Introducing: Happy Sparkle Kitty Magic

Ace found a 4-month-old kitty at school. It was weak, emaciated, skinny, sick, and left for dead by its mom. Being a good ace, she took her to the vet to be taken care of, cleaned, and treated for her multitude of ailments. Ten days later, we took her home.

Within moments she found a small crack in the bottom of the kitchen cabinets which led to the plumbing and into the walls of our house.

We would not see her again for two days, although each night, at the stroke of midnight, she emerged for a short time to wreak havoc on our plants and eat/regurgitate vitamins onto our floor.

On day three, we lured her out into the kitchen with promises of tasty tasty chicken flesh. Embodying the very essence of "bait and switch", she did not attain chicken flesh, but was instead promptly sequestered to the bathroom.

The next day, she exchanged heart racing for purring, crying for mewing, and cowering in a corner for cuddling on a lap. She gained access to the living room and we quickly kitty proofed all the holes she could escape into. We also named her. Since she's a Chinese kitty, we had to give her a Chinese name; Her official name is Happy Sparkle Kitty Magic, and her nickname is Muse. Or Mews.

We also bought and installed little yellow cat claw caps so she can't scratch things. She hates them!

So, without further ado... behold photos and a video of our newest addition, Muse.

Awwww.

~Kev

New China's 60th Anniversary

Rivaling last years extraordinary preparations for the Olympics, Beijing has once again set itself to guarantee a celebration of massive proportions for National Day, this October 1st. It also marks the beginning of the Fall Holiday, and this year is special because it commemorates the 60th Anniversary of New China, in 1949. They've been practicing the parade and fireworks for a few weeks now, sometimes at strange hours.

This whole Anniversary madness has had some unpleasant side-effects.

• The subway, which i use everyday, has been closed a few times.
• Traffic is routed away from the center of the city, especially around Tian'anmen Square and surrounding streets.
• Tanks have been rolling down the streets. The first time was about 2am on a Friday night. It woke Therese up.
• Security has been heightened everywhere.
• Undercover police are checking passports of foreigners at random. Hasn't happened to me yet, but it's only a matter of time.
• Additional roadblocks and checkpoints entering the city, which makes my vendor visits just that much longer.

The parade itself should be pretty cool, although it's completely closed to the general public. Its purpose is to display the awesome power of China's army to the world, and the parade will be televised live on 10/1. However, there are a fortunate few who live in the Tian'anmen area AND have connections with someone in the parade. They have been able to catch a glimpse of the dress rehearsals. I happen to know two of those fortunate people.

The images i'm posting here are from them and would, in all likelihood, get my blog banned within China, if it wasn't already. I don't really care.

That last one is a picture i took out the window of our company van while driving to Tianjin. 

~Kev

Hanggai and Hou Hai

I have a photo album on my computer entitled "Hanggai and Hou Hai". That aptly describes last weekend for us, at it was truly memorable. Ace and i kicked off Friday night kinda relaxed, but with a nice ribbon tied around it. We met up with some friends at the Tiny Salt Coffee Club for some live music, Hanggai, one of the local bands that have swept up the foreigners and Chinese alike. Hanggai is traditional Mongolian music, powered by up-beat rhythms, and rounded off with haunting melodies, often led by the resounding bass of throat-signing. Words fall short of capturing their live show, but fortunately there are some better options to a lengthy, poetic description:

• Tao's blog has 7 (yes, seven!) videos of the performance that evening.
• Their myspace page has 4, (yes, four!) songs from their latest album.
• They are doing a weeklong US tour with 6 (yes, six!) shows starting this week. One of their stops is Sept 23rd in Chicago. Check out their myspace page for details.

This guy is their leader...

... but this throat singing dude in purple is my favorite.

Saturday was interesting... while most of the Ultimate Frisbee community went to Tianjin for the day, Ace and i stayed in Beijing. It turned out to be a great decision. It was another beautiful day, one of many recently. We mounted our bikes and headed to Hou Hai, an area Therese had not yet explored. We started with a long loop around the two main lakes, a solid 20 minute ride. We stopped to chat up the locals and take a few pictures, before enjoying lunch at the famous Hutong Pizza.

After salad, pizza, beer and wine, we were ready for adventure, which in Hou Hai, means either window-shopping or expensive drinks at a lakeside bar. We opted for window-shopping. Also, tea-tasting. Most tea shops have a quaint little room in back where you can sample any tea for free in a comfortable environment. We did just that, and learned a little about teas in the process. Our Chinese has improved enough now to where we don't feel totally awkward communicating with a native, and that opens up new opportunities everywhere. We bought some Ginseng Oolong Tea. It's delightful.

After all that, we took our own personal tour of the hutongs by bike. We almost caved and accepted a discounted tour from one of those cool bike taxi guys, but instead, we decided to just follow them on our bikes.

The real gem was this awesome little hutong house with a tree growing out of it. Literally, the house is built right around the tree.

If you look closely or click on this picture, you can even see a clock hanging from it.

Awesome.

~Kev