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Published: January 18th 2008
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Xin Nian Kuai Le
On New Years Eve, after a little pre-partying with our space heater and a few bottles of 'OK!' beer, we hit the town - - meaning one of the most popular and crowded dance bars in Chengdu, Babi II. The strobe lights were a pumpin and the whiskey and sweet teas were a flowin.
Last week, Stephanie taught her last class for the term and Cody finished up his lessons, officially beginning our winter holiday! Since then we’ve been continuing to explore Chengdu, finishing some last minute visa business, and preparing for our upcoming travels.
This week everything needed for changing Stephanie’s tourist visa ‘L’ to a work visa ‘Z’ was in order, including the foreign expert certificate, residence permit from the local police bureau, and the letter of invitation from the school... everything save one. The medical exam. So on Monday, we went to the hospital that deals with foreigners in southern Chengdu with Bobby, a representative from the company that hired Stephanie (who is quickly becoming our friend). Here, after the necessary paper-work, and paying the 291RMB fee (US$40), Stephanie played a rousing game of ‘Mystery Door Medical Exam!’ What’s behind door #1? A ticklish and lightning fast ultra sound. Door #2? How about a full body X-Ray! Stick your arm through a hole in the window behind door #3 and give blood! The whole process was assembly-line-effective and even with doors number 5, 6, and 7 (ear, nose, throat exam; urine sample; some kind of test that required electrodes . .
.) the whole process took only 20 min. Painless. Plus, Bobby told Stephanie she was very brave during the blood sample, an added bonus.
After the exam we stepped out of the hospital into the icy wind and rain of the coldest day in Chegdu yet (35 deg F). Our original plan was to re-visit the Tibetan area of town to check out some more shops and restaurants, but it was too cold for strolling. On an icy day like that, there was really only one option. KTV. Bobby happened to know of a KTV (Karaoke) establishment just down the road from where we were. We asked him to join us as a thanks for all the help he has been to us here in Chengdu, an offer he couldn't refuse. After a short wait, during which we played a competetive game of foos ball (Bobby's first match), we were led to a private KTV room in a building that looked more like a hotel (reception desk, long hallways, gift shop full of beer and liquor) than a bar. This private KTV room was equipped with leather couches, big screen TV, two micophones, surround sound, and a wide assortment
New Years Friends
After entering Babi II we were quickly befriended by an interpreter and her friends. We spent the night cheersing, speaking broken Chinese (Stephanie's consisted of saying, "Happy New Year" and "I DONT speak Chinese" which she has learned now), taking dance breaks when the music was too loud to talk over, and watching bar-tenders toss and whirl flaming bottles of booze. The group of friends we met were very nice and paid for our drinks the whole night. of Chinese, English, and even a few Korean songs waiting on the machine. Apparently we had booked the room from 2-7:30, 5.5 hours! But Bobby assured us we didn't have to stay that long (even though Stephanie probably could have . . .). Bobby insisted that we sing first so we kicked off the afternoon with "All I have to do is dream", Bobby caught on to the lyrics quickly and soon we were all crooning. The highlight of the afternoon was most definitely a performance by the Backstreet boys of China, Cody and Bobby. "Backsteet's Back" has never sounded so good. We sang the afternoon away, keeping our strength with refreshments (hot McDonald's style orange drink, kettle corn, fruit platter) included in the admission price (25RMB US$3.42 a person)
We have been fortunate to make friends with some of Stephanie's co-workers here in our building . Two weeks ago one of them had a small gathering of 3 couples, where we ate snacks, drank delicious tea the host made, chatted, and played 'crazy eights', which was suprisingly well accepted. So on Thursday night as a farewell before we left for Spring Festival we had the same group over
Happy New Year!
Did we mention there were pyrotechnics at midnight? Crazy! to our apartment to return the favor. We served an assortment of Chinese snacks, some scrumptious oatmeal-raisin cookies sent all the way from the USA (a huge success), and some rose/green tea.
The next day, we took a plane south, arriving in Shenzhen at 9:30pm. We are now writing to you from HK where Stephanie's visa is processing. We will spend the weekend here, and after picking the visa up on Monday, will head up the east coast toward Xiamen. As you may know, Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) is rapidly approaching. Through a friend we have been invited to spend the festival among a huge Chinese family in the Henan (a northern province) countryside. This should be an amazing experience, provided that we actually make it there. We have been warned by many people that traveling during Spring Festival is next to impossible as transportation in China becomes rich with chaos. Train tickets are coveted, as everyone rushes home to spend the holiday with family. EVERYONE. 1.3 billion people. So we'll see, we might be spending New Years in Xiamen, we'll keep you updated.
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Larva
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here we come!
we are coming! April 10-May 1. Sarah and I are freaking out over our just-purchased tickets to come see you and are spending the coldest day of the year eating cinnamon rolls at Sarah's in Chicago and reading the Rough Guide to China. Can. Not. Wait! Love you guys. Larva