Carter’s teacher Li Wei finished up his last lesson with Carter and Magnus this morning at the Dalian International Sports Club and by all measures it was a success. Carter started off like Bambi on ice but quickly his confidence and his skating ability grew. Below a few shots and video of the final lesson.
Carter’s new drawing .. I think it personally has a Dr. Seuss feel to it … love the hair .. kinda sparse like mine
When I arrived in China I flipped through the TV channels and came across the only 2 that I would even think of watching: CCTV9 - the English language channel and CCTV5 - the national sports channel. On CCTV5 on Saturday afternoon I would see this board game that kind of looked like checkers being played and analyzed. Not exactly riveting stuff but it did pique my curiousity as to what this game actually was.
I have since found out that the game is called WeiQi in Chinese (Go in Japanese and Baduk in Korean). The reason I know this now is because Carter has enrolled in a WeiQi class at his preschool and he absolutely LOVES it. He thinks the teacher is very funny and cool but I am not sure how much of the game he is learning. He has shown me that the traditional way of holding the game pieces is between index and middle finger so he has learned something.
I also know that he is HeiQi (black pieces) and the reason he chose them is because they are dark like Batman The Dark Knight.
I started to research the basic concepts and rules of the game and found that in fact it is a very complex game involving such concepts as liberties, captures, kills, and eyes. Apparently the game has been played for 3000 years in China and to this day experts are still analyzing and trying out new strategies. Not sure how much we hope Carter will learn at the preschool level but ya gotta start somewhere.
Want to know more about it .. watch the YouTube video below
Really hate to say this but … I gotta ‘go’
As mentioned by several fellow bloggers Nov. 15th is the happiest day in Dalian because the local government (on clearance from Beijing) turns on the central heating. We have been freezing our buns off in our apartment these past few weeks so it is a welcome change to be walking around in short sleeve shirts indoors again.
Man .. I know that as you get older things change but sometimes you really want them to stay the same. I just read that A&B Sound, once Western Canada’s largest music retailer, has filed for bankruptcy and has closed its doors for good.
When I went to UBC in ‘86 there was nowhere, and I mean nowhere, else you went to buy your music from. Take bus #10 from UBC down to Granville and walk over to the mecca of music at 556 Seymour Street was the Saturday routine … I was often accompanied by Scott Perry and Sam Chow (2 Quesnel boys who went to UBC also). We spent countless hours perusing the albums .. YES .. albums! Without having a lot of cash to spare you had to be selective. It felt soooo good to have your final choices placed in that orange, white, and green plastic bag. We’d grab a quick bite at McD’s or some such place and hit the #10 to return to UBC where Scotty and I would fight over the turntable to see which record was going to get played first .. my ZZTop or his U2.
This shot below is instantly recognizable to anyone in Vancouver in the 80’s.
Gonna miss ya A&B!
We woke up this morning to some chilly temperatures and a stiff north wind blowing. I believe after threatening us for so long that winter is making its way to Dalian. Only 8 more days until the central government revs up the central heating.
Tonight we beat the cold by heading out for a great hot little meal. We went to Lao Ma HunDun which is translates as “Old Mom’s Wonton”. For 80 cents you get a heaping bowl of this
and a drink we love called Jiang Si Kele … Ginger Strip Cola. The recipe is simple
Boil a can of this
and add strips of this
It sounds kind of disgusting when you hear it (boil coke? add ginger strips????) but it is the tastiest way to warm your insides on a cold Dalian day. Although we have never tried it I have seen a recipe for this that includes lemon.
Gotta go put on the woolies!
Halloween 2008 is in the bag and it seemed from all involved that it was a success. Unfortunately I was not able to make the rounds with the kids as it amounted to too much walking. Instead the Ayi and Alice took the boys along with about 40 other kids to the neighbourhoods around our neck of the woods. I stayed at home and gave out candy.
A big thanks to Craig and Kristen E. for organizing the event!
For those not aware Halloween is purely a western holiday that is not celebrated in China. It took plenty of explaining to the locals why there were a pack of 40 foreign children wearing strange garb wandering in their midst. Most of the locals were very curious about our jack-o-lanterns as we put some out on the front steps of the building. They were very curious why we put candles in them.
The pics.
