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Posts Tagged ‘photos’

And all too soon our trip to the U.S. has started to come to a close.  As I write this I am at Narita airport in Japan waiting for our flight back to China.  The last leg of our trip was a lot of fun and I got to experience some great Hawaiian living.

It seems like a long time ago now, but I’ll try to recap the beginning of our Hawaii adventure.

Friday, August 20

After our night at the Econolodge near LAX we headed to the airport for our early morning flight (around 9 AM) to Honolulu.  Unfortunately part of the perils of flying stand-by means that you occasionally miss a flight.  The loads on the morning flight were very heavy and, while I would have gotten on the plane, Ruhi would have been stuck in L.A., so we waited for a flight later in the day.  Fortunately we both made it on and in first class even!

We arrived at Honolulu in the evening and caught a shuttle to the Ambassador hotel where we had made a reservation (thanks Cass!).  Unfortunately there was a problem and we weren’t able to check-in (no thanks to you Ambassador hotel), but after a bit of checking on-line we found a nearby hostel just a block from Waikiki Beach that was actually cheaper than the hotel and we still got a private room.  Score!

The balcony of the youth hostel

Saturday, August 21

The next morning we had some time to kill before our early evening flight to Moloka’i so we walked over to the beach, grabbed a spam musubi and some drinks at the ABC store and sat on the beach for a few hours.  Next to us were a couple of surfing instructors practicing jiujitsu on each other (which reminded us a lot of James from Wushu West) and in front of us was the wide-open Pacific ocean.  It was nice to just unwind for a while.

Surfers Practicing Jiu Jitsu

Waikiki Beach

In the afternoon we met up with Ruhi’s cousin at Starbucks and had some interesting conversations about colonoscopies (she’s a nurse), real estate (she’s a realtor) and then she gave us a ride to the airport where we caught a 9 seater Cesna run by Go! Mokulele Airlines.  The views on the 30 minute flight to Moloka’i island were awesome.  I’ll let them speak for themselves.

Kristin and Ruhi

About to board our plane to Moloka’i

Honolulu

Honolulu

Honolulu and Waikiki Beach

We were greeted by Ruhi’s Mom, Gaellen, and a local Hawaiian, Nelson.  They drove us to the Wavecrest Resort where Gaellen lives and we settled in to our apartment before heading over to Gaellen’s unit to greet Trina, John, Katie (John’s mom) and baby Sheena.  But it was late so we called it a night and hit the hay.

Sunday, August 22 – Sunday, August 29

To be honest, the week is a bit of a blur.  We did a lot of stuff so it is a little hard to keep track of it.  Instead of a day-by-day play-by-play I will do it by Photo galleries and give you some synopses of our various experiences.

Wavecrest Resort

First, here are some photos from the Wavecrest Resort where Gaellen lives.  It is located on the east side of Moloka’i, so it is nice and green with a great view of the beach and a pool.  One of the highlights was Nelson sharing with us some of the crab and fish he had caught.  He is a local fisherman so he basically goes out and uses a spear and net to catch squid, octopus, fish and shellfish straight from the ocean and then makes amazing local dishes with them.  Talk about fresh seafood!  It is literally from the ocean right in front of the building.

John at the pool

Full Moon Rise

Nelson the Fisherman

Nelson’s Catch of the Day

Dixie Maru Beach

We spent a day going up to a beach called “Dixie Maru”.  While there John got in some quality fishing time while the rest of us did some snorkeling.  We found the wreckage of a plane that had gone down just at the edge of the cove, which was pretty neat to see.  My first time seeing an authentic plane wreckage in the ocean.  Nelson spent his time getting some shellfish to eat.

John Fishing

Hula Class

Gaellen takes a Hula class in Moloka’i so we spent some time checking out their practice.  Elements of it reminded me a lot of Wushu practice – but I suppose that is to be expected.  I snapped photos, of course.

 

He is the Hula Instructor

Extended Exposure Shot

  

L: Gaellen R: Sunset

Halava Valley

One of the highlights was visiting Halava Valley on the West side of the island.  A very beautiful valley that opens up to the ocean.  We checked out the cove and beach followed by a trip to a local flower farm.  You can actually purchase the flowers online and have them shipped to anywhere in the world.  Check out their website at www.molokaiflowers.com.

Gaellen and Ruhi

A bee coming in for a landing

Jurassic Parking Lot

I actually took a LOT more photos than this. So if you have a moment please check out my galleries either on Facebook, or Picasaweb.

Cook House Music

We also took a trip to the famous Kualapu’u Cook House where the portion size is only matched by the size of the Hawaiian spirit.  Their food was amazing, but what was even cooler was a couple of local musicians asked if they could play some music for us.  Just some “backyard music” (according to them) but it was great to hear the heartfelt song on the ukulele and home-made bass.

Lookout and Moloka’i Hotel

After the Cookhouse we went to check out the highest natural cliffs in the world on the north side of the island.  It also has a view of what used to be a Leper colony and is now some protected lands that are almost inaccessible by anything by a boat or small plane.  Then after that we went to the Moloka’i hotel to watch some locals play music and do a bit of hula dancing.  Just some older residents of the island that like to go there to play music together.  It was very nice.

 

Tiny Bubbles

Family Photos and Wharf Boats

The day before John, Trina, Sheena and Katie left we posed for some family photos and then went out to see the arrival of 3 traditional Hawaiian canoes.  These are canoes that local Hawaiian navigators can use to go all the way to Tahiti, which is several thousand miles away.  And get this: they don’t need to use any navigation. They can even find their way if they can’t see the stars.  Pretty amazing stuff. 

Monday, August 30

And finally it was time for Ruhi and I to start the long trek back to China.  We caught an early morning flight from Moloka’i to Honolulu, followed by a nice business class trip to Narita, which is where I currently am.  Of course, it is now the 31st of August here and we’re waiting for a flight to Beijing this evening.  After arriving there we will stay overnight near the airport and catch a very early flight to Xi’an where I will begin my new life as a University teacher.

Here are some pictures of sunrise in Moloka’i, which I took from the Wharf before we left to Honolulu, along with a couple of photos from the flight.

 

The morning water was super clear!

Sunrise from the plane

Its been a great trip and a big thank you to everyone who made it possible!  I hope I can see you all again very soon!

Saturday, August 14, 2010

The travel to Idaho was fairly pain free.  A quick plane ride from Austin to Phoenix and after a few hours of laying over, another quick ride up to Salt Lake City.  From there we took the Salt Lake Express to Idaho Falls, which is a bus that drove us the 4 hours north to our destination.  Its nice to have someone else do the driving.

Bob Picker gave us a ride from the bus stop to his and Nancy’s home.  The same home where we had our wedding just 11 or so months prior.  It seems like the time just flew right on by.  When we arrived Nancy showed us something amazing.  She had actually kept two of the cupcakes we had at our wedding on frozen storage, tightly sealed, just so that we could have it when we came back to Idaho again.  We were pretty flabbergasted. 

Sunday, August 15, 2010

The next morning there was a Baha’i devotional service at their home and then some brunch.  I took some pictures for you to check out.  A bunch of the folks were away at Summer Camp over near Sun Valley so it was just 6 of us in the morning.  Here are Nancy, Bob, the entrance to the home and a picture of Ruhi and I on the spot we got married.

 

Hmmm … bad hair day.  LOL

Anyway, my mom and Reid came to pick us up and, with a car full to the brim with luggage and groceries, we travelled the 90 minutes back to the beautiful Teton Valley and the town of Driggs.  Along the way my mom stopped to pick some flowers so I snapped a few photos.

 

We got back, unpacked, and then talked and caught up for a few hours until around sunset when Ruhi, my mom and I went for a walk.  I took a lot of photos along the way, which you can see below. 

 

 

 

Now, the truth is that, since Idaho was primarily a working trip, I didn’t have much opportunity to take any more photographs.  Ruhi, however, snapped some nice pictures so I will defer to her for the rest of our Idaho stay.  A few highlights were …

• I got to finally meet Heather at the TVCC whom I correspond with for work pretty regularly
• I saw Adolpho the day before he left for Puerto Rico on his way to live in Japan with his family. Adolpho is a Judo instructor.  He used to be a marine, and then was a Wyoming state trooper.  Now he and his family are moving to Kyushu to follow their passion of Judo and life in Asia.  Looks like I might see them in Xi’an at some point too.
• I saw Lisa Smith-Batchen and her husband Jay.  Lisa is an ultra-runner.  She recently ran 50 miles in each of the 50 states over a period of 62 days to raise money for orphans in Africa.  Yes, you read that correctly.  2500 miles of running in 2 months.  And halfway through she had broken her foot too .. but she kept running.  She’s ran the badwater race in Death Valley a dozen times, the Marathon de Sables in the Sahara Desert a bunch of times and was the first woman to run the Grand Slam … 4 100 mile runs followed by the Badwater in a single season.  Pretty impressive.
• Ruhi got to do the Yellowstone Grand Teton Loop road with my mom, which is one of the top scenic drives in the U.S.  Just spectacular views. 
• I did a lot of work.  I have a few clients in the area that I was doing some meetings with and working for.
• We went to the Spud Drive-In Movie Theater!  I haven’t been to a drive-in theater since I was a kid so this was pretty neat.  It is one of the only all-digital Drive-In theaters in the world.  We saw “The Expendables”.

Pretty soon the trip was over though.  On Thursday morning my mom and Reid drove us to Idaho Falls airport where we caught a small plane to Salt lake City, followed by a larger plane to LAX.  My dad was nice enough to pick us up from the airport and help us as we found a place to stay for the night.  Originally we were going to stay at a hostel near the airport but it turned out that we could get a local Econolodge for cheaper – and it also turns out the reviews on the hostel make us glad we didn’t go!

Here are a couple pictures from the Econolodge as the sun set in Los Angeles …

 

Next Stop .. Hawaii!

After our 30 hour train trip (quite enjoyable, I might add) we arrived at San Antonio and were picked up by Ruhi’s friend Romi who was nice enough to drive us to Austin and put us up in her home for most of the time we were in Texas.

After a night in a comfortable bed in her guest room we spent the day getting situated and prepared for our time in Austin.  Part of that was meeting up with Ruhi’s dad, Michael, and getting some delicious mini burgers!  They got some good burgers in Austin, Texas y’all.

Probably the most important part of our trip was attending the Flores Family Reunion.  The Flores family are Ruhi’s Paternal Grandmother’s family, but there are a good chunk of Ruhi’s family that are a part of the annual event.  Here are some photos from the reunion.

Another big part of our time in Austin was getting some work done for our various projects.  That meant getting a tour of a few of Austin’s finer coffee shops.  We visited the Spider House Cafe near UT, the Mozart Cafe on Lake Austin, The Snack Bar on SoCo, and even spent a day at a restaurant out in Bee Cave called Panera.  Here are some highlight photos.

 

We were also treated to an Enchilada / BINGO night at the Quintanilla household.  Highlights include my managing to win the coveted “Bingo Bear”, really good Apple Pie from Ruhi’s Aunt, and some archival family photo scanning.

 

 

 

On our last night in Austin we held a get-together similar to the one we had in L.A. at Roma Pizzaria.  To continue the theme we had it at Home Slice Pizza located on South Congress, one of the best pizza places in Austin, and certainly one of the best pizzas I’ve ever eaten.  We had about 10 or 11 people show up from as far away as Dallas and Houston! 

 

It was right across from Guerro’s, where we ate earlier in the week with Ruhi’s dad, and where we saw Cindy Lauper having dinner (she was playing in Austin this week).  While waiting outside for our table I played around with some exposure settings on my camera and got the following photos.

So, after a week in Austin, it was time for Ruhi and I to make our way to our next destination … Idaho.  On Saturday morning we caught a flight from Austin to Phoenix followed by a flight up to Salt Lake City.  From there it was 4 hours on the Salt Lake Shuttle to our overnight stay with Bob and Nancy Picker in Idaho Falls.  The very same place we got married just one year before.  It seems we have come full circle.

Here are a few photos from our journey to Idaho.  But of course Part 3 will be coming up after this leg of our journey is finished.  And be sure to keep your eyes peeled for Part 4 – Hawaii!  Which will be our final leg before finally arriving back home in China.

Ruhi and her Dad say goodbye at the Austin Airport

As you know (of should know) Ruhi and I are in the U.S. for the month of August.  I’ve been snapping photos of our travels and wanted to share some of our adventures with all of you out there in internet-land. 

We flew out from Beijing, but since we are flying stand-by ended up staying one night in Japan before getting on our plane the next day.  We stayed in the Nikko Hotel near Narita airport and of course I had to get a bit of sashimi (chirashizushi to be precise) and some of the delicious convenience store food that Japan is known for.  Before you think that flying stand-by sucks, keep in mind that we flew Business Class the whole way.  I also managed to snap a photo of the moon over the wing.

Southland

Our first stop was the L.A. area to visit family and friends.  We stayed in Arcadia near Jenn and Wang Wei where they were nice enough to put us up in a place of our own.  The first day we made sure to visit Ruhi’s new niece, Sheena, as well as Trina and John.

The second day we drove down to Carlsbad to visit Ruhi’s grandmother (mom’s mom).  I also got to meet a few other uncles, aunts and such.

We were also able to visit my dad and step-mom Elaine in their new home out in Rancho Cucamonga.

 

And probably one of the highlights of the trip was being able to visit with a lot of old friends (mostly wushu-related) at a super-amazing Pizza place in Arcadia named Roma Pizzeria.  Here are pictures from that:

And finally a few more gratuitous shots of Sheena, just for good measure.

Bay Area

The next leg of our trip was 4 days in the Bay Area, where my sister and brother-in-law are now living.  Here are a couple pictures from Indian Rock in Berkeley.

Of course, I couldn’t visit the Bay Area without dropping by Wushu West, which I did on two occasions.  On Sunday morning I put the students through their paces, and then again on Tuesday I showed up to help out a little bit and get a bit of my own stretching in.  Always great to see my wushu family whenever I can.

I was also lucky enough to be able to visit both of my God-kids during this trip.  By coincidence they both happen to live in the Bay Area right now.  First up was Christina and Reeve down in San Jose, and then a visit with the Gemenez family up in Daly City

While driving around the Peninsula we also dropped by Mountain View to say a quick hello to Tiffany, who works at Google.

We also were able to attend Feast in Oakland and meet some of the local Baha’i’s.  But our trip was a short one so after just a few days it was time to head out and fly back to L.A.

 

 

The Slow Train to Texas

We only had a few hours between arriving at Burbank Airport and our train from Union Station to Texas.  We filled the time up with a trip to Felippe’s for some French Dip sandwiches with Jenn, Wang Wei, Trina and Sheena, as well as a surprise visit by my dad who took the train with us out as far as Ontario.

And at last we were on our train for the 30 hour ride to Texas.  But that is for another blog entry.  For now, we ride off into the sunset …

An online friend of mine is currently training at Zhao Chang Jun’s schools here in Xi’an.  I’ve been wanting to check this school out (or even find out where it is) for a while now and so when he invited me to check out a forms test (i.e. “mock-ompetition”) they were having I was eager to see what it was like.

Now anyone who knows anything about modern wushu’s “golden age” (i.e., the 70’s – 80’s), knows who Zhao Chang Jun is.  Multiple Chinese National titles as well as a slew of other credits to his name makes him one of the best known athletes of his generation.  (If you really don’t know who he is, go to youtube and type in his name.  And then slap yourself on the face for being such a n00b.)

I’ve also had the opportunity to train with him one time when he visited Wushu West back in 2005.  (Or was it 2004?  Wow … I’m getting old.)  Anyway, I could quickly tell that he was an excellent coach with high standards – he really knew his stuff.  Of course, that was also around the time that he moved to the U.S. from his native Xi’an and left his wushu school under the care of someone else (I think his “sister”, so says the rumor). 

I’ve heard relatively good things about the school since arriving in Xi’an.  Of course most of the local people are familiar with his name since he was a pretty predominant local celebrity back in the day, but it was hard to find out where his school was located.  And in any case I wasn’t in a huge hurry to check it out since I already had a place to train.  I had corresponded with one or two people who have trained there and they had decent things to say about the instruction there.  I have talked to some athletes about the school and they didn’t have anything disparaging to say about it either. 

But whether I’m checking out a new movie, restaurant or wushu school, I generally try to reserve my expectations until I’ve had a first-hand look. 

The school itself is located just past the south 3rd Ring Road in Xi’an a couple kilometers to the west of Chang An Road (Google Map Link).  Coincidentally it is about 5 km from where I’ll be living in September, so when I found out where it was located it appeared on my radar as a possible training location.  The local area itself is a bit isolated, but not terribly far from actual “civilization”.  When you arrive there are a few large signs on the main road letting you know that the school is just a half a click down a wide alley spotted with various ceramics and botanical supply shops.

The gate wasn’t manned when I walked in, so I just started to explore a bit to see if I could find out where I was supposed to go.  There are four main buildings – one is classrooms and offices, one is dorms, there is a weight training and sanda training building and a wushu hall.  There is also a new building but it was small and I wasn’t sure what it was for.

From the looks of things, they also rent out or share some of their school space with an automotive mechanics college.  Of course, every building has pictures of ZCJ with various famous folks or on the podium accepting trophies and medals.  But if I had to use one word to describe the general condition of the buildings and grounds I would probably go with either “dilapidated” or “run-down”.  I could tell that it was probably quite the nice little school back during its inception, but it was clear those days were somewhere in the past – or more optimistically, somewhere far in the future. 

I really am hesitant to say too many negative things, because these are only my observations based on about an hour hanging out there and seeing things at a glance.  Undoubtedly there are many very positive aspects to training and living there.  But since my experiences are limited I can only go with what I know. 

And personally I think that whether or not the soccer field is overgrown with plants, or the wushu carpet is a thin strip of rug on top of a hard wood floor, or the dorms have working showers is irrelevant if the training is of a high standard and the level of instruction is top-notch.  Those other things can be overlooked if you are really improving and developing as an athlete.  This isn’t a country club, after all, it is a Chinese wushu school.  You aren’t supposed to be wrapped in luxury while you are getting your butt kicked in the wushu guan. (*cough* Shi Cha Hai *cough*)   (Although … I will admit that it is nice to have a high thread count on the sheets when you are recovering from a workout.)

So the real proof is in the proverbial wushu pudding.  I was anxious to see how their wushu looked.

And here is the thing … the school isn’t strictly a wushu school, so much as a boarding school that has a rather predominant wushu program and theme.  The people who live and train there are kids who pay to go to school and, if they are so inclined, learn wushu.  In fact, it isn’t a requirement that they train, but most of them do since it is available (and probably their parents have sent them there for that purpose). 

With my experiences in other cities I recognized that there was quite a difference between athletes at a professional sports school such as Shi Cha Hai or the Shaanxi Sports Training Center and those who are at wushu training facilities without a professional emphasis.  I assume that most of the kids who show any promise are whisked away to the local professional training centers rather quick, leaving the remaining students a random collection of sub-standard ability and unrealized motivation.

The group I observed were the older kids – probably around 12 – 17 – and it was their traditional forms (fanxi, ditang, shuang dao, etc.) day for testing.

I will try to be honest and pragmatic about this.  The level of fundamentals were not all that high.  Stances and basic techniques were lacking.  It seemed that a lot of emphasis had been put on nandu training rather than basics training, and this was confirmed when I spoke with my friend out their training regimen.  In fact I have to be honest in saying that the foreign student from the U.S. had better fundamental technique than the kids who lived at the school – which is really a credit to his coaches back home since they clearly instilled in him a high standard for wushu.

And while his “tricks” might not have been as interesting as the local kids, I would say that the jumps he did do looked better because they were built on a stronger foundation; straighter legs on his butterfly, more “pop” with his explosive power, etc. 

Again, I don’t want to say that they local kids were bad. They weren’t.  Actually, some of them were fairly decent and showed some promise.  But after training with the Shaanxi Team for the past 9 months (granted, in a very inconsistent manner) my standards for what I will view as an “acceptable” level of wushu has grown considerably (Woe be to those at Wushu West when I come back there and help out at the beginning of August! You have been warned) and so I was watching this with a different eye than I might have a year ago.

I also heard that ZCJ will be bringing a group of his students from the U.S. to train at the school later in the summer.  I’m pretty sure that when he is there the level of instruction as well as the focus of attention on basics, will improve dramatically.  Heck, the whole facility might even get a face lift prior to their visit. 

I feel compelled again to emphasize the fact that this was a very quick snap-shot of what the school looked like at this particular hour on this particular day.  Take my views with a super big grain of salt and, as always, you should judge these things for yourself.  What looks good to one might look bad to another, and vice versa.  I’m a strong proponent of the independent investigation of truth – so be sure to do your research before you make your final decision!

//

More photos are here

I took videos, but I’m not sure if I want to post them.  Post a comment if you want to see them.

This past spring I had the opportunity to make the acquaintance of students from the Xi’an International Studies University (XISU) who are majoring in “Teaching Chinese as a Second Language”.  There are 82 of them, split in to two classes of 41 each and are all freshmen, as in fresh off the train and in to school. 

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!

On June 19 I attended the wedding of Jamie and Wendy.  They are friends that I met through Ruhi who both live here in Xi’an.  They asked if I would be able to take photos of their wedding – nothing “official”, per se, but Jamie liked the photos I took at the Family Reunion and Orientation in Hong Kong so he asked if I wouldn’t mind snapping a few pictures during their special day.

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:

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!

This latest excursion to Hong Kong was originally supposed to be a quick 3 day business trip.  But due to circumstances it ended up lasting over a week and included a few interesting experiences.

This time around I opted for air travel, since I was a bit more pressed for time and train travel does take a bit of time.  Here are some photos of my early-morning flight from Xi’an to Guangzhou, as well as my bus trip to the Guangzhou East Train Station and the train trip from there to the Shenzhen border.  I actually took the train to Lo Wu, but since I was going to Jack’s it was much easier to take the Shenzhen subway to Lok Ma Chau (Futian) and cross there.  Then I could just catch a $10HKD bus straight to his front door.

Here are some pictures of that trip (By the way, all photos were taken courtesy of my new cell phone.  I didn’t bring any other camera with me to test if it was a good solution for trip blog photo taking – seems to have done the job decently … ):

I arrived the day before Jack was leaving for the U.S. to attend a friend’s wedding so we went out to grab a bite to eat at “China Land”, a restaurant close to his home.

But the fun was short-lived since I had a lot of work to do at the North Point office where I would be stationed for most of my occupational duties.  While working there I thought it would be a good chance to experiment on different ways to make the commute from Tin Shui Wai to North Point.  The fastest ended up being the 969 bus to Sheung Shui (although it goes all the way to Causeway Bay) and then the MTR to Quarry Bay station.  Less than 90 minutes (for around $28HKD).

But by far the most pleasant way was to take the 269 bus to Hung Hom ferry pier and take the ferry across from there to North Point and walk a few blocks to the office, however it took the longest at just around 2 hours (for $25HKD).  The 269 bus is nice too because it also goes through TST, which is pretty convenient.

I took pictures of my various travel methods which you can check out here:

A few highlights from my trip were checking out a showing of Kick Ass with Khalil, Davina and Yuklan, spending the night in an office in TST while setting up a computer network (which I ended up having to re-do a few days later – ugh!), Checking out a super late showing of Iron Man 2 in Mongkok on my last night in Hong Kong, catching coffee with Ryan at Starbucks, eating dinner at a really fancy restaurant located in a clothing store, going computer equipment shopping in Wan Chai, and getting some great expense tracking software for my HTC Touch Pro 2.

Here are a few highlight photos from the rest of my time in Hong Kong:

On my way back through Shenzhen I got my wallet picked from my pocket at the Futian Border crossing.  That would have sucked way worse if I actually had anything vital in there.  Just an ATM card for one of my Hong Kong banks and about $60HKD.  All of my vital stuff I keep in my travel belt wallet that goes securely under my shirt and pants waist.  So aside from some inconvenience it didn’t create any super horrible situations and I was able to make it to my subway / train / taxi / plane / bus back to Xi’an, where I arrived home, safe and sound, just an hour or two before Cindo de Mayo.

This will be my last trip to Hong Kong until at least sometime in June.  It will be nice to spend a bit longer at home, since I’m up to my neck in a backlog of work and tasks that need completing.

Some big news and information about my future plans on the horizon too, but it is still premature to talk about that, so for now you can just keep your eyes peeled for the post in the coming weeks.

I have been negligent on sharing some of my non-wushu related adventures with all of you.  So I finally got around to uploading some photos that I have taken to share with you.  I actually have a TON of videos that I need to edit and post up as well, but it will have to wait until later in the week.

Wu Ya Nan Billboard

First up, well … okay.  This is sort of wushu-related.  I took some pictures of a billboard that they have outside of the wushu guan (武术馆) at the Shaanxi Provincial Sports Training Center (陕西神体育训练中心)  which features Wu Ya Nan and a Sanda athlete who both got medals at the recent All China Games in Binzhou, Shandong (山东滨州).  Check it out:

Dou Dou and Family

Waaaay back on December 17 Ruhi and I visited Xuixin (Susan), a local Chinese Friend who works/ed for Ruhi’s consulting company.  Her and her husband asked us over to help with some stuff and while there I got to meet her son, Dou Dou, who was super cute.  I took a bunch of photos of him, Susan and her husband which you can see here.

Holiday Visitors

During this holiday break we also have a few guests visiting our home.  On Thursday, the 24th, Chana and Charise, two sisters who are also from Seattle, came up from Macau to visit. They live/work down there and decided to visit Chana’s old haunt for the break.  Chana and Ruhi used to be roommates and actually Chana used to live in our apartment, so she is very familiar with the area.  I also used to hang out a lot with her brother, Cameron, who lives in Shanghai.  Small world, huh?

The day after they arrived, we went out to dinner at a really nice restaurant (good food , good prices) just up TuanJie Nan Lu (团结南路) from our place (about a block away) and got some delicious food.  Here are some pictures from that evening.

That evening another friend, Adam, whom you might remember from this video/blog entry, came to stay with us too.  We were lucky because he brought his guitar.  For those of you who don’t know, Adam is from Scotland and an AMAZING guitar player.  He is also super fluent in Chinese, having graduated from a Chinese university a few years back.

The morning after he arrived he graced us with some morning guitar playing.  I got some photos of our leisurely Saturday morning socializing and tried to get some video of us doing a bit of “guitar talk” as well.

NOTE: The video is only viewable on wushuzilla.com

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Now, if you are reading my twitter feed or my facebook status messages, you already know that there was a big surprise birthday party that Ruhi put on for me on Saturday evening.  However, instead of adding it to this blog, I’m going to give it another entry, probably later in the week.  In fact, we took a LOT of video and I want to edit it a bit before posting it up.  A few highlights:

• Musical concert by Adam, including singing Shaanxi Style Opera for a surprised group of local Chinese
• Yuan Ming doing an aerial in my living room
• A surprise visit by Ruhi’s English students who went WAY out of their way to come to the party
• Amazing gift from Wu Ya Nan — Nike Shaolinquan shoes!
• Theater Sports and Musical Performances galore.
• Lots of great friends and lots of good times.

Stay tuned for that later in the week!

Also, I’m going to be starting a new regular feature, “Ask the ‘Zilla” where I answer some of the questions I get here on wushuzilla.com (or one of the other websites) related to wushu.  Quite a few have been coming in so I’m going to try and answer them (as best I can) here.  Stay tuned for that, probably on Tuesday.