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Yesterday, I took my team skiing just outside of Beijing…about 2 hours north of the city. I wasn’t expecting much before we got there, and it wasn’t much, but it wasn’t bad either. There was one slope that was actually really good…maybe equivalent to a black diamond in the US. They also had a bar at the top, so that was nice. Beer before every run down made it even more difficult!

The worst thing about this place was that there really was nothing in between the very basic slopes and the difficult slope. The view from the top in the picture belows shows all of the other slopes – basic.
All-in-all, it was a fun day, I’d do it again.

Last year, my cousin & I went all out on Paddy’s day. One of my favorite pictures below of me in Tiananmen, in my green suit, standing next to a guard. Notice the cop in the background with that curious look on his face. The guard was more than happy to pose for the picture with me … in fact, he told me I looked “beautiful” … in English. I didn’t laugh, because I knew he was just trying to say it was cool, or something like that.

I’ve got a year’s worth of pics … some funny, some just look good…will begin to put up the best of the best.

Paddy’s Day ‘08 … I’ll be in Beijing …so will my parents and my little sister. Will I wear the green suit? I’d bet on it.

Last week, China announced that it will “ban” plastic bags throughout the country. What does this mean? Well, the thin, flimsy plastic bags are banned completely (these are typically the plastic bags you get your illegal DVDs in). Any other plastic bags will have to be purchased from the store. OR, you can bring you own bag or whatever else you would like to attempt to carry your purchases in.

When I first heard of this, I was like … WTF! But, it’s a good idea. Plastic bags are all over this country. I have hundreds in a drawer in the kitchen, they get re-used as garbage bags. As long as you can continue to get plastic bags (via purchasing, for likely a couple pennies), this will not cause any problems for anyone.

Hopefully someone will capitalize on this and start selling clothe bags on the streets around China … just as they, daily, try to sell me socks, watches, fake Olympics stuff, etc… just add clothe bags to the inventory!
Shoppers: It’s BYO Bag in China

Give this a look … it doesn’t get anymore eye-opening than this. I’ve said since I’ve moved here, the hardest working people in Beijing are the construction workers and those that have nothing (for the most part, that is). Unbelievable to see how some of them live.

The Hotel Between Heaven and Hell

Thanks for sending this Alberto.

That if you buy a house in China, you do not own the land that house is on? Similarly with apartments, but obviously you wouldn’t own that land. Not only do you not own the land, but after 70 years, you no longer have the rights to even live there. I’m not sure exactly what this means, but it definitely opened my eyes something new.

While houses are not popular in China (”hutongs” are also phasing out), this is still a problem, in my eyes. Parts of China will likely begin building up more & more “neighborhoods” … but, don’t think that house you buy can or will stay in your family for generations … you’ve only got 70 years to enjoy it. Is this good or bad? I don’t know … if  this was the case in the US, I think it would be bad.

I started a weekly “English Corner” with some people on my team here in Beijing. This is to supplement the weekly English classes they are taking. Today was the first day, and it was great. In fact, that’s how this “did you know” came about.