Happy Horidays!

(Harbin Style)

Well, its official. I'm a slacker. I'm thoroughly convinced that I will never really amount to anything in life. On the positive side, it's been another fun fulled, saliva infested month of teaching and eating strange animal parts. I did a lot this month actually. The people here actually celebrate Christmas and Western New Years...I think it's just an excuse to get wasted, I think people do the same no matter where they are in the world. So I went to several traditional Chinese resteraunts...I think that's all they have here in China. Some were with faculty and students and others were with HUST University and Cap College Officials. They were all really nice actually. They sit you at a large circular banquet dinner table with about 10 people, and there is a big rotating "Lazy susan" style glass disk in the center of it. A million different waiting staff bring plate after plate of interesting dishes to the table. Everyone uses thier chopsticks to take what they want from the center of the table and put it in front of them on their own plate. It's pretty unsanitary, and I can understand why this country has the highest rate of Hepatitis. Yay Twinrix Vaccination!!! I cooked a live shrimp and ate it whole..that was gross because its like having a mouthfull of chewed toe nails and swallowing them...whatever.

I received my Foreign Experts document early this month. It basically proves that I am a foreigner living and working in China. Have a looksie:



Christmas away from home has been the hardest thing I have ever had to deal with. I love everything about the holidays. Including the home made eggnog Jaqcuie is perfecting as we speak, thanks to unstocked shelves throughout the land. (Need some good Nog to go with the Cap. Morgans Spiced Rum) As you may have heard, we are postponing the entire Christmas experience until Dad gets home from China. I already have gifts for the family, they're going to poo clumps of silver tinsel when they see what I got them! I spent Christmas eve at a big dinner with all of my colleagues. I went to a ski resort even further north than where I am now. It was bordering Siberia. At one point I walked down to the lake and layed down on the ice spread eagle looking up at the night sky. There were almost more stars than space inbetween! In 10 minutes I saw 3 shooting stars, I have never seen anything like it. Still haven't seen the Aurora Borealis yet though. Oh yeah, and after we left the lake on the way back to the Hotel we saw and hear huge white flashes of light like bombs going off. Maybe it was North Korea stretching their Nuclear Legs. Anyways, the Christmas dinner at the hotel was great. The hotel was so secluded in the world that we had a plane fly a turkety in from Beijing. Once the turkey made it to Harbin, it was cooked at a local Hotel that had a proper oven and driven the 2 hours to the hotel where we were staying. It was worth it. We ate like kings and had a fun Kareoke and dance session afterwards... like so:



So the next mornin' we all headed over to the ski hill and had a grand ole time. It was only a single little bunny hill with a tow lift. Sad really, and nobody except me knew how to ski. So I had fun teaching everyone how. I had a little class of like 12 people.




That was my holiday season...lots has been happening at home with record snow and wind storms. More to come...the ice and snow festival!!! Peace out.

Ok, so its been a month since my last post. That program I was using that allowed me to view my blog gave my laptop hemmoroids and I had to do a system restore. Anyways, its full on winter now. The winds are blowing in from Siberia and the Gobi desert and its friggin cold! The famous Harbin Ice Festival is just around the corner, and we were told by a local taxi driver that because we are artists from Canada, we would be more that welcome to contribute an ice or snow sculpture to the festival..any ideas guys? The running track and sports field beside my place have been flooded to provide a nice big ice rink...I am going to pick up some ice skates this weekend.


This is a view from my place. They have no snow plows or machines to clear snow. People grab shovels like the seven dwarves and just whack away at the ice for hours at a time...I don't have the heart to tell them about salt.

The faulty wiring in my class room caused a 2 inch electrical arc to jump from a computer USB port to my iPod when I tried plugging it it! Destroyed it good, Cap College is reimbursing me though. I cancelled classes for a couple of days until an electrician fixes the problem. Classes are finished January 12, and I will be gennerating final marks for the week after that. Then I come home for 6 weeks!!! WOOOO!!

Harbin Fabric Market

This is me outside a giant fabric martket. Notice the random shit for sale. Also the woman wearing a protective mask in the background. Also a dude shoveling something out of the back of his truck.

This little guy was just hangin out in his moms little cubicle. They just sit inside these tiny rooms either sewing or selling stuff. He is practicing his Tae Kwon Do which he will unleash on his parents for dressing him in that outfit.

These are my awesome Columbia boots. The interior is lined with fur...toasty warm. They only cost me 3o bucks!

HONK KONG

I took a trip to Hong Kong and had a wicked awesome time...(Not too awesome Jacquie) The temperature was like 74 degrees, and a tropical paradise mixed with amazing urban living. This city has it all! The other instructor that went with me ended up catching a horrible stomach bug and was out of commission for the entire trip, so I spent the whole time alone touring the city and the surrounding hills and beaches. It worked out ok though because I just went wherever I wanted to.

Sexy downtown Calloon, kind of like North Van in relation to Vancouver.


This is probably the most amazing coastline I have ever seen. I am on a tour boat gettin' tipsy on Gin and Tonics, watching a nightly light show the city puts on for drunken white trash tourists like myself.


This is looking toward the island of Hong Kong from a ferry that took me across to Calloon. I am on my way to the Hard Rock Cafe.


I went on a tour of a fishing village. I went through this little community of fishing boats where people were living on the water. (I think I saw Kevin Costner)


This was a really cool floating resteraunt in the same harbour as the fishing village. Apparently there was a movie shot here...dunno which one though. Probably something with Jackie Chan.



I made it to the Hard Rock Cafe aslo. This place had a great view and lots of memorabillia. I got a t-shirt and a pin. And the girl at the souvenir shop pawned off like 20 packs of matches on me. I gave most of them away to my students as rewards for answering questions in class... sometimes I use pennies.





The whole city had this really nice balance of urban surroundings and patches of nature like this. The terrain is really uneven in Hong Kong, so you see giant rocks jetting out from everywhere too. I took this picture just outside a huge shopping mall...I think the hat is by Prada.

The folks here do Christmas more seriously than we do in Canada. Its like a serious competition out here.

Saint Nichoris.


WAL-MART (Harbin Style)

I was lucky to run into Jeremy Tin and his younger brother Josh. They are ranked in the top 450 dancers in all of Harin! Go Josh!! (You got a pretty mouth)

I got hit on by these two hot blondes at just inside the entrance to the WAL MART. It was the first time that I truly felt "safe" in this city.

The Manchurian Beaver Project
A WORK IN PROGRESS

I had an idea for a short film, and I got together with a couple of other instructors in the animation department to help develop this story about a Canadian beaver and his travels in Harbin, China. This is the final design for the main character done by designer Dave Brown.






It didn't take long for me to model the beaver, since I had a pretty good design to work from. I still need to do the hands, mouth interior and the straps that dangle on the sides of his hat. I want to use some nice fur on him too. Jacquie, you're going to love the walk this guy ends up having. It will be more like a waddle.

Here is a rough storyboard that Ryan Carter worked out. This sequence is based on a gag where our character attempts to cross a typical street corner in Harbin. (Not an easy task). Our short will be based on these gags, so we can add, remove and swap them around like modules.


I miss everyone a lot now, and I am crossing the days off my FHM calender until I come home in January. I will try to keep you all posted, provided the internet connection holds up. Talk to you soon!

The pig is a sign of good luck and prosperity in China. Also, a small fern provides a breath of fresh air in a land of smoke. My window cill at the office.



I am forced to cook, so I might as well make the best of it. I made this omlette, using a recipe from a website that Jacquie gave me. I love that site babe, thanks. Check out the site guys, just enter the ingredients that you have on hand, and you can have an awesome meal in no time! (And yes Chris Chow I use chopsticks all the time, just not for omlettes)

http://www.recipezaar.com

Here is a small street market on my walk back home from the university. With winter and the cold weather beginning, street vendors have started piling frozen goods on the streets for us to buy. Like frozed squid, fish and shrimp. Things are pretty dead at the time I took the picture. Shortly after I snapped this, I found a little store around the corner of my place that has everything I need including all of the veggies and canned goods I like. I will definately be going back there....oh, and they have rock'n good tufu. (Don't tell Barb I said that).



And this is a view looking Westward, towards you guys at dawn. Taken from my enclosed balcony. I just saw the smoke billowing from the smokestack in the distance, and thought it was a good representative of this city. I think I might buy a donkey and rent it out to people...just a thought.

Another view of my classroom. All of the students choose English names for themselves. The guy in the middle there named himself Snoopy. A few other names are Flower, Kitty, XY, Smile, YoYo, King, Evening, Medicine, Shine, Toy, Seven, Summer and Kuku.

I need an "english" name, any ideas anyone?

Another view of my classroom. All of the students choose English names for themselves. The guy in the middle there name himself Snoopy. A few other names are Flower, Kitty, XY, Smile, YoYo, King, Evening, Medicine, Shine, Toy, Seven, Summer and Kuku.

I need an "english" name, any ideas anyone?

This is the view from the back of my classroom. The building we are in is brand new. As a matter of fact, its still under construction (see bruised ribs in October). Anyways, I have 52 students divided between to classes. I teach 5 days a week, 3.5 hours a day.


So this picture was taken at 8am, before I started class. I have a projection system hooked up to a blazing fast computer. Its a pretty nice set up, with 36 student computers each with a 9x12 Intuos and a 3TB server.

Well surprise, surprise. Here I am. Gather 'round the warmth of the old CRT monitor and listen close. For old Robinson's got a story that'll send shivers down yer spine.


The reason I haven't been posting is not because the internet is too slow out here in Harbin, China. The reason is because they have blocked selected web traffic for users, including blogs. It is clear that Communism is still festering beneath the transparent brown film of Capitalism. The government simply wants to constrict information going out of, and coming into the country. Another example is on my tv. I get 2 english speaking chanels, Discovery and the BBC World News. About 3 weeks ago when North Korea launched their successful nuclear tests, the media flooded the airways and our livingrooms with reports and newscasts of the birth of a new world super power. But not my living room, and not my neighbors. The government wasted no time in cutting off the audio feed to the BBC television signal, in an attempt to retain their ignorance and prevent its citizens from knowledge of an outside world. I am living very close to North Korea right now, and it pisses me off that they would try to keep us from information....thats the deal with the internet too. You can't find any information on communism or anything too sensitive tlike that. They monitor, restrict and filter EVERYTHING that you do on your computer.


I clued into this and did something about it. I found a program called Privoxy. It's kind of like a plugin I use with firefox which provides online annonimity. It routes your IP address through a different server everytime, allowing you to surf and skip without being noticed. It is the only reason you are reading this now. As soon as I installed it, I was able to get back onto and update my blog site....those fuckers. I have never seen anything like it.

Anyways, it looks like I have won the battle for now and will continue to keep you updated with exiting news here in Northern China. In the meantime, check out some of the new pics I grabbed recently. It snowed last week, but it didn't stay on the ground....its getting cold though. And the ice festival is coming soon! Talk to you soon. I hope everyone's life isn't too "Chaotic" right now. (Hang in there guys). Later.

Arron

An eagle wood carving, 8 foot wingspan.
The giant bansai trees here are unreal, this one was so huge, too bad we cant take them home to Canada, they were really cheap here!
This is a local couple playing ping pong on a permanent outdoor table in a park.
This guy is always here just outside the gate of my apartment grounds. He fixes tires and wheels for passersby.
I have never seen anything like these carvings before. They had dozens of stores like this at this market we went to.

Some MORE pictures

These are some sort of mushroom bansai thing. It just looked cool, I had to take a picture. I am at a local flower market.

Some pictures

Hey all, Jacquie here. Arron's having some problems posting new pictures/comments (they have insanely slow internet connections over there for some reason...like, DIAL-UP speeds) so be patient.

He's doing well right now. He started teaching last week and is really enjoying it. He's glad he put his lesson plans together BEFORE he got to China!

As for the food situation, it's getting better. He's embraced tofu, it's been his saviour. Protein, people...protein. Also, he's been chowing down on lots of fruits and veggies, junk food and I believe he's finally tried chicken and hasn't had any problems.

What else...hmm....that's about it, really. He's done some other stuff but to write about it just won't do it justice. When he posts (or sends me) pictures, we'll elaborate on them.

So, yeah...gotta go work now. Talk with everyone later!

I thought you all might like to know what the standard connections look like over here. They are a little different. I was surprised to see that all outlets in my apartment included one western style socket as well as a standard Chinese outlet. Oh, and the light switches are opposite from ours. Up is off and down is on. Go figure. I also have like 8 cable connections for some reason. I bought one of those international converters, which has come in handy.

This is my office at the university. Everything here is under lock and key. Every drawer, every door. It's the land of pirates, and nobody can be trusted. It's a different world over here.





One of the cool things about this gig is the monster computer I got. Two Duo Core proccessors (Quad Core) with 8 Gb RAM! These things are absolute beasts! Mmmmm power.....

A Wild and Crazy Saturday Night in Harbin, China:

This is Arron, Mansoor, Mark and Gary. They put on their party shoes and headed out for some beers on Centre Street. Not a very happenin' place on a Saturday night, apparently, because everything was closed. Except good ol' McDonalds. Big Mac's for all! They did end up getting a beer at a place called "USA Bucks". It was also a coffee bar. It had stereotypical American nostalgia all over inside.
Arron in front of "USA Bucks". Green sign over there kinda looks like a Starbucks sign, n'est pas?