tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-41885458802506617132024-03-07T04:02:11.385+08:00Kevin's Dim SummaryKevin Reitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00002489940619691842noreply@blogger.comBlogger278125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4188545880250661713.post-38357883321253674982014-08-26T09:55:00.000+08:002014-08-26T09:55:07.936+08:00Kaila! Jordan! Kevsther!Quite a bit has happened since the last time I rapped at ya. Kaila, against all odds, managed to survive the chaos and craziness that is her brother. And he in turn has grown to be very careful around her. She'll be crying a little in her room and Jordan will run to her and pat her gently, whispering "<i>mei mei</i>", which means "little sister".<br />
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As a family, we've had a pretty massive life change. I took an exciting job as Marketing Director with the Beijing-based Great Leap Brewing, which means we've moved back to Beijing as of August 1st. We are settled into our new life here and we found a really nice apartment on the top (19th!) floor of a nice apartment complex just a few minutes from work. We have a full-time <i>Ayi</i> living with us to care for Jordan, cook, clean, do shopping, etc, which makes things quite a bit easier. <br />
Here's our living room and the view:<br />
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But let's get real. You don't actually care about that stuff. It's all BABY PICTURES GIMME GIMME with you people. So without further ado, here are some super rad shots from a photo shoot my friend Frank Xu did while we were still in Hangzhou.</div>
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So there it is. Enjoy! Hopefully that's enough to tide you people over for a little while.<br />
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~Jorkaivsther<br />
<br />Kevin Reitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00002489940619691842noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4188545880250661713.post-63235872237993472842014-06-17T13:11:00.001+08:002014-06-18T08:54:04.515+08:00Kaila Esther ReitzAt 2:14am, June 12th, 2014, my daughter was born 7lbs 9oz.<br />
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Already one week past her June 4th due date, Esther and I were on heightened alert. Even so, Kaila was almost born in the car. <br />
<br />
June 11th - We went to the hospital after Esther had some mild contractions around lunchtime. We decided to head back home after they subsided and she felt normal. That evening, we put Jordan to bed as usual, watched a movie, and went to bed.<br />
<br />
June 12th, 1:10am - Esther woke up and said, "It's time." We got ourselves ready quickly, grabbed our bags, and took off. We were borrowing a car from a friend and someone had double parked, blocking us in. Fortunately, the security guard was able to track down the owner and get the car moved. <br />
<br />
1:31am - I texted my friend at the hospital to let her know we were in the car and on the way. Her contractions are STRONG.<br />
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1:40am - We arrived at the hospital and they take her into a prelabor room. 7cm dilated.<br />
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1:50am - Esther is moved to the labor room and is on the table. No time for waterbirth.<br />
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2:14am - Kaila Esther is born after about 4 good pushes. No complications, everyone healthy. <br />
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While Jordan may not completely understand that Kaila is here to stay, he is surely intrigued. </div>
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<br />
Kaila's Chinese name is <i>Wang Kai Le</i>, 王凯乐, meaning Triumphant Happy Queen*.<br />
Jordan's name, <i>Wang Kai Sen, </i>王凯森, means Triumphant Forest King.<br />
Esther's name is <i>Wang Lei, </i>王蕾, which means Budding Queen. <br />
My name is <i>Kai Wen, </i>凯文, which means Kevin.<br />
<br />
We are destined for royalty. Well, at least they are. Maybe they'll let me tag along.<br />
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<br />
~Jorkaisthervin<br />
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<br />
*Chinese scholars out there, i know king is 王, and queen is 女王, but i'm pretending the woman character is implied in her name. Kevin Reitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00002489940619691842noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4188545880250661713.post-52575271630258071382014-05-01T15:57:00.002+08:002014-05-10T13:47:20.049+08:00More Jordan<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Let's be honest for a moment. Everyone here just wants to see more pictures of Jordan. And who can blame you? I mean, sure, maybe he's handsome, sweet, and funny, but he's also kind and warm-hearted. When people ask me to pick one adjective to describe my son, i usually go with poop-machine. Now i know what you're saying: Kevin, that's a noun. Ok, you got me there. </div>
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Anyway, this spring, the China Reitz's spent quite a bit of time checking out new restaurants with Jing Jing, the incredibly talented photographer and manager of <a href="http://morehangzhou.com/">More Hangzhou</a>. She, as people are wont to do, loves Jordan. As such, we usually get a dozen or so photos of J-dizzle every week from her. Yeah, it's nice having lunch with a professional photographer five times a month.</div>
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But look! I've been busy capturing the life and times of our first born as well! I call this video: The Expression on Jordan's Face at the Opening of This Video is Priceless, and the Rest Is Pretty Fun Too.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dx3bLNhvKX1tYlNG_26-bNhrHMmykat2UpriajryAB-5925eo8QaYAZmgUQgnB61jDBZrRIWePHBFTcMrnfmw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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In other news, I went to the annual Jeju tournament in South Korea, my favorite frisbee tournament in Asia, with some friends from Hangzhou and Beijing. We played very well, losing only to the 1st and 2nd place teams. But most importantly, we won the party award with our rendition of Super Mario Kart. I got to be Mario.<br />
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And them's the highlights! Hopefully i'll rap at ya again soon with a big, big announcement!<br />
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~JorkevstherdanKevin Reitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00002489940619691842noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4188545880250661713.post-39712086135631765752014-01-28T13:55:00.002+08:002014-01-28T13:55:24.297+08:00Miami and Jam Cruise<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
In the fifteen months Esther and i have been parents, we've only left Jordan twice for any significant length of time. The first was the Philippines in November, and Esther's mom said he did great. No problems, no fuss, no major events. Our second was to Miami for a few days before Jam Cruise, and my parents took care of him.</div>
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We left on January 1st and spent three days in Miami, escaping Chicago just before the polar vortex (it even <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_North_American_cold_wave">has a wikipedia page</a>). We spent most of our time in South Beach, enjoying the vast selection of delicious food and expensive shopping. It's a very trendy area, filled with beautiful people, nice cars, and tourists. The only time we ventured out of that bubble was an afternoon in Little Havana. The people we met there were incredibly friendly and i spoke a little Spanish, which came more easily than expected.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx3uaihuddQWZdFpTsQxdJwFDxjeUey7sk9AkQvFEWAxXLAhyphenhyphen15L4prSBqLP75Q70gZPYjCHRYq_epLK5sxnNjSoKrgBPeEtBrffYLEAzOMYWXF7QWHqLSITtPytJmLNgx8eiDliPWyBY/s1600/JC03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx3uaihuddQWZdFpTsQxdJwFDxjeUey7sk9AkQvFEWAxXLAhyphenhyphen15L4prSBqLP75Q70gZPYjCHRYq_epLK5sxnNjSoKrgBPeEtBrffYLEAzOMYWXF7QWHqLSITtPytJmLNgx8eiDliPWyBY/s1600/JC03.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijBfj_Mi6MHWV9c6HFYTI9ZZLXs68cQk9WD4ONm9KOzpTnCOozCnqgV4hhEDRdtTwqPoxN6nFJ8lPwvJzFL7z_t0m7ofhpvQEFeW16fHsufOEYPxtlXm4zWGEPiovqdW1lRCN9rVVF0qQ/s1600/JC02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijBfj_Mi6MHWV9c6HFYTI9ZZLXs68cQk9WD4ONm9KOzpTnCOozCnqgV4hhEDRdtTwqPoxN6nFJ8lPwvJzFL7z_t0m7ofhpvQEFeW16fHsufOEYPxtlXm4zWGEPiovqdW1lRCN9rVVF0qQ/s1600/JC02.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></div>
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On Jan 4th, we embarked on our real vacation: Jam Cruise. Neither of us had ever been on a cruise, but after this, i couldn't imagine any other kind. Imagine a floating five star hotel with a music festival attached. The boat had a gym, a casino, a spa, a few dance clubs, and 7 different music venues scattered around the ship. Roughly <a href="http://www.jamcruise.com/schedule">fifty bands played several shows each</a> over 5 days. There was music from 11am until 6am daily, often two or three shows happening simultaneously. The buffet was excellent, diverse, and available around the clock. It was so good that i was literally never hungry. Even when it was time to eat, i was still full from the previous meal, but i would join Esther who is once again eating for two (see what i did there?).<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pool stage from the second level.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Keller and the Kimocks in the Pantheon Theater</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Piano Sets in the atrium</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The Infamous Stringdusters</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">John Popper, DJ Logic, George Porter Jr., Stanley Jordan, and Adam Deitch </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Thievery Corporation </td></tr>
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Cruise Day 3, we stopped in Falmouth Jamaica for an afternoon and found some friends to hang with for a few hours. We shared a cab for $20 R/T per person to a beach about 10 minutes away. Once there, we all paid $10 a person to stay at the beach. Add the $3 for each red stripe and we spent about $80. Many people just slept in, but now at least we can say we have been to Jamaica.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rainy, but still kinda Jamaizing™</td></tr>
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On Day 5, we pulled up to the Bahamas for a day. The intention was to actually get off the boat and pile onto a private island for a solo set from Warren Haynes, but the waves were too choppy. Instead, we just gazed upon what appeared to be a really, really sweet island.<br />
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We met a lot of interesting people on the boat. By far the most random coincidence was meeting these two, Emily and Steven.<br />
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So we were dancing near each other at a show and she leans over to ask me who i play for. I wonder if she thinking i'm a musician, but i quickly realize i'm wearing an ultimate frisbee shirt so i tell her, i play in China. We get to talking more and it turns out we have a lot in common: they live in Colorado, about 15 minutes from my house; she plays frisbee with a bunch of my friends from Boulder; he has a sister living in Hangzhou and will visit her this year. Small, small world. We proceeded to party over the next few days.<br />
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Oh, and when we returned back home, our little boy was so happy to see us, but he had been totally fine with his grandparents while we were gone.<br />
<br />
~Kev<br />
<br />Kevin Reitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00002489940619691842noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4188545880250661713.post-71119898791466392602014-01-16T13:30:00.000+08:002014-01-16T13:30:37.008+08:00Reitzmas 2013Jorkevstherdan made the long voyage back to Chicago for a five week visit this winter. We timed the trip perfectly, missing Hangzhou's worst pollution and also catching its best fall weather.<br />
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J-dizzle was significantly harder to travel with this time around. Last year he slept peacefully most of the way. This time on the plane, he wanted to explore. He managed to sleep for about 6 of the 13 hours, but that meant a fussy kid for 7. At one point i took him back to the steward galley and let him play with the drink cart for an hour. He kept grabbing the little bottles of vodka and screaming. He was hilarious. The flight attendants loved him. We did our best as exhausted parents to entertain him, and we all arrived safely.</div>
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Reitzmas was chaos as always, since 19 of us are hard to corral. Jordan was a hit with all the family. We had to baby-proof the house, so the Christmas tree ended up decorated with stuffed animals.<br />
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY_iZopYAtpEsoWtX8iQlBnuicdCaqZOqiJ1GLB_OjcZVTjEpnALbd-E7ABTLGSoy7P3IoeMz4uQisaLnz_BPKrHRwaMvP4XGGJdZhAbxLIrLGIhPD8rU8UApR-sj9kBt3GyUZFZqod5E/s1600/Reitmas11.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY_iZopYAtpEsoWtX8iQlBnuicdCaqZOqiJ1GLB_OjcZVTjEpnALbd-E7ABTLGSoy7P3IoeMz4uQisaLnz_BPKrHRwaMvP4XGGJdZhAbxLIrLGIhPD8rU8UApR-sj9kBt3GyUZFZqod5E/s400/Reitmas11.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">My Dad bought Jordan a hat from the country of Jordan.<br />
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He has evolved so much in just a month. He is much more mobile now and he understands basic commands. He basically did great adapting to his new surroundings, although he still had a few accidents. He tumbled down a flight of carpeted stairs one time before we set the gate up, but luckily he just bumped his head a little. Another time he was running and tripped, chipping his head off the corner of a wall. It swelled up immediately and he cried for two minutes, then he was back to normal.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNQCzXCurxDmHSYW1BvtMhv1TTZCi_o64Vnlr99lhBa2RWFcmdwGuqZnOJ0se8lh_0hbooUkhkoPZ3TFltDDxIclpB_wwN-SmspoxRgIloAkNL3e2E6RSurP5lGvHvKzHy_7FolhyBw00/s1600/Reitmas06.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNQCzXCurxDmHSYW1BvtMhv1TTZCi_o64Vnlr99lhBa2RWFcmdwGuqZnOJ0se8lh_0hbooUkhkoPZ3TFltDDxIclpB_wwN-SmspoxRgIloAkNL3e2E6RSurP5lGvHvKzHy_7FolhyBw00/s400/Reitmas06.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Check out that egg on his forehead.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In Jordan's free time, he enjoy's piling animals upon a sleeping mom.</td></tr>
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We spent most of December with my family in Chicago, but we took one trip down to St. Louis to visit my oldest brother's family. Their two awesome kids Erin and Nathan entertained Jordan the whole time. It was pretty cold so we basically just stayed indoors and played. But that was fine with us, Reitzmas is all about family.<br />
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January was a whole different adventure. Next post soon, i hope!<br />
~Kev<br />
<br />Kevin Reitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00002489940619691842noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4188545880250661713.post-29704503890203864022013-12-17T05:47:00.003+08:002013-12-17T05:48:22.352+08:00BoracayEsther and I went to the Philippines this November for our first extended trip without Jordan. Her parents watched him for 9 days while we got some much needed rest. Jordan did great without us, sleeping, eating and playing normally. We checked in everyday at first, but soon realized he was going to be fine. While we missed him fantastically, we were able to relax.<br />
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We spent three days at the Manila Spirits Ultimate Frisbee Tournament. On Friday, our men's team from China dominated everyone and won our second straight title. I played with Bear Ninja Cowboy for coed on Saturday and Sunday. We were plagued with heat stroke and, in one case, debilitating alcohol poisoning, so we didn't have as many guys as we needed. We underperformed, but had a great time.<br />
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Monday morning, Esther and I set off for Boracay. We had both been there before, separately, and our experience this time was much different. You know how people talk about going to a beautiful island and just sitting on the beach and relaxing? ...but then they end up busy everyday and they come home needing a vacation from their vacation? Well for our trip, we literally did nothing, everyday, and it was amazing. People really should do less more often. <br />
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<span class="s1">For our weeklong stay, most days followed the same basic blueprint. We get up lazily and maybe lie around in the hammock on our bungalow’s balcony sipping coffee. If we don't grab banana-bacon pancakes at our resort, we probably head off to Real Coffee for</span> pesto and tuna omelets.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View from Real Coffee</td></tr>
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After breakfast we'd walk along the beach and explore the rocks, maybe stop at Jonah's for Boracay's legendary fruit shake.</div>
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We almost always ended up at White House Resort in the afternoon for happy hour. Most of the frisbee players from the tournament end up there and we spend the day drinking, chatting, swimming, playing frisbee, and napping. It's perfect.<br />
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Our last day there, we ended up taking a sailboat out to watch the sunset. The water was so clear we saw straight down to the ocean floor, even a few kilometers out. It was a gorgeous night, and we sailed for 45 minutes as the colors changed until the sky filled with stars. <br />
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After dinner, we'd head out for a few cocktails. With no particular place in mind, we wandered along the beach and listened to the dozen different bands playing at the beach bars. When we found one we liked, we kicked off our sandals and listened to live music, sat in the sand and sipped cold drinks. <br />
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Our friends went cliff jumping and island hopping, etc. We were just happy to be together, on vacation, and on a beautiful island. It was truly the most relaxing vacation i've ever had.<br />
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~KevKevin Reitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00002489940619691842noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4188545880250661713.post-81138078148456062112013-11-27T09:37:00.002+08:002013-11-27T09:37:47.813+08:00Fall Costume RoundupIt's now time to highlight costumes from this years tournaments and halloween. Oddly enough, i was never really into halloween living in the US. For someone without the arts and crafts dexterity to actually <i>make</i> a costume, it was a stressful holiday for me. Four years in a row, i dressed as Hugh Kevfner, basically just buying a few new accessories to add to a burgundy smoking jacket/robe. <br />
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Moving to China, however, i've embraced any situation that allows me to dress up. This is usually frisbee-related, but i've been known to dress up for random <a href="http://kevinreitz.blogspot.com/2010/10/cleatus-and-trixie-get-hitched.html">birthday parties</a> and also on <a href="http://kevinreitz.blogspot.com/2012/09/captain-jack-and-prince-go-joyriding.html">tuesdays</a>. I guess there's something about being a foreigner that makes it even more fun to be weird in public. Since we get stared at all the time anyway, might as well walk around dressed like a penguin too. Cheap tailored clothing opens up a lot of options as well.<br />
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First up, the Beijing Tournament. The party theme was "Empires" and my team (Jiangnan) tossed around a lot of decent ideas. We considered the Roman Empire (togas), the Greek Empire (spartan warriors), The Empire Strikes Back (anything star wars), and even Umpires. Ultimately though, we settled on the simple, yet brilliant, Empire Penguins. We ordered 15 costumes on the internet and we won the party award with authority. <br />
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My favorite part of the night was when 15 penguins landed in Sanlitun and waddled our way to the party. We flocked in formation and found random Chinese pedestrians to flock around. Once the leader penguin identified a target, they would squawk in his/her/their general direction to alert the flock. Then, we would come together and mass squawk the target(s). We did this for about 15 minutes. Old guys were great and usually played along with us, and solo girls were hilarious because they just couldn't deal and curled up/played dead. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The flock preparing for tequila shots</td></tr>
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Next up, Hong Kong. I reunited to play with my Big Brother brethren for the first time all year. The party theme was Big Ass Spaceships in Outer Space. There was little debate what our costume would be:<br />
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We won that party award too. Joe and Alicia didn't get the memo about not smiling here, but it's still an awesome photo, complete with one alien on the ground.</div>
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Then there was the Hangzhou Halloween Hangover Hat, our local tournament. Our theme was just a Halloween party, so i decided to go as a mummy. Esther and I were waiting for a taxi and this old lady walks up and whispers to Esther, "What wrong with him? Is he injured?"<br />
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The theme for Manila Spirits was gender swap. Our guys dressed as housewives and the girls as businessmen. This one is actually not so fantastic.<br />
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For actual Halloween, I had a show at Pirate Cafe and the manager requested i reprise my Captain Jack Sparrow costume (thanks again, Jehan).<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAbfIYOlzPjFFxbW58G_UxdJJ70sm1ra_92pG3blPY1GUQD6FA8Qvxt7bcZMxrXAL097Zgj8-DibSfbtKosHv1aMm85_H3PQhYkBhEyRmTu48Xwvea-6phn_lLtVTglaDObVAyMOZhtj4/s1600/Costumes2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAbfIYOlzPjFFxbW58G_UxdJJ70sm1ra_92pG3blPY1GUQD6FA8Qvxt7bcZMxrXAL097Zgj8-DibSfbtKosHv1aMm85_H3PQhYkBhEyRmTu48Xwvea-6phn_lLtVTglaDObVAyMOZhtj4/s400/Costumes2.jpg" width="266" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfaXhNA6Tfqf9MVwjW_8ZIUWUBSKKQez0hujnK34Shr2uLzBrXYDEbjF0g8Daq6Q1GxTYCuzZ6BKyB9nMQXTQlWjTDciXA81rSlKOsEewpPNou_5nY422hAENjG9HEcxbcAUpKSWIeBmw/s1600/Costumes3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfaXhNA6Tfqf9MVwjW_8ZIUWUBSKKQez0hujnK34Shr2uLzBrXYDEbjF0g8Daq6Q1GxTYCuzZ6BKyB9nMQXTQlWjTDciXA81rSlKOsEewpPNou_5nY422hAENjG9HEcxbcAUpKSWIeBmw/s400/Costumes3.jpg" width="266" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxNfQ4PSquIsaA5wGLlFwOM5uuPlj_pgAf12_ta8MUYKkLASLRnOs999Ws4AwRBN1DKlA6twlnG6hIcahgeZEEtmUsYHYRC6VCn57u3TQEJVyZLjPYJjLzUDp7sVAdZaANGZ0mKYtuKas/s1600/Costumes6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxNfQ4PSquIsaA5wGLlFwOM5uuPlj_pgAf12_ta8MUYKkLASLRnOs999Ws4AwRBN1DKlA6twlnG6hIcahgeZEEtmUsYHYRC6VCn57u3TQEJVyZLjPYJjLzUDp7sVAdZaANGZ0mKYtuKas/s640/Costumes6.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Jordan dressed up as a bee, and while esther didn't dress up, we just said she was a bee keeper. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiipgnxqSGiD4jkvuaDgWZopX8AoaBOce0gs-5sCBZR8juguvHNrANceksCp0uU14RrKhjnAqCnqudYbssxhevwQJqUXWgYpX5-uyMoD3YnunIp3OSstYiIRhmvU0Lm46goxfQ7QkDRitI/s1600/Costumes8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiipgnxqSGiD4jkvuaDgWZopX8AoaBOce0gs-5sCBZR8juguvHNrANceksCp0uU14RrKhjnAqCnqudYbssxhevwQJqUXWgYpX5-uyMoD3YnunIp3OSstYiIRhmvU0Lm46goxfQ7QkDRitI/s400/Costumes8.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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All-in-all, it was a successful fall of costuming.<br />
<br />
~Kev</div>
Kevin Reitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00002489940619691842noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4188545880250661713.post-51759631468092332232013-11-21T18:48:00.000+08:002013-11-25T22:34:07.527+08:00October!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
For the remainder of their stay, we just hung around, ate, played games, took walks, and chilled with j-dizzle. There were a few breaks in the action when i had two days of back-to-back shows. The first one was with <a href="http://www.redrainbows.com/">Red Rainbows</a>, a fun band i sometimes join for concerts. I played the cajon (box drum) in front of a crowd of curious locals and amped-up kids. The show was for a newly opened karaoke club.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMK0TmIWj_Th9AI_3FGEouhoUd_wyU5VmP902413rnuE9djDzh9cja9ROynt-FGvJyzCu9HBPrKMtagvyk8_o7j_ZeKyUVonrIi-gv1k-9_DG7GLfQrqS3ftL7Q8tIZQrCrjTFQohQZhM/s1600/October201.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMK0TmIWj_Th9AI_3FGEouhoUd_wyU5VmP902413rnuE9djDzh9cja9ROynt-FGvJyzCu9HBPrKMtagvyk8_o7j_ZeKyUVonrIi-gv1k-9_DG7GLfQrqS3ftL7Q8tIZQrCrjTFQohQZhM/s400/October201.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8VoapB6QUXidEzCNcuS2xWSSHc3nTlcRyMH-7w-K8bDTaO-oQ2WanLe7E69QLlSYWX8LHmilJvDHhyzigQUl5HoSYXcRA5f7DkbX3GGRUf8m_y4MZdgmyIdEQtohYeUD_84eq70LubbQ/s1600/October206.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8VoapB6QUXidEzCNcuS2xWSSHc3nTlcRyMH-7w-K8bDTaO-oQ2WanLe7E69QLlSYWX8LHmilJvDHhyzigQUl5HoSYXcRA5f7DkbX3GGRUf8m_y4MZdgmyIdEQtohYeUD_84eq70LubbQ/s400/October206.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We are huge with the 4-7 aged demographic.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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The next night i had a show at Pirate Cafe, a very cool bar in the mountains south of Westlake. It's a real no-foolin' pirate ship, sails and all!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4LQdsT_zb-XHENQsE5MVDJEvn6g1GTrecfyFbbUAoJ8wWRFw4fKxbpcfvirhW4xIlrqxo5AKjLJhhrDhP_KpU-sDS0mhcBofY2_LjF4KTbwnwYKSOhK-6fEes879xWajzkBwXDb0WQ-o/s1600/October202.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4LQdsT_zb-XHENQsE5MVDJEvn6g1GTrecfyFbbUAoJ8wWRFw4fKxbpcfvirhW4xIlrqxo5AKjLJhhrDhP_KpU-sDS0mhcBofY2_LjF4KTbwnwYKSOhK-6fEes879xWajzkBwXDb0WQ-o/s320/October202.jpg" width="240" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidabWpNqxr0NQx_6zp9c_aSVwB34EH3Hdcfi5_ejwn9dzQqNxy-BQhYVfWRNvsrSWr93s2ftIrsROHzVVD_4MxTQH7bfayClR_Ta8C8WPpbCqqG9Tc3KfZnoJNB3DtcnegyHoxD_yspxY/s1600/October203.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidabWpNqxr0NQx_6zp9c_aSVwB34EH3Hdcfi5_ejwn9dzQqNxy-BQhYVfWRNvsrSWr93s2ftIrsROHzVVD_4MxTQH7bfayClR_Ta8C8WPpbCqqG9Tc3KfZnoJNB3DtcnegyHoxD_yspxY/s320/October203.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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We eventually got to do some local touristy stuff when Alex and Madaline came down from Beijing for a few days. Of course, we had to explore Westlake a bit. The amazing thing about Westlake is, even during the national holiday, when every tourist location is overrun, you can still find a clean, empty patch of grass to enjoy.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6CBbdHvZpjqAx3uOH9vve58BLg9PqABa2fe5U5WS9q6QCXCgWFn0BmkFYhFTfTWfQ4oYu527Kq1dHPO5D2deQtJC4Nq1yfhflwU1sl_HXKNuNGdIubgBDQ3h9LvY598-WuIXqt8zaD7g/s1600/October3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6CBbdHvZpjqAx3uOH9vve58BLg9PqABa2fe5U5WS9q6QCXCgWFn0BmkFYhFTfTWfQ4oYu527Kq1dHPO5D2deQtJC4Nq1yfhflwU1sl_HXKNuNGdIubgBDQ3h9LvY598-WuIXqt8zaD7g/s400/October3.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9ZakJtww-YRkwAM_A-5ZGIa0Qhy2koMJuB0wv_yR26djcv4OH3x_NAtTi225eIiw5Lh7GDzTs7bDa1DVJpyUIpX14e8IBl_k1ia1QEbPvkNiqCxDRVshpTtqFEeKz_qPK7k5il_f102k/s1600/October208.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9ZakJtww-YRkwAM_A-5ZGIa0Qhy2koMJuB0wv_yR26djcv4OH3x_NAtTi225eIiw5Lh7GDzTs7bDa1DVJpyUIpX14e8IBl_k1ia1QEbPvkNiqCxDRVshpTtqFEeKz_qPK7k5il_f102k/s400/October208.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZSdmeYR_x-PPFSiNgtoPcIxkhpPpXZIYmOLXJCX125R_6mVpd4xPeJfWRg7v4i0Rr9J7mO615ederAyMmX7B8ZdO9Eu7O0YGOvjF-wLEsnUko0Ll8RIB14jBNXtbfEGLU4pRc5Ym97pM/s1600/October5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZSdmeYR_x-PPFSiNgtoPcIxkhpPpXZIYmOLXJCX125R_6mVpd4xPeJfWRg7v4i0Rr9J7mO615ederAyMmX7B8ZdO9Eu7O0YGOvjF-wLEsnUko0Ll8RIB14jBNXtbfEGLU4pRc5Ym97pM/s320/October5.jpg" width="240" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo7Lc2oqNghyEsATLq7MjTGV3WnvZmIcIMTsrsyKvxvVY6DS_Lr9kPwKYSs_cX2bfFGQLH4N79vSjCbyNdDuGPPIyUVtWMY4ZwZJYYm9MNfHCq8YNl5jY-wWcUXm_M0Onse-3gIqfldAU/s1600/October9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo7Lc2oqNghyEsATLq7MjTGV3WnvZmIcIMTsrsyKvxvVY6DS_Lr9kPwKYSs_cX2bfFGQLH4N79vSjCbyNdDuGPPIyUVtWMY4ZwZJYYm9MNfHCq8YNl5jY-wWcUXm_M0Onse-3gIqfldAU/s320/October9.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkkqK0yzCZSBOp7GvjvmXuFYs9cALyksCifKPXVv0FmgzfZyXqxrMu2iGLFUUPSHM_w4kHzGHxffdotmRyKclnjB0nqmmI0EEt06qH4ybTel4BnZBGLTxktKARxhpNdqr-tI9HB9lggXs/s1600/October204.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkkqK0yzCZSBOp7GvjvmXuFYs9cALyksCifKPXVv0FmgzfZyXqxrMu2iGLFUUPSHM_w4kHzGHxffdotmRyKclnjB0nqmmI0EEt06qH4ybTel4BnZBGLTxktKARxhpNdqr-tI9HB9lggXs/s400/October204.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia5pIL6X6xoZx8IAVMM8Q7V1VdUULJio8saHf5Itk5RJjVbniVlUzgDikYo_bxw9RFpsP_NIHHh6wMZDJYD_eAXBWrwuidv2JFhLbQ9kBDApaKWw6KlNplUtRscP2FYb9jeKXcsG20sTo/s1600/October205.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia5pIL6X6xoZx8IAVMM8Q7V1VdUULJio8saHf5Itk5RJjVbniVlUzgDikYo_bxw9RFpsP_NIHHh6wMZDJYD_eAXBWrwuidv2JFhLbQ9kBDApaKWw6KlNplUtRscP2FYb9jeKXcsG20sTo/s400/October205.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZh9iqqAq_KpXVYKAmAKP5YMmKyAfnj12Qwq18NDE_E0Er689hRrODZGA8T_B06dV8UX34o8CmkYtVGz9TvcJsnPbdc7XflZeCQjx2MCyKKbu5Vg6VhCuGkn_zblQKHX_QgIRdv2_3s6I/s1600/october1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZh9iqqAq_KpXVYKAmAKP5YMmKyAfnj12Qwq18NDE_E0Er689hRrODZGA8T_B06dV8UX34o8CmkYtVGz9TvcJsnPbdc7XflZeCQjx2MCyKKbu5Vg6VhCuGkn_zblQKHX_QgIRdv2_3s6I/s400/october1.jpg" width="346" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Posing with the best worst outfit of the day. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The next day we checked out <i>Jiuxi Shiba Jian</i>, or Nine Creeks and Eighteen Gullies, a beautiful walk through tea fields which ends in Longjing Tea Village. <br />
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Hangzhou also enjoyed the worst floods in 60 years.<br />
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~Kev</div>
Kevin Reitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00002489940619691842noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4188545880250661713.post-43063811057564368742013-11-09T23:36:00.000+08:002013-11-12T08:58:56.150+08:00September!Doing my best to get caught up on blogging, so i need to start by rewinding to September. By far the most notable was the Reitz Rents coming to visit. They stayed in our spare bedroom for a month and joined in Jorkevstherdan's daily routine. They've been to China twice before so we didn't feel the need for much tourism, which was actually really nice. We only took one major trip, and that was to <a href="http://www.nakedretreats.cn/">Naked Retreats</a>, a beautiful mountain escape about 45 minutes from Hangzhou.<br />
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The rad pad:<br />
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View from our ridge-top villa balcony.</td></tr>
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The people in the pad:<br />
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Another day we went to Xiaoshan to visit Esther's parents. We spent the day at the lake and had dinner with the extended family.<br />
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<span style="text-align: left;">The Reitz Rents and the Esther P's exchanged many smiles and nods and "Hello's" and "Ni hao's" and "Xiexie's" and that was actually about the extent of their conversations. On this particular occasion, Dad forgot his fork and was forced to struggle with chopsticks. Esther's family kept watching him, staring, trying to comprehend how someone couldn't effortlessly pick up a single grain of rice. I asked them all to try using chopsticks with their left hand. </span></div>
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After they fumbled around and dropped food all over the place for a minute, I explained that's what it's like for people who don't use chopsticks everyday. </div>
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Esther even got a day of vacation when i took the Rents and Jordan to Wuzhen, a traditional water town.<br />
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More pictures to come in a day or two... i hope!<br />
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~KevKevin Reitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00002489940619691842noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4188545880250661713.post-67481394884799417992013-08-24T14:56:00.003+08:002013-10-05T17:08:46.626+08:00Surviving the Summer in StyleFor about two straight weeks, it was so hot in Hangzhou we actually ran out of cold water in our shower. I didn't know that was possible. I'm used to taking short showers in the winter because hot water is limited, but this was unexpected.<br />
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It hovered around 105F for what seemed like an eternity. We went outside only to get groceries, either very early or very late, trying in vain to beat the heat. It was the hottest summer in recorded Hangzhou history. But it's a wet heat? Nope, that does not make it better.<br />
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Esther and I escaped for one night to a mountain resort courtesy of More Magazine, and we left Jordan with her mom. It was our first night away from him since he was born. Uneventful! Except for swimming and music and food and wine and llamas. Yes, there were llamas.<br />
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Meanwhile, Jordan's basically the same as ever oh no wait he's far more awesome now that he has a...<br />
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<i><span style="font-size: x-large;">MOHAWK</span></i>.</div>
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He also has a remote-controlled car and wears sunglasses. Cuz that's just how he rolls. And apparently it's science that if you give your infant a mohawk, it will make him walk on his 10-month birthday. We ran an experiment in our house, with a non-repeatable sample size of one (1), and found statistically insignificant data supporting this hypothesis. Observe, the first day of Jordan's tenth month:<br />
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That's a good boy. And... one week later:<br />
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Thanks, Science!</div>
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~KevKevin Reitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00002489940619691842noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4188545880250661713.post-16953306244887659732013-07-11T09:51:00.000+08:002013-07-13T09:52:04.496+08:00MORE HangzhouI mentioned earlier i've been working a few part-time jobs to earn some extra cash. One of those is writing for the local expat magazine, MORE Hangzhou. The magazine endeavors to help orient both visitors and residents to the dining, nightlife, and tourist scene in Hangzhou. It's written almost entirely in English, which means it really is geared toward expats. That being said, so many locals read English these days that it has a pretty large following. It's not the only expat magazine in Hangzhou, but it's the highest quality.<br />
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I've been writing restaurant reviews for a few months, and sometimes i get to take my little family along for a meal. In just a few months, we've been to places that specialize in pizza, thai, spanish, vegetarian, and lamb, to name a few. By and large, these meals are fantastic. This weekend, esther and i are going to spend the night, jordan-free, at a <a href="http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g660719-d1220709-Reviews-Barbizon_Vacation_Resort-Tonglu_County_Zhejiang.html">luxury mountain resort</a> simply because my boss wasn't available. Nice perk.<br />
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I also wrote a one-page review of a new maternity and pediatrics hospital in town. We took Jordan for a check-up and now he's famous.<br />
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Most of what i write is reviews and interviews. This last month though i wrote a four-page cover story about short vacations you can take in and around Hangzhou. I've also been writing a regular feature on the last page, called High Five. It's cool because i get to choose the topic, and it can really be about anything i want. The only criteria is it needs to have five points in it. I've written three of these articles so far, and my last one is, by far, my favorite. Here it is, in its entirety.<br />
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>The Art of Ganbei</i> or<i> How to Survive a Boozy Business Meeting</i></span></span></div>
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<span class="s1">I remember my first business lunch in China like it was yesterday. The year was 2007, I was in Beijing for business, wide-eyed and excited, visiting customers. While I consider myself well-traveled, I knew very little about Chinese culture. I certainly was ill-prepared for what I was about to encounter. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">It was 11am on a Wednesday, and my customers were eager to get the party started. Not one to turn down a cold beer with lunch, I responded, “Yes, I can drink.” That was my first mistake. Obviously we would not be drinking beer, or “Greet Wall Special China Red Wine”, or even whiskey. We would be drinking baijiu. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">I hung in there like a trooper as everyone at the table ganbei’d with me in turn. I was congratulated, applauded, and even praised for my stamina. This played into my desire to impress my hosts, and I pushed on through. But they all knew something I did not: drinking baijiu is a game, and winning means drinking less than everyone else. No one in their right mind actually enjoys drinking shots of 108 proof, gasoline-flavored alcohol.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">After we finished bottle number six, I was a worthless mess. That is when my customers blindsided me with a list of one hundred problems they have with my company’s product, problems they demanded I promise fast corrections to. Yes. They had won the game. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">I have survived many more business meals since that day. Here are a few tips for surviving your next meeting with baijiu.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><b>Avoidance</b></span></div>
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<span class="s1">In all seriousness, there are few less palatable liquors than baijiu. With that in mind, your first tactic should be to plainly reject it. Request beer or wine. Even huangjiu is better. Tell them you are allergic to liquid pain. Note, however, if you choose a different poison, it will still be unpleasant. You will be expected to drink a bottle of wine by yourself. It will almost certainly not be good wine. And whence you have finished it, they will open a second bottle. </span></div>
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<span class="s1"><b>Acquiescence</b></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Often there is no avoiding “the drink that tastes like flaming purple.” If you must drink, learn how to play the game. Just like when playing poker, if you have not spotted the weak player in the first thirty minutes, that person is probably you. Make a stand with one key phrase: <i>Nǐ gān bēi, Wǒ suí yì</i>, meaning “You finish your glass, I’ll drink what I want.” This works wonders for letting them know this is not your first rodeo. You are a seasoned expert, well-versed in the nuances of not getting wasted at 11am on terrible, terrible liquor. With any luck, they will pick on your co-worker instead.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><b>Magic!</b></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Twice, I have walked out of situations where, against all odds, I was relatively sober by the end. The first secret is a little sleight of hand, err... mouth. It requires a bottle of water in addition to your glass of baijiu. The process is simple: take a sip of water and hold some in your mouth while you smile and nod at the conversation. After a brief time, pretend to take a sip of your baijiu, but instead let the water in your mouth drip into the glass, diluting the baijiu. You will still have to drink when people cheers you, but over time the mixture will become more water than baijiu. You will certainly be required to ganbei at some point, but by then, hopefully it is a refreshing mixture of water and saliva. Still better than baijiu.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><b>More Magic!</b></span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">The second secret is a bit more obvious, and I employed it on my wedding night. My groomsmen, brilliant as they are handsome, found an empty bottle of baijiu and filled it with water. That is what I drank all night. Fortunately, none of my in-laws speak or read English. I still remember the looks of amazement when I drank straight from the bottle for a 10-count, selling it even further by spitting the last mouthful out in disgust. This obviously will not work in a small group, but for my purposes, it was perfect.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><b>Pace Yourself</b></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Finally, if you are going to give in and play the game honestly, drink slowly. It is not a race. It is the opposite. You may think finishing the four bottles on the table is the end of your misery, but there are usually four more stashed nearby. Recognize that you are going to be here for a long, long time. Take small sips and only ganbei when absolutely necessary. When they refill your glass, stop them when your glass is half full. This can be achieved by gently pushing the bottle away, or by moving your glass. Baijiu is not a precious resource, and a little waste is perfectly acceptable. Lots of waste is fine too.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">In summary, I do not like to ganbei baijiu. I do not like it, oh hell no. I do not drink it at 11 o’clock. I do not drink it from a sock. I would not, could not, with my peers. I would not, could not, with no fears. I will not drink baijiu these days, unless you promise a big, big raise.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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~Kev <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXN6WT7fQde3nCU2caQ8KJEK9fESLl5LHDTkpt4FsWL-X7kPPd0jmjTqbc7M5qvLjwyOgk8UOwpwUhL9B7tBgEX0vv1oym2Cj9feFY9cZ3ihqn769dHqD-xPbbb4MlBpjm63R8qMw6rgw/s1600/photo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXN6WT7fQde3nCU2caQ8KJEK9fESLl5LHDTkpt4FsWL-X7kPPd0jmjTqbc7M5qvLjwyOgk8UOwpwUhL9B7tBgEX0vv1oym2Cj9feFY9cZ3ihqn769dHqD-xPbbb4MlBpjm63R8qMw6rgw/s320/photo.JPG" width="239" /></a></div>
Kevin Reitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00002489940619691842noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4188545880250661713.post-9095533773597798712013-07-08T08:39:00.000+08:002013-07-08T12:43:44.841+08:00Jordan's Video Roundup - Months 6-9As promised, more videos of everyone's favorite Triumphant Forest King. He's 9 months old today (!!!) and these videos are from the last three months. He's crawling like a maniac now, rambling gibberish, and pulling himself up to a standing position with ease. The little dude will stand there hanging onto his P<i>layjail</i>™ watching and talking to us from across the room for an hour, classic Triumphant Forest King.<br />
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Numba 1. In which Jordan corrects mama's English.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dz14F00tFSSxhZNE-xVy_WMWFJdHW5A-K5qhHVYIJTT8e46WIeqSzT3BOwTikIJF17CKdRzaFHdpXIhY0TKYQ' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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Numba 2. In which Jordan is tickled by my beard.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxnHp9TIUhl9OaUL2SisJG9YwjzQDW3R1IHgiAfi0IU_2oNmZkbyeF_jH78oEEosDx4z3dPV-YyyN4ubZuX1g' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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Numba 3. In which a hilarious game suddenly goes horribly wrong. We may never know why.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dzzTtOMZvVkjn--WUXK4laZ_z-zMSVLUGCxKH8oOBau_NZBmw4R1mv_yXDLD89f7nvfr7CPxFcEie5hq5htZA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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Numba 4. In which Jordan enjoys a game of hide-n-seek with mama.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwSMBv1L4iQAS0R34bvSrcJxLvLHEuasIpp4L-ic14h01xrvw6FQGx0sEJHl1x0GHSX1yYIsm3ZiTjwApDZVA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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Numba 5. In which Jordan defends himself from the blanket monster. I particularly love the look he gives Esther at 0:40... I SEE YOU BLANKET LADY. I AM ONTO YOUR GAME.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dyJ-IItX3SXftjgE8sj2tnEsFRZGjHvdhgBeG3dcgprGdR4uSbBRUqzvp61hA3PrwGbdNo374VhpTqsPjBkbA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<span id="goog_1442109926"></span>
Numba 6. In which Jordan makes the world a better place through laughter.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dyZ2GlZd7j7HDq53xE4Nu0p--jZbaIz9ZXulx8EchrGpsoWc793kNNO8VpDLJEpb2sOn8T1Us5k-BQjnXmh' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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Good times. Good times.<br />
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~JorkevstherdanKevin Reitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00002489940619691842noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4188545880250661713.post-862402004654655342013-06-23T11:14:00.003+08:002013-06-29T10:12:50.644+08:00The Tragically Belated and Much Awaited Post<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Ok, so i have a few excuses for why i haven't posted anything in over two months. Wanna hear them? </div>
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Great!</div>
<br />
Excuse #1: My iphone was stolen at frisbee by three little 12-year-old punks. Before we realized what happened, it was far too late, and they were long gone. I was pissed and sad for a little while. Fortunately i had backed up most of my photos and videos of Jordan, but there were five or six new videos of him laughing/crawling/being awesome that were lost forever. I lost my desire to blog.<br />
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Excuse #2: I've been writing for the <a href="http://morehangzhou.com/">More Hangzhou</a> magazine a lot in the past three months as a part time job. Unfortunately, most of what i write doesn't get onto the website, but there's usually at least one thing up there that's mine. It's the first time i've been paid to write, and it's a really good feeling. I enjoy writing, and seeing my words in print is pretty cool. Plus it helps pay the rent. But writing for them means i don't have the drive to write for myself.<br />
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Excuse #3: I've started playing drums in the band at <a href="http://morehangzhou.com/venue/nightlife/bars/venue-2908-close.html">Mangos Bar</a>, and not so coincidentally i wrote that review too. When i went in there to review the place, i was of course drawn to the drumset. I hadn't played in over a year and had been missing it. I got to talking with the owner, Tony, who was looking to form a band. He just needed a drummer. So, now i'm playing there wednesday through sunday nights from 8:30-11 as another part time job.<br />
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But excuses are stupid. Today i finally decided to connect esther's ipad to my computer to see if i could copy all of her awesome Jordan videos and photos. Turns out i can. It's time for everyone's favorite blog post... MASSIVE JORDAN PHOTO DUMP! ... as opposed to his other kind of massive dump.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii1gNw4zJhlLx9dQih9v43gRzwW9AJzC39fNXk-Ws2b0FMbPowh2R8TdI6aK_kXjsHrMshgejTuyQVRXjadaQNOYuIDEejvrtFy9omJ1lt5Chnnl97-ZOi0HLARvSGnXMzffASoJav7Xc/s1600/Jordan+set11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii1gNw4zJhlLx9dQih9v43gRzwW9AJzC39fNXk-Ws2b0FMbPowh2R8TdI6aK_kXjsHrMshgejTuyQVRXjadaQNOYuIDEejvrtFy9omJ1lt5Chnnl97-ZOi0HLARvSGnXMzffASoJav7Xc/s400/Jordan+set11.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">See what happens when you fall asleep during lunch?</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU3iWRAOOTNejVdEjoXGZWRGUrFjJg5PfXnMjEvn8PNLPcapmGgu4xlzA2IJuwUuBZQbqn2dOgxh0VTeHtsQ0lKuGsAYfY3QmeFBtiS8j857IlH2IXG19LnAWlBls3-7DXWG4zneUgyTM/s1600/Jordan+set12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU3iWRAOOTNejVdEjoXGZWRGUrFjJg5PfXnMjEvn8PNLPcapmGgu4xlzA2IJuwUuBZQbqn2dOgxh0VTeHtsQ0lKuGsAYfY3QmeFBtiS8j857IlH2IXG19LnAWlBls3-7DXWG4zneUgyTM/s400/Jordan+set12.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTJgWOFkQbkW6GPEAkyVhcyaqwL5-c8vTp0ZWsZhVHBzfAcEh5QopNoF4X8EXfnKgdCUWIJyubWkoI8yemcNyFgbDzJSOTwNJPTK98zGd2gFzP1U7aOyzddswhK9WEvGsdpptePLBsbHo/s1600/Jordan+set13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTJgWOFkQbkW6GPEAkyVhcyaqwL5-c8vTp0ZWsZhVHBzfAcEh5QopNoF4X8EXfnKgdCUWIJyubWkoI8yemcNyFgbDzJSOTwNJPTK98zGd2gFzP1U7aOyzddswhK9WEvGsdpptePLBsbHo/s400/Jordan+set13.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2hFIUGyh3l20Y0WaBsn-ZgMQOPfB_bCIJYvKEzJR7iikpBiftqgJo9vXYnHwk0NyXteRs-VJZwtQjEkuK25uhk3nbMEGY_odAV306HoET1bz_CSMLn8Nvo2_-nbG4K-l2Tt2J4XBUmDM/s1600/Jordan+set14.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2hFIUGyh3l20Y0WaBsn-ZgMQOPfB_bCIJYvKEzJR7iikpBiftqgJo9vXYnHwk0NyXteRs-VJZwtQjEkuK25uhk3nbMEGY_odAV306HoET1bz_CSMLn8Nvo2_-nbG4K-l2Tt2J4XBUmDM/s400/Jordan+set14.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFPgMsm84WSaM9l3sRnzvCHDC-_gizgC9RNZpRJt9H2c4g2qrDOJBYece7K9YErNFz5Mp25qKyqa2s5HT0eOsfZ-7Q7d70Vw8HDFgaOgBeqaFkxnjbDgDrrpUAp9o1t9q-q9w8H2dHSZU/s1600/Jordan+set15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFPgMsm84WSaM9l3sRnzvCHDC-_gizgC9RNZpRJt9H2c4g2qrDOJBYece7K9YErNFz5Mp25qKyqa2s5HT0eOsfZ-7Q7d70Vw8HDFgaOgBeqaFkxnjbDgDrrpUAp9o1t9q-q9w8H2dHSZU/s400/Jordan+set15.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">60 year-old feeding chair that esther's grandfather made.</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGAojpSQx2JZ71q_FiL82dkeYnuvKYkhn1nSE-__oqX8QCB0-dvBq2eadvIvXlYxrmLopVIQKtBzPUv3L0Ra5qk5cUzJywDUVxnZRMQwgkm4udturpJG-Mc6UKctHkphzaHMmCe0dPgX8/s1600/Jordan+2nd+set01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGAojpSQx2JZ71q_FiL82dkeYnuvKYkhn1nSE-__oqX8QCB0-dvBq2eadvIvXlYxrmLopVIQKtBzPUv3L0Ra5qk5cUzJywDUVxnZRMQwgkm4udturpJG-Mc6UKctHkphzaHMmCe0dPgX8/s200/Jordan+2nd+set01.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTyvIYnuvjND5mb7PnnjBROwHjpt2KN73uNvOUblI2F3TMCdyKSyMS1TGIxj3iThPnWX10rqloMMNVuYn4YQuZpfUQOJ2MUAXl2xwL2YU0lgOXb6Gz7rxA7UOb9TkVfJM0u1cfYP6OKls/s1600/Jordan+2nd+set02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTyvIYnuvjND5mb7PnnjBROwHjpt2KN73uNvOUblI2F3TMCdyKSyMS1TGIxj3iThPnWX10rqloMMNVuYn4YQuZpfUQOJ2MUAXl2xwL2YU0lgOXb6Gz7rxA7UOb9TkVfJM0u1cfYP6OKls/s200/Jordan+2nd+set02.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmzxCNPJsJ_IRLKqiosLPgbDoXMj5gIeaJW7ZfIMtWfgOBnkaEwCZAuUPt2iIw0vvaKQZ_cHgl71F4NOVA-S64ohuzwt_uiAHoovLC2bx0yl6qIYlbngS2rr0udyhYUB68uR-7qrYkEpM/s1600/Jordan+2nd+set03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmzxCNPJsJ_IRLKqiosLPgbDoXMj5gIeaJW7ZfIMtWfgOBnkaEwCZAuUPt2iIw0vvaKQZ_cHgl71F4NOVA-S64ohuzwt_uiAHoovLC2bx0yl6qIYlbngS2rr0udyhYUB68uR-7qrYkEpM/s400/Jordan+2nd+set03.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguGn_V3L3bB-eT8TdFBO-RW7DXFuKO1feCC4lziZIe1ApQkV6x7XPfx3eKTwleGHcE0jU3F0ygwbuqxBd9faLoTKR0xNqhnofWRdsz6190dhcurgbksyq6utDYZsQ32zgiYyhsFuZOLeg/s1600/Jordan+2nd+set04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguGn_V3L3bB-eT8TdFBO-RW7DXFuKO1feCC4lziZIe1ApQkV6x7XPfx3eKTwleGHcE0jU3F0ygwbuqxBd9faLoTKR0xNqhnofWRdsz6190dhcurgbksyq6utDYZsQ32zgiYyhsFuZOLeg/s400/Jordan+2nd+set04.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipMKWxGAjs6iY1bKNLxINLB2lFbWLMGJJV5fD2vZA1SjCSSQxjZILmuJ6Q0kFWzPQ-puwc0vscTD65hD2OTwLAxit5EwNN0KgqN25oNLRhtfY8mIcYF95WH_MqdF99wmbzpbQLhk8hq7g/s1600/Jordan+2nd+set05.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipMKWxGAjs6iY1bKNLxINLB2lFbWLMGJJV5fD2vZA1SjCSSQxjZILmuJ6Q0kFWzPQ-puwc0vscTD65hD2OTwLAxit5EwNN0KgqN25oNLRhtfY8mIcYF95WH_MqdF99wmbzpbQLhk8hq7g/s400/Jordan+2nd+set05.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dad off to a job fair!</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNP8kduOxMBoqnQSPNV8j0KunUpCp4T05ESMMq1Jmu9P6hdorQ19tXXSNNXve8Iq4_FkcqaRdTXjJ5775xrqqhuUNqx_Ngv2qei19xlo-TV2mwnw-4xGGzvFgwrOIC__ivDSqZzN3zl88/s1600/Jordan+2nd+set06.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNP8kduOxMBoqnQSPNV8j0KunUpCp4T05ESMMq1Jmu9P6hdorQ19tXXSNNXve8Iq4_FkcqaRdTXjJ5775xrqqhuUNqx_Ngv2qei19xlo-TV2mwnw-4xGGzvFgwrOIC__ivDSqZzN3zl88/s400/Jordan+2nd+set06.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0BdFkASBwgEu3ivHkhygPNU1zXklwYYYlqB95p3yp7dXUI15-qLduKxkTCCn06TCbmhWMyH2S3BLkGB64Ic537G1HvtumS9vYOV99OurIuGXJONphNY7AWkbgc5KhPNWPk3FuZ64krHk/s1600/Jordan+2nd+set07.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0BdFkASBwgEu3ivHkhygPNU1zXklwYYYlqB95p3yp7dXUI15-qLduKxkTCCn06TCbmhWMyH2S3BLkGB64Ic537G1HvtumS9vYOV99OurIuGXJONphNY7AWkbgc5KhPNWPk3FuZ64krHk/s400/Jordan+2nd+set07.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Is sad...</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH6v3XlT6yzauTjaqSfae6XLlVXApyZuMGH0UUYrXT4e21rlEaWYi2ihC3TX9LhD1iHQ05jMfq8w_AGa5_55QjfmoB12OGAorZDQiz0XPcxBQUOJpSwQVF0dQ2SRMcYIGypENCbeVL7xs/s1600/Jordan+2nd+set08.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH6v3XlT6yzauTjaqSfae6XLlVXApyZuMGH0UUYrXT4e21rlEaWYi2ihC3TX9LhD1iHQ05jMfq8w_AGa5_55QjfmoB12OGAorZDQiz0XPcxBQUOJpSwQVF0dQ2SRMcYIGypENCbeVL7xs/s400/Jordan+2nd+set08.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">...sheds a single tear.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBu6D2pjSE8BMSf2-MIdehWMV4nMVrZNogM2ivsUIEv1P27gr4EXR3Zeem4ZcwpNuenBJ1NIV5UJjhJzVD50Jv25ZBJJ4dbgNzfwl8PaACCnvazc0_ZKmztU3XQA8hqRz0yWXayBAAeQY/s1600/Jordan+2nd+set09.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBu6D2pjSE8BMSf2-MIdehWMV4nMVrZNogM2ivsUIEv1P27gr4EXR3Zeem4ZcwpNuenBJ1NIV5UJjhJzVD50Jv25ZBJJ4dbgNzfwl8PaACCnvazc0_ZKmztU3XQA8hqRz0yWXayBAAeQY/s400/Jordan+2nd+set09.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">On the high-speed train to shanghai for a beer fest.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizV5LtR1BazwKY6-CF9L_k0lE17gY8OmTnf65HOLpl4MjuirwiRxdhaebiUi-XhSe645_c6NFd2yFyR5N7J1vp0DI0MMoVMSziCl0aJrgwF9-jHaoAMoy6s3FDYFER2SLonv4D_7DuMUc/s1600/Jordan+2nd+set10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizV5LtR1BazwKY6-CF9L_k0lE17gY8OmTnf65HOLpl4MjuirwiRxdhaebiUi-XhSe645_c6NFd2yFyR5N7J1vp0DI0MMoVMSziCl0aJrgwF9-jHaoAMoy6s3FDYFER2SLonv4D_7DuMUc/s400/Jordan+2nd+set10.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sound check at the beer fest with Fred.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpCnNp3i5V0GGBK_6NsFE0mOvbOlKjaloxL7lH64H_FNfQVqXkuyaBxBcYxCof292mXKEVTvcrBBwAgM6uKnTbKEPV4-0GQKVjC4YS3iwdA2OrIYZTOQ1orUWY4jLzgK6FN5qQYhks_P4/s1600/great+leap+teant.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpCnNp3i5V0GGBK_6NsFE0mOvbOlKjaloxL7lH64H_FNfQVqXkuyaBxBcYxCof292mXKEVTvcrBBwAgM6uKnTbKEPV4-0GQKVjC4YS3iwdA2OrIYZTOQ1orUWY4jLzgK6FN5qQYhks_P4/s400/great+leap+teant.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">Kev working the Great Leap tent at beer fest.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9hiZIWS8hY_zSVKvDqQulBWcw0jErJQa2SIsBTaoD6ftb21xBWQmMoGnHPA-rLC-LpLgGI4rwfAHE-mpY-PuPvUGl40GtfJOwcFeOuT2te71UaQUKe5qg7pX8TzM7q4I1PNKpGdIJSPs/s1600/Jordan+2nd+set11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9hiZIWS8hY_zSVKvDqQulBWcw0jErJQa2SIsBTaoD6ftb21xBWQmMoGnHPA-rLC-LpLgGI4rwfAHE-mpY-PuPvUGl40GtfJOwcFeOuT2te71UaQUKe5qg7pX8TzM7q4I1PNKpGdIJSPs/s400/Jordan+2nd+set11.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nekked </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaBrYmGFJodgpGhGFQqixmQ7OkYoKzKB3UYK_TE1Tb1wx0jvjRbtgQEI92HdTaVuFVpquLcbd6FG6byJiF8IktPeDuR-lxxUvuUsZafY_j9n7yk2lM-NW5luuJkfamoUnuh0CjcDuLgaI/s1600/Jordan+2nd+set12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaBrYmGFJodgpGhGFQqixmQ7OkYoKzKB3UYK_TE1Tb1wx0jvjRbtgQEI92HdTaVuFVpquLcbd6FG6byJiF8IktPeDuR-lxxUvuUsZafY_j9n7yk2lM-NW5luuJkfamoUnuh0CjcDuLgaI/s400/Jordan+2nd+set12.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Meiguo grandparents</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglXKA1iMqJ8-BdQW1nbPM1IMbZOa9fKRVqplbhRiOZmPmgHzNLBBdnc_cvN-Ftmkmaha3Lezok56RSJt4qJM9JaHCgrSRlTomJ56qktRSZalyuwgfEp_N4Q-PBizM1HDVvcTuKJKzKOos/s1600/Jordan+2nd+set13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglXKA1iMqJ8-BdQW1nbPM1IMbZOa9fKRVqplbhRiOZmPmgHzNLBBdnc_cvN-Ftmkmaha3Lezok56RSJt4qJM9JaHCgrSRlTomJ56qktRSZalyuwgfEp_N4Q-PBizM1HDVvcTuKJKzKOos/s400/Jordan+2nd+set13.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jordan gets a haircut/is a monk.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicVgV-Io_PNxEJEOqHOxk12-B1PHfm1oAeYI71dJV-0v8Ilk2uucsTu4wEeY0lvzwoiNfLqD5jBUk8g66PARPlMkP1zmDPbq_QHweg164VT6JGEEIXKM-ta590SkOYIr_q5VxKF3HROmc/s1600/Jordan+2nd+set18.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicVgV-Io_PNxEJEOqHOxk12-B1PHfm1oAeYI71dJV-0v8Ilk2uucsTu4wEeY0lvzwoiNfLqD5jBUk8g66PARPlMkP1zmDPbq_QHweg164VT6JGEEIXKM-ta590SkOYIr_q5VxKF3HROmc/s400/Jordan+2nd+set18.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">Jordan standing by himself in his new playjail. The dude crawls too fast to be allowed to free-range.</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaaFoojYqEHDtEhvr0nlr_ICAtBVLJMyQL1xropcnBRvHu9exBGEgIFKoYb0Cwz2Em26qy08ns5c5HdLhKVjkildqAFdF2o_u2hh0_TCyXhavC-nQp4SKtZ83VquYliVwSaC5_q1_ztzk/s1600/Jordan+2nd+set14.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaaFoojYqEHDtEhvr0nlr_ICAtBVLJMyQL1xropcnBRvHu9exBGEgIFKoYb0Cwz2Em26qy08ns5c5HdLhKVjkildqAFdF2o_u2hh0_TCyXhavC-nQp4SKtZ83VquYliVwSaC5_q1_ztzk/s400/Jordan+2nd+set14.jpg" width="265" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnw2Cluwr5xiplFwEpGCWnlsfkJSDURF_x1kTkbJpsMKnNPH9WYnOz2cyfqT9_C1JQlhZXp4GHHWSmRCBL5TzRYIFRC0b3VLp3Qv6cQBuh28WCqon7O2djC-LXyuPTYKqybBbYnQrr4c4/s1600/Jordan+2nd+set15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnw2Cluwr5xiplFwEpGCWnlsfkJSDURF_x1kTkbJpsMKnNPH9WYnOz2cyfqT9_C1JQlhZXp4GHHWSmRCBL5TzRYIFRC0b3VLp3Qv6cQBuh28WCqon7O2djC-LXyuPTYKqybBbYnQrr4c4/s320/Jordan+2nd+set15.jpg" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3abH0Ec5qySXt-YAKwMX6eX7m93faJzt2iAfPPGqQOpiry0wmxok25_HU9UiNxDjYkwBq3D4vAT4rR9RCGJIcx1vjKhrg7aavNTD8BzQL5pJvKWur8iOd9ntfOmyqU6-8bI4uHFFt6a0/s1600/Jordan+2nd+set16.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3abH0Ec5qySXt-YAKwMX6eX7m93faJzt2iAfPPGqQOpiry0wmxok25_HU9UiNxDjYkwBq3D4vAT4rR9RCGJIcx1vjKhrg7aavNTD8BzQL5pJvKWur8iOd9ntfOmyqU6-8bI4uHFFt6a0/s320/Jordan+2nd+set16.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
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Next time, soon i promise.... videos! Esther takes lots of videos so this should be interesting.</div>
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~Kev</div>
Kevin Reitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00002489940619691842noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4188545880250661713.post-86817987417393634152013-04-12T14:02:00.000+08:002013-04-17T14:03:34.397+08:00Jordan... now with 100% more videos!Jordan celebrated 6 months of life this week. To commemorate this achievement, we're taking a look at the 5 best Jordan videos captured on my phone. <br />
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Number 5 - Jordan and his great-grandmother exchange a comfortable silence.<br />
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Number 4 - Jordan, while fast asleep, gets a vaccination, wakes up and cries for 14 seconds, and falls back to sleep.<br />
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Number 3 - Jordan makes some cute noises.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxaLSUEzzA3Y8GGe4GYq3DxnawnwsZngeVhAVrFgcGxi9P09cIt0vAZae02w69eDQcs_mPJOH4o8WzzX9fSSQ' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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Number 2 - Jordan makes some awesome faces.<br />
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Number 1 - Jordan laughs at <i>Wai Po</i>'s silly game, which is essentially "Stop Hitting Yourself".<br />
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Keep up the hilarious times, Little J!<br />
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~KevKevin Reitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00002489940619691842noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4188545880250661713.post-53001411832830828882013-03-19T15:10:00.001+08:002013-03-19T15:10:36.701+08:00The Beijinger Restaurant AwardsThis was originally written for <a href="http://beijingcream.com/2013/03/the-beijingers-10th-annual-reader-restaurant-awards-review/">Tao's blog over here at Beijing Cream</a>. I'm reposting it in its entirety with minor edits because, hey, Tao's not paying me enough (0 RMB/word) not to. The story is self-explanatory. Enjoy!<br />
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<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;">The Beijinger’s 10th Annual Reader Restaurant Awards: Basically Unnoteworthy, But Thanks For The Free Beer!</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ4z1pg4anbUH8F6XBWWt-IiX1Z5lqRgYVnSOvUsxkO8hyphenhyphenWtpVaNid3_2unCt-5_GBuhwhBrts3OO1sJoPH0G0krKbEM6DuXg-inqzXXX_YsZZORDP_7Vn2vpDJwRVw7L9K4SDKGtES14/s1600/IMG_1251.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ4z1pg4anbUH8F6XBWWt-IiX1Z5lqRgYVnSOvUsxkO8hyphenhyphenWtpVaNid3_2unCt-5_GBuhwhBrts3OO1sJoPH0G0krKbEM6DuXg-inqzXXX_YsZZORDP_7Vn2vpDJwRVw7L9K4SDKGtES14/s320/IMG_1251.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span class="s1">One thing I learned about getting invited to a <i>the Beijinger</i> awards ceremony is you first have to leave Beijing. During my four-year tenure here, I never received an invite. Just three months after I made the move to Hangzhou, I was chosen to be an official nominator. Sure, why not.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Months later, as an Official Nominator for the Beijinger’s 10th Annual Reader Restaurant Awards, I got an invitation to the ceremony. Like, 18 hours before it started. Thanks for the heads up! It just so happened I was back in town for the first time in six months, so in your face, the Beijinger’s 10th Annual Reader Restaurant Awards!</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Esther and I roll up to the front desk to register, and I draw a blank when they ask me, “Which restaurant?” I’m like, “All of them?” And then my brain turns back on for maybe the first time since the diaper changes and midnight feedings began, and I say the three magic words (plus one, in my mindhole) that open the doors wide open:</span></div>
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<span class="s1">“I’m a NOMINATOR, Bitches.”</span></div>
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<span class="s1">We’re in, underdressed and, really, with no good reason to be there. But that’s mostly the fun. We have almost nothing invested and intend to milk that extensively.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Esther is hungry, and I’m thirsty. Within minutes she has sampled all four finger foods. And the award for Best Finger Food at the Beijinger 2013 10th Annual Reader Restaurant Awards goes to:</span></div>
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<li class="li2"><span class="s1">The Sausage/Pastry Thingies</span></li>
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<span class="s1">Awards for Outstanding Finger Food go to:</span></div>
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<li class="li2"><span class="s1">The Meaty Croissants</span></li>
<li class="li2"><span class="s1">Cream Puffs</span></li>
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<span class="s1">Mini-quiche does not make the list. While Esther eats, I beeline for the alcohol. First stop, Grand Marinier Balls. These are a staple at every awards ceremony, a classic mixture of pineapple juice, soda water, and Grand Marinier. They are good, but I’m more interested in the rack of fine draft beers. I struggle a little between Leffe and Chimay, but in the end, I choose wisely. Goblet of Chimay in hand, we continue touring.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Together we make friends with the fine people from Glacio, and enjoy scoop after scoop of the finest ice cream I’ve had in a while. There was a second ice cream company next to it, but it was unmemorable. We chased it down with a few espressos.</span></div>
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<span class="s2"><a href="http://www.thebeijinger.com/blog/2013/03/15/eye-candy-reader-restaurant-awards-photo-gallery">The actual awards</a></span><span class="s1"> were background noise for all the free stuff, obviously. I gain nothing from anyone winning, except maybe bragging rights for my favorite restaurants. But when Element Fresh nabs “Best Breakfast” and Chef Too doesn’t even get runner-up, let alone the Best Breakfast Ever award, I cease to care about the results.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">In conclusion, yes, it was worth the price of admission and I will gladly enjoy more free stuff in the future. Thanks, the Beijinger!</span></div>
Kevin Reitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00002489940619691842noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4188545880250661713.post-69280646865662116052013-03-08T16:15:00.000+08:002013-10-05T17:10:20.089+08:00The Art of GanbeiChinese New Year passed as it normally does: in a cloud of smoke (both cigarette and firework) and reeking of <i>baijiu</i>. My little family survived it in Xiaoshan with my in-laws. It was cold, but much more bearable than last year since they got the air-con fixed. We spent about 10 days hanging out with her family.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyT89jMuMCgd7-2Q9op1CfJSKvtT12lf21BLZadfyYZEn9inE7VN1beYYphjLfbeILbmRcKspz2tO6O5CjQbVVCkp_BiQRfyqzIvXbNxr89exR6MiuIqpM4zUp_N3wZ6hZ_FtGRdXQ2rE/s1600/IMG_1121.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyT89jMuMCgd7-2Q9op1CfJSKvtT12lf21BLZadfyYZEn9inE7VN1beYYphjLfbeILbmRcKspz2tO6O5CjQbVVCkp_BiQRfyqzIvXbNxr89exR6MiuIqpM4zUp_N3wZ6hZ_FtGRdXQ2rE/s400/IMG_1121.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small; text-align: start;">Jordan with his only living great-grandparent</span></td></tr>
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CNY is celebrated for a full week straight, with different families hosting lunches and dinners. There is so much food at each meal, it seems the 10 of us per table barely make a dent in it. Dishes are stacked on top of each other when theres no more room.<br />
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Strange foods are presented, liquor is poured, and cigarettes are smoked by the case. The award for Strangest Vegetable Dish goes to the mini cucumbers, and the award for Strangest Meat Dish goes to the "Plate o' Rabbit Skulls".<br />
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For those of you unfamiliar with CNY's many traditions, here's a walkthrough of a few.</div>
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First is smoking. Whenever a man is going to light a cigarette, he passes one out to every guy sitting at the table first. Sometimes one dude will have collected five or six before he's ready to smoke his first one. And when he does smoke that first one, he'll pass one out to everyone from his own pack first. If you think the pollution is bad in <i>Beijing</i>, you probably shouldn't be anywhere near a Chinese dinner table during CNY.<br />
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<i>Hong bao</i>'s, or red envelopes, are another common tradition, and one that i will gladly endorse. The family hosting the dinner will give a <i>hong bao</i> containing a few hundred RMB to all the children present. Jordan must have collected 20 over the week. Or course, that's all money that her parents have paid out over the years while giving <i>hong bao</i>'s to other kids, but now is Esther's turn to receive them.<br />
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Last, and probably most important, is drinking. Every man drinks. You're drunk at lunch, you're drunk at dinner, and you're sometimes just barely sobering up between the two. It's exhausting. The drink of choice is obviously <i>baijiu</i>, but i usually just drink red wine, beer, or the local yellow wine. Yellow wine, or <i>huangjiu, </i>is 15-17% alcohol, where regular red wine is around 12%. <i>Baijiu</i> is 43%.<br />
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Here are a list of some drinking rules i've managed to decipher over this past CNY.<br />
<ol>
<li>If you cheers one person, you should say how much you'll drink. The options are usually <i>suoyi </i>(drink whatever you want) or <i>ganbei </i>(dry the glass).</li>
<li>If you cheers the whole table, you should finish your glass, everyone else can drink what they want. </li>
<li>If you're hosting a dinner, you must cheers everyone at least once. </li>
<li>You can request that the cheers'er(?) switch glasses with you, if they are drinking weaker alcohol. This happened to me once when i was drinking red wine and our family was hosting the dinner. Esther's older cousin switched with me, which became the only time all CNY i actually drank <i>baijiu</i>.</li>
<li>Touching your glass below the other other person's glass is a sign of respect, and is encouraged especially if they are much older. </li>
<li>Everyone should wait for the toaster to finish drinking, so you know what you should drink. </li>
<li>You will rarely drink until you are toasted, or you toast somebody. Few normal people can afford to drink casually when there is <i>ganbei</i>ing(?) going on. </li>
<li>Finally, if someone toasts you and says <i>ganbei</i>, you're expected to finish your glass. This usually ends badly. I've seen many an inexperienced drinker get floored because of this tactic.</li>
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It's also amusing to watch them pour out the much-feared liquor. For a people that appear to love drinking <i>baijiu</i>, they sure have a funny way of showing it<i>. </i>Maybe they just fully respect it's potency.<i> </i>Check out the body language when esther's cousin tries to refill their glasses.<br />
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Also, i just like this picture of esther's dad and her uncles hands. It's, like, all artistic and crap.<br />
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~KevKevin Reitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00002489940619691842noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4188545880250661713.post-5160579325524803792013-02-21T11:31:00.002+08:002013-02-21T11:32:43.263+08:00Holiday Madness Part 2<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiItpiC7DyVQ0_NYau3giz4BLQFEd7diQ5O4A7MQV1A1AMpiMCp2gZy_-TUABPbFUvrkYqolgr6WiUofMZWZ8aVy3ItpJpMRAQgYDlh_tIYNH6iRP2YVnd0tzAzYc-bAPgwCkJngNe2Y0A/s1600/Colorado09.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiItpiC7DyVQ0_NYau3giz4BLQFEd7diQ5O4A7MQV1A1AMpiMCp2gZy_-TUABPbFUvrkYqolgr6WiUofMZWZ8aVy3ItpJpMRAQgYDlh_tIYNH6iRP2YVnd0tzAzYc-bAPgwCkJngNe2Y0A/s640/Colorado09.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
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We headed to Colorado for the second half of our USA aventure. First stop, my sister's place in Evergreen. It's always refreshing to hang out in Denver's mountains for a few days, playing FIFA with my nephew, watching out for birds and wildlife, and imbibing a few cocktails. We were lucky enough to get one warmish day and enjoyed it strolling downtown Evergreen. <br />
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From there, we went into Boulder and crashed at Will and Andrea's for five days. We had so much fun with their two <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hapa">hapa</a> kids, Ellie (4.5) and Zander (2). It was really cute to see how enthusiastic the kids were about Jordan. The first thing they did every morning was come check on Jordan, and also the last thing before bed. <br />
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On Esther's birthday, we had a marvelous, sunny, 65 degree day and spent it walking around pearl street. Esther, on that day, fell in love with the city and was overheard saying, "Ok, we could live here." That's a common story though, people are always falling in love with Boulder. </div>
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Our last day in Boulder, we watched the Packers and Broncos both beat down in close games. Will and Andrea invited they friends who have kids, and in total there were toddlers roaming around, and one other baby two days younger than Jordan. Will smoked some pork and we enjoyed the best/only BBQ i've had since Home Plate in Beijing. As you can see, Jordan was quite a hit with the ladies.s<br />
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With our last 4 days, we headed to the Glenwood Springs/Aspen area to visit Jordan (my friend from college) and his family. That drive on I-70, through Summit County and Glenwood Canyon, is just so spectacular, it's almost worth the 3 hour drive just to see that. But once there, we found more to make the trip worthwhile. </div>
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We went to Aspen one day and, while easily the coldest day of our trip, we still had a great time. Big Jordan and I suffered 5 runs worth of cold while Nicki and Esther hung out in they city. Afterwards, Esther and I rode the Gondola up to the top to check out the view. We lasted about 45 seconds at the top before the cold forced us off.</div>
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Another day, Esther and I drove the West Elk Scenic Loop about 1.5 hours from Carbondale to Redstone and Paonia. I don't think I had ever driven that part of it before, and it was the perfect activity for another coldish day. <br />
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We spent the rest of our USA time hanging out back at my parents house and relaxing in between multiple trips to Target, Esther's new favorite store. I didn't remember Target having so much cheap stuff, but unbelievably, it seemed even cheaper than shops in China.<br />
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We then shipped Jordan back to China just in time for the Chinese New Year craziness. Hurrah!</div>
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~Kev</div>
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Kevin Reitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00002489940619691842noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4188545880250661713.post-29483296476878821512013-01-27T15:37:00.000+08:002013-01-28T15:37:37.839+08:00Holiday Madness Part 1<br />
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We spent the first two weeks in a Chicago suburb, making merry and just relaxing. Jordan and esther were everyone's favorite people for those two weeks. Brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews, and parents all literally stood in line to hold jordan. When they weren't holding him, they'd hang out with esther and get to know her. I'm old news.<br />
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Christmas itself was a crazy barrage of gifts, people, music, eating and drinking, nothing new there. For New Years Eve, on the other hand, i was in bed by about 9:30. Having a 3-month old AND getting over jetlag will shut that whole "partying" thing down real quick-like.<br />
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It was interesting seeing my hometown through esther's eyes. We were driving down the street and she saw some squirrels playing. She got excited and i pulled over so she could watch them. That just doesn't happen where she's from, and i hadn't realized the extent to which she had missed out on wildlife growing up. I tried to remedy that with a trip to Brookfield Zoo with my Dad and another trip to the field museum downtown so she could see her first real live dinosaurs. My closest friends from high school also own a pet shop, so we hung out there and played with snakes, birds and turtles. I held a tarantula.<br />
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Her other big takeaway was how spread out everything was, and yet still convenient. It meant getting in your car anytime you wanted to go anywhere, but having a car meant that we could travel as far as needed to run errands. Even in China when she had a car, you could still accomplish most of your basic errands with a 5 minute walk.<br />
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We also had our third and final wedding reception. It was great to see all my extended family, aunts, uncles and cousins, as well as friends from all over, but it felt anti-climatic. Nothing could ever have topped the uniqueness and excitement of the first one in Hangzhou, but it sure was fun trying. And it gave esther and i another chance to look great in our wedding attire. (Special thanks to my cousin Mark for all these photos!)<br />
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The best part of this reception was the timing, though. During Christmas, my immediate family usually gathers for 36 hours, maximum, before everyone has to be off to somewhere else. This year though, we were all together for 4 full days, which is the longest we've been together in probably 8 years. <br />
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In addition, Reid and Julia from Beijing came and a close college friend, Jordan, brought his family as well. Between them, Jeff Orcutt (of <a href="http://kevinreitz.blogspot.com/2009/09/autobots-deploy.html">Autobots, Deploy!</a> fame), and Aaron and Nick Kurasz (my pet shop friends), i had friends from the last 20 years of my life in attendance. So much love.<br />
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~KevKevin Reitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00002489940619691842noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4188545880250661713.post-8980330042166651632012-12-25T21:52:00.002+08:002012-12-25T21:52:37.420+08:00Merry Christmas, StatesideIt's 6am, Christmas morning, and i'm the only one awake. I just put Jordan to bed after his 5am feeding, and all is quiet. There's no presents under the tree because, like many big families, we no longer celebrate Christmas on Christmas day. My brothers and sisters are all off with in-laws, and we will get together on the 27th. <br />
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Jorkevstherdan (it's a work in progress) successfully made the trip to Chicago, a mostly uneventful 24 hour journey from Hangzhou. I lost count at how many people tried to make me worry about the flight, warning that traveling with an infant would be a nightmare. I never let myself give into the hype, though, and in retrospect, it was truly uneventful. Part of that if due to Jordan's awesome personality. Even at 10 weeks, i can tell he's going to be a cool, relaxed dude. He smiles on cue, doesn't fuss, sleeps well, loves cuddling, and doesn't cry. I've been keeping count; he's cried 5 times so far, and two of those were when he got vaccinations. </div>
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United also made our trip much more bearable by providing a bassinet that attached to the bulkhead in front of us. Basically, that made the whole "traveling with an infant" thing simple. Now if they would only resume giving away free alcohol on international flights, they would continue to be my airline of choice. </div>
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So we arrived in Chicago and immediately made a bee-line for Portillo's. Obviously. If you're from Chicago, you understand. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi28M9VdZ9PubEI6ZFX3a1t7-gB1LNil79tD48F8woCTYFgTYbEf9iVy-Sv9SQq1RMG9jp0VTKWsPyP71dO8g_bpmhhpVUib5n50Yt5pXnOmU-EGjXvlYADOVdyaSU2_foDb_ikG0kjzyc/s1600/IMG_0819.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi28M9VdZ9PubEI6ZFX3a1t7-gB1LNil79tD48F8woCTYFgTYbEf9iVy-Sv9SQq1RMG9jp0VTKWsPyP71dO8g_bpmhhpVUib5n50Yt5pXnOmU-EGjXvlYADOVdyaSU2_foDb_ikG0kjzyc/s320/IMG_0819.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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We've been hanging out with whatever local family i have, and getting ourselves onto the new time zone. Having an infant adds a whole new wrinkle to that problem, but he's basically sleeping through the night now again, so even that problem is mostly behind us. Now i just need to make myself sleep through the night.<br />
<br />
We're spending two weeks in Chicago and two more in Colorado, with very few things actually planned. We like it that way, and should make it easier to travel with the little man.<br />
<br />
I'll leave you with an example of the English we find on baby stuff here. This was on a diaper changing mat. It's fantastic! I mean, are they even trying? Even with the minimum of effort, like if they copied straight from an online translator, it wouldn't be this bad. Note: in the first line, "wanmei" means "perfect" in Chinese, so that's at least a decent attempt at Chinglish. The rest is just madness.<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgkHSE-QVzLfQZXuibSgeueL0BuJCI6mIhgvgdfGMFGix7yXMh5QOwkcNCIjMv1-7AiovHxF84tSnv6J7F5-RCb2o52JE8fDLQl2ti_66-cJJioVYUdw5HU1DokVLDnu_jNJaFWfXB2a0/s1600/IMG_0603.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgkHSE-QVzLfQZXuibSgeueL0BuJCI6mIhgvgdfGMFGix7yXMh5QOwkcNCIjMv1-7AiovHxF84tSnv6J7F5-RCb2o52JE8fDLQl2ti_66-cJJioVYUdw5HU1DokVLDnu_jNJaFWfXB2a0/s320/IMG_0603.jpg" width="231" /></a></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
wanmei baby</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
My best Friend</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
LtitLE SWEET</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Too are</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
go puhhy</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
and make</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
me smile!! </blockquote>
Honestly, they must be slapping together a bunch of random words and letters, randomizing the capitalization and hoping no one can read it. Because, you know, having "English" on a product makes it worth more?<br />
<br />
~Kev</div>
Kevin Reitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00002489940619691842noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4188545880250661713.post-73690600900680080772012-11-30T17:18:00.000+08:002012-11-30T17:18:03.305+08:00Jordan Returns to HanghzhouWith the month-long <i>zuo yue zi</i> behind us, the three of us moved back to our apartment in Hangzhou to fend for ourselves. Within a day we were comfortably set into a routine again. A typical day goes something like this:<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Morning</span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Mom wakes up around 7am, gets breakfast ready, feeds and hangs with Jordan, and pumps.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Dad gets up around 9am, eats, and shares Jordan duties. Around 11, he starts getting lunch ready.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Dad cleans the floors, dusts, and takes out the garbage. Mom does everything else.</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Afternoon</span>
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">After lunch, Dad hangs out with Jordan, and does <i>parenting. </i>Mom pumps and takes a nap. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">When Mom wakes up, she pumps and watches Jordan while Dad works out. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Dad does the dishes and prepares dinner.</span></li>
</ul>
<div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Evening</span></div>
<div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Mom and Dad high-five for a while, rejoicing in their awesome parenting skills. They are in bed by 10pm.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Jordan smiles, coos, and continues being an amazing baby. He's bed around 9pm.</span></li>
</ul>
<div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Night</span></div>
</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Mom wakes up once to pump.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Dad wakes up to feed and change Jordan, usually twice a night.</span></li>
</ul>
<div>
That got us through most of November. Mid-month, we decided to try going out for dinner occasionally. We had grown tired of cooking every night and longed for a little variety. Our first meal was at Mango Thai, and our maiden voyage was met with delicious consequences. Phad Thai and Curries were our reward. There were no incidents. The next night we headed out to Zola Brick Oven Pizza and met some friends and their 4-year old. Again, delicious success! <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisLEA5HzD9qu1NPijGKqHIfVepLumAfvCqFI-dvyaHHS_gSjf06XC-qMy1DMWk2NIg7wTPBqj3xq4U7YGXcI3p96HWDhgNAOX_9mxSDsMBFnOoVSKL8ar39RJ-SAlmGYqRfz8mjeEmcr8/s1600/IMG_0661.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisLEA5HzD9qu1NPijGKqHIfVepLumAfvCqFI-dvyaHHS_gSjf06XC-qMy1DMWk2NIg7wTPBqj3xq4U7YGXcI3p96HWDhgNAOX_9mxSDsMBFnOoVSKL8ar39RJ-SAlmGYqRfz8mjeEmcr8/s320/IMG_0661.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br />
Being the newly mobile parents that we were, just having the freedom to head outside made us happier. But mostly we've been staying in cuz it's cold and rainy. To compensate, i'm cooking a larger variety of dishes. Yesterday we had Chicken Fajitas with Guac and Spanish Rice. Today, Chicken Minestrone Soup... both came out awesomely. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJXPQib63ZNWian7QgoGW3T9jG_Bgml92O3c6uxTvWUqoRNDBNqdFswQPVDNblxdeVT178d5Fj92FDaZUWvkIBvLYPqysNOCH4Kum-pBhc2Wvd8vg5_KweIwm3qI9m1mRP4-uS3P_j0Yc/s1600/IMG_0681.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJXPQib63ZNWian7QgoGW3T9jG_Bgml92O3c6uxTvWUqoRNDBNqdFswQPVDNblxdeVT178d5Fj92FDaZUWvkIBvLYPqysNOCH4Kum-pBhc2Wvd8vg5_KweIwm3qI9m1mRP4-uS3P_j0Yc/s320/IMG_0681.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Which brings me to something i love about China. When i'm going to cook, i walk out to the veggie market at our apartment and buy what looks good. I buy exactly what i need and cook it all. I remember shopping trips in the States required a grocery list, a car, and ten bags worth of stuff costing $200. Here's what i bought today for Chicken Minestrone Soup.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKm-7WtAZzRJ8PYP43kXfvunNH7UDySoDWEL4GU2QkGjfPkddMvSms-FOQwVAWvzIKvzRgxopTWrez8GHjGDcUjPWOe2d-lfJAhyphenhyphencGjSoV1v9He5RtKx66QKSHQkx1FOTjY97tl4tbx08/s1600/IMG_0683.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="476" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKm-7WtAZzRJ8PYP43kXfvunNH7UDySoDWEL4GU2QkGjfPkddMvSms-FOQwVAWvzIKvzRgxopTWrez8GHjGDcUjPWOe2d-lfJAhyphenhyphencGjSoV1v9He5RtKx66QKSHQkx1FOTjY97tl4tbx08/s640/IMG_0683.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZMS-T7nFXfPMfkkr-knb-IIk3KZUNOKp9m9BSbuaL5e68boaXSuddmALuag2eczWYqmYHB4si__StKR4uRHoy6D62cqYettcZsaxfmL4LXpSPVMa8VQbTtI2FTJWzbYutW8Ji6PyaT34/s1600/IMG_0686.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="476" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZMS-T7nFXfPMfkkr-knb-IIk3KZUNOKp9m9BSbuaL5e68boaXSuddmALuag2eczWYqmYHB4si__StKR4uRHoy6D62cqYettcZsaxfmL4LXpSPVMa8VQbTtI2FTJWzbYutW8Ji6PyaT34/s640/IMG_0686.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
<br />
All that cost me <i><b>less than $3</b></i>, including the chicken breast (which i bought at the supermarket and had frozen). It was so fulfilling to turn all those fresh veggies into a delicious meal that would feed Esther and i for lunch and dinner. If i remember correctly, a bag of pre-packaged baby spinach in a US supermarket costs about $2 by itself.<br />
<br />
So anyway, we're good.<br />
<br />
I forgot to post this earlier, but esther and i did an interview for Rueben Marley, the chef at Aima. <a href="http://v.qq.com/boke/page/w/0/t/w0106ggkxbt.html">Check it out here</a>, i think our part starts around the 10-minute mark.<br />
<br />
And now, a selection of photos from the past few weeks...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2y6MIrDPCX-FJXYYR6q_KpjRq2SLyiAMuEMQGLEbbvwuFOge0AhypMIH1IrtN8PdkqcFvgSM6I6oBfrDhOpuJ1yW3Dsap4gzrzcpz3Ffjkkq0xh5FMcRJOEa4wxiQPhdeiEx4zI-AX8c/s1600/IMG_0588.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2y6MIrDPCX-FJXYYR6q_KpjRq2SLyiAMuEMQGLEbbvwuFOge0AhypMIH1IrtN8PdkqcFvgSM6I6oBfrDhOpuJ1yW3Dsap4gzrzcpz3Ffjkkq0xh5FMcRJOEa4wxiQPhdeiEx4zI-AX8c/s400/IMG_0588.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrHPOsM5GpaidNFZRGW8ZX3hMXTBQFGt6k3NM7G8LpHB-640-XjyoRV0eTIjOQKElYS4sljZQtA68_90d9KygwQiSIW4BsAfLirkH5WuskM9b8gFBpkOi5IqtDVR5SgLJGKAwELFbSYeQ/s1600/IMG_0617.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrHPOsM5GpaidNFZRGW8ZX3hMXTBQFGt6k3NM7G8LpHB-640-XjyoRV0eTIjOQKElYS4sljZQtA68_90d9KygwQiSIW4BsAfLirkH5WuskM9b8gFBpkOi5IqtDVR5SgLJGKAwELFbSYeQ/s320/IMG_0617.jpg" width="239" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR8CmE1PnwWrDNl2hnyGDjJXFxZzKrr1DJR7oorAGf6FYc65gHevfiIz5-wLWqLsGKcDqCbQWqnO64SK5YnXCq37QRh6JIIjn65FoKKbI9PHZeQgPtiBDnkD5OCakjIkFbr-Cskkkq-xE/s1600/IMG_0626.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR8CmE1PnwWrDNl2hnyGDjJXFxZzKrr1DJR7oorAGf6FYc65gHevfiIz5-wLWqLsGKcDqCbQWqnO64SK5YnXCq37QRh6JIIjn65FoKKbI9PHZeQgPtiBDnkD5OCakjIkFbr-Cskkkq-xE/s400/IMG_0626.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDSAD0zkSH6QKfNXv7IqFHpEDLmdJJ-_yWUAT2JKuZRd86iCAMr_EfMR8DYQNHnhOdk9STiw2pI5Fem7ll9tX2jYmwwER5d3SAJFBYK4H7cLA0iroAjlFpYpuljbOG-q4XQQ-Xl_HDgRM/s1600/IMG_0633.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDSAD0zkSH6QKfNXv7IqFHpEDLmdJJ-_yWUAT2JKuZRd86iCAMr_EfMR8DYQNHnhOdk9STiw2pI5Fem7ll9tX2jYmwwER5d3SAJFBYK4H7cLA0iroAjlFpYpuljbOG-q4XQQ-Xl_HDgRM/s400/IMG_0633.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">Air Piano</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6DenLkhl9O7pOi_88Bjd1XVcpbblGx1ag-KNDmhaRxup0ZXoDgvuZ3IctARLHdMc6R4xhWKYilVqWzdJduqa7a8832xVoMbtIBDKJmpFuzxaHSmAclR7IxU8OWO1tWgUcTgSuwbMq5HI/s1600/IMG_0630.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6DenLkhl9O7pOi_88Bjd1XVcpbblGx1ag-KNDmhaRxup0ZXoDgvuZ3IctARLHdMc6R4xhWKYilVqWzdJduqa7a8832xVoMbtIBDKJmpFuzxaHSmAclR7IxU8OWO1tWgUcTgSuwbMq5HI/s320/IMG_0630.jpg" width="226" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">Jordan's Chinese Visa photo, or Obi Wan Kenobi impersonation?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: start;">
And i'll leave you with this pretty fun video of Jordan getting his bath and swimming lessons at Aima during his 6 week checkup. </div>
<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dzYPAsR8EKMuAw0w_8mR-wUVmdeGZRgOAZqPMCfM3lXY7znAVuWuFtWT4evhaw-nJHV4vv5eHpIMs3ax70SbQ' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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~Kevsther and JNR</div>
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Kevin Reitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00002489940619691842noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4188545880250661713.post-70798174962156871182012-10-31T22:29:00.000+08:002012-11-01T22:53:50.355+08:00Triumphant Forest KingWe've spent the last two weeks in Xiaoshan, at esther's parents place. We'll be here through the first week of November, when esther completes her <i>zuo yue zi.</i> During these two weeks, we've managed to give Jordan a Chinese name. He was christened Jordan Neil within minutes of being born, literally just as soon as we had a chance to think. In China, it's common to wait a week or two before giving a name. Jordan got his at about 10 days old. <br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Also in China, you need to consider fate when naming your child. You must consult a master who can analyze the circumstances surrounding the child's birth. Using the time, date, and lunar cycle, the master determines which of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wu_Xing">five phases</a> are missing from the child's life. In Jordan's case he was missing fire. A dilemma, for sure, but one easily remedied by adding some fire into his name, in this case, wood to build a fire. After some deliberation, we finally settled on <i>Wang Kai Sen</i>, 王凯森, or loosely translated, <b>Triumphant Forest King</b>. All hail!!! Incidentally, his character for "kai" is the same as my chinese name, <i>Kai Wen</i>, 凯文. Nice.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
In other news, King Jordan eats, sleeps and poops. Thems are his major hobbies. However, as i'm the designated feeder in the house, i've had ample opportunity to chronicle and study his most common facial expressions. Here are a few.</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrDpw3OsB0nT6TbPpxe0Blll-5SuhJg8dL8s-M06CCI7gREGlzIKjS8eCue4Ip3vnw9q04n3OHpesHAzhFggldd89Qt-qD0meuy6pq2bEqEfFGdrFguF5J6TGAG05Cc9IZqIUrz9FIqMQ/s1600/TFK+Faces04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrDpw3OsB0nT6TbPpxe0Blll-5SuhJg8dL8s-M06CCI7gREGlzIKjS8eCue4Ip3vnw9q04n3OHpesHAzhFggldd89Qt-qD0meuy6pq2bEqEfFGdrFguF5J6TGAG05Cc9IZqIUrz9FIqMQ/s320/TFK+Faces04.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At Peace</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyR5_7Ld_nBQZUitN4svBm60trpnL7_lZprNjaGYyYwpG8wQDM9mUF4rhjWdynPZHcfnJUIXfRdDwl49b4NB3QCYNEKn4ViSIbXW22gflyLRx36r8atfROk_ry85FrX7pA9Fspszx0nz0/s1600/TFK+Faces01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyR5_7Ld_nBQZUitN4svBm60trpnL7_lZprNjaGYyYwpG8wQDM9mUF4rhjWdynPZHcfnJUIXfRdDwl49b4NB3QCYNEKn4ViSIbXW22gflyLRx36r8atfROk_ry85FrX7pA9Fspszx0nz0/s320/TFK+Faces01.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Air Guitar Solo</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGJ2YA3kNIKqpf_ZYwGysNf_IavyoDGEEKHKFO1MO2ObICMuJPi9Jhlu9KYsRCz9aWiYQTEPbtNp7pkMj8Ogu93bdIMANPhieykA6iBHFhNBUReJ7sLaTs_meOxCCQ12dogKAZFObf1cU/s1600/TFK+Faces02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGJ2YA3kNIKqpf_ZYwGysNf_IavyoDGEEKHKFO1MO2ObICMuJPi9Jhlu9KYsRCz9aWiYQTEPbtNp7pkMj8Ogu93bdIMANPhieykA6iBHFhNBUReJ7sLaTs_meOxCCQ12dogKAZFObf1cU/s320/TFK+Faces02.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Is that breast milk for <i>me</i>? </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8ZJVDLPKator9VyvLtMbQ3RsMU3hAk_sNwKFdsxJSaW4gaepGDuNNEOLfTOa8ELCirM7FScqKKmLL3RXvwVukcjGie19QeeNU8UMFxMr_XaC_acUiSUG2wWMt8lPnGNFMGrJ9h5_2X8E/s1600/TFK+Faces03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8ZJVDLPKator9VyvLtMbQ3RsMU3hAk_sNwKFdsxJSaW4gaepGDuNNEOLfTOa8ELCirM7FScqKKmLL3RXvwVukcjGie19QeeNU8UMFxMr_XaC_acUiSUG2wWMt8lPnGNFMGrJ9h5_2X8E/s320/TFK+Faces03.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> Hark! Methinks a poop cometh!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEix1rNiFPO-Th-HwTxWREgJshNN7hL0unH6CC61HfL1I4P9zB8CRm7B9M3WYYQeD2c8O1ZU5CuF0Y0E_LeLlogQjpAe3jhyTek_iNTflUpCwN7B30rQdLW_LodEvgHpGUFnNvABAznAMPQ/s1600/TFK+Faces06.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEix1rNiFPO-Th-HwTxWREgJshNN7hL0unH6CC61HfL1I4P9zB8CRm7B9M3WYYQeD2c8O1ZU5CuF0Y0E_LeLlogQjpAe3jhyTek_iNTflUpCwN7B30rQdLW_LodEvgHpGUFnNvABAznAMPQ/s320/TFK+Faces06.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hi Mama. And <i>helllloo</i> mama's boobies.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPHkM2YQJAFdzmLwCeUXOvXt8ys3lwwLZYZ8oUL0_u45uZ9d8Z_P-mGTUjv6DVbrpXiR1pg0mjm9F-O0ifGLyMdDVoh_N1uVhqKvq3dwU7FzH0k3GlIEWkaDF9QrUcPDB6je6sWWa_U1E/s1600/TFK+Faces11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPHkM2YQJAFdzmLwCeUXOvXt8ys3lwwLZYZ8oUL0_u45uZ9d8Z_P-mGTUjv6DVbrpXiR1pg0mjm9F-O0ifGLyMdDVoh_N1uVhqKvq3dwU7FzH0k3GlIEWkaDF9QrUcPDB6je6sWWa_U1E/s320/TFK+Faces11.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Now you're just making fun of me.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl2S62ywfMbex446QNpmebrIa_M0VFrucU3w7EDRQz9T2QsIGNDYeVjnE5NoaEOhd-rQdWxxdCWax12w2IGBJ6BO2gIrTbBKu2jc2jaash_u5nqAtNma1uhGTYUHXJU3ywiuSRhTLyQ4M/s1600/TFK+Faces12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl2S62ywfMbex446QNpmebrIa_M0VFrucU3w7EDRQz9T2QsIGNDYeVjnE5NoaEOhd-rQdWxxdCWax12w2IGBJ6BO2gIrTbBKu2jc2jaash_u5nqAtNma1uhGTYUHXJU3ywiuSRhTLyQ4M/s320/TFK+Faces12.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I've grown bored of you and your camera.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisP-zaGIgNdyiOT42NgB885U9Qnbo6zNpFKd7SgBw8zO8qn3sUFjuXpcYQpR4aex3bIFyM07AiMHD_fLwWjD75E5YjdNZqL240CYA34MZBYWU2OjfN0ZCVSUyWj63pBMClX8L86FJPoEU/s1600/TFK+Faces13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisP-zaGIgNdyiOT42NgB885U9Qnbo6zNpFKd7SgBw8zO8qn3sUFjuXpcYQpR4aex3bIFyM07AiMHD_fLwWjD75E5YjdNZqL240CYA34MZBYWU2OjfN0ZCVSUyWj63pBMClX8L86FJPoEU/s320/TFK+Faces13.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">OOPS!!! I CRAPPED AGAIN!!!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigaZhOo2Z3ZzE7KTfc8LHdGqQ9cOmnLISlRGD9TUgj5MwsvsimsjlE41bZuOGXTAyKxS0vbGzhEEfcooTvwb-V5w8cNsuc11Lic7RDFOQwrLe89K44bF0Lpe3FzB0mZwPmeeUhBDcBUfs/s1600/TFK+Faces14.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigaZhOo2Z3ZzE7KTfc8LHdGqQ9cOmnLISlRGD9TUgj5MwsvsimsjlE41bZuOGXTAyKxS0vbGzhEEfcooTvwb-V5w8cNsuc11Lic7RDFOQwrLe89K44bF0Lpe3FzB0mZwPmeeUhBDcBUfs/s320/TFK+Faces14.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dad, if you post this on the internets, i'll pee on you. </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqIdLgG8rTGHKIx1anQZ31DwbeWV5SDyJorgOLxX3L1MVxPzWFplMMVwuhwBIRcJBRfYmNkFZ0tzbZFqpjoM97RCvQQwURGDdOCCdPFg49N3k_ZeSe5FwPYulpxNF5Dy0jUkAziCJb7to/s1600/TFK+Faces07.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqIdLgG8rTGHKIx1anQZ31DwbeWV5SDyJorgOLxX3L1MVxPzWFplMMVwuhwBIRcJBRfYmNkFZ0tzbZFqpjoM97RCvQQwURGDdOCCdPFg49N3k_ZeSe5FwPYulpxNF5Dy0jUkAziCJb7to/s320/TFK+Faces07.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Winky Frown <br /><b>;(</b></td></tr>
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~Kev</div>
Kevin Reitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00002489940619691842noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4188545880250661713.post-905346479075837302012-10-15T11:23:00.001+08:002012-10-15T11:32:43.715+08:00Jordan's First Five Days<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfIsS4xioLPAFhudjLLDUkU-roBY5VY3Rych9iIlozK3h8OXO_9ytUDOZQfeifIZsthvi0tB8GeQlKzvko6M4wQ5_EKK_-EHhohEX5VmUHTLz1nuBEK_MOgiYlhr89ZXtpNmJlNQQGWeQ/s1600/JNR+tiny+feet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfIsS4xioLPAFhudjLLDUkU-roBY5VY3Rych9iIlozK3h8OXO_9ytUDOZQfeifIZsthvi0tB8GeQlKzvko6M4wQ5_EKK_-EHhohEX5VmUHTLz1nuBEK_MOgiYlhr89ZXtpNmJlNQQGWeQ/s320/JNR+tiny+feet.jpg" width="240" /></a>We spent four nights at Aima Maternity Hospital, and generally had an excellent experience. The package we got included food for both of us, plus nursing care for Esther and Jordan, all for about $1,700. We found some loophole in the system where <a href="http://www.hzaima.com/English/journal/">Rueben Marley</a> prepared us a custom meal for lunches and dinners, plus the hospital still brought us two meals of <i>really decent</i> hospital food. Rueben cooked us pizza, chicken sandwiches, pot roast, and salmon pasta, <a href="http://www.hzaima.com/english/journal/ruebenmarley-18834.html">among other treats</a>. We ended up eating his food first and the hospital food as a snack. I can't remember the last time i ate so well. We seriously considered staying a few extra nights.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin8POumq_025aI2aVHuaT3-3e97hrTyqaiub0LbqPMpfjU3fZdLd60gJyr0pfkQGVWbDW2kXKFiRlkxnW54GARDpxg5qxiVpIGNxdrgST_vhpCyhgsP_5oqd6osKHjVEaUVPjyYEqr2q8/s1600/IMG_0541.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin8POumq_025aI2aVHuaT3-3e97hrTyqaiub0LbqPMpfjU3fZdLd60gJyr0pfkQGVWbDW2kXKFiRlkxnW54GARDpxg5qxiVpIGNxdrgST_vhpCyhgsP_5oqd6osKHjVEaUVPjyYEqr2q8/s320/IMG_0541.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Esther eats all the foods.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
So this experience has been amazing, and i've learned quite a few new things in the last week.<br />
<br />
I learned some new Chinese words, like earwax, boogers, and eye crusties.... they literally translate to ear shit, nose shit, and eye shit. You gotta love when language is uncomplicated.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHHRe0UzNZzmygqZ2Gcw22kEKye42i_k9BMoJMFBXFMHc8QmWLqhTw4DR2K5qmtQUziYL2KJ6RqecN_t2CdnrRZeygLzHWjXTqqYt-Qf7SZF0clCZoM9p3xGCAGNascJjCaZDw09sfVHw/s1600/IMG_0550.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHHRe0UzNZzmygqZ2Gcw22kEKye42i_k9BMoJMFBXFMHc8QmWLqhTw4DR2K5qmtQUziYL2KJ6RqecN_t2CdnrRZeygLzHWjXTqqYt-Qf7SZF0clCZoM9p3xGCAGNascJjCaZDw09sfVHw/s640/IMG_0550.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
<br />
I learned some differences in Chinese vs. Western thinking. There weren't many as bad as the following example, but here's one situation where i was frustrated being in a Chinese hospital. When we were figuring out breastfeeding, we had a lot of resistance form the nurses, and some from Jordan as well. I'd read a lot in the past few months, so i have a decent idea how to take care of a baby. I was also reassured by Suzanne (our midwife) that Jordan can get all the nutrients he needs from breast milk, even in the first few days. But i lost count of the number of times and number of people who told us we need to feed him 1 oz of formula every two hours. You'd think they were getting kickbacks from the Big Formula Lobby or something. First off, we don't trust the generic Chinese formula they gave us. And second, breast milk is unquestionably the best thing for a newborn. Instead of just pushing formula on us when we clearly didn't want it, the nurses would have better served us by helping us breastfeed properly. It wasn't until our last day there that someone started to give Esther some tips, and we praised that nurse highly to her superiors.<br />
<br />
But we persevered, and eventually we won the war of Force Feeding Formula vs. Let Nature Work Magic. And don't get me wrong, aside from the few nurses who seemed to not care about our wishes, most of the staff were really excellent and eager to help.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio5lDHoZDPTp0UYe_O0nkU65XBVW62A3ujjjGPxuXYJvbYcnlxg8L49lUt2e6JMfOHYdPXx-0UvnkZXvN5qBwc4iMAvji71DsaIu1I0qiZ8PnW8Cb6wYuPR2q_O06N8RFx9ruMzhlQsyg/s1600/IMG_0527.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio5lDHoZDPTp0UYe_O0nkU65XBVW62A3ujjjGPxuXYJvbYcnlxg8L49lUt2e6JMfOHYdPXx-0UvnkZXvN5qBwc4iMAvji71DsaIu1I0qiZ8PnW8Cb6wYuPR2q_O06N8RFx9ruMzhlQsyg/s320/IMG_0527.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
I learned that i absolutely love being a father and caring for my newborn baby. And i'm good at it. Esther is doing her <i>Zuo Yue Zi</i>, which translates to "sitting out a month". Not just common in China, it's a necessity. Here are <a href="http://www.lovelovechina.com/girls/chinese-women-weird-things/">two different perspectives</a> on it, <a href="http://www.squidoo.com/zuoyuezi">both very interesting</a>. Anyway, she's not supposed to feed or change or bathe Jordan for the first month, so i'm happily doing all the work. It helps that he's extremely well behaved, sleeps four hour stretches every night, eats well, cuddles, waits patiently while we warm his breast milk... he's just amazing.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS6A9HAkC7NGH9PDPbk7fWIDQkBOxKtUMlttbzWLlWh3ACJ67dvLtBXFSJjB0riwzaGZBVkd3YRxoCaAE3M2hAhC0ZW34UENmpOvinBEsbkRUKeF2znG1fhurl6PkVf11NO0tnwSUt9m4/s1600/IMG_0516.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS6A9HAkC7NGH9PDPbk7fWIDQkBOxKtUMlttbzWLlWh3ACJ67dvLtBXFSJjB0riwzaGZBVkd3YRxoCaAE3M2hAhC0ZW34UENmpOvinBEsbkRUKeF2znG1fhurl6PkVf11NO0tnwSUt9m4/s320/IMG_0516.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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I also learned that i'm a very uncommon type of dad in China. I don't mean to generalize Chinese fathers, but the nurses at Aima were amazed at how confident i was holding, cuddling, feeding, dressing, changing, and cleaning my new son. They said <i>most</i> Chinese fathers are afraid to even touch their baby, and since the mother has to take a month off, they end up hiring a nanny to do all the work. Obviously the most unfortunate thing is that the fathers miss a great chance to bond with their little one. It would appear the parenting roles are still more rooted in tradition here.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPyTKpWbUr-71j4UX5_B4Pdy7u9K_I2l5Vd3bQ-SZl2ErZK3EspxlAEG5vTwkiDQaHEM3DiPkaMbnVTDf-Btm1FoQGQ-Zi9R0eKUWeul75_k5l_0TRWND0RD23Krc0-wDK-8bBAbSOhvM/s1600/IMG_0526.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPyTKpWbUr-71j4UX5_B4Pdy7u9K_I2l5Vd3bQ-SZl2ErZK3EspxlAEG5vTwkiDQaHEM3DiPkaMbnVTDf-Btm1FoQGQ-Zi9R0eKUWeul75_k5l_0TRWND0RD23Krc0-wDK-8bBAbSOhvM/s400/IMG_0526.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguAluRuRTU8PLMc8Tb9rgDJ_SncbxYFedTQVzQMHD9KchF_t9hp27PgROo5vey2gMHoDgfL4_-7XAwxHbK76-wIkj5sD1Ka-Fj0JMejJCtLxX7dcMDrVRimaxtF10FrV8cvGW9_DNjy7g/s1600/IMG_0548.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisq1nXX9boBUBxxmqoy8HCQs3q_C4TikiNU0ZgJgl2XbCHPMqaiYCWu5xh3O3HdaprmZMFNrIian6FXfkutk-Q2yZJ8KwBbTLdGE1cZEgdkj5ANybAK91h3PETSCdBHVfmYUZm-N84qck/s1600/IMG_0549.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisq1nXX9boBUBxxmqoy8HCQs3q_C4TikiNU0ZgJgl2XbCHPMqaiYCWu5xh3O3HdaprmZMFNrIian6FXfkutk-Q2yZJ8KwBbTLdGE1cZEgdkj5ANybAK91h3PETSCdBHVfmYUZm-N84qck/s400/IMG_0549.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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I learned the mathematical relationship for when to change a diaper: if the ratio of poop : diaper is equal to or greater than 1, then change. If not, maybe change anyway if he's also pee'd a lot.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguAluRuRTU8PLMc8Tb9rgDJ_SncbxYFedTQVzQMHD9KchF_t9hp27PgROo5vey2gMHoDgfL4_-7XAwxHbK76-wIkj5sD1Ka-Fj0JMejJCtLxX7dcMDrVRimaxtF10FrV8cvGW9_DNjy7g/s400/IMG_0548.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Magical Poop Disposal Station</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Finally, I learned that my wife is the most amazing person i know, she's my best friend and i get her for life. She's brave, loving, funny, patient and beautiful. I'm so damn lucky.<br />
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~KevstherKevin Reitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00002489940619691842noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4188545880250661713.post-40203922083272751702012-10-09T19:53:00.001+08:002012-10-09T20:01:49.173+08:00Jordan Neil ReitzAt 4:10pm, October 8th, 2012, my son was born at 6lbs 13oz. <br />
<br />
His timing, which is two weeks early, is also a fitting bit of cosmic symmetry for my parents; their first child and their latest grandchild were both born on October 8th.<br />
<br />
Esther woke up at 5am with mild contractions, 10 minutes apart, lasting through 7am. We continued for a few hours monitoring contractions, which sometimes got as close as 5-6 minutes apart, but just as often 10-12 minutes. This is what we in the <i>parenting business</i> call "non-progressing contractions." (This contraction monitoring chart is from a nifty little applet, aptly titled Contraction Monitor.)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjET55EAg_e-yuyYYS6PvZuAElp0uIuApcMNuHmxhNOZYdBmTdMPX7B8U3IUP2XpYPMylMbqbc8xoohBoKL9ie-0YkY6r-HdBL9ONWaHbGsAsgILAkr7YslK11XPosbRcsq4wqPJUiBzJs/s1600/IMG_0585.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjET55EAg_e-yuyYYS6PvZuAElp0uIuApcMNuHmxhNOZYdBmTdMPX7B8U3IUP2XpYPMylMbqbc8xoohBoKL9ie-0YkY6r-HdBL9ONWaHbGsAsgILAkr7YslK11XPosbRcsq4wqPJUiBzJs/s400/IMG_0585.jpg" width="312" /></a></div>
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At about 8am, she had a small water leak and some pink show. All of this is textbook false labor, which i know, because of my vast experience and the two books i skimmed. Coincidentally, we had already scheduled her weekly checkup for 10am that morning, so we just went in. We briefly thought about bringing all our stuff there, but figured we'd be sent home. We didn't want to be that couple that keeps showing up at the hospital after every few contractions.<br />
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The doctor said, "Welp! you're 2cm dilated, your water's leaking, and you're still having contractions, you aren't going anywhere." <br />
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They checked us into a room about 11:30 and esther ate lunch. We were settling in and mentally preparing for the common birthing horror story... 22 hours of non-stop, exhausting labor. Esther's contractions were steady at 5-7 minutes apart, and things seemed to be under control. At about 1pm, i ran back home to get all our stuff. At 2pm, i'm back at the hospital, esther's contractions are 4 minutes apart, and she's 6 cm dilated. <br />
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We get into the birthing room at 2:30, and Suzanne, our miracle working midwife from Kansas City, started helping esther through the contractions. The most interesting part of her labor for me was that esther was never in a bed, feet up in the stirrups, etc. She rocked back and forth on a gym ball, sat on a <a href="http://www.1cascade.com/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=7567">birthing stool</a>, walked around, and of course, sat in the water.
We used <a href="http://www.hzaima.com/English/WaterBirth.html">Aima's waterbirth option</a>, and esther is a preaching convert now. From the point her contractions got debilitating, maybe 2pm, it took just over two hours total, no painkillers, no complications. Suzanne said it was a textbook waterbirth.<br />
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Since then, we've been resting a lot and basking in the amazingness of our little boy. Jordan took his first bath and went for a swim. The grandparents came for a visit. All in all, Aima has taken incredible care of us, with great food and attention from the staff.<br />
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So that's our story, enjoy a few pictures from camera one.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKDMDZJHHGqXnn3yZBrCEGvKck846e5mkoADXgVQwaj7R_JMWS06m5noXu57NJJpYOR8CRRJyaO0AVzelb0caC4amwHgQyuiU0zS7ZbJ2nax2VCJ_spmF-Zaug6dwLGRVuj89FZW3Rhcw/s1600/IMG_9859.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKDMDZJHHGqXnn3yZBrCEGvKck846e5mkoADXgVQwaj7R_JMWS06m5noXu57NJJpYOR8CRRJyaO0AVzelb0caC4amwHgQyuiU0zS7ZbJ2nax2VCJ_spmF-Zaug6dwLGRVuj89FZW3Rhcw/s640/IMG_9859.jpg" width="640" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5eSB804huF3LZyY22k69JPgC5qNjjXs9wKu7enlsy3WUtYzzWGDfazrQxJNC6cvcSWjnTvN-bd_pdZ4NeuBidEGzMrN1TQqvT_4jodyVVjj2etdhlEzkz6ldj55khjENUyTIX8b5AwZU/s1600/IMG_9808.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5eSB804huF3LZyY22k69JPgC5qNjjXs9wKu7enlsy3WUtYzzWGDfazrQxJNC6cvcSWjnTvN-bd_pdZ4NeuBidEGzMrN1TQqvT_4jodyVVjj2etdhlEzkz6ldj55khjENUyTIX8b5AwZU/s320/IMG_9808.jpg" width="320" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcIoJo_eobgOBbPSlBAaVUBK5YvBAAM3zK99xRSeb_XFHPILZlNYGmT7YmrGeaTy1ljFo36DwnGF_N-WlUjwRcyF5MylTZbTT53uBaPILglL4q1hE29-7bfZ0u_EBAmSKxA-1rcPxsp8w/s1600/IMG_9828.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcIoJo_eobgOBbPSlBAaVUBK5YvBAAM3zK99xRSeb_XFHPILZlNYGmT7YmrGeaTy1ljFo36DwnGF_N-WlUjwRcyF5MylTZbTT53uBaPILglL4q1hE29-7bfZ0u_EBAmSKxA-1rcPxsp8w/s320/IMG_9828.jpg" width="320" /></a>
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~Kevsther and JordanKevin Reitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00002489940619691842noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4188545880250661713.post-16824234751949412012-09-29T15:59:00.002+08:002012-09-29T16:24:00.216+08:00Captain Jack and Prince Go JoyridingIn the midst of preparing for parenthood, i managed to get back to Beijing for a weekend in early September. It was great to see friends again after being gone nearly two months. Although not much has changed, i viewed the city through different eyes. The day i arrived, pollution was awful, and i immediately longed for the perpetually blue or rainy skies of Hangzhou. That weekend, it also rained enough to set off some flood warnings as well, but we were already out of the city.
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I timed my trip back to coincide with a one day beach ultimate tournament about two hours away at <i>Bei Dai He</i>. You've probably seen those <a href="http://www.secondose.com/another-ordinary-day-at-the-beach-in-china/">pictures of the Chinese beaches</a>. This was nothing like that. We enjoyed (relatively) clean beaches, plenty of space, nice views, and good swimming. We only played a few games of the tournament though, because <i>beach ultimate is hard!</i> The sand itself was really rough and destroyed our feet after the first game. We all just drank beer and played pickup after that.
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On Sunday we all headed back to Beijing. We had been blessed with great weather in Bei Dai He, but meanwhile it had been downpouring in Beijing. As we headed back, we crossed the storm, meaning we missed the rain on both sides. The bonus was that rain in Beijing also brought beautiful blue skies for my next two days. And a blue sky day in Beijing is the best of days.<br />
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On Monday, i did some training with <a href="http://www.vericant.com/">Vericant</a>, a company started by some frisbee friends that i will do some part time work for in the next six months. They interview Chinese applicants to US schools and verify their english ability, as well as test their personality and general demeanor. So, training was monday, followed by spades at Great Leap on monday night.
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During spades, Jehan came by and we decided to have some fun the next day. Here's how it went down. I had lunch plans with Andy, Nina, Mike and Helen Shyu, and Jehan decide to join us. We were all going to ride bikes, but neither Jehan or i had one at the time. Ken Dry overheard this and mentioned he just happened to have a tandem bike we could borrow.
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Jehan and I obviously had no choice but to accept this bike. But we couldn't just ride it... we needed to do something special. It didn't take long before we decided we should go as Prince and Captain Jack Sparrow... Jehan's halloween costumes for the previous two years.
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The photos speak for themselves.<br />
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Tuesday afternoon shenanigans are awesome.<br />
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After lunch, we rode to Sanlitun for a bit of fun. The best was Yashow, where i became an instant celebrity. Pirates of the Caribbean is extremely popular in China, so i wandered the floors talking to people, signing autographs, confirming that yes, i am in fact, a movie star. Occasionally, i would sneak up to a girl who wasn't paying attention, lean in close, and wait for her to acknowledge me. Mostly they thought it was hilarious, but one girl probably peed herself from fright. She also taught me some new swear words.<br />
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I'm going to miss these random moments of craziness living in Hangzhou. But then again, i'm living a different kind of life down here. There is so much to be thankful for right now, i don't know where to begin, but having a healthy wife and baby on the way is certainly #1 on that list.<br />
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~KevKevin Reitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00002489940619691842noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4188545880250661713.post-39826131646487686332012-08-24T16:23:00.001+08:002012-08-25T16:22:16.644+08:00Tian Mu Shan<span style="font-style: normal; font-family:Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Although we found an apartment right away, we had roughly three weeks before we could move in. We spent the weekdays trying to survive the heat at Esther's parents house in Xiaoshan, and the weekends looking at more apartments in Hangzhou. </span></span><div style="font-style: normal; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><br /></div><div style="font-style: normal; "><span style="font-family:Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Living at her parents was fine for the most part. Muse is living there too, at least for the next few months. It must be a paradise for her. There's an outside patio, four levels to explore, and </span></span><i style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; ">birds. </i><span style="font-family:Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size:100%;">This actually might be the first time she's seen a bird since she was rescued when she was 3 months old. Nothing else in the world matters to her when she's watching them. She focuses intensely, making a</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> whimpering sound, almost like chirping, as she pines for them. There aren't enough bird-watching hours in the day to satisfy her desire, as far as she's concerned.</span></span></div><div style="font-style: normal; "><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVdOsXDFxkMudJBpbF94sjf9gy9hj5PfJ-Tl_KakUofx3fw07n31Fxvx8m6AFgQZEyhisZ62NrhLAM_KLYVH2f_7uAJlouaQ2xhjvEvc3bblCLMFOSADud2T7fLLu3KTEu_CdE17FlqsU/s1600/Tianmushan11.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVdOsXDFxkMudJBpbF94sjf9gy9hj5PfJ-Tl_KakUofx3fw07n31Fxvx8m6AFgQZEyhisZ62NrhLAM_KLYVH2f_7uAJlouaQ2xhjvEvc3bblCLMFOSADud2T7fLLu3KTEu_CdE17FlqsU/s400/Tianmushan11.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5780501310543545538" style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px; " /></a></div><div style="font-style: normal; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><br /></div><div><span style="font-style: normal; font-family:Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size:100%;">There was also the Olympics. It was interesting to watch it from China, rooting for the USA, while the games were on neutral turf. CCTV chooses to use gold medal quantity for ranking country performance, while western media uses overall medal quantity. This meant that for most of the games, China was in first on CCTV, while USA was first on, say, The Huffington Post. It's clearly a bias in favor of whichever side is reporting, but it's true that Chinese place a heavily weighted importance on gold. Even watching with Esther, i could see her elation when a Chinese diver took gold, and her </span>disappointment<span style="font-size:100%;"> when a swimmer merely placed second. </span></span><br /><br />One monday, during a particularly bad heat wave, i was told to pack my stuff up, that we're leaving for a mountain retreat called <i>Tian Mu Shan</i>. For about $15 each per day, we got a really nice room and all our meals covered. It was a nice enough place, well kept, and they even had wifi access. I was a little concerned when i spotted a <i>scorpion</i> on the stairs leading to our room, but i never saw another, so i guess it was just leaving? <br /><br />Tian Mu Shan is popular with the elderly as a place to retreat for the summer months. This was evident twice a day (sunrise and sunset) when they mass-migrated up the hill to the parking lot at the entrance to the mountain. </div><div style="font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:100%;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4t81LLfQ3c5r6bh_MuBfUtRHTQ_P0mMCH7YyiIYcfCcXkk7BhadnGGSvmNx6ONeXuz08qtqnDFDR5gcni12NUGKCFg8vu4fB5sCMYmoJOxrWyiUNU13erE0wCqWRZ3JDXhlmT8sNF3b0/s1600/Tianmushan09.jpg" style="font-size: medium; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4t81LLfQ3c5r6bh_MuBfUtRHTQ_P0mMCH7YyiIYcfCcXkk7BhadnGGSvmNx6ONeXuz08qtqnDFDR5gcni12NUGKCFg8vu4fB5sCMYmoJOxrWyiUNU13erE0wCqWRZ3JDXhlmT8sNF3b0/s320/Tianmushan09.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5780500687079178114" style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 213px; " /></a><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikN36ZaivGypCxJBLc4GdALJhgLYX97K-4vFUI2c4MV3zm8XwVSnFKCTjlUacedxPGIYXuIdIQsCdCExb7JnVPYJn7pqfyFscPFlnX-SzFieOGAk06XJoo6GWRl2IIJxz2tPvjqZm6uNo/s320/Tianmushan10.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5780500697779132002" style="font-size: medium; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 213px; " /></div><div style="font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:100%;"><br /></div><div face="Georgia, serif" size="3" style="font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; ">Does it make me a horrible person that i was reminded of <a href="http://www.amctv.com/shows/the-walking-dead">The Walking Dead</a> whenever i watched them slowly lumbering in packs, sauntering off toward an unknown location? </div><div style="font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:100%;"><br /></div><div style="font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:100%;">One day i got up a little early to hike the mountain. I was told it would take about 5 hours to hike up and take a bus down. I was back in three. Esther's family was very concerned about me going alone. But as an athletic adult who lived in Colorado for 12 years, i explained i am qualified to hike the paved steps of a popular tourist destination alone. </div><div style="font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:100%;"><br /></div><div style="font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:100%;">The hike itself was really nice, for China. The few times i've been hiking around Beijing (the wild wall excluded) you end up hiking with people in business suits, high heels, <i>jeans. </i>This was much better. People were here to enjoy nature. </div><div style="font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:100%;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiayu2aqiUrjdr0c4rT5ZztYcz6Dy-gwxQ2yoCK6x8h6Q6I-1A3C0t6rFncYfjADyxdzWDD3xJCBGatpPCiRghVni6ztEJtqzspmrmpzqP7mwiu0ei_WOM0QXtsYYgBsiqbsZFk5XLoP0k/s1600/Tianmushan01.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiayu2aqiUrjdr0c4rT5ZztYcz6Dy-gwxQ2yoCK6x8h6Q6I-1A3C0t6rFncYfjADyxdzWDD3xJCBGatpPCiRghVni6ztEJtqzspmrmpzqP7mwiu0ei_WOM0QXtsYYgBsiqbsZFk5XLoP0k/s320/Tianmushan01.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5780499718925301218" style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 213px; " /></a><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnbSqwt92ATPSeqjOtWHHHPNAWYQYDWNOZAdJ4jo-rfNUUhFKSQRqVUzNySuRUa48NkxrHCHXl3bP_sN0b6VBh_HxfNNr8RZ5XtGzZRFVlxlEvkxmATlNiLcm_-qcpX4tOgGGW6MNJWo4/s320/Tianmushan02.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5780499728765968914" style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 213px; " /><br /></div><div style="font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:100%;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIlZnoh9hBsvF2ntZcWAhTDnIdseDJ5kTcFm8rH1XVQa7fZqekbnnXv9QxNv-0KGGv_Erj-QEcf5BCdyKTBewCd5NbmJ1JO3YVF9BM4nhVx1ewSQRl87QSOjbrYYpeT9Hfhu2rEp5g0iY/s320/Tianmushan06.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5780500655611427074" style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 213px; " /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFgAsoSIPulNGZ5EnyIqZsfSuKC8k7ZDD6cDHVvTa_l9-7c755OThpTw6SM0XfNVD5WdZn4iiuLq1HkPW2qS6ZrdwXrQIjciVd2spmmqoBeMH6xEKDjh6RKwjNeHKEqGGAuhOl3SY07FU/s1600/Tianmushan08.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFgAsoSIPulNGZ5EnyIqZsfSuKC8k7ZDD6cDHVvTa_l9-7c755OThpTw6SM0XfNVD5WdZn4iiuLq1HkPW2qS6ZrdwXrQIjciVd2spmmqoBeMH6xEKDjh6RKwjNeHKEqGGAuhOl3SY07FU/s320/Tianmushan08.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5780500673116433538" style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 213px; " /></a></div><div style="font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:100%;"><br /></div><div style="font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:100%;"><span style=" ;font-size:100%;">On my way up, i passed</span><span style=" ;font-size:100%;"> the 50 or so Chinese hikers in the first half</span><i>.</i><span style=" ;font-size:100%;"> I ended up being alone until the top, even though i stopped for a half hour to take pictures of butterflies. </span></div><div style="font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:100%;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif8cc2QpPVyO3kA4Bv-tEsxsjBCP4wXtc3400fWDulEts0wsiilCjBU72KdBleGZvhcH3RClkiXh5PbuipNEGmst6SP2GsFRuQevdVAw-U2OjSlybWOtSe445fmYFhw55AuwkcN2TpiWw/s1600/Tianmushan03.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif8cc2QpPVyO3kA4Bv-tEsxsjBCP4wXtc3400fWDulEts0wsiilCjBU72KdBleGZvhcH3RClkiXh5PbuipNEGmst6SP2GsFRuQevdVAw-U2OjSlybWOtSe445fmYFhw55AuwkcN2TpiWw/s320/Tianmushan03.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5780499739925696706" style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 213px; " /></a><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1OVq-SnPt2zQCre9r-AdXsQ8R_h4A2UcHyAxHcIpYZBHD-qfnuNRGGrpAjUpV2kgibLCk9r-I-Vzy8P5hr2lBqXQ8oviGSMnRjk7Gb3AnxBV65kSDRjPz40_Ik551vJqYp7Ky0FYD9ig/s320/Tianmushan04.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5780499747090913730" style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 213px; " /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7diZ4fyhi6B1LnshVjgoHJUQVqVrC0ef4CK9KUvgG0jlOPrKIaE9A7voFFowKnE2ki8qcuEUqENLHPwH4S-_ODJTGsgBJMdXbfX8-XO5jxnjYpqTfFr2l2Hd_ULA11NBy5OrEyq0W1a8/s1600/Tianmushan07.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7diZ4fyhi6B1LnshVjgoHJUQVqVrC0ef4CK9KUvgG0jlOPrKIaE9A7voFFowKnE2ki8qcuEUqENLHPwH4S-_ODJTGsgBJMdXbfX8-XO5jxnjYpqTfFr2l2Hd_ULA11NBy5OrEyq0W1a8/s320/Tianmushan07.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5780500669084933634" style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 213px; " /></a><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt8yOIcO30M1CrR6Jf8C_zDvNuedGlMo8CzSG6zQmU0BuHxYyKYLnhuoB9qTLQW7hyphenhyphenRpJtU4L1R8MRRnaqXbteTOjR7L67ZZ_1Eu4-CPfmV7WBKc6IYxVjPqACLgmnRDAp5MrZcAB-aZw/s320/Tianmushan05.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5780499752639960610" style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 213px; " /></div><div style="font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:100%;"><span style=" ;font-size:100%;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:100%;"><span style=" ;font-size:100%;">At the peak, there was a nice Buddhist temple where i rewarded myself with ice cream, a rest in a hammock, and the petting of a puppy, before finding the shuttle bus back to the bottom. </span></div><div face="Georgia, serif" size="3" style="font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><span style=" ;font-size:100%;"><br /></span></div><div face="Georgia, serif" size="3" style="font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><span style=" ;font-size:100%;">The next day, we went back home and immediately joked that if we left now, we could be back in Tian Mu Shan before dinner. <i>Hangzhou is HOT in July!</i></span></div><div style=" font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-family:Georgia, serif;"><span style=" ;font-size:100%;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div style=" font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-family:Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size:100%;">~Kevsther</span></div>Kevin Reitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00002489940619691842noreply@blogger.com0