Superbowl 45, 10am BJ time

With bunch of expats, Irish coffees, and satellite tv. NFL an Fox blocked streaming from all the usual suspects. Outside bar (tim's Texas BBQ) firecrackers still going off ushering in yr of rabbit.

One of the few quiet places in cn

Waiting area at the international terminal which has room to grow for
next 50 years!

new view from new place

Moved into new place two weeks ago, during Chinese New Years. I miss the "local-flavor" of the former place (which was several levels above my first place - the group house) but new place is definitely a step above the previous two, in particular how well it's been maintained.

I learned that cheap construction is common here. The first place I stayed in when I arrived in Beijing was called Modern City. Kari and I had stayed at when we visited in 2001. At the time our friends Rob and Klem were living there and let us crash in their guest room. I have a distinct memory looking out their livingroom window overlooking smoggy Beijing and thinking they had arrived.

Eight years later, based on that memory, I sublet an apartment in Modern City from with a couple of other guys. Aside from peeling paint and dirt in public areas, dirty elevators, etc., the apartments were also showing their age. It really looked its age, and worse. And then there were the roaches. Or the drains that oozed stinky air all night. Of course, it was a lot cheaper, too!

Beijing on fire

What is the sound of ten thousand firecrackers? Chinese New Years in Beijing was new for me. Fireworks started sporadically while I was at the office yesterday, but really got started Sat, which is Chinese New Years Eve. By afternoon it was every 10 minutes or so, a new round of explosions. By early evening it was every minute. By 9pm it was a constant barrage. By midnight I could see continuous fireworks in the distance from our 23rd floor living room window, and the buildings across the way were lit by constant flashes. No silence - it sounds like a fleet of 1,000 airplanes are flying overhead. There are literally so many fireworks going off that they form a loud and constant hum. I went to bed after 1am, only slight let up.

Does a firecracker make a sound if there is no one to hear it? New years is probably the point when the fewest people are in Beijing (maybe there are fewer for National Day, so maybe this is #2). So the stragglers and waiguoren are lucky, though I will ask around to see if the smaller towns had similar spectacles.

Next morning Sporadic bursts, but quiet for most part. Noticed streets which last night were covered with spent firecracker shells were clean. The mayhem last night was obviously sanctioned by the Party, as there were a few jingcha in cars watching, but nothing more. Due to slow Internet, I was unable to upload a video which showed fireworks going off right next to a next-door building - embers and all bouncing off the building tiles. So much for firecodes.

Winner of December cute car award

New apartment (finally)

No more roommates 8-)

Dropping the kid off at school

At 7am in the morning on week days when I'm scurrying off to the gym
it's comon to see many parent-child duos on bike as in this photo.
Admirable since it's also below freezing here and not all the bikes
have puffy handwarmers like this one does!