Wang Fu Jing’s Night Food Market (7/16)

Ruhi in Wang Fu Jing (7/16)

I’m excited to be in Beijing! Taken in Wang Fu Jing (7/16)

This is the mother of a friend who studies at Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU or “Bei Wai”).  She was staying in the same apartment as us while she was there, but after a few days she had to return home to Malaysia. (7/19)

And this is her daughter, who’s name I can say but can not write for the life of me.  Something like “Nythiya”?  “Nydyia?”  Anyway, she is in a degree program at Bei Wai, so naturally her Chinese is pretty good. (7/19)

This is our friend Brian, who is a teacher at Bei Wai.  We were staying at his apartment during our time in the capital city.  Next to him is a student who came over to practice a speech she was giving at the Bird’s Nest Olympic Stadium a day or two later.

Of course, no trip to Beijing is complete without visiting with some wushu folks.  Here we are with Hao Zhi Hua at the Blue Frog restaurant in San Li Tun’s Village Mall.  Cary was there too, but I didn’t include his photo because I was afraid his hair would attack me.

All the Wushu West folks will recognize Sunny, our intrepid tailor and all-around fashion police.  James was there to put in a big order for his friend’s wedding and I was there to get a jacket and shirt made, along with some clothes for a few folks in the U.S.  Yay for Ya Xiu!

And then there is Wu Di.  We met up with him, Osric Chau (another alivenotdead artist who you might remember as the young Tibetan monk in the film “2012”) and Stephen for some sushi and fun.  Wu Di shared a script idea with us and we gave him our feedback.  Then he was nice enough to drive us back home.  I was hoping to see him again before I left, but my schedule was crazy and I wasn’t able to see him again.

Wu Di

Osric Chau

Stephen

The next are a set of photos from “Pure Lotus”, a Buddhist Vegetarian restaurant located in the Chaoyang area near San Li Tun.  Great food and a very unique environment made it a great eating experience.  I ended up going twice, both times treated by someone else!

Buddhist statue made from wood.

This is their menu!  It is about 3 feet long and weighs close to 20 pounds.

Main entrance area of the restaurant.

A cup of tea

Word of wisdom

Some vegetarian hand rolls.  Very delicious.

And finally, one of the things I was doing here in Beijing was some work for Khalil Fong and his fan club.  Some of it was administrative, some of it was fan interaction and logistics, and some of it was photographic.  I got to attend his concert here in Beijing which was quite spectacular.  Soul Boy has some skillz.  I was able to hang out in the dressing room beforehand and also get some pictures from backstage, so I wanted to share a few of the ones I like the most here:

Some autographed concert cards for fans

Backstage with some band members before the show

Jun Kung on guitar!  Ray on Base!

I like his energy in this shot

Left: Taken from back stage, Right: sipping some water between songs

I like the light in this one.  No photoshopping required!

View of the audience from the 1st row.

While at the concert I ran in to an old friend from back home.  Marla!

At the concert were Dayyan and his wife Bei Bi, along with another friend Saba, who was the DP on one of Ruhi’s film projects a few years back.  Saba joined in at lunch the next day since he and Khalil are old friends and I snapped a picture of them comparing cameras at the table. 

Yes … we at at “Pure Lotus”.

And that more or less wraps up the main highlights of the trip.  We got some good stuff done and I had a nice time but now it is time for us to head off for our month-long trip to the U.S.  Keep your eyes peeled here as I blog our travels around the western hemisphere!

One more bonus pic, taking a queue from Emilio.

Related posts:

1. Beijing – Day 15: Beijing Roast Duck Dinner
2. Beijing – Day 7 & 8: Training Next to the Pros
3. Beijing – Day 13/14: Training and New Arrivals

And for the most part everything went quite smoothly.  We were able to locate a new renter for our apartment in Gao Xin and thanks to Ruhi via telephone from Beijing and a Chinese friend or two in Xi’an, we arranged for movers to come and take care of everything and get it in to our new apartment in just a matter of a few hours.

I wanted to share a couple pictures of our moving process.  First here is a picture of most of our boxes all ready for the movers.  This was taken on July 5, but I’m proud to say that by the time the movers showed up on July 13, I was all packed up and ready for them well in advance of their arrival.  No last minute scrambling for me!

And here are some pictures from our new apartment at XISU.  Obviously there is some serious unpacking to be done when we return from our trip to the U.S. at the end of summer!

During the last few days in Gao Xin I also took it upon myself to frequent some of our favorite hang-outs and say goodbye to the folks in the area.  First up are some photos I took at the Shanxi Dumpling and Noodle restaurant that we would frequently visit.  I actually have some really great video footage from this place that I will hopefully be able to put up in the future, but for now here are just a few photos so you can get the idea.  The first two were taken in May and the rest were taken on July 13.

And finally here are some photos from our favorite Kao Ro place, run by Lao Sun from Shandong – a real stand-up guy who always treated us very nicely.  I tried to be a bit more artistic with these so I hope you enjoy them.

I’m actually writing this blog from Beijing, where I’ve been for the last few days and will be until the 26th of July.  I’ll post up some of the photos I’ve taken here once I head off the U.S., but first here is a teaser image:

Related posts:

1. Life in Xi’an – XISU, Food, 4Dream and More …
2. XISU Spring Students Recap
3. Sweet 4Dreams

Recently we’ve been saying our goodbyes to them, since we’re moving to the other side of town and will not be able to spend as much time there as we have been.  I wanted to share some photos of the fine folks at 4Dream – sort of a 4Dream retrospective, if you will.

First are a group of photos I’ve posted before, but they give you a good idea of the environment at their school.  These were taken in early May:

Next are some photos from one of their social activities.  They had a small theater room in which they would play a movie, and then there would be a related activity in English after the film in the main room.  It was lots of fun and I got to meet some nice folks.  (the first picture has some wushu folks in it!)

Next up are some photos from the last day hanging out at 4Dream before Ruhi left for Beijing for the month of July.  In fact, the picture of Ruhi here with one of the 4Dream students, was taken as she was on her way to the airport.

And next up are pictures from a dinner welcoming a new teacher to 4Dream, Michael or Mike who hails from Chicago (if I remember correctly).  Or maybe the east coast?  Hmm … I need to keep better track of these things. 

Anyway, Mr. Kim asked for suggestions about places to eat and naturally when you are hanging out with someone from Korea you ask them to take you to a Korean restaurant because they they undoubtedly know a good place to go. And he certainly did.  Here are a few pictures from dinner with the 4Dream staff and Mike.

Finally, this Saturday I was invited to play some badminton with them after they finished their work.  It turned out that the badminton would be played in the courts located at the sports center for Mr. Kim’s apartment, which also just happened to be located across the street from Ruhi’s friend Susan’s apartment.  Small world. 

Those years of playing badminton with Jet finally paid off because I was able to be on the winning teach for each game I played.  But after 3 or 4 matches I was drenched in sweat, so after a change of clothes we all went to a delicious Kao Ro BBQ place and partook of some delicious food.  Here are a few photos from dinner.

And thus ends my Spring and Summer hanging out with the fine folks at 4Dream Education.  If you know anyone who wants to study English in Xi’an, I heartily recommend their school!  You can get more information at 4dreameducation.com.

Related posts:

1. Life in Xi’an – XISU, Food, 4Dream and More …
2. Moving to Wai Yuan … Goodbye Gao Xin!

(Pictured at Right: Momo back in the day in Shanghai before coming to Xi’an)

It was actually the first time I’ve been next to any living creature (bigger than a cockroach, that is) as it died and seeing an actual final gasp for breath from a creature you have grown attached to is probably not an image that I’ll be able to remove from my mind.  It was both sad – and at the same time somewhat life-affirming.

But I’m not here to depress you.  I’m here to celebrate the life of Momo.

Actually, I didn’t know Momo for very long – just about 7 months or so.  Originally she was Chana’s cat, brought over from Shanghai (and originally I think from Hong Kong?).  She has actually lived with almost all of Ruhi’s foreign Friends in Xi’an at one time or another and with each home more and more people got attached to her gentle nature.

In fact, I’ve had close to a dozen cats over my life, but I’ve never been around one with such a peaceful demeanor.  She was the most sociable and accommodating cat I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing.

(Pictured at Left: An accommodating Momo endures an embarrassing outfit)

I’ve taken quite a few photos of Momo over the past half year or so, so I wanted to share a few of my favorites here.  Enjoy!

Click on an image to view a larger size.

February 4, 2010

April 2, 2010

April 22, 2010

May 15, 2010

We found Momo enjoying this bag one morning.

May 16, 2010

Momo would often sit next to our computers (or sometimes on them) while we were working.

May 20, 2010

More photos of Momo helping me with my work

May 27, 2010

Momo wasn’t the only one who liked to take cat naps.

June 22, 2010

The morning before she passed away.  We took her to the vets to get an IV treatment to replenish some fluids and nutrients.

But this is how I really will remember her:

May 10, 2010

Goodbye Momo!  You will be missed.

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There are some interesting things about the university system in China that I didn’t know before meeting these students.  For example, in China no one transfers from one school to another.  Once you start at a school, you have to stay there until you graduate.  Also, based on your entrance exam you qualify for only a specific set of majors.  So, if you really want to study French and you didn’t qualify for that department, then you have to pick some other major instead.  Needless to say, there are a fair number of students in these two particular classes that aren’t super thrilled to be stuck in a major that they have no interest in.

However, it is the system they are in, and they are all adjusted to that fact.  I suppose if you have no other options, you play with the hand you are dealt.

My role with these students was helping them with their Oral English.  But first I wanted to share some photos I took during a field trip they invited me on to check out the Terracotta Warriors, Xi’an most famous historical landmark.  They were kind enough to invite me along and so I brought my trusty digital SLR and snapped a bunch of pics.  If you are outside of China you can view them all on my website or my picasa gallery, but here is a selection of my favorites for those of you still inside the middle kingdom:

Oh, and in case you were wondering why the majority of the students in these pictures are female, it is because XISU’s student population is around 80% female.  So, for all you single guys out there, now you know where to apply for your exchange programs. (j/k)

One of the things I helped these students with was to provide some opportunities for Oral English practice outside of their classroom experience.  I would meet them outside of the school for some “Free Talk” time.  They would come in groups of 2, 3, 4 or even 5 and we would hang out and I would give them a chance to ask me any questions they might have about whatever topics interest them.

It was also a good opportunity for me to get a bit of practice helping students with their English prior to getting started with my new teaching job at XISU starting in the fall.  I was able to ask them what sort of English class was the most beneficial for them and what their particular desire was with relation to learning English.  It was very educational.  Here are some pictures of the students I met with out and about in Xi’an:

Prepare yourself for an overabundance of peace signs

(Not a student at XISU, but we met him on the XISU campus during a Free Talk session, so here he is.)

You can click on an image to view a larger version.

With some of the students we would go out to eat, so here are a few gratuitous food shots just to get you salivating!

And thus ends my XISU related photos from the spring.  I’m really looking forward to teaching in the fall and have already begun preparing ideas and materials for my syllabus and first classes.  It should be fun!

Related posts:

1. Life in Xi’an – XISU, Food, 4Dream and More …
2. Moving to Wai Yuan … Goodbye Gao Xin!

It was my first time taking photos during a wedding so I wanted to try and do my best at it.  I figured it would be a great learning experience.  And I was right.  I learned a few things about areas that I need to work on, the limitations of my equipment and the need to take control of a photo-taking situation to get the best photographs.  Wedding photography is not for the feint of heart and I have newfound respect for those that do this for a living.  You have to be both aggressive and gracious, assertive and giving.  It is an interesting balance.

Over the course of the wedding and subsequent reception lunch, I ended up taking around 2,075 photographs.  My method is to take several photos of each pose or situation, knowing that at least one or two of them will probably not work out and this “shotgun” method tends to give me good results. 

Out of the 2075 photos, I first did a round eliminating all of the photos that didn’t turn out at all.  That brought me down to around 600 photos that turned out.  From those I picked the photos that captured the feeling of each moment the best.  That brought me down to 275.  From there I worked on cropping and color correcting the photos and eliminated a few more giving me a final count at 261 finished pictures.  I burned those to a couple DVDRs and will be meeting Jamie this week to hand them off. 

From the 261 photos I picked 75 that I personally liked for my own portfolio album.  You can see them on my picasa album (unless you are in China) here:

Jamie and Wendy (6/19)

I wanted to share my top 9 photos with you, along with the reason I like these particular photos the best.

This is Wendy before she changed in to her wedding dress.  For some reason, while she was moving I managed to keep part of her face in focus.  I really like this effect – it is actually something I might try to achieve in Photoshop, but as luck would have it I didn’t need to here.  It feels like it is keeping her spirit in focus but also displays the quick pace and hectic nature of one’s wedding day.

These are freshmen students at the Xi’an Music Conservatory University.  I really like the looks of concentration and relaxation on their faces, indicative of high-level artistry.  They were actually quite good.  In particular I like the position of her fingers over the strings – almost like a cat stealthily walking through the tall grass.

This was probably one of the only times I snapped Jamie’s dad smiling.  It isn’t that he wasn’t happy, but just that he doesn’t crack a big grin all that often (based on this one time I saw him).  I like this photo because it has some genuine joy coming out of Jamie, Umesh and Jamie’s dad.  Jamie’s parents both live in YanLing, just a few hours west of Xi’an, where they both teach English at the university there.

This is a picture of Wendy, her father, and her daughter (from a previous marriage).  They were waiting a little ways down the path for the wedding to start so they could make their way down the aisle.  I like this photo because, even though it is her wedding, that doesn’t mean she is exempt from taking the occasional phone call, but more than that I like it because her daughter decided to do a little impromptu dancing, which I thought was very cute.

Thanks to my long lens I was able to zoom in on their hands during the ring exchange.  Something about this feels very symbolic to me – well, of course it does.  They’re exchanging wedding rings.  But still, I like the composition on this shot, so I included it here.  As they say, “if you like it, then you better put a ring on it”.

For the most part Wendy’s dad has on a big smile and was quite cherry.  But for this one moment I was able to capture him as his eyes were watering seeing his daughter finding happiness.  Nothing brings tearful joy to a parent’s face than to see their children find true happiness.

Amazingly I was able to capture the bouquet being thrown by the bride to “all the single ladies”.  I was surprised this photo turned out so I wanted to include it as the only wedding “action shot” in the group.

The new family together!  This is a nice photo because both Jamie and Wendy are looking at the camera, but the real reason I like this one is Wendy’s daughter’s expression – almost a mixture of happiness and mischievousness. 

And finally I like this photo.  Jamie’s flowers kept falling out of his lapel so they had a fun time trying to get it back in, eventually just sticking it in his shirt pocket.  While they were doing this everyone and their uncle whipped out their pictures to snap the "moment” between the new couple and I was lucky enough to get this shot showing the enjoyment and laughter on their faces.

I also put together a time-lapse video of all 2075 photos.  They are on a 1/10th of a second rotation, giving a total time of around 3 and a half minutes.  I put some music to it as well, which I think gives it a nice effect.  Check it out here – the entire wedding in 3 1/2 minutes!  …

Youku Version:

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTg2NjYyOTk2.html

Youtube Version:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwpeTeQvS8U

Oh, and here is a runner-up photo that almost made the top 9:

Ruhi and Lei looking towards the future!

No related posts.

No related posts.

I’m going to post up a bunch of photos and provide some text so that you know what is going on.  Pretty much like the last few blogs too, I guess.

Ruhi has a pretty long commute to get to her school each morning.  One day I joined her so that I could head over to Shi Da Lu to do a bit of work.  She introduced me to an AMAZING Muslim restaurant that rocked my world.  Here she is waiting for the bus outside our building complex.

The restaurant was actually introduced to her by Jamie, who is in the next picture (left) with Roy (right).  Here they are hanging out at James and Adam’s place on Gao Xin No. 5 Road.  We had a couple movie night gatherings there, which were a lot of fun.  I haven’t been able to get back there though, due to my Hong Kong travels, but I hear they are still going strong. 

Rachel, from Beijing, and her parents visited Xi’an, so we went to a nice restaurant near Gao Xin Er Lu, just behind the Golden Eagle Center.  Her dad was nice enough to make us a super chocolatey creation.  Afterwards they came over to our house for some hanging out with MoMo, a bit of conversation, some amazing revelations that Rachel’s dad and Ruhi’s parents met each other in the 70’s, and a bit of Salsa dancing.  It was lots of fun!

One of Ruhi’s classes in her Master’s Program at XISU (Xi’an International Studies University) is Tai Chi.  They are learning the Yang 24 form so I thought I would go and watch.  The guy teaching them went to Xi’an Physical Education University with Coach Yang, the Fanzi Champ from the 80’s.  Wait, is that her name?  I’m forgetting … yikes!

One of the things we’ve been doing here in Xi’an recently is helping out a bit with a new Language school that just started in Gao Xin.  it is called “4 Dream Education” and we’re just offering some suggestions and thoughts on their programs for teaching English.  Plus, they are super nice people and its a nice place to hang out.  They have a coffee shop in the school and pretty good internet speeds.   They just started so only a few students right now, but if you know anyone who wants to study English in Xi’an, I recommend this place.

The last picture are some flowers from their opening ceremony.  I didn’t attend since I was in Hong Kong, but it seems they had a good turn-out.

One of the nice things about our neighborhood is the village of shops and restaurants right next door.  Mostly inhabited by Construction workers and their families, it is basically a mini community of local Chinese living in a very local way.  Great cultural exposure, not to mention a great place to get some quality food.

I’ve mentioned and shown a couple pictures of the dumpling/noodle place that we have been frequenting a lot in the last month. 

But recently a new place opened up, run by a man from Shandong (Jinan) called Lao Sun.  Its mainly a seafood place, but they have a lot of dishes, some awesome kao ro (grilled meat – cooked by Xiao Fang), great grilled vegetables (including some really good eggplant which you can see in the last picture below) and are super friendly.  We ate there 4 nights in a row because it just really hits the spot.  Here are some photos.

Finally, on Saturday 4Dream had their first social event – a movie night.  Part of their program is to have free events for people to practice English and see their school.  Sort of a combination of culture lessons, media event and English corner.  This time they were playing the Pixar movie “Up” in their super nice multimedia presentation hall, after which they had some ice breakers and activities.  Oh, and they provided some free grub too.

I invited Yue Xiao Yu from the Shaanxi Wushu Team and she brought her two good friends who do Sanda.  Actually, the friend I’ve met before (she was in the video of them leaving for competition which I posted last month) got 9th at the recent Sanda competition, so she’s the 9th most bad-ass fighter in China (in her weight class, of course).  Not too shabby.

This picture is Grace, our Chinese tutor, helping Mao Mao with her English activity

This is Mao Mao again, this time with Flora, one of the people who work at 4Dream.

And here is Grace again, this time with a friend who recently returned from a few years in Australia.  Needless to say both of their English is very good.

2 Sanda Athletes waving goodbye.

Grace and her friend who’s name I forget

So, that event was this past Saturday.  Sunday, of course, was Mother’s Day.  We called our moms and spent most of the day working.

And that brings us up to date.  Tomorrow is my first day back to Wushu since … well, I can’t even remember when.  it’s been a loooooong time, and I’m pretty sure it will hurt like no one’s business.  But you gotta do what you gotta do. 

Everytime I would talk to Xiao Yu she would ask me when I was going to come back to train.  So, I guess the answer is “Tuesday”.  But, of course, I’m going to taper my re-introduction to wushu.  This week is Tuesday and Saturday training.  Next week I will add Thursdays.  And the following week I will add Mondays’.  So by the end of the month I should be acclimating at around 4 classes / week.  The first two weeks are the most important though, since it is when I need to be sure and gets plenty of rest to let my body repair and build after the workouts.

So, wish me luck with the wushu.  And hopefully I will have some wushu-related blogs finally back up on the Zilla this week!

Related posts:

1. XISU Spring Students Recap
2. Life in Xi’an: KTV, Birthday Brunch and more! (1/7)
3. Sweet 4Dreams

The truth is, there is a reason for this.  Maybe a couple reasons.

Focus and Work

The first is that I am trying to finish my tea before re-filling my cup.  Meaning, that I have a lot of things on my plate and I need to take care of them before I start focusing on my wushu again.  There are many projects that I’m in the process of clearing out of my work-load and in order to do that effectively I have to really spend some time and focus on them.

This also stems from my understanding that I am much more effective in my endeavors when I focus energy on just a few things (even just one thing) instead of trying to “multitask” my life into oblivion.  The truth is, multitasking is totally inefficient.  Just because you can do more than one thing at a time doesn’t mean you should.  In fact, I really think that one shouldn’t.

When you take the time to just focus on one important thing, doing it deliberately, with a concentrated effort and all your mindfulness, you are able to not only accomplish more in the long run, but you will get much more out of your task as well.

I used to write down a list of a dozen or so things that I had to do each day; a task list to end all task-lists.

Now?  I just write down the one or two things I really want to finish.  And I spend the necessary time to do each one.  It allows me to do better quality work and get the most vital tasks taken care of.

So often we distract ourselves with mundane tasks like checking social networking, organizing our to-do lists, cleaning our desks and keeping our e-mail inbox open at all time just in case something comes in.  Well, nothing is ever that important that you have to check e-mail on a constant basis.  I try to check only once or twice a day if I can.  And generally I just go through and answer them in batches once a day.  Facebook and the like, while a lot of fun, are actually a significant drain on my time and energy.  So I only check them once or twice a week.  I’m probably going to start reducing the “friends” list there too.

The idea is to spend less time doing the less important so that I have more time to focus on the truly vital.

I do mess up from time to time and get distracted, but I’m far from perfect.  and this is a skill that I’m developing, not an instant quick-fix.  It is a good practice though, and I think it relates to wushu too, since one of the distinctions I’ve made over the years with wushu training is that, unless you are totally focused on what you are doing in class, you won’t get the best benefit from your training.  You have to be totally present in mind and body with wushu, and that is the same with the rest of your life.

Why not treat your work or school like you do your wushu?  Focus on the basics at the start of every session, maintain your energy and create an optimal experience.  You actually end up needing to spend less time on tasks when you use more of your focus and energy.  As counter-intuitive as it might seem, not multi-tasking is actually more productive.

Anyway, so part of the reason I haven’t been focusing on my wushu training these days is because I want to focus on getting these work projects out the door, thereby allowing myself more focus on my wushu later on.  It is coming along and a few of my projects have started to get finished up.

Travel and Time

Another reason is the recent work-trips I’ve been taking to Hong Kong.  Traveling away from home means I have to cram a lot more of the things I do in Xi’an in much smaller time chunks.  So, I end up being much busier.  And while I’m home I feel it is most important to get my work done before I head off to the wushu guan.

That might just be an excuse, of course.  Maybe I’ve lost some of my motivation for training.  Since the athletes started training for competition I haven’t been able to get as good of a workout.  And I think I also have a fear of doing the “wushu start up” again, which is always quite painful.  (When you are away from wushu and start up, it is never easy — and gets harder and harder the older you are.)

I’ve even been thinking about switching from nanquan to taijiquan, as I think that might be a little easier on my body and something I could maintain for a longer period in my life.  Of course, if I just lost 50 pounds I would probably not have such a hard time training.  Again — I might just be making excuses.

In any case, a combination of a lot of travel with limited time and an increasing drop in motivation to train is probably the second reason I haven’t been as involved in my wushu these days.

Re-evaluation

I’ve also been going through a phase of re-evaluating my life.  Not in a major way, but at least Ruhi and I have been thinking about ways to create a life with less physical, emotional, social and professional “clutter”, so that we are able to have a lifestyle that is congruent with our belief that “less is more” and that you don’t need to inundate your life with “stuff” in order to be happy and fulfilled.

As you noticed from my packing system for trips, I try to be as efficient and uncluttered as I can.  I really don’t own all that much stuff to begin with.  But part of my personality is that I’m always looking for ways to be more efficient and uncluttered in my approach to various facets of my life; whether it is work, school, life or whatever.  There is always a better way to do something and always new distinctions we can make in doing more (things, work, happiness, fulfillment) with less (stuff, clutter, tasks, distractions).

We’re thinking about our work, about our living environment, our finances, and our involvement in activities to figure out what is the most important to us, the most ideal for our personal philosophies and figure out a way to integrate that with our lifestyle.

Some of the things we’ve been thinking about is eliminating some of the work we do.  Or changing where we live to a more efficient location for her school, our friend and our interests.

Anyway, it is a work in progress.

The gist of all of this verbose-ness is that, in order to find your way, you sometimes need to step off the path and think about your true destination.  The process of stepping back and thinking about your life is occasionally necessary and often times quite healthy, as it clarifies your mind, realigns your priorities and helps you step back on the path with a renewed sense of purpose and vitality.

So, here goes.  I am stepping off the path and taking a look at my life and what I am doing.

Feel free to join me.

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January

January was a cold month.  I spent most of the time focusing on my wushu.  In fact, it would be one of the last time I really got a good amount of training in this year (so far!).  This was also the month Charisse was staying with us prior to our February trip to Hong Kong for the Family Reunion and Vision that Inspires Conference.  We had a visit from Mejdi and his son (he’s been in China for a loooong time), I got to visit the Sports University, get my health card and a bunch of other stuff.  We also went on a day-trip to YanLing to visit some Friends.  Here are some highlight photos for you to check out:

February

We were gone 3 out of the 4 weeks of this month.  Hong Kong was calling so we headed down.  I posted a ton of photos from this on my Facebook and Picasa albums, so you can check those out.  Click here for my favorites.

A few other highlights was getting to meet Kevin Spacey and having a waaaaay-in-the-distance-hard-to-see walk-on extra role in the film that Dayyan was making with Kevin and Daniel Wu (and Gong Beibi, of course).  Can’t wait to see if I’m actually visible or not.

February is also when Ayyam-i-ha, the annual Baha’i holiday, is held.  We had a nice little get together in our home to celebrate (nothing too big – just a few friends) which just happened to coincide with the Lantern Festival which brought a great fireworks display directly outside our window.

Also on the schedule was the celebratory dinner for the end of Carmel Consulting, the company that Ruhi was general manager of.  It only took half a year to close the company.  Welcome to China!

Some photos from February:

March

March was the Fast, which is the 19 day period from March 2 – 20 when Baha’i’s do not eat from sunrise to sunset.  Not too many photos from March due to my constant hunger (hahaha) but I did manage to get a few here and there.  I did take a quick 2 day trip to Hong Kong though around the 26th, but there isn’t too much to write about that.  Ruhi started school in March so she was pretty busy with her studies.

March in general was a low-media month for me and I didn’t really take that many photos. Actually a lot of my media was video, which is a pain to edit, so no pictures to share. Maybe next time.

April

Well, April is still going on, but it has already been pretty chock-full of stuff.  My friend Lisa paid a quick visit to Xi’an and I took her to my favorite noodle/dumpling place near our home.  I got to practice the arts with some calligraphy and sculpting, and I spent a week in Hong Kong (and am going for another trip on Monday!).  I didn’t make it to the Wushu competition in Hangzhou, but I’m pretty sure it won’t be the last one.  Since Xiao Yu qualified for the next round I have a feeling I’ll still be able to shout and scream for my friends and training mates in the coming months.

Here are some photos from this month so far:

Related posts:

1. Life in Xi’an – XISU, Food, 4Dream and More …
2. Life in Xi’an: KTV, Birthday Brunch and more! (1/7)
3. (Sm/F)og, Three Things and a Bonus (12/1)