Preparing To Go – Immunizations

As our family prepares to return to China, one of the (many) things that is on our list of high priority tasks to accomplish is to get everyone’s immunizations up-to-date. Getting immunizations, especially the ‘travel immunizations’ that are not offered at the normal places, are not fun! However, they are necessary if we are going to travel to the places God has called us to go and they are potentially life-saving, so we are doing them.

(Now if you are one of the Dr. Mercola disciples that is against immunizations, go ahead and stop reading this blog post, medical facts and best practices don’t seem to interest you anyway.)

Our family has to have all the ‘normal’ immunizations, but then we have to take it up a level and get immunized against some nasty things that are usually not huge problems here in North America, things like “Japanese Encephalitis”, “Yellow Fever”, “Rabies”, “Hep A, B,” “Typhoid”. I know, fun stuff!   Continue reading

Starbucks in Hunan – Oh Yes!

Well, it has finally happened… Starbucks has decided to open up a store (two stores actually) in Hunan province!  I guess I can no longer say that there are no Starbucks for “70 million people!”

I’ve been waiting for a long, long time for this opening, and at times, I wondered if it would ever come or if the Starbucks ‘Empire’ would die out before it made it to my little part of the world!  The opening day was on Thursday, but I had a lot to do on Thursday and I already had other business in Changsha to do on Friday, so it would be a day after the grand opening that I would make it to Starbucks, but that was okay!

On the day of the opening, my old friend Jason (Chen Xu) called me up at 7:45 and asked me if I knew that Starbucks was opening that day and he really wanted me to come down for the ceremonies.  I told him that I could not, but that I’d be there real soon to get my first shot of Changsha caffination (is that a word?)  I didn’t realize that Jason was ‘working’ at Starbucks for the opening as his bank has a promotional partnership and he was representing his bank as Starbucks opened it’s 400th store!  So when I showed up on Friday and Jason was sitting there, I was pleasantly surprised.  He bought me a cup of coffee and a really cool Changsha City coffee mug!  Thanks man!

The store was crowded, but not as crowded as I imagined it would be.  Even though the employees were still ‘learning the ropes’, everything moved along pretty smoothly!  I was able to meet the store manager, who was very busy, and also one of the very ‘eager’ employees who told me his English name was also “Stephen!”  (I guess we’ll have to become friends!)  He allowed me to buy some coffee beans at his store employee price – 30% off!  He said to find him next time I come to Starbucks, I think I will!

One of the things I had read about the new Starbucks opening in Changsha was that there would be some ‘local distinctives’ in the Hunan stores.  What could that possibly mean?  Spicy Pumpkin Latte?  Stinky Cheesecake?  Beetlenut gum?  Nope, the one thing I noticed was the chocolate cake with a chili pepper on top!  I didn’t actually see the cake, but you can see it on the menu in this photo!

One great thing that they have that you might not think is very special is “to go” cups.  You see, in the US, they are ubiquitous, so you don’t even think about them as being anything special.  Well, here in China, people generally don’t think of coffee as a beverage you drink on the go, so the idea of a “to go” cup seems completely outrageous!  So I was pleasantly surprised to see a healthy supply of “to go” cups along with the normal coffee mugs!

There was plenty of seating, although I was told the second location across town was bigger and had more seating available.  I’ll have to go check that second location out real soon!

Now I heard another rumor from a friend who seems to be in the know, that Starbucks plans on opening 10 stores in Hunan over the next 3 years.  Do you think they will keep all of those in Changsha or could there possibly be one or two opened in Yueyang?!  Stay tuned… you’ll hear it here first!

Happy (Chinese) New Year!

Happy New Year everyone!

Even though I’ve lived in China for 9 years, I’ve never actually been in China on THE eve of Chinese New Year.  I can hardly describe what I just experienced!

All I can say is this, China just re-did that famous scene from Crocodile Dundee where he pulls out his huge knife and says “That’s not a knife, THIS is a knife!”  China just said, “Those aren’t fireworks, THESE are fireworks!”

Changes…

There is a new mode of transportation in town, and we are pretty excited about it!

When I first moved to Yueyang (about 9 years ago) there were two ways to get to this city from the closest city with an airport.  The ‘highway’, which took 3-4 hours in good weather and the train which was a pretty consistent 2-2.5 hours.  Then the ‘super highway’ opened up and you could ride a bus in about 2 hours and then take a taxi from the bus station into town in another 40 mins to an hour.

Those of you who have braved the trip to come and visit us can testify to how getting to us was not an easy task!

But things have changed.  On December 26th, the day after we celebrated the birth of Christ, the high-speed train started operating.  It’s amazing (it’s the fastest train in the world with an average speed of 350 Kmph and a high speed of 400 Kmph)!  It will take us to the capital city of our province in just 30 minutes!  The city to the north of us, which used to be 3.5-4 hours away, is now only 50 minutes! This has potential to change things in a big way.

We are hoping to ride it soon – when we do, we’ll be sure to share the story and post some photos!

A New Semester

Week_02The Fall ’09 semester has arrived and I’ve been very busy juggling several responsibilities.  As most of you may know, last year I taught a course on the Society & Culture of English Speaking Countries.  Well, I’m teaching that class again this year.  In addition to that, I’m also heading up a new program at my university that focuses on cross-cultural topics, specifically the things that would be helpful for those who are preparing to go abroad for study or work.

We’ve been in the planning stages for the past month or so with the first class set to begin the second week in October.  I have no idea how many students I’ll have or what the level of English I’ll be dealing with… it should be fun!

Dr. Pepper Drive For The Championship… what is that? insult to injury?

I was surfing for some college football news and I came across the above video.  Most of you who know me, know that I LOVE college football, I LOVE the Florida Gators and that living in China, I don’t get to watch any live football games.

I’m okay with that, I’m willing to give that up.  But when this video also has to very prominently display that it is the “Dr. Pepper” drive for the championship… well, that”s just rubbing it in!

Go Gators!

Corn Nuts

It turns out, they really are made of corn…who would have thought it!

Corn nuts are prepared by soaking whole corn in water for three days, then deep-frying them in oil until they are hard and brittle.

A friend brought over a [really big] bag of ‘nut’ looking things yesterday but did not tell us what they were.  After that friend left and I had a chance to see them up close, I looked at them and said, “Those look like Corn Nuts!”  Turns out they were!

Now I need to figure out what they are called in Chinese.  Anyone know?

Here Comes Winter!

sweeping snowThe China National Meteorological Center (NMC) urged the country to prepare for a harsh winter and to be prepared for freezing rain and snow disasters.

 BEIJING, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) –   Over the past month, heavy snow or blizzard have hit many north China provinces and regions, while Hunan, Guizhou and some other south China provinces suffered freezing rain or snow related complication.

Last year, between Jan. 10 to Feb. 2 of 2008, Hunan province was hit by freezing rain and snow four times in a row, shutting down transportation and cutting off basic necessities (water, food, electricity) for weeks.

We were not in China last winter, but everyone I talk to who was here last year said it was terrible.

I think we might prepare some ‘supplies’ just in case…

Frenzy

Frenzy

I went to the Yueyang Tower (岳阳楼) with my family yesterday and to say it was ‘crowded’ would be a huge understatement. The attention the kids received was very overwhelming for them (and for us!)

The kids did have fun feeding these fish who were having a ‘frenzy’ of their own.