Welcome, everyone, to the latest addition to my blog. Sorry for the long delay, I was caught up on the wrong end of the great firewall of China.

As you know, in some communist countries, the government likes to control some things the people do. In this country, they like to control the internet. However, I was able to get a VPN service that allows me to use the websites I want, while keeping a secure connection. GREAT!!!

To be completely honest, not much has changed here. I keep getting busier and busier. Of the 6 instructors that began this game of survivor, we are down to 2. My friend Harry and I are working hard, and reaping the benefits of those with opportunity lost.

We did hire a new American instructor whose name is James. James comes from New Jersey, but lived and studied the Chinese Language in China for over a year. He speaks chinese, reads and writes in chinese. He should do well here.

AJ, our director of instruction, decided this last month to resign his position. Beginning in April, he will be pursuing a career as a professional golfer. He will stay here at the Academy to train and prepare to play on the Asian PGA tour.

This year is sort of a special year for me. As you know, it is 2010… and on february 14 I will gain one more number in Age. On that day, China will also celebrate the Chinese New Year. Based on their traditional 12 year calender, the year of the Tiger is upon us.

“What year did Jesus think it was?” – GC

Upon learning this, I became aware that I, myself, am a Tiger. Not the promiscuous Tiger that you read about in tabloids and see on television crashing SUV’s into trees while being chased by his wife with a 7 iron, but the actual Chinese mythical Tiger. Every 12 years, a person celebrates their “special birthday” for the entire year. Certain things must happen.

First off, it is very important that on every 12th year a person is very careful. Bad things can happen… spoooooooky things can happen. In order to protect myself, I am supposed to wear the color red every day, and not do anything “dangerous.”

????? haha I don’t remember anything too bad happening to me when I was 12 years old, so I believe I have proved this myth wrong already. But, I will follow the tradition and wear a red shirt to work on the 14th.

The Chinese New Year is celebrated with fireworks. Millions of fireworks. For an entire month…every night…..fireworks, fireworks and fireworks. Everybody and their pet rabbit will be firing up fireworks in the streets of China… making it slightly impossible for golf instructors like myself to get any rest. Imagine a 4 week long 21 gun salute.

Well, that is all for now. I will leave you again with another pointless George Carlin Quote. “The reason they call it the American Dream is because you have to be asleep to believe it!”

My thanksgiving dinner was boiled frozen dumplings… with soy sauce…. thats it…. sucks doesn’t it….

Not to bad though, Cindy is taking us all out on Saturday for a Thanksgiving Day Dinner, but we will probably end up eating Chinese or Japanese food anyways…

Hope you are all doing well!!! Happy Turkey Day!

http://photobucket.com/mikeschield

Well, lets recap the last few weeks, as they have been very interesting.

Spent another day in Hong Kong with a few of the American instructors. We had some fun visiting the IFC building and just looking around the city. We ended the evening in Lan Qui Fung, the renown bar/party location near Central Hong Kong. Had several beers and partook in a trivia competition. We came in last place as team name “Jolien” which in mandarin means Instructor. Obviously, we should not be teaching history class. All of the questions were under American topics, and we let the Hong Kong residents kick our ass.

We had a total of 6 instructors (including myself) come to china. In the last week, 2 have decided to leave. One, my roommate, has grabbed a great position as a PR Director at a resort in the United States. The other one just up and left today, claiming his wife in the USA was pregnant. Needless to say, we have had an interesting turn of events here in China.

Last night our boss took us out to a Chinese restaurant off the resort property. Had a great time drinking some Pizhou (beer pronounced Pee-shoe) and some shots of something tasting like rumplemints. The Chinese seem to be impressed by my drinking tolerance. I usually start to explain that “I am from Wisconsin, and in Wisconsin….” at that point I give up, because I remember they don’t understand a word I am saying. Even if they did, they think Wisconsin is a whole other country than the USA. It was great seeing some of our staff waisted drunk, was very fun!

I now have a camera, and am working to create an online photo album to give everyone access to. I will be working on that today, and if I get the link working I will post here.

Work is still great. Really enjoying what I do here, and can see myself teaching forever. More to come soon!

I told you so…

Ok. Barak Obama wins the Nobel Peace Prize.

WHAT?????

What has he done?
What will he do?
Why was he considered in the first place?

Call me crazy, but if the Nobel committee decided on him based on what they “expect” him to do, George W. Bush should have one that prize 8 times by now.

Could they not find anyone better? I am not going to name drop, but I could probably name 100 people more worthy than Barak Obama in less than 5 minutes.

The man is nothing more than a Liar. He lied his way through his campaign, he lied to get elected; and now those who were silly enough to vote for him and go “Barak Obama Crazy” are pissed because they finally figured it out… “What? He told us things to get elected, but is doing the opposite thing?” Barak Obama is nothing more than sarcasm at an extreme level than a promoter of peace. Let me share an example.

“We will pull our troops out of Iraq”
which in the language of our president means…
“Lets fool america into thinking we will end the war, by changing their opinion on the war. Then, lets send thousands of more troops there; while convincing them it is ‘OK.’” Riiiiiight… That had many of us fooled. At least our last president didn’t try to sugar coat anything.

For those of you who disagree with me, alright. You keep on believing everything the man says. After his first term completes, lets get together and chat a bit.

HE better send that million dollars he wins to the City of Chicago to help prevent violence in his own country. Where, ironically, he didn’t do much to promote peace there. But he sure did like to talk about it! And we trusted him to be president.

Things are still great here in China. Talk to you all soon.

“Peace”

A great novel cannot due it justice, minds cannot completely fathom it, Hollywood cannot re-create it, Ted Thompson couldn’t prevent it, and I cannot believe it. This is really going to happen. In approximately 24 hours, one of the greatest sports stories ever told will be dealt to our television screens; and in horror, disbelief, confusion, and utter denial, we will watch.

When I say “we,” I mean just about everybody. I am willing to bet my mom will watch. This will be the most watched football game in the history of the NFL. That is, until week 8 occurs.

As a born and raised Packer fan, the last two years have felt blasphemous. I still remember like it was yesterday, watching the New York Brett’s and Jet Favre take down the undefeated Titans. Still to this day I am overcome with joy and disappointment. Was I cheering for the Jets??? Am I now cheering for the Vikings???

Although I don’t have storybook names for Brett as a Viking, you can’t help but admit you knew this day was coming. This is just another game, another week, another season; just a Jersey stamped #4, a man and his arm, purple and gold vs. green and gold.

Many Wisconsinites, Minnesotans, and Americans in General will indulge in heavy-hitter conversation. All opinions aside, everyone has one thing in common; they are all on the edge of their seat waiting to see what happens. I know how you feel.

If the season ends tomorrow, fans will have finally seen it all. Football will never be the same.

So thank Brett. Not just for the 16 years in Green Bay, but for giving fan anticipation back to the fans. This is not to be forgotten like a horrible Sacha Baron Cohen movie, a dry-heaving backstreet boys song, or America’s idiotic dwindling support of the theory of Reaganomics. Tomorrow Brett Favre gives football back to the fans. Tomorrow, we will watch a game with no care over outcome, but with care of the game. Mark Frost will have to change the title of his Francis Ouimet story book to make way for this one.

But, that is just my opinion.

I am picking the Vikings 34 – 21.

What about you?

Spent Tuesday in Hong Kong, as now you are aware. IT rained all day, so I wasn’t able to get on top of IFC, or visit the large buddha. However, I did travel around Hong Kong quite a bit and saw a lot of the city. It gets cooler every time I am there. Nothing beats how the day ended however…

The bus that took us into Hong Kong was not located at the place they dropped us off at. So, when we tried to leave the city, we could not find the bus. It became a hunt for buried treasure as Ben and I tracked all over Wan Chai looking for this bus! It took us a good 2 hours, and 1 1/2 miles away from the drop of location, we found our pickup location. Needless to say, that put us in a bit of a bind. We knew that we were going to be too late to get the bus back to Mission Hills from the border, and needed to do some serious re-routing plan.

Well, we made it to the border, and decided it would be best if we just got a taxi. A gentleman was waiting around the border, and offered to help us get a taxi. Problem being, he didn’t speak any english, and something seemed very shady about this cat. His first price was 150, because he thought we were going to Shenzhen City. When he found out we were going to Mission Hills, he bumped the price to 250. While thinking this through, I called Mission Hills to ask what a fair price was for travel from the border to Mission Hills, and was told to accept a price no more than 150 RMB. We told this guy to go screw himself, and moved on to find better things. At that point he started negotiating, and at the last second we were able to talk him down to 150. What happens next, we did not expect…

This guy gets in the taxi with us. Pulls a gun, and asks us for all our money…….. just kidding!!! He did get in the taxi, and wanted us to pay him 50 RMB for getting us the taxi. Once again, not to be to redundant, we told him to get a life and leave. This turned into an all out inter-continental screaming match as he shouted random things in Mandarin, and Ben and I screamed back in English. Needless to say, the taxi pulled over; we kicked this guy out of the car, end of story. We eventually made it back to Mission Hills at the correct price.

THe National Day parade was held yesterday in Tienmen Square. Listen folks, their National Day makes our Independence day look like a poor one-liner joke. Thousands of military personnel, all exactly the same height, yelling praises back to their president. The catch phrase of the evening was showing China’s complete strength while stressing the importance of hard work in people’s lives. Not exactly what we do in America. We get drunk and watch a couple of fireworks… These Chinese know how to party…

It cost the government 52 billion dollars US to put on this Tienmen square performance. Imagine that. What if they said one year hell with the fireworks and well over-drawn ceremony, and told the USA “Yeah, 52 Billion of that money you owe us…forget about it.” Wouldn’t that be nice!!!

Business is starting to pick up! I will do my best to keep you all posted. Happy National Day!

Spent Tuesday in Hong Kong, as now you are aware. IT rained all day, so I wasn’t able to get on top of IFC, or visit the large buddha. However, I did travel around Hong Kong quite a bit and saw a lot of the city. It gets cooler every time I am there. Nothing beats how the day ended however…

The bus that took us into Hong Kong was not located at the place they dropped us off at. So, when we tried to leave the city, we could not find the bus. It became a hunt for buried treasure as Ben and I tracked all over Wan Chai looking for this bus! It took us a good 2 hours, and 1 1/2 miles away from the drop of location, we found our pickup location. Needless to say, that put us in a bit of a bind. We knew that we were going to be too late to get the bus back to Mission Hills from the border, and needed to do some serious re-routing plan.

Well, we made it to the border, and decided it would be best if we just got a taxi. A gentleman was waiting around the border, and offered to help us get a taxi. Problem being, he didn’t speak any english, and something seemed very shady about this cat. His first price was 150, because he thought we were going to Shenzhen City. When he found out we were going to Mission Hills, he bumped the price to 250. While thinking this through, I called Mission Hills to ask what a fair price was for travel from the border to Mission Hills, and was told to accept a price no more than 150 RMB. We told this guy to go screw himself, and moved on to find better things. At that point he started negotiating, and at the last second we were able to talk him down to 150. What happens next, we did not expect…

This guy gets in the taxi with us. Pulls a gun, and asks us for all our money…….. just kidding!!! He did get in the taxi, and wanted us to pay him 50 RMB for getting us the taxi. Once again, not to be to redundant, we told him to get a life and leave. This turned into an all out inter-continental screaming match as he shouted random things in Mandarin, and Ben and I screamed back in English. Needless to say, the taxi pulled over; we kicked this guy out of the car, end of story. We eventually made it back to Mission Hills at the correct price.

THe National Day parade was held yesterday in Tienmen Square. Listen folks, their National Day makes our Independence day look like a poor one-liner joke. Thousands of military personnel, all exactly the same height, yelling praises back to their president. The catch phrase of the evening was showing China’s complete strength while stressing the importance of hard work in people’s lives. Not exactly what we do in America. We get drunk and watch a couple of fireworks… These Chinese know how to party…

It cost the government 52 billion dollars US to put on this Tienmen square performance. Imagine that. What if they said one year hell with the fireworks and well over-drawn ceremony, and told the USA “Yeah, 52 Billion of that money you owe us…forget about it.” Wouldn’t that be nice!!!

Business is starting to pick up! I will do my best to keep you all posted. Happy National Day!

China’s National Day is similar to our “Independence Day”; however, unlike the USA, this day is not a specific date of “independence.”

Anyways, from what I have been told this will be a week of celebration. Most of the Chinese workforce will not be working, or will work on a limited schedule. They tend to party hard and party often, which seems more like St. Patrick’s Day. I will be in Hong Kong tomorrow, but plan to attend some sort of celebration in Shenzhen later this week. More to come as I learn more about what kind of party this is going to be!

Things are still going great at work. The pressure is on to continue building a clientele and teach more lessons! I am happy for the challenge, and will continue with my strategy of doing these things.

Hong Kong tomorrow will be my first day to spend as a “tourist” so to speak. I have some errands to run in the morning, but afterwords I have a full day of fun. Going to attempt to conquer my fear of heights as I take the tour to the top of the IFC (International Financial Center) 2. It is currently the tallest building in Hong Kong, which will be replaced by a building being built across the bay in Kowloon sometime in the next 2 years. After that knee shaking event, and if I still have my bearings, I will trek through Soho and Central. Eventually, I will make my way to the Hong Kong Tram and visit the World’s largest Buddha statue. What a day, and I hope I get to do it all.

Anyways, Facebook once again is becoming a blur. With the coming national day, the restrictions on the internet’s social network sights have tightened. If you read this, and you have Facebook, go to my page and let everyone know I have a new post! Thank you for the emails and well wishes. One month down, several years to go I hope!!!

Gaambay (Cheers in Chinese)

One more thing. If you haven’t yet, go out and get the new Dan Brown novel “The Lost Symbol.” A great read full of page turning excitement and useless factual information!!! I finished it in 5 days, and think it may be his most exciting book yet! Might have to read the others again before I start singing praises.