I keep hearing about how it gets cold in Hangzhou and it has finally arrived. It wouldn't be as bad if the apartment heater worked, but this is China. Not that the heater doesn't work, per se, put last night we noticed a foul plastic burning smell. Upon investigation we discovered a very hot electrical cord and a melted outlet. It seems the last people wanted a floor lamp plugged in there too so they used an extension cord, but this heater is pulling all of its 15 amps and that smell was the cord, nice and black now. I'd say [View Full Entry]

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Hi Friends - I've not written in a bit because I have been all busy. Sean and I just moved house and have a big apartment near the West Lake. It has three bedrooms and an office, so if you are thinking of coming, we have a place for you. We also just got DSL and the neighbor has wireless, at least until he finds out we are using it too. My mailing address is c/o Y+ Yoga Center, no. 7 Dong Po lu, Hangzhou, China 310000. Cell phone number remains 86(0)1357.570.1952 in case you wanna drop a line. Secondly, I [View Full Entry]

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One of the great things about living in China these days is the relatively unrestricted access I have to information resources. If I get a little homesick, I can log to the web and hear the latest twist in Washington scandals or the growing dissent over America’s latest war. Sometimes, I log onto NPR and cherry pick the best stuff. Today I listened to NPR’s China correspondent Rob Gifford talk about President Bush’s visit to Asia. Gifford gave up the post a couple months ago and is writing a book about his six years working in China. During that time, he [View Full Entry]

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After being here for nearly a month, I finally registered with the cops. Not that I actually did it, someone in the office did it for me. But just the same, I’m now official and didn’t get in any trouble for violating the law that says I need to register within 24 hours of arriving. Things took a while because for one, my passport was in Shanghai, getting upgraded to a 90-day visa (Soon to be followed by a 1 year card.) When I was accepted for the job, Harry told me to just get a tourist visa and he’d take [View Full Entry]

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Ni hao! It’s Sunday afternoon, but here in China, everyday seems to be Sunday. And Monday. Nothing changes much between the two. For instance, this morning the hammering and sawing began next door at just after 7 am, like it has every day for a week. The apartments on both sides of ours are being renovated. The walls are made of brick, covered in plaster so it gets noisy, for a long time, when someone decides to remove a wall. The dust goes everywhere and the bricks all get stacked outside the door, for reuse. For all I know, all these [View Full Entry]

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While American’s are being frightened by the prospects of avian flu, the Chinese are being hounded with Olympic Fever. I got a dose on the Friday night prime-time TV when Ian and I caught a glimpse of what’s to come as the Committee That Does These Things unveiled the Olympic Mascot. Every country creates one, not that they are particularly memorable. I mean, does anyone recall the “94 Olympics? America hosted them and Sam, the bald eagle, wrapped in the flag, was ours. Sam showed up at this ceremony with Misha the Russian Bear, the Homer Simpson-looking guy from Spain and [View Full Entry]

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Chances are you’ve never heard of Hangzhou, but if you were Chinese, it would be as familiar as Yellowstone. Not that there is a great park here, but there is West Lake, Xi Hu. It’s the jewel of the city and provides a sanctuary from the crowds and craziness. The lake is ringed by a road, but inside are parks with names like Orioles Singing in the Willows and Three Pools Mirroring the Moon. Engineers built two causeways on it, providing a quiet place to walk, fly kites or have tea on one of the island tea houses. I took my [View Full Entry]

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Being a foreigner in Hangzhou elicits a certain amount of staring. People will just look at me for a really long time. Sunday, I got a double dose as I carried a pumpkin down the street. It’s Halloween, of course and in the world of Chinese Copycat Commerce, the local Carrefour store has a big stack of pumpkins and squash. Not that anyone was buying them, though they were on sale, just in front of a display booth filled with rubber masks, scary hands and warty noses. The display was placed most prominently, right at the bottom of the entrance conveyor. [View Full Entry]

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I can’t remember the last time I had been invited to “climb a mountain” but I got one Wednesday. The women who manage the studio decided to get out of the office for a little quality time. Sean, my manager and co-teacher, gave me an inkling of what to expect: “I’ve never seen a mountain in China that didn’t have stairs to the top,” he said. Lynn picked up Sean, Shirley and I at 6am. Ten minutes later we’d packed Merry and Sunny into late-model Audi and after as short ride, arrived at Jade Emperor Mountain. The parking lot was crowded, [View Full Entry]

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Today was my first day in Hangzhou and after dropping my bags off in Sean’s apartment, we went downtown to see the studio. It’s in one of the hottest sections of town, next to the Bently dealer, which is not far from the local Maserati dealer. If I need to buy a car, I’ll know where to shop. I can’t imagine owning a car here. At least in Shanghai, public transit is too easy. Many people I work with get around on bikes and two wheels continues to have an advantage. On Friday morning I caught a $3 cab ride [View Full Entry]

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