Bonus Blog II - I saw Space from The Great Wall!!!!

Welcome To The Great Wall Of China!!!

Cecelia took this panoramic photo from the west side of the wall.

  If you don't know, The Great Wall of China was said to be the only man made object that could be seen from the moon, but this has been proven to be untrue, thus the play on words for this bonus blog.  This will complete the adventure we had in Beijing.  If you can believe it, we did all of this in two and a half days.  When you read this blog and you feel your heart start pounding and you get short of breath it is OK, because that is how we felt.  The incline of the stairs was steep and unfortunately the pollution was so bad that we had a hard time breathing.  What, you think we got tired from just the exertion of our activity?  Come on, we are finely tuned athletes that spent the previous day at the Olympic Village pretending to win gold medals.  Granted we visualized winning them in Golf, but Golfers are athletes too.  Besides we live near Yosemite and climbing the stairs was like going up and down the Mist Trail twice.  No Problem!!!!!!

Getting ready to climb

SCHOOL:  Once again no school because of Dragon Boat Festival.  By now you are probably wondering if we ever really work.  Of course we do, I had to even work on Father's Day.  Man, talk about a surreal experience.

ADVENTURE:  After the previous day of tromping around Beijing, we woke up and headed out to find The Great Wall of China.  As always the research and planning of an Oetinger adventure is not always executed in the manner in which it was supposed happen.  This trip was no different.  The beginning of our excursion went well.  We rode the metro to the stop that we were supposed to get off on and began searching for the bus we were supposed to catch.  This is where it began to get interesting.  I had read two separate internet articles that gave the same clear details about riding the metro, getting off at a certain stop and then looking for bus number 68.  So, when we arrived at the area in which we were supposed to get on bus 68, guess what?  You probably already guessed it, there was no bus 68.  The four of us then wandered up and down the street for about 15 minutes before I finally stopped into the police station on the corner.  The police looked dumbfounded and didn't have any idea about bus 68.  I then wandered back up the street a little more and spotted a bus with the number 58 on it.  Now, at this point you are probably saying to yourself that he is lost and had the wrong bus number.  My own children said the same thing to me at this point and I promptly pulled out my trusty iPad and showed them the article that gave me the directions.  In bright red numbers the number 68 blazed out to silence them.  Same for you critics out there.  Besides, I had already asked the police rather than be a stupid father and husband that just drives around in circles without asking for help.  So, at this point I went to the number 58 bus and asked them where bus 68 was located.  Through my broken communication in Chinese I found out that we needed to ride the number 58 bus to the stop to pick the number 68 bus up that would finally take us to The Great Wall. 

We're going up there?!!!

Cecelia then asked me if I was sure I knew where we going.  I answered in a confident manner and said yes, despite the underlying trepidation that I didn't just ask them to take us to a really big Chinese restaurant.  My fears were increased after about 45 minutes on the bus.  We pulled up on the side of the road out in the middle of the country, and the driver told everyone to get off.  Fortunately there was a nice young lady that spoke some English and she told us to just wait for bus 68.  It was going to be coming in about a half an hour.  The nice thing was that bus 68 came about 15 minutes into our wait.  When we hopped on I met a mother and son from San Francisco that were going to The Great Wall as well.  They spoke not only excellent English, but fluent Chinese as well.  The mom's family lives in Beijing and here son that was with her was a freshman this year at Berkeley.  We had a nice chat as we made our way to The Great Wall.  This was actually their first visit to Beijing as well.
  About 20 minutes into our ride the driver announced that we were approaching The Great Wall.  Just some quick facts about The Great Wall.  It was actually built and rebuilt a number of times.  It originally was begun in the 7th Century before Christ was born.  It grew over many years and finally was considered one wall in 220 BC.  The current wall was seriously refurbished during the Ming Dynasty and has been maintained periodically since then.  The actual wall length is 3,889 miles.  That would be roughly as long as two thirds of the United States.  The part of The Great Wall that we visited is called, Juyongguan "The North Pass".  This section of the wall was used to protect the capital city of Beijing.  I don't know why they needed a wall here, because as you can see in the pictures, the terrain is very steep.  If I was a Mongol and just marched up through the valley to the base of this section I would have just turned around and been happy with conquering most of China.  This portion had never been breached by any army.

Seriously Sarge, we're going to attack that???

  We chose this portion of the wall because it is the steepest and the least crowded.  After hiking the wall loop, I can understand why.  The loop that includes a village with The Great Wall is roughly 4500 meters long, which is about three miles. When you add in the one climb, which I already mentioned was like going up the granite steps, and two descents that are like going down the cables on Half Dome, it feels like 10 miles.
  Our hike began at the valley floor.  We then progressed up the West side to the highest point of The Great Wall.  The steps are very steep and it reminded us of hiking up the granite blocks to the base of Half Dome.  After arriving at the top, we headed down the loop that headed back toward the valley and East Side.  Like I said earlier most of this has been refurbished, but let me tell you the steps that they decided to redo must have been made based on the original specs to keep it authentic.  Most of them are very uneven in height and width.  Some sections going down are as steep as leaving the top of Half Dome by way of the cables.  There was more than once that my vertigo attempted to kick in.  I had to do my best Jimmy Stewart impression and fight it off.

It goes on for Miles and Miles

  One section of the wall has a dead end at the top of the East Ridge.  Looking out over the dead end there is a section of the original wall that has not been refurbished, it is really cool.

The highest watch tower in all of The Great Wall

At the finish.  Another Christmas Photo??

  I have mentioned before how I felt at some other monuments during this crazy adventure, but while at The Great Wall it was different.  It was hard to get a handle on what I was feeling.  It took the first hike to the highest watch tower to clarify what I was feeling.  I think my initial feeling was one of disbelief.  I stood there at the very top of highest watch tower thinking to myself, "Never in my wildest dreams as a kid or a young adult did I ever think I would ever do anything like this."  You know, I am a very goal oriented person and I believe that it is important to have goals to reach your dreams and to be successful, but I can honestly say that standing on The Great Wall was never on my list until I got to China.  The next thing I felt was grateful. I then closed my eyes and said a prayer of thanks.  I thanked God for giving me the opportunity to stand on one of the greatest man made objects ever produced in human history.  I then felt joy, because not only was I standing on the highest point of The Great Wall, but my family was with me as well.  How could it get much better than that?  Even the bad Beijing pollution couldn't ruin the experience for us.  Let's see now, that is two of the eight Modern Day Wonders of The World Down.  Where should we go next?  Claire says, "Brazil to see Christ The Redeemer and to watch her play on the 2016 Olympic Women's Golf Team."  I like her thinking, a daughter after her old man's heart.
  After buying many cheesy souvenirs, like hats and t-shirts, we headed back to Beijing by bus and metro.  Our trip back wasn't nearly as exciting.  We returned to the hotel, had dinner and then Cecelia and I promptly had massages together.  Come on, even fine tuned athletes get massages after competing!!!
  By the way, remember the missing number 68 bus.  Apparently they have stopped service from the metro station.  They had changed within the last month.  So, ha I wasn't lost.
   Now, we will be frantically packing up, going to good bye parties and taking care of the little things that need to be done before we head for Xian.
  Enjoy the rest of the story in pictures and have a great week!!!  The Great Wall of China - Juyongguan Section

 

Bonus Blog - Inspiration From A Nest!

This is The Birds Nest. It is totally amazing and awe inspiring.

This is the first bonus blog for the week.  I guess I could have just called this week's blog Beijing Part 1, 2 and 3.  Naw, that is just too boring.  But this blog is a follow up to the blog I wrote for Father's Day and the Dragon Boat Festival this week.  This blog is going to focus on what we did the first day in Beijing, which encompassed Tiananmen Square, The Forbidden City and the 2008 Olympic Facility.
  One final note.  My editor told me to try and keep to the point.  She felt like I rambled a bit in regards to creating my analogy of Dads and Dragons.  So, I will do my best but I won't promise anything.  I mentioned to her that I didn't want to be confined by the rules of good writing, so I will just keep on writing poorly.

SCHOOL:  Once again no school due to The Dragon Boat Festival.

ADVENTURE:  So to sum up from the previous blog, we arrived early in the morning and slept until about 8:30.  The delay the day before was caused by rain and thunderstorms.  So even though it was a hassle getting to Beijing, at least the notorious air was relatively clean.  We headed out after a quick breakfast at, you guessed it, Starbucks.  Man I just can't get the kids away from the place anymore.

Monolith dedicated to the People

  One note before I describe our day.  Wednesday is the one day in which the country takes the day off for the Dragon Festival.  So I want you to visualize in your head 1.8 billion people all having the same day off.  We actually chose this day to do the things in the city because when we went to the Great Wall we didn't want to deal with the crowds there.  Living in China you just have to pick your poison sometimes.
  We rode the metro to our first destination, which was Tiananmen Square.  By the way, we have become quite the subway navigators, so if you need some help wherever you go let us know.  Anyway, we arrived at Tiananmen Square and it definitely did not disappoint.  When exiting the subway tunnel, we arrived on the corner closest to the Forbidden City.  From this vantage point the square sprawls out for what seems like miles and miles.  It reminded us very much of the mall in Washington DC, except without grass and fountains.  Even without those things that help to make the mall so beautiful, the square has magnificent sculptures, monoliths and buildings that create a vastness that is overwhelming.  Cecelia and I were trying to compare the two and we came to the determination that they are just different.  They are as different as our governments.  Where our White House is at the middle of the mall, The Forbidden City, which was home to the Emperor was at the end.  We found both to be magnificent.
  As we stood in the Square, I was thinking back to the images I saw as a young man in 1989.  The image that has been burned into many of our memories is of a lone man standing in front of a column of tanks to protest the killing of college students and their parents the day before.  What was sad about my thinking, was that it is the only knowledge that I had about Tiananmen Square.  As I stood there looking at the beautiful buildings and admiring the size of The Chinese National Art Museum, I thought about how little we in the west really know about these people.  All we hear or see about in the west are negative images, when there are so many more positive things that we can learn.  Even so, those images only add to the mystique of where we were.  Even though there is no official documentation about what happened on that day, there are many Chinese that believe that the incident that we all witnessed on TV has changed this country forever.  Maybe someday the truth will be told and those brave students and parents will be immortalized with a monument in their memory.

This is the famous view of the entrance to Forbidden City from Tiananmen Square

  One thing I do have to mention is that if you are a blonde person, be prepared to be a celebrity for a day.  In the Square alone, before we entered The Forbidden City, the girls were asked at least eight times in twenty minutes to have their picture taken with new Chinese friends.  Also, of all the places that tourists tend to gather this was the most touristy.  What I mean by that is that there were guides that were approaching me regularly hawking their services, as well as the cheesy souvenir vendors.  The guides were actually very aggressive and are not typical for Chinese people, that tend to be rather shy and mild mannered.  They kept telling us that the ticket line to get in was going to take an hour and that they could get them faster.  So, just a pointer for you.  Don't believe them.  Cecelia got in line with the girls and it maybe took 15 minutes at the most.
  Now don't get me wrong, if you want to see special parts of The Forbidden City or have a need to hear about all 4000 square meters of the place then by all means hire a guide.  Their services are not expensive and I am sure you can learn a lot of history from them, but if you haven't learned by now Cecelia and I tend to go our own way.  We only had one day and already had a plan and were not going to be deterred by a guide.

 The First Square of The Forbidden City is so large Cecelia had to use her panoramic feature on her camera to get it all in the picture

  After meandering around the square a bit we headed for The Forbidden City.  With the crowds growing by the second we didn't want to get caught in a big crush trying to get in the gate.  When you are in Tiananmen Square you don't realize how big the picture is of Chairman Mao until you are entering the gate of The Forbidden City.  It is actually huge;  probably the largest picture of an individual person I have ever seen.
  How to describe The Forbidden City?  I would venture to guess that from all that has been written about The Forbidden City, that there are no more words left that haven't been used to describe it.  Being a moderately descriptive scribe, I am going to offer a stream of descriptors for a place that really needs to be experienced.  The Forbidden City, with its vast open courtyards and palaces is Superb, Extraordinary, Glorious and a place in which you expect a King or Emperor to come strolling along at any moment.  I know that as Americans we don't ever consider ourselves to be the common people, but I will tell you that I had a feeling that if the Emperor came strolling out, every knee would be bent in respect to him and I would have been one of them kneeling.  It is the kind of place that makes you feel like you should walk quietly and with reverence.  On top of that, you feel like you would be happy with your status, whatever it may be.  You would be grateful, just for the experience of being here.

The view from the other side

 Also, despite the crowds the courtyards are so big that people are dispersed and it seems like there is plenty of room.  You have to remember that the Chinese armies used to fill the courtyards at certain times in history.  So, tens of thousands of people can fit in the place comfortably.  We spent about three hours in The Forbidden City and then began to get hungry so we headed out to get some lunch.
  Again, we hopped on the metro and headed to the Olympic village.  After arriving, we stopped for a quick bite of lunch.  The one thing that struck us about the Olympic village is that it was actually being used.  I have been to a couple of venues and I would say this one is unique in that it was designed to be available for the people after all the athletes and the world went home.  The others just seemed like they were used and then almost forgotten about.  Granted, places like LA and Atlanta utilize already existing facilities, rather than creating something from scratch.

Part of the Olympic River Walk.  This runs to a lake in the shape of a Dragon

 We began by walking along the lake that held the rowing and outdoor aquatic events.  It was a very festive environment and people were picnicking, napping and playing games.  We then made our way back to the center walkway and started toward the much anticipated Birds Nest Stadium.  Along the way, we saw some new construction for a building that looks like something out of a Jody Foster or Star Trek Movie.  The building is absolutely massive and looks like something that you would use to slip from one dimension to another.  There is also quite a variety of sculptures that we caught glimpses of down hidden paths.  There is something for every art lovers taste.  My favorite sculpture was one that reminded me of MC Escher.  One of the things that is very striking about walking down the Olympic center court is that as you get closer and closer the Birds Nest becomes more and more prominent.  The other thing is that as you are walking through all of the art, the Birds Nest fits in with all of it and punctuates the end of the enjoyable walk.  I know this is a stretch to say this, but it is like walking on a trail in Yosemite, seeing the typical rock formations and then turning a corner and the Valley Floor is spread out before you.

  The Birds Nest was very inspiring to us in many ways.  First of all, the architecture is amazing.  Taylor and Claire both mentioned that it would be cool to become Architects and make something like it.  I am not quite sure why when, we entered the stadium we just sat down quietly and admired the view without saying anything.  I will tell you that during the Olympics there probably wasn't a bad seat in the house.  The stadium is quite large, but the way that it is built makes it feel rather intimate.

Enjoying some of the cool fountains in the Olympic Village

  Cecelia and I will be honest with you.  For some reason it just seems a little disrespectful getting teary eyed watching highlights of the 2008 Olympic and Para-Olympic games, but not getting misty at any temples or ancient sites. Maybe it is because we have been athletes all of our lives, or maybe we have just seen so many temples and old Chinese history, but we actually were in awe of the Birds Nest and the aura of the Olympic memories that still lingered in the building.  We also thought that maybe our reaction was because we value the Olympic spirit and the hard work that goes along with becoming an Olympian.  We realized how much we value this spirit over government workings and old history. 
  I am adding in this last item, because it is part of the city and The Great Wall needs a blog just for itself.  So, I am jumping a little ahead to Thursday.  On Thursday before we left we wanted to see one more piece of history.  This last site is called the Heavenly Paradise.  It was the spiritual home to the Emperor and his staff.  It was used for storing food from the harvest and also the place where the Emperor would go to pray and give burnt offerings to ensure a bountiful harvest.  The place was massive and had an incredible park that surrounded it.  Much of the architecture is identical to The Forbidden City.
 

Heavenly Paradise

We spent a few hours here and then it was time for us to go get on the metro to head to the airport for our flight home.  On the way to the metro we had our first bad experience with a Rickshaw driver.  The first two that we rode with to The Heavenly Paradise were great, but the two that took us back to the metro were trying to rip us off.  I can proudly say that I know enough Chinese to tell a guy that I am not paying him more than what I was quoted.  After haggling for about 10 minutes we came to a compromise and we settled up.  So, a quick note to those of you that want to take a cute Rickshaw ride.  Make sure the guy is clear on what he is going to charge you, or just take a metered cab.
  Anyway, despite our encounter with the Rickshaw drivers we had a great time.  Have a great week and look for THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA, coming later in the week.  Video for the week.  The Magnificence of Beijing

Fathers are Dragons in China!!!

A Dragon with My People!!

This weeks blog as you can guess is dedicated to all those fathers that are doing their best for their kids each day. Thus the meaning of the title for this week.  Despite the bad rap that Dragons have gotten over the years, Dragons are revered in China.  The only person that could have the Dragon for their crest was the Emperor.  So men, you really are the kings of your own castles and it is great that our wives let us believe so most of the time.  Anyway, as I was saying  Dragons are respected here.  Another aspect about them is that despite their frightful look they are kind and compassionate.  With that being said, remember Dragons, that even when we make tough decisions regarding our families don't forget to be loving and compassionate.  DRAGONS TAKE CARE OF YOUR PEOPLE!!!!!! 
 
  I want to take a moment to send a LARGE brotherly hug out to my brothers.  This is our first Father's Day without our Dad.  I know each of us will have fond memories of him and spend some time thinking about what he meant to each of us.  I know I will cherish the relationship that we had, just before he passed away.  He had the opportunity to share a little of his life with my daughters and they really enjoyed the time being coached by him.  I got to see one last time the coaching fire flicker in his eyes that.  With that fire burning in him, it demonstrated why he is a Dragon to me.
    The video is at the beginning this week because the song for this video is my toast to all of you Dragons out there.  Here is the link.  Dragon's Day Video

SCHOOL:  No School this week because we were off for the Dragon Festival!!!

ADVENTURES:  After last weeks slow week because of the seven day work week, we started off on a rather calm note.  Monday was all about resting and taking care of some of the little things we needed to do before we headed to Beijing.
  Tuesday dawned with wet rainy conditions, which are not a surprise here in Southeast China. 
  Before we caught our flight later in the day, Cecelia and I decided to get some exercise.  She chose to stay dry and do some yoga, while I was stupid enough to go out into the drizzling rain.  I figured that if it was just a mild drizzle and that it would probably stop or be intermittent.  Obviously if you have been reading the blog over this past year, you know my luck with the rain.  So, this time wasn't any different.  As a matter of fact as I headed out I thought I saw some clearing skies near the metro station, so I decided to ride in that direction to avoid the rain.  Unfortunately, my mistake was not feeling the wind as it was blocked out by the high rise apartments.  With that error, rather than riding away from the oncoming storm, you guessed it I rode directly into the storm.  So, the drizzle that I began my ride in, turned into something a lot more substantial a few miles into my ride.  After being pelted by heavy rain for a mile or so I decided to cut back through a village that I knew and take a short cut back.  It really was a shortcut, the story doesn't get worse.  Quit thinking the worst for me will ya, geez!!!  Anyway, as I was heading back I came across some of the really long Dragon Boats.  This group had the Dragon heads on them and were prepared for the Dragon Boat Festival the next day.

Local villagers in Dragon Boats

  Now I know that I have mentioned the Dragon Boat Festival and this weeks blog definitely has the Dragon theme to it, but I really don't want to focus so much on the meaning of the Festival itself.  In short the Dragon Boat Festival is an excuse to party for a few days at the beginning of June.  It started roughly 2000 years ago and has something to do with a poet from some village that committed suicide because of some problem that he had with the local government.  The people of the village loved the poet so much, that when they started searching for his body in the river in which he drowned himself, they threw food to the fish so that they wouldn't eat his body.  I apologize for the less than meaningful description, but that is the story Cecelia and I both got from some local Chinese people.
  During the festival, people eat these triangle shaped rice balls stuffed with either chicken or pork.  Then are then wrapped in some kind of leaf and then steamed to a gooy perfection.  The best I have had were made by my friend David's mom.  Also, while eating most people watch boat races.  The boats are adorned with Dragon Heads and then the Dragons are fed herbs and graced with scarves to give the boats luck.  There are serious races, that we watched on TV by the way, but the local area just seemed to be prepared to enjoy a day off in the middle of the week to party.
  So the previous information was given to you so that you will understand that my semi-disasterous bike ride turned into another outstanding local adventure.  As I stopped to admire the decorated boats that were parked under a bridge, and give myself a little break from the rain, I happened to hear drums and cymbals beating in the distance.  With my curiosity piqued from the sound, I ventured forth back out into the rain and rode a little further into the local village.  As I turned the last corner to enter the village I was astounded to see a group of people paddling two Dragon Boats up a canal to the beat of the cymbal and drum.  The people were rowing in the rain and having a joyous time.  When I came abreast of the two boats on my bike, the drummer increased his beat and waved to me to race them down the walkway. 

Of course I obliged and we had some fun in the rain together.  When I reached the end of the path, they waved to me to turn around and race again.  This time, I pulled out Taylor's iPod, set my bike aside and raced them down the path on foot so that I could get some photos and video.  Thus the video and photos you experienced earlier in the blog.  We then raced back once again to the end, they docked their boats and asked me if I would like to get in and paddle.  I know at this point I probably should have taken them up on their offer, but I thought I would go back and get the girls and then give it a go.  So, I waved goodbye and headed home to dry off and shower. 
  After my ride, we were going to pack up and head to the airport for our flight later that day to Beijing.  To know avail, after picking up Cecelia and the girls we made it back but everyone had gone in to have lunch, so it was just the two boats docked side by side when we arrived.
 After leaving the Dragon Boats behind we headed for the airport to catch our flight to Beijing.  When we arrived at the airport to check in, I was informed that our flight was delayed until much later.  I was told that we could get on an earlier flight, so we took the opportunity.  The new flight was going to be leaving in a half an hour, so the ticket agent got us the tickets, but then we had to run through the airport to get to our new gate.  We arrived breathless to a new flight that was delayed as we arrived.  The delay lasted around four hours, but we finally boarded our flight and made it to Beijing at 2 am.  After checking in, we decided to sleep in and start the next day at Tienanmen Square.  So, just as we had to wait for the next morning, you are going to have to wait for the Bonus Blogs this week.  The bonus blogs are going to focus on our exploration of Beijing and finally our amazing day at The Great Wall.  I also don't want the blogs to be as long as the Great Wall, so you will have to wait for them later.  I promise not to delay too long.

 

Preparing For The Journey Home

Migratory Cranes of China.  They migrate every couple of years from one high rise project to the next.  Kirsten Keyser warned us about these creatures being around.  Amazing how many of them flock together.

 Hello Everyone.  I hope this week finds you all getting ready to enjoy those lazy days of summer.  I sat last night reading the Facebook about the Yosemite High Graduation Ceremony.  I couldn't help feel a bit homesick thinking of those seniors that I had spent the last few years with.  So I want to dedicate this blog to those that are graduating and moving to the next chapter in their lives.  Good luck Jordan Keyser, Paige Ronk and Austin Claybaugh.  I am proud of all of you and look forward to watching you follow your dreams.  If there are any I have forgotten please forgive me and accept my congratulations.

Yosemite underclassmen wish this was available in Oakhurst

  I also got a little nostalgic looking at the picture of the Class of 2013 from the bleachers and thinking to myself.  "I can't believe it has been an entire year that I was sitting in that stadium with the Class of 2012."  It just seems like the year has flown by, but I guess that happens when you are having the experience of a lifetime. 
  From the title of this week's post, you can probably guess what I am going to share.  So, grab a cold drink and get ready, because it isn't all what you might think.

  SCHOOL:  This week we had a great seven day work week in preparation for The Dragon Boat Festival.  We get five days off next week, but have another seven day week following the festival.  So in reality we only get one day off.  Such is the life of a school teacher in China.

This is a Troybuilt rototiller on steroids.  I need one of these on the O Hacienda.

  ADVENTURES:  Well, we didn't really have any adventures to share with you this week, because as I mentioned before we are working seven days in a row. But we have a saying here in China, "Everyday is an Adventure living here."   So with that being said, I did a bit of photo journalism this week and am going to share with you some of the interesting things we see each day, that we won't ever see in the United States.  But before we get to that, I have some really cool news to share with you. 

Firesuit, check.  Helmet, check.  No way I am getting on that portable bomb for a job.  His name must be Chang Knievel Liang!!!!

  First, so that you are all clear.  THE PLANE TICKETS HAVE BEEN PURCHASED TO COME HOME!!!!!!  We will be returning on July 8th at 8 pm in San Francisco.  We should be at home in Oakhurst late that night, since for us it will be 11 am for our body clocks.  They say the jet lag isn't as bad going back toward the west.  I hope not, since I hated the lag coming east.  Cecelia tells me we are only flying two hours and testing Eiensteins theory of relativity.  Somehow I don't think it is the same time travel thing.  But before we come home, we still have some things to do.

Hey!!!  We found Towmator.

  I can share with you that I am busily working on revising my book.  One of the publishers that I met with this last week wants to buy the copyrights to the English and Chinese version.  They also want to start with a 5000 book contract to begin with.  They want pictures and a little bit more writing to be done.  I want to get it done, before we leave China.
  During our next 7 day week, we plan on taking a day off to go see the Li River and the surrounding area.  It is supposed to be a beautiful wildlife and scenic area in China.  There are geographic rock formations that are unique to this part of China.
  During our five days off, we are going on an adventure that will be a surprise for next week's blog.  This week is the Dragon Boat Festival, but we will be doing something a bit more spectacular.  I think I will have to do a bonus blog to get it all in for the week.  (How is that for a teaser?!!)
  Finally, I have been hired to be the lead coach at a golf camp in Xian during the first week of July.  I will be flying there the day after school is out for me on June 28th.  Cecelia and the girls are going to come with me for part of the week.  If you don't know what is important about Xian, it is the home of the Terra Cotta Soldiers.  I am not going to elaborate about them now, but this is a pretty significant site in Chinese history.  You can Google about it, if you just can't wait until July.

Who says Sparklet's Employees have to be young and buff.

  In typical Oetinger fashion we are going to pack in as much as we can before we leave.  I am really looking forward to sharing the next few weeks with you.
  Despite the upcoming adventures, we are in countdown mode and are really looking forward to coming home to our friends and family.  Much love to all of you and we will see you sooner than you think!!!!

Adventure Taylor Turns 10!!!

Not Monet, But Rusty's Lotus Flowers

Hello Everyone,  I hope this week finds you all healthy and enjoying life wherever you call home.  This week's blog is dedicated to my daughter Taylor who turns 10 on Monday, June 3rd.  I am dedicating the blog a day ahead of time because we had a great weekend celebrating life with her in China.  Just like the Lotus Flower here in China that is dormant and battles the harsh elements to emerge as a spectacular flower,

Lotus Flower in full bloom

Taylor has weathered the storm of difficult times this year with education and growing up in a new culture to blossom into a beautiful young lady.  So, I hope you enjoy the slideshow I have presented to you and some of the adventures near home that we experienced.

SCHOOL:  Not much to report other than spent two hours prepping to train teachers on Bloom's Taxonomy and Interdisciplinary Teaching only to not have anyone show up.  I found out later that they had canceled the teacher trainings for the rest of the year.  You would think that the teacher would be the first to know, right?!  Anyway, one less thing on my plate until we return home.
  I can report that I did hear from Yosemite High School and learned officially that I will be teaching Applied Math, Geometry and Computer Lab to resource and general education students.  I am excited about the position.  It keeps me doing what I like to do with a new addition.  I have really enjoyed learning some great technology over here and look forward to sharing it with students in Computer Lab and Math.  I will also be returning as the Girls Golf Coach.  Looking forward to seeing my experienced Lady Badgers and some new ones as well.  If anyone knows of any eighth grade girls interested in playing, let me know.

About the size of a softball

ADVENTURES:  This week was mostly adventures on my own.  My ninth graders were on a field trip and my 10th graders were done testing so I didn't have many classes.  To the chagrin of my wife I played golf a lot this week.  I am not going to get into the golf too much other than to say that my travels took me to a new town called Nansha.
  Nasha is a really nice port city at the mouth of the Pearl River Delta.  It is very large and does a lot of the importing and exporting to Southeast Asia.  Unlike many other cities that have done away with the old culture as they build, Nasha has done a great job incorporating culture into new architecture.  The day I was there I played at a beautiful golf course on a ridge that overlooked the mouth of the Pearl River.  There was an outstanding view of the Nasha Bridge.  The Bridge has the same magnificent look to it that the Golden Gate Bridge does from a distance.  The architecture is very similar to the Golden Gate, but the main difference is that it is a glistening Pearl Color.  This is appropriate since it spans the Pearl River.  When the sun hits it, it is almost blinding.

Some Engineers bad dream!!!

  The rest of the week was pretty low key and we all kind of slid into the weekend.  On Saturday, the girls didn't have to do their regular tutoring so Cecelia and I went for a walk.  By the way, the weather this week has been absolutely gorgeous by Southeast China Standards.  We have awoken to robin egg blue skies, dotted with the kind of puffy white clouds that create shapes everyday this week, with temperatures in the low 90's and the humidity a reasonable 70 or so percent.  We have had the occasional thunderstorms in the afternoon, but that just adds to the great spring like atmosphere.  Cecelia thinks I am crazy because she still thinks it is too hot and humid.  So anyway as I mentioned earlier that Cecelia and I decided to go for a walk.  While out on our walk we decided to do something spontaneous and take the girls to the Chimelong Water Park.  We had been there earlier in the year, when uncle Paul was here and Taylor was not quite tall enough to go on all of the rides.  She has been waiting all winter for the park to open again, to see if she is tall enough now to go on every adventure at the park.  So, we had breakfast, loaded up and headed for the park.
  When we arrived at the park, to our disappointment everyone in the Guangzhou area had decided to be spontaneous as well.  It was so crowded that it was probably a good twenty minutes of waiting to get tickets and then another twenty minutes just to get in the park.  Cecelia and I looked around at the mass of humanity and decided that the idea of sloshing around shoulder to shoulder with the crowds was probably not going to be either refreshing or pleasant.  Obviously the girls were disappointed, but it was a call that had to made for the betterment of the family.  Taylor would just have to wait for a day that was less crowded.  Our decision was soon to be rewarded.

A roller coaster goes through that hole, believe it or not.

  On our way out we walked by the entrance to the amusement park.  We were actually just looking for water, but noticed that the lines for tickets and to get in were rather sparse.  We also meandered toward the entrance and spied hardly any people inside the place.  Finally as we were standing there, the roller coaster that is nearest to the entrance sent a train of cars screaming from an amazing drop.  In the train of cars there were empty seats.  At that moment we decided to test Taylor's height challenge at the amusement park.  It was kind of a crazy spontaneous thing to do, since we had forgone the adventures of being in the water all day to keep cool, but what the heck we might beat the crowds that didn't want to be in the heat.
  It turned out that going to the Amusement Park was cheaper than the Water Park so we were already ahead by the time we reached the first stop, which was the food court.  After a quick lunch and a refreshing drink we headed for our first ride.  While in the Amusement Park we were to be surprised by the many opportunities to get absolutely soaked.  Who needed to be packed half naked into a water park that was so crowded that you were going to be so snuggled up next to each other like sardines in a can with a little bit of water to keep you moist?  The very first ride we watched sprayed jets of water into the air that rained down on us like a refreshing spring storm.  Anyway, you get the picture.
  So the first ride we that the girls drug us to test Taylor's height restriction was called The Dive Coaster.  Taylor is our roller coaster aficionado.  She has loved them her entire life.  She would go on them starting at a young age, even when Claire wouldn't.  The first real exciting thing for Taylor was that she made the height restriction and was able to go on the ride.  She didn't want to ease  her way from kid hood to young lady status.  She decided that we were going to start with the biggest and baddest to christen her new freedom.
  Now let me tell you about being an older dad.  I wasn't exactly looking forward to her new found height.  Not because I don't want her to grow up, but because now in order to keep up I have to go on the crazy contraptions that stretch my abilities to continue functioning normally after riding them.  I have already begun to have difficulty with balance and fighting vertigo without submitting my body to negative G forces.  If God wanted me to be a fighter pilot, I wouldn't have gotten hit in the eye with a dart when I was young.  I did love planes when I was young and had dreams of flying until the accident, but being blind in one eye kind of throws your body off balance to begin with.  On top of the fact that I wouldn't be able to be like Maverick in "Top Gun" and see the missile in time to dodge it.

See that first drop.  They should give you a flight suit for this ride.

Wouldn't you know it, but the first damn roller coaster was designed around the aerial fighter moves of one Max Immelman.  Apparently he perfected the half roll toward the end of World War I.  Despite the Red Baron getting most of the publicity, this guy was so significant that he actually had squadrons named after him.
  So with that background you can better understand that the roller coaster seats are shaped in the form of a wing and when you are sitting in the pilots seat your feet are dangling down into free space.  One thing before I describe some engineer's bad dream brought to life, when you get on a roller coaster, and the floor in which you walked on to get into your seat drops away, this is a sign of a BAD THING!!!  Do Not Walk Into The Light!!!  The first drop is literally a hair raising and anything in your stomach raising 90 foot drop at nearly a 90 degree angle.  Oh, but that isn't the best part.  Before you take your first plunge, some friggin idiot engineer decided that you should hang at the top, facing straight down for about two or three seconds first.  I guess this is their attempt at giving you plenty of time to let your 50 years of life flash before your eyes.  You then plummet into a black abyss and go under ground only to come soaring out and doing one of the half turns that Immelman was famous for in his heyday.  After this stomach wrenching G force experience you turn around and fly to the the top of a smaller tower in which you start the entire process over again.  At least on the smaller tower the idiot engineer doesn't give you time to contemplate life, he just designed it to throw you off the 50 ft. cliff without a thought.  After a final half upside down turn we dive through a pool of water and finish with a screeching halt at the place in which we were stupid enough to get on.
  Unfortunately, or you may say fortunately I had a problem with my blind eye.  Apparently the pressure and the G forces associated with the ride hurt my blind eye.  I know, you are saying at this point, what a wimp.  But seriously, I had to take a little break before we went to the next ride.
  After I recuperated we headed to a Roaring Rapids type of ride.  It was hot, so we decided it would be a good idea to get wet.  One of the really interesting things in China is that there are some really strange things that the people do, that we will never understand.  So as we waited in line, we started to notice people putting on these plastic coveralls.  At first we thought it was just the crazy women that wore long dresses and stiletto heals to an amusement park, but know it turned out to be all of the Chinese in the line.  They were buying them for 8 rmb a piece just before they got on the ride.  So, here is the question we kept asking ourselves.  Why would you go on a water ride, not to get wet?  Fungza!!!  Not us, we were the crazy Americans that got on the ride and loved every minute of the soaking we got.  You should have seen the looks on the faces as we stepped off the ride soaking wet.  We waved and splashed a few of the people in the crowd as we left.  They all had a great laugh and we enjoyed being the show for them.  We noticed a few going without the plastic after we left.
  After that soaking we rushed over to the adventure show called Countdown.  It was a cheesy show that had lots of gun fire, explosions, motorcycles jumping and sports cars spinning out.  It was a nice break and gave us some time to dry off a little bit.

Blue Man with mirrors

  We then headed over to a water ride called Riptide.  Riptide is just a giant water ride that loops up and comes down to spray water everywhere.  The designers of this ride have designed the boats to shoot water in a giant wave that goes about 12 feet high.  They even have an observation deck with glass in front of it for people to take pictures.  The cool thing about the observation deck is that you can stand on the stairs going up to it and get totally soaked.  Once again we were the crazy Americans that didn't wear plastic covering.  After boarding our boat and getting a bit wet on the ride, we proceeded to the observation deck and stood on the steps, just so that we could get soaked again.  Like I said, better than the water park.  We had many videos and pictures taken of us while we were being crazy.
  A little touching side note.  There was one girl in a wheel chair waiting in line with us, and as she passed she kept trying to catch the eye of Taylor and Claire.  When she finally did and they said hello to her, she turned on one of the warmest smiles we have seen in China.  We believe she had cerebral palsy.  She had full use of her upper torso, but her legs were very tiny and she had to move them around with her hands.  Despite her disability her attitude was infectious.  She was with two other friends and when she went to get in the boat we were wondering how she was going to manage.  Cecelia and I both got a tear in our eye, when the boy that was with her, who by the way wasn't much bigger than the girl, picked her up in his arms and carried her into the boat and sat her down.  It was very touching.  It reminded me of watching my friends the Hooker boys take care of their sister in the same way.  After her ride was over, she was very excited and had really enjoyed the experience.  The young boy picked her up and placed her gently in her wheel chair that the staff had carried over to the other side of the dock.  It just helped us to remember, that wherever we are, people are people and we all share the same space on the same planet.  On top of that we all have many of the same problems no matter what the culture.

They lady could sing, and she didn't look too bad in the outfit either, Hot!!!

  The rest of the day was taken up with riding other less impressive rides and meandering around the park.  One roller coaster that we really wanted to do ended up breaking down and we couldn't ride it.  This could have been God's way of saving us from a bad end to a really great day, or it could be the beginning of a really bad horror flick like, Final Destination.  I'm sticking with the idea of God protecting us.
  To finish off the day, we ended up in this amphitheater waiting for some show that we didn't have any idea about.  One of the great things about living over here and not understanding the language is that if you are open to just winging it, you end up experiencing some really cool stuff.  So while we waited in the theater the parks light show came through.  It was nice, but Cecelia and I were wondering if they really pay well, because some of the costumes the people wear are absolutely ridiculous.  Even having lights on some of them didn't help.
  After the parade left, a couple of people came on stage wearing mirrored costumes.  They did a performance much like The Blue Man group, but were dressed entirely in mirrors.  They were living disco balls that did an awesome drum performance.  It wasn't as awesome as Blue Man, but it was pretty cool anyway.  After these guys finished, there was an awesome fireworks show, choreographed to music.  The party was finished off with a party band that looked like Cool and the Gang.  These guys also had full mirror suits.  They were really good and had a female lead singer that was outstanding.  The cat with the mirrored top hat playing the electric organ was amazing.  I don't use the term cat very often, but he was very smooth so it merits the description.

These were some cool cats!!!!

  The day was very full and turned out better than expected.  We then went home to go to bed so that we could get up early to do our trek to Guangzhou for church the next day.
  The next day church was excellent and we had a very relaxing day.
  This final part is a tribute to my daughter.  She turns 10 tomorrow and is an amazing young lady.  We love her spunk and energy.  She has a passion for sports, adventure and animals.  Along with trying to keep her studies up in Math and English, she has learned a lot of Chinese and some really great technology.  One of the lessons that she has had a difficult time with is time management and being self motivated.  Without regularly scheduled classes, she has a lot of time to spend working on projects.  It is a tall order to learn how to manage time at such a young age, especially when you love to read so much.  Taylor has done a good job learning both of these skills and is getting better at both.  She is currently working on a travel brochure that will sell vacations to the Yosemite Area for Chinese people.  The brochure that she has already created is beautiful.  On Monday we will celebrate her birthday officially with some friends by having pizza and going to a small water park that is part of our community.  Cecelia and I are very proud of her for being resilient and trying to make changes in her life that are difficult at such a young age.  We love her dearly and look forward to watching her grow into a confident and adventurous young woman.  Enjoy this video of Taylor.  Our beautiful Taylor at 10

Traversing the Dragons Back!!!

 Hello Everyone.  I hope this blog finds many of you resting during the Memorial Day holiday.  This last weekend we did anything but rest.  We had an outstanding adventure in Hong Kong.  So sit back, grab a cup of coffee or a cold drink and enjoy our latest Indiana Jones like, excursion!!!

SCHOOL:  Not much to report here, except counting down the days until we are done.  32 DAYS and counting.

ADVENTURE:  This weekend found us heading off to Hong Kong once again.  We weren't going there again because it is one of our favorite places, but we were going because it is the easiest way to send money home.  If I haven't mentioned it before, sending money home from China is very difficult.  The process works like this:  1.  I have money automatically deposited into my bank account here.  No problems so far, but when we get to step 2 this is when the issues begin.  At step 2, I have to take my Chinese money out of my account.  Step 3, I then have to have a Chinese friend come to the bank and change the money over to US dollars.  Step 4, I then have to send two separate Western Union checks if the amount is too much.  By the way, Western Union is a total rip off for us over here.  They gouge the hell out of us in fees.  Step 5 I have to make sure the forms are filled out exactly correct or I have to start them over again.  Finally, Step 6 the teller has to type all of the information into the computer.  The process usually takes about 2 to 3 hours at the bank.  That includes the 30 to 45 minute wait before I even get to see a teller.  I have tried everything to make the process faster, but this is China.  Somethings just take as long as their history as a culture.  So the reason we go to Hong Kong is because all I have to do is take the cash to the Western Union and then send the money.

Flaming Ummyness!!!

 So with that on our agenda, we decided to kill two birds with one stone.  Instead of just passing through, like it seems we usually do, we decided to stay a couple of days in Hong Kong.  Usually we don't stay in Hong Kong because it is so expensive.  A stay in a bad hotel is about $1000 Hong Kong dollars.  This time we did a bit of research about hostels and found a decent one in a place called Causeway Bay for $800 Hong Kong dollars for two days.  That is about $100 US for the two days.  Causeway Bay is on Hong Kong island.  Now, understand until this weekend I have not been a big fan of Hong Kong.  My family enjoys it, because it is definitely a break from the subtleties of living in the area in which we live.  It is very much westernized, but has always seemed too crowded with not enough character for me.  The reason I say I don't feel like it has much character, is because it just seems like any other crowded cosmopolotine city with some cool architecture.  It just seems like San Francisco, Bangkok or Guangzhou, but more crowded.
  Anyway, as of now I take it back.  Hong Kong is really cool.  After doing the Western Union stuff, we hopped on the Metro and headed for Temple Street.  We had a number of friends tell us how cool Temple Street was, so we wanted to check it out.  We arrived at Temple Street and were immediately swept up in the low key atmosphere.  There were street vendors selling all kinds of different things from knockoff Polo shirts to cloths from Thailand.  The smells on the street were intoxicating as well. 

Some of the awe inspiring weather we live with here in Southeast China.

  We sat down at a restaurant that had outdoor seating that covered one lane of the road.  I was sold immediately when they showed me a picture of an entire plate of fried oyster cake.  Yum!!!!!!  Between the four of us, we had a delicious meal.  With full bellies, we proceeded to wander the shopping area, picking up nic naks here and there.  We ended our fantastic experience by stopping by a dessert shop.  This wasn't just a simple ice cream and cake shop.  This shop had these amazing desserts called Flaming Snow Mountains.  They consisted of cake on the bottom, topped with ice cream and then completely covered with a thick cream.  Finally, it was topped off with a flaming sauce poured over it.  This was the type of Fantastical Dessert that should be on some Food Network show.
  After our decadent dessert experience we made our way to Causeway Bay and found our hostel.  We were a little apprehensive about getting the hostel, because we have heard mixed reviews about them.  Neither Cecelia or I had ever stayed in a hostel.  We were pleasantly surprised to get a private room with a bathroom.  It was clean and had great air conditioning.  The beds were moderately comfortable and had clean linens.  We settled in and went to bed early.  The next day we needed to leave early to head for the Dragon's Back.
  The next morning we woke up early and headed out to have breakfast.  The girls made us go to Starbucks again!!  They have become such coffee and breakfast snobs.
  Anyway, we jumped on the metro and took it to the stop we needed to catch the bus that would take us to The Dragon's Back trail head.  It took us about half an hour to get to the trail head.  Along the way, we got to see a part of Hong Kong that was really different from what we experienced previously.  The feet of the mountains come directly down to the city, so when we started heading out of the city on the double decker bus the grade was rather severe.  We were sitting on the top deck and the bus was wacking branches all along the way.  The road also twisted all around through the mountains.  It was like being on a giant roller coaster.

View of Bay at Bottom of the Dragon's Back

  The scenery was extremely different as well.  The highrise apartments began to disappear and were replaced by hardwood and bamboo forests.  We also saw the beach and a beautiful bay ringed by homes.  There were yahts and pleasure boats moored in a small cove as well.  It actually reminded me of some of the small bays we had scene in southern France and Italy.
  The bus then rolled up to a remote stop facing the bay and the driver let us know that we had arrived.  We hopped off and found ourselves at the base of a trail that ventured into the jungle to the left of two porta potties.  At least there was a big map telling us where we were and showing us how far we had to go.
 

The Start!

The Dragon's Back is an 8 km trail that begins midway down the mountain and faces the bay.  The beginning of the trail doesn't waste any time.  It begins by going straight up the hill into the jungle.  Once you make the climb to the top, the hike has you traverse the spine of two mountain tops with views on both sides of the mountain.  You end the hike by reaching the sandy beach of Big Wave Bay and the warm waters of the South China Sea.  So, this is what you are supposed to experience, but we are the O's and it doesn't always work out that way.
  When we began the hike, it was a misty, drizzly kind of morning.  Cecelia had checked the weather and it stated that there was only a 50% chance of rain so we felt pretty good about our chances.  As we progressed up the side of the mountain it began to get more and more misty.  It reminded us of some of the scenes from the movie Gorillas in The Mist.  It got to the point where Cecelia and the girls literally disappeared as they hiked the steps in front of me.  One of the girls commented that they felt like they were hiking into a cloud.  The great thing about it being misty and cloudy was that it kept the temperature down to a comfortable 85 degrees.  Some of our friends did the same hike a few weeks previously and they said it was very hot.  They had run out of water and had to abandon the hike early.  With that information, we all carried a one liter bottle of water.
 

When we arrived at the top of the first peak, we were above the cloud.  The only problem with this, is that we couldn't see any of the amazing views.  All we saw were clouds skittering along the valleys and felt the cool breeze blowing up from below.  We were hiking along the spine of the Dragon's Back when we started hearing rumbling noises.  I thought it sounded like a cargo ship being loaded.  Taylor thought it was some ship in the harbor below us and Claire and Cecelia thought it was thunder.  The sound just didn't sound right, it was too consistent.  But as we began to descend back into the cloud, a flash of lightening blazed across the sky and a clap of thunder echoed off the surrounding mountains. 

View from the top, isn't it Spectacular!!!

With that, it began to rain.  But, it wasn't the slight rain that progressed into a hard rain.  It began to rain like standing under a shower head with hard water pressure.  Not only was it a shower, but it was a warm shower.  The amazing thing is that when it starts to rain, the temperature doesn't change.  At this point in our hike we had about 3 km left before we reached any civilization.  As the rain continued to pour down on us, the trail then became a walking stream.  It wasn't a matter at this point of trying to avoid the puddles, but avoid the deepest parts of the puddles.  With the jungle around us and the water streaming off the mountain in rivlets and waterfalls, Cecelia and I were reminded of the scene in Romancing the Stone when Kathleen Turner and Michael Douglas are swept off the trail in a mud slide.  We kept telling the girls to stay away from the edge of the trail.

That drain is about a foot deep

  Despite the rain, all of us had a wonderful time hiking.  There were plenty of puddles to jump in and numerous places in which to have water fights.  All along the way, the thunder and lightening continued to bellow.  We finally made it to Big Wave Bay.  At Big Wave Bay, I just continued to walk into the ocean with all of my clothes on.  What is the point in taking off your clothes and changing into a swimsuit when you are so wet that your clothes are sticking to you like a second skin anyway.  Cecelia convinced me to at least put our gear on the beach under the tiny umbrella she had packed.  They were all wearing their swimsuits under their cloths, so they stripped down to their suits and ran for the water.  I went ahead and took off everything except my shorts.  The swimsuit in my backpack was soaked anyway.  We then went for a family swim in the ocean while it was raining.  We swam together for about 15 minutes before an announcement came over a loud speaker, that a weather warning had been issued and that all swimmers were to leave the water and seek shelter immediately.
  Believe it or not, we then got out of the water and rinsed off in the shower.  At this point we were all walking prunes.  We then went and sat in an outdoor restaurant that had a covered area.  That way we didn't drip all over the restaurant while we ate our lunch.
  After this adventure we made our way back to the hostel on the bus and the metro.  The rest of the afternoon was spent drying out and trying to find dry clothes.  The girls stayed in the hostel while Cecelia and I walked around looking for some dry shorts.  We didn't end up buying anything, because as we were shopping the rain stopped and the temperature went up and we dried out while we were walking.  We returned to the hostel, collected the girls and went for a walk in a nearby park before dinner.  That evening we had a nice dinner at a Thai restaurant and then finished it off by doing some window shopping.  After enough over stimulation from neon we headed to the hostel and bed.

Foggy view of the bay where we eventually took a swim in the Rain!!!

  The rest of our weekend was a leisurely trip back home.  On our return trip,
 I had a lot of time to sit and think about our trip.  I came to realize that I have grown to enjoy Hong Kong as much as my family.  I thought to myself, I could live here if I could get out of the city regularly to have adventures like the one we just experienced.