jin Lu arrived at our day 2 destination in Mu Er Shan outside of LiZiTang village. At the same time the rest of the riders were just leaving ZhuangHe and had 60 km to cover in rapidly advancing darkness. For accommodations we all stayed in the countryside in people's homes and I will post more on that in Part II of this entry.

Back to the race.

Trevor's troubles were not over. His motor was not working well for quite sometime as he rode from ZhuangHe to Mu Er Shan. As his teammates and Jack and Fouad sped away he was joined by Harry from his team who agreed to ride with him no matter how long it took. After about 20 minutes of barely puttering along his engine suddenly roared to life and he took off like a bat out of hell. In the accompanying film crew car we were quite relieved to be moving a bit quicker as toodling around the countryside in a car doing 25 km/hr quickly loses its charm. Our joy was shortlived as unbelievably Trevor's frame also broke in two. He had another 30 km to go but his ride was done for that night. I honestly thought he would be done for the tour unless we could get him back into ZhuangHe in the morning for more welding. This would have tied up the mechanics resources for a few hours so we weren't sure how the other riders would be with that.

Harry, Trevor and myself (along with the film crew) waited alongside the road in the dark for an hour waiting for Team HongQi and the mechanics truck. When they arrived we loaded Trev's bike onto the truck, he hopped in the film crew's car and Harry rode with HongQi into Mu Er Shan with the mechanics truck using their headlights to light the way. This night riding was much safer than the previous evening as the road had wide shoulders, little traffic and no gusting winds.

As mentioned we stayed in people's homes that night but I think the description of that hospitality really deserves its own separate post so stay tuned for Tour De Dandong Day 2 - Part II.

Tour De Dandong - Day 1

2009-04-30T20:29:00.002+08:00

The Tour De Dandong started off with great fanfare and nervous trepidation. Seriously did anyone expect these bikes

to make it all the way to Dandong from Dalian .. a distance of 350 km? Well in truth probably very few believed although most hoped they would.

The structure of the race was simple. 5 teams (Yongjiu, Jin Lu, Hong Qi, Fei Ge and FengHuang) each with 4 to 6 members set off to race from Dalian to Dandong. The teams were named after the brand of bike each team was using. The race was split into 2.5 days where at the end of each day the groups and support crew all stayed in the same town. I was a member of the marshalling crew that was responsible for organizing the mechanics and film crew. There were 2 film crew cars and 1 mechanic truck (with 2 mechanics) that followed the racers through the countryside.

The groups met at Jinshitan beach near our school and posed for a large group photo.

You may notice that Brad from Team Phoenix was not present for the photo as the first mechanical mishap occurred prior to the start of the race. His chain was broken and he was scrambling to get a new one in the town of ManJiaTan.

The groups then took off in a staggered start with each team leaving about 3 minutes apart. Due to the issues Phoenix had they were the last to leave .. and boy was that an omen of the day to come.

There were a few teams that took a wrong turn about 3 km into the race but it was all sorted out pretty quickly.

Team YongJiu encountered the first "on road" mechanical problem when Euan's chain broke but the mechanics were quickly on hand and had the team back on the road within a few minutes.

Mechanical problem #3 occurred with Team Phoenix. Jack's brakes were put to the test and failed as he was drafting a 3 wheeled truck. He was fine but it took 20 to 30 minutes to get his bike repaired which put Team Phoenix a fair bit behind their competitors. It was a sign of things to come for Team Phoenix.

The wind was howling on this first day and really slowed the progress of the cyclists to the point where the last 30 km of the first day (90 km in total) was done in complete darkness with a bit of rain and the aforementioned wind. Some teams were very well prepared for night riding with reflective vests and good bike lamps. Other teams were not and were putting themselves in great danger. There were so many ways it could have gone wrong (pedestrians on the shoulder in completely dark clothing, concrete bridge abuttments jutting out, cars swinging over to drive on the shoulder, high beams blinding the cyclists as they rode) but the fact that nothing serious happened suggested that someone was watching out for the competitors.

The teams rolled into the Cheng Zi Tan bathhouse starting about 8:30 pm or so until the last team .. guess who .. Team Phoenix finally arrived at 11 pm. They had quite a few issues with flat tires and other assorted mechanical problems.

We had some Chinese takeout (seriously what else would it be?) brought in and we put on a DVD of the 1975 USSR-Montreal Canadiens New Year's Eve game. We only got to watch the first period as they shut us down because it was getting late. We all retired to bed in our rooms hoping to rest up for the next day's adventure .. and what an adventure it would become.

Stay tuned.

Ting Jin Ya Lu Jiang

2009-04-25T10:32:00.002+08:00

Otherwise known as the Tour De Dandong.

This illustrious bike tour of Northeast China and onto the North Korean Border will keep me away from the blog for a few days. No I am not riding but I am part of the support crew that will assist the men as they venture forth into the countryside on motorized bicycle (NOT motorbike). It promises to be a great adventure. Look for some blog posts when I come back.\

Cheers
Dalong

Doofus

2009-04-21T05:53:00.003+08:00

This past weekend Alice went to a concert in Yantai to see Andy Lau (well she loves him) and I took the boys to a birthday party. I was proud of the cool duds I managed to dig up for them and snapped the following photos. The reason there are so many is because every time I told them to smile Nathan would do this silly grin face with his eyes closed. I could not get him to keep them open. I've officially decided he can be a real doofus at times!

Corner Gas - You've Been Great, Goodnight!

2009-04-18T15:55:00.002+08:00

The show Corner Gas on CTV was an amazing example of what Canadian television could be like. There have been previously successful dramas (Degrassi as per example) but never really a great comedy series until Corner Gas hit the airwaves. I have been in China the entire time it has been on but I have managed to watch it on DVD and from downloading the episodes week by week.

A truly great series with usually a good hearty laugh or more per episode (most American sitcoms don't even come close to meeting this statistic). The cameo's (Saskatchewan Roughrider players, Keifer Sutherland, Stephen Harper, The Tragically Hip, etc) and the Canadian injokes were the staple of the series.

Corner Gas wrapped up its last episode this past Monday night and I am going to be sad to see it go. In case ya missed it here is a sample of its comedic genius .. the first scene of the first show of the first season.

If you are in China and can't view this YouTube video go get HotSpot Shield. Just Google it.

Susan Boyle. Wow!

2009-04-16T22:42:00.003+08:00

She's 47. She's a virgin. She has a 10 year old cat named "Pebbles". She has Leonid Brezhnev's eyebrows. Basically she is what John Candy, god rest his soul, looked like in drag (a la the Julia Childs parody from SCTV).

Having said that Susan Boyle of Blackburn, Scotland stepped up to the mic on Britain's Got Talent and simply nailed it. If you haven't heard her sing watch the video below. You'll feel good about yourself if you do.

Easter 2009

2009-04-14T17:45:00.002+08:00

This past Easter Sunday we ventured out to JinShiTan (near the school where I work) as the families who live there were hosting the Easter Egg Hunt this year. Previously the families living in Kai Fa Qu hosted the event and we have now decided to alternate venues each year.

The weather was beautiful and the locale was great. We split the kids up into 2 groups this year which was a welcome change as the wee ones didn't have to compete for candy with the big ones and the big ones didn't have to give up all the candy they found to the little folks. We had several BBQ's going and everyone brought some delicious foods and snacks. In short it was a great day!

Printing

2009-04-14T05:39:00.002+08:00

One of the great things about having a child is watching them develop and their skills at doing things get better at an exponential rate. Carter has been working very hard on his printing and is starting now to learn how to read and write. He has finally figured out how to sound out words using the sounds. It is at the very rudimentary stage but I can see the light bulb has come on as far as reading goes. Yesterday he tried so spell Robin (of Batman and Robin not the bird) and he wrote RBN which is a pretty good try in my books. Although he first learned to spell Batman, Spiderman and Superman he has finally learned to spell and write his own name without any help from Mom and Dad.

Alice got a small whiteboard for him to write on and he loves it. Here is his latest attempt at his name.

Dong Bei Ren Video

2009-04-13T19:08:00.002+08:00

This is an update to the previous post The Dong Bei Ren Song - Dong Bei Cup Inspiration. It seems that while YouTube is blocked here in China the Chinese site Youku.com is blocked outside of China. Sneaky buggers. Well anyhow here are copies of the same video for both the Chinese and the North American market.

The Dong Bei Ren Song - Dong Bei Cup Inspiration

2009-04-12T16:17:00.003+08:00

In the lead up to the Dong Bei Cup I feel it only fair to give you some background on the inspiration for the tournament's namesake. The term Dong Bei simply means the northeast and a Dong Bei Ren is a person from the northeast. However the DongBei Ren are reknowned in China for being a people that are tougher due to their ability to survive the often cold and harsh winters of the DongBei region. They are more apt to settle an argument with their fists rather than words, they can drink you under the table and their cuisine is more meat, stew and cabbage kind of dishes. In essence a DongBei Ren has a lot in common with the people of the Cariboo and northern interior of BC which may explain why I feel so at home here.

About 7 or 8 years ago the DongBei Ren were immortalized in a song by a Beijing singer that explains the virtues of the DongBei people. Posted below is a YouTube video showing a popular animation that accompanies the song (unfortunately it repeats many times). I copied a translation of the words and posted them below the video. Sing a long if you so desire.

This is what the Dong Bei Cup tournament is all about.

`老张开车去东北，` `撞了。`	`lao zhang kai che qu dong bei, zhuang le`	`Lao Zhang drove to Dongbei` `And had an accident`
`肇事司机耍流氓，` `跑了。`	`zhao shi si ji shua3 liu2 mang2, pao3 le`	`The other driver was a thug` `And ran off`
`多亏一个东北人，` `送到医院缝五针，` `好了`	`duo kui1 yi ge dong bei ren,` `song dao yi yuan feng2 wu3 zhen1, hao le`	`Fortunately a Dongbeiren` `Sent him to the hospital` `He was fine after five stitches`
`老张请他吃顿饭，` `喝得少了他不干，` `他说：`	`lao zhang qing ta chi dun fan,` `he de shao le ta bu gan,` `ta shuo`	`Lao Zhang invited him to eat a dun` `And wouldn’t think of not drinking` `He said:`
`俺们那旮都是东北人，`	`an3 men2 na4 ga1 dou shi dong bei ren`	`“We are all Dongbeiren”`
`俺们那旮特产高丽参，`	`an men na ga te chan gao li4 shen1`	`“Our regional specialty is Gao Li ginseng”`
`俺们那旮猪肉炖粉条，`	`an men na ga zhu1 rou4 dun4 fen3 tiao2`	`“And pork dun with rice noodles”`
`俺们那旮都是活雷锋。`	`an men na ga dou shi huo2 lei2 feng1`	`“We aspire to live according to the principles of Lei Feng”`
`俺们那旮没有这种人，`	`an men na ga mei you zhe zhong ren`	`“We don’t have that kind of person”`
`撞了车了哪能不救人，`	`zhuang le che le na neng bu jiu4 ren2`	`“Who would cause an accident and not aid the other party”`
`俺们那旮山上有珍蘑，`	`an men na ga shan shang you zhen1 mo2`	`“On our mountains grow pearl mushrooms”`
`那个人他不是东北人。`	`na ge ren ta bu shi dong bei ren`	`“That man was no Dongbeiren!”`

Go Nucks!

2009-04-12T15:10:00.002+08:00

The excitement around Vancouver and the Canucks accomplishment of clinching first place in their division must have the city abuzz. They are a strong team with the best goalie in the biz backing them up. Back to back 1-0 shutouts have to build confidence in the team's defensive abilities.

Although I cannot share in the excitement this time around it does bring back memories of the Canucks amazing run to the Stanley Cup Finals of 1994. Of course there were many memorable moments from the entire playoffs but for my money the 7th game against Calgary was the most exciting one. For years afterwards everyone talked about "The Save" by Kirk McLean off Robert Reichel and to a lesser extent "the goal" by Bure to end the game in the second overtime. Let's hope this year's version of the team can bring equal excitement.

If you have forgotten what the emotion of the time was like I have the video of the CBC broadcast. I apologize for the sound quality but I think they were captured from VHS.

First - The Save

Second - The Goal

The Dong Bei Cup

2009-04-12T07:44:00.002+08:00

It seems like only yesterday a certain crazy teacher showed up to our school with delusions of getting his fellow staff members to play Crokinole, wear cardigans and ride rickety motorized pedalbikes to Dandong. This person also had the good foresight to organize the Dong Bei Cup - our annual ball hockey championship which is in its 6th year. Of course the gentleman I am referring to is none other than Craig over at the Engleson Files.

For those not in the know the Dong Bei Cup is 4 teams of 6 players and a goalie. The goalie is the team captain and responsible for drafting his team. The games are 3 on 3 with 2 twenty minute halves. The action is fast and furious (well ...sometimes) and the students get quite a kick out of watching the teachers vie for the championship (in perfect gentlemanly fashion of course).

In the past I have been in the 2004 finals but lost, won in 2005, lost in the semis in 2006, won in 2007 and lost in the finals in 2008. Sadly this year I have to watch the entire tournament from the sidelines as my previously broken leg

did not heal in enough time to be able to compete. I went to the annual draft night where the goalies pick the team but there was a big piece missing as I was not able to talk strategy and bond with fellow teammates. Next year (as they say).

Good luck to the boys and girls as they compete for their respective championships.

Leonard Cohen

2009-04-10T00:04:00.002+08:00

This following documentary from 1965 entitled "Ladies and Gentlemen, Leonard Cohen" is
a beautiful documentary from the National Film Board celebrating Canada's hottest young poet of the time. Got a spare 45 minutes? Watch

The Incredible Hulk

2009-04-08T05:04:00.004+08:00

Came home yesterday from a not so good day at work to find this waiting for me.

And just in case that didn't amuse me there is also Saturday Night Fever Hulk

And Hulk with little Hulk

Then we have captured on the following video
"Incredible Hulk impersonates Chinese UltraMan" (which in Chinese is called Ao Te Man)

Numbers

2009-04-06T19:51:00.003+08:00

Tonight Carter sat with his mama and patiently did his Chinese numbers from 1 to 10. He was very proud of his work but would only let me see the final product and not his work in progress.
His rendition

How they are supposed to look.

I was quite proud of his achievement and so was he.