I’m not sure exactly where to begin so I am just gonna’ jump in and swim around for a while.  I’ll probably be flailing so you may want to grab a towel.

I really can’t believe it’s been more than a month since I last posted something here but there it is staring me in the face , June 1st.  A number of people have written asking about me and wondering what is going on, if I am all right and that sort of thing and I really appreciate the concern.  The truth is that I am actually doing fairly well even though I do find myself struggling in some areas.  As a result I am having a hard time getting motivated to do any of the “extra” stuff.  This blog is but one of the casualties.  I have been MIA from Facebook, Flickr and Twitter as well and as I begin to write this there are still more than 200 emails I should reply to.

Yes, even in China life sometimes gets in the way.  I have been busy finishing up three separate assignments and after months of what I sometimes felt was the nitpicking to end all nitpicking we were able to put all three to bed over the past two days.  More on that in a future post.

I still need to finish the re-design of this blog and get it launched.  It is actually pretty much ready to go but I need to give Ryan over at Dao By Design some feedback and have him apply the finishing touches.  As simple as that sounds I somehow have managed to not get it done (sorry Ryan).  That reminds me, I’ll be giving out the new blog address here soon and then we’ll have an official launch in the next month or so.  If that weren’t enough, my friend Nik Tjhin has been patiently trying to get me to finish an interview so it can be included in the September launch of his new travel magazine.  Nik’s Unearthing Asia website is a great “Travel Zine” focusing on culture, lifestyle and attractions all around Asia and he is making a foray into print now as well.  Check out the website but be prepared to spend some time there.  Nik and Ryan, before Monday morning.  Really.  No really I can do it this time.

I guess the biggest difficulty for me of late has been the inability to take any photographs or more accurately the inability for me to take any photos I like. Suddenly it feels too much like work.  Seriously, I haven’t liked a single shot I’ve taken in months. Maybe it has something to do with shooting on assignment and not taking (or making) the time to shoot what I want to shoot.  Now don’t misconstrue anything.  I consider myself fortunate and I’m happy to be working and I am learning a lot in the process.  I am struggling nonetheless.

Perhaps another reason for the lack of motivation is some preoccupation with my health. While somewhat stabilized things always seem to be in a sate of flux.  This whole getting old(er) thing really does stink as it truly is always something.  Since I last wrote I have dealt with another bout of kidney stones.  I really can’t recommend having kidney stones in Liuzhou.  Not one of the yahoos fine medical professionals I’ve encountered here seem to have the mathematical ability to figure out the correct narcotic dosage for a 200 (give or take) pound man.  I am thinking that probably merits its own future entry.

I also find myself dealing with an unexpected family issue.  Actually the entire family is “dealing” and it is not so difficult or in any way unpleasant or even entirely unexpected I guess.  Still, it is different for everybody concerned and we are all still adjusting.  It is a situation full of opportunity and promise.  I am sure one day I’ll write about this as well but I am not at all sure how to share it here now and give it the weight it deserves.  One day…

What else…

The Internet has been sucky here of late.  The Chinese powers that be have climbed to the top of The Great Firewall and in their infinite wisdom have permanently blocked Facebook and Twitter.  Flickr was also gone for a while and even this blog via wordpress.com has been blocked for months.  Normally I would be nothing more than slightly annoyed by it all.  I was always able to get over the firewall but lately even my trusty Witopia VPN has been weirding out.  I am testing a new VPN service this week.  So far so good.  In conjunction with the access issues I was also without a computer for quite a while.  Just how out of touch was I?  Thanks for asking, please allow me to illustrate…

I recently walked around Liuzhou for two days thinking Michael Jordan had died of a heart attack.  One of my students, after chasing me down over two city blocks in the sweltering mid-day heat excitedly told me the shocking news.  I remember thinking, “Man, if it can happen to Jordan then what chance do I have?”  It was only by chance that I saw the local rag a couple of days later and realized her mistake.

For those who have asked, the typhoons have not had much of an impact here in Liuzhou but we did have our own flood to deal with last month.  Flooding is fairly routine here and the locals somehow “deal” with the annual fallout.  Still, this year saw the worst flooding in years.  Remarkably the entire mess was cleaned up in just a couple of days… almost all of it done by hand.

Here a Liuzhou retailer begins the arduous task of removing ankle deep mud from the garage under his shop. You can see the high-water mark along the back wall and on the pillars.

The Cleanup

Mr. Zhao (below) is a Liuzhou factory worker and has lived in the same ground-floor riverfront apartment for a little more than 10 years.  The building will soon be demolished to make way for a mega shopping-housing complex that begins in the city center and extends more than three city blocks to the riverfront.  He was lamenting that the demolition hadn’t come sooner, along with his relocation settlement.  As he looked down at his flooded apartment he was mostly concerned about the television and air conditioner, explaining that his furniture was rubbish even before the flood!  Only later did I understand that he was out of town when the flood waters began to rise, else he would have at least removed the TV.  He said this was the fifth time water had entered the building since he moved in but this year was the first time the apartment flooded past the ceiling.  The place where he is standing was covered when the flood peaked three hours earlier.  Neighbors had already begun cleaning up.

Maybe Tomorrow

Oh, I spent a week teaching 15 middle school students English.  I sold out and did it for the money.  I mean I figured how bad could it be, right?  Yes I am an idiot.  It was designed as a summer English camp and I taught the brats angels in my house from 9:30 until 5:30 for 6 days straight.  I had so many brilliant ideas on the morning of day one but it all eroded into blissful (for the kids) chaos by the end of day two.  I mean I totally lost control.  Truly a case of the inmates running the asylum.  I never saw it coming.  My neighbors hate me.  I’m fairly certain some of the kids hate me.  My dog was hating me but I think she is coming around.  Never again.  To any of you middle school teachers out there… RESPECT!

My daughter Natalie is traipsing around Europe for a month.  She has already been to London, Paris, Florence and Cinque Terre.  She is traveling with three other girls and I think they are making their way to Switzerland today.  The girls all go to The University of Denver and they are studying abroad in France this next semester and decided to “do” Europe before classes begin.  You can read about Natalie’s exploits on her blog here. If you head over there leave her a note, I’m sure she’ll be excited to hear from you.

Oh and my youngest, Nick, has decided (for a variety of reasons) that he wants to try and graduate from High School a year early so he can go to college a year early and eventually begin to work a year earlier.  Yeah I know.  Now I have no doubt as to whether or not he can do it but I am still not totally convinced it is the right thing to do. Whatever the eventual outcome, it won’t be easy.  His targets included Northwestern, Columbia, Penn and Berkeley.  Please pray for scholarships.  Or you could just send money. The boy turns 17 TODAY!

If I owe you email, look for it over the weekend.  I truly hope you’ll find it!

Peace!

It’s Children’s Day.  The little hellions darlings are running around all over the city wreaking havoc spreading joy.  I kid.  I kid because I love.  In honor of Children’s Day, here are a few shots of little Chinese angels I’ve collected over the past couple of years.  I’ve tried to include a variety of situations and emotions.  Here… is the future of China.

Defiance

Flowers & Fish

Schoolyard Buddies

Sneaking A Peak

Screaming In Nanning

Wink

Stickylicious

Water Baby

Zong Houpu

Baby Yao Number Three

Just click on the image to find out more about each shot.

So, yes, I have once again fallen behind.  The new blog/website design is well underway and I hope to have it up and running very soon.  I am also waiting to see the edited version of the photo-documentary on the opera singers and we are trying to get the photo tourism business up and running before we completely miss the summer travel window.  I am also planning my son’s summer visit.  Throw in the teaching responsibilities and trips to the hospital and, well, I think you get the picture.  Trying to stay of top of everything is proving to be difficult.  It leaves very little time to actually write or take photographs.

If you are one of the folks I owe email, know I haven’t forgotten about you.  I hope to get back to everyone this week.  Yes, I know I’ve said that before.

Peace!

If you’re a photographer, China has a lot of “Great Walls”!  Here’s a small collection…

Nanning

Luzhai

Liuzhou

Liuzhou

Rongshui

Liuzhou

Luzhai

Liuzhou

Liuzhou

Liuzhou

Many of these walls are gone now, razed in the name of progress.  I shot walls a lot during my first few months in China but somehow got away from it.  It may be time to for me to once again read the writing on the wall.

Gearing up for the weekend here, it’s hot and muggy already.  I’ll be shooting, editing and writing most of the next four days.  I love my gig.  I’ll get something else up soon with more of an update on life here in South China.

Peace!

A follow up to this post, I am uploading a few more images of “The Beggar”, as played by 68 year-old Wei Qing.  Mr. Wei is a true performer, in that he comes to life on-stage.  In reality, he’s a bit of a recluse.  He lives alone is a small dreary apartment, stuffed full of the artifacts from his life.  He figures prominently in the upcoming photo-documentary.

There is a nice collection of porcelain being shown this weekend in Liuzhou.  A group selling vases, pots and figurines has set up shop near The People’s Square.  I went down on the recommendation of a friend and took the macro lens along.  I gather most of the porcelain comes from Jingdezhen in Jiangxi Province, which I also gather is famous for it’s China “china”.  This is all mass-produced stuff, not prized individual works of art but that’s not to say the quality isn’t good, far from it in fact.  Taking into consideration the quality and the post-bartered price, I picked up a few bargains.  How much you ask?  I will tell you that while I walked in, I had to take a taxi out.  Taxi  full = wallet empty.  Thanks Ken.

Chasing The Green Dragon

Chasing The Blue Dragon

Jiangxi Porcelain 9

Red Plate Porcelain

Porcelain Mao

The Chairman did NOT make it home with me but the other pieces you see here are now adding some “flava’” to the humble abode.  The place needed some color to play off the one red wall and and 21 white walls.  Yeah.  I counted.  I got nothin’ but time.  You can see more of the pottery here.

26C (79F) here as I write this, cloudy and looks like it could rain any moment.  The humidity is still there but compared to this time last year, it’s quite comfortable.  I got the go-ahead to ramp up the workout regimen, beginning tomorrow I expect that muscular pain (and hopefully not heart pain) will be the norm for a while.

I may not be around much for a couple of days, still pulling ideas together for the blog/website re-design and I need to get all that info relayed to Ryan McLaughlin over at Dao By Design.  I am hoping to have it up and running with the next few weeks.

See ya when I see ya!

This is a collection of photographs created by the infamous Flickr Explore algorithm.  It’s hard to say what the criteria is really.  It involves the aforementioned algorithm (a better kept secret than even the Colonels’ chicken recipe), as well as tit-for-tat relationships and to a somewhat lesser extent, photo quality.  I’m not sure what it really says about the photography, but I do dig the posters.

If you’ve been posting your photos at Flickr, you can see how many of your images have “made” explore by checking out fd’s Flickr Toys at Big Huge Labs.  You can do a lot of fun stuff with your photos there as well, check it out.

So, what else in my little world…

For some reason the Liuzhou  internet is blazing this morning,  faster than at any other time in the past couple of years.  I have actually been watching streaming video from ESPN for a good part of the morning.  I usually can’t do that.  There isn’t even any lag.  The downside is that this blog is once again being blocked by The Great Firewall.  Hopefully that won’t be a problem much longer.  I am closer to getting my new site  (dedicated domain) up and running but finding the time to get the parameters fleshed out and sent to the designer (sorry dude) is proving to be a bear.  I have been working on it, but man, I am overwhelmed with all the choices.  Paralyzed really, I mean come on!  In the past few weeks, not only have I been trying to choose a “look” and a “feel” for the new blog, there  are all these other considerations. to  be made.  Case in point?  I have been moving forward with  just a Flickr of hope that I might somehow StumbleUpon something del.icio.us to digg up and put into Facebook.  If I’m lucky, maybe I’ll create some buzz and people will see the site and then those who have reddit will buy all my work, the whole kit and kaboodle!

In the meantime, I have to be content relaxing here on the TweetDeck, sipping lemonade as I listen to the twitter of the native South China birds.

Speaking of web design, I’ve been meaning to give a nod to Ryan McLaughlin for a while now.  Ryan runs Dao By Design, a comprehensive offering of design and development services for the web.   He puts together incredible, professional web presentations and does so at a price that won’t break the bank.  As important to me, he’s good people.  Drop in and take a look around.

Go Nuggets!

I hardly noticed the Labor Day holiday.  After having to put so much “stuff” on the back burner over the past few weeks, I’ve become a man on a mission as I try my best to get caught up with everything and everybody.  I did finally make it out with the camera for a few hours Sunday afternoon.  I walked over to Yu Feng Park and it was… amazing.  The opera troupe was there, performing on the main stage to a large and appreciative holiday crowd.  As usual, I was treated like royalty.  Lovely Mrs. Wang escorted me “backstage” where she deposited me on my customary pink plastic stool and I got right to work.  I have become a familiar face by now.  So much so that the old ladies, both the performers and those in the crowd, are comfortable peppering me with questions while force-feeding me peanuts, bananas, and traditional buns filled with “stuff”.  I don’t much like the “stuff”.  The shooting conditions were just about perfect.  It was sunny, but the light was filtered by huge leafy trees surrounding the stage .  It was the kind of light photographers dream about.  So, without further ado, please allow me to present the stars of the show…

The Landlord

The Beggar

The Stubborn Sister

The Prince

The Father

The Thief

The Timid Sister

The Empress Dowager

Some of you may remember that I am working on a photo documentary featuring this group, to read more about that just click here.  This is probably the final shoot with these guys before the piece is published in June.  I’ll share these performance portraits here today and post more from this session soon.  I had a blast yesterday.  I hope you enjoy looking at them as much as I enjoyed making them.

So, like I said, a lot of progress in the last few days as far as getting caught up.  There is still a lot to do but I am actually believing now that I’ll get it all done (I was having my doubts).  Until next time, back to work!

Peace!

I am still plowing through memory cards from the recent trip to Rongshui County, trying to get at least a few shots processed before I am forced into overdrive trying to finish up the piece on the retired opera performers.  I am sharing some more shots today from the rice paddy and then tomorrow I’ll try to write more about our Miao village experience to include some images from that stop as well.

You might remember from the previous post, that after some initial hesitation, Bob and I traipsed right into the middle of the rice paddies.  I nearly fell into the drink twice.  The sight of two large laowai with camera and bags in tow was cause for curious glances and the  occasional chuckle that comes from a good inside joke.  Still, as curious as these folks obviously were, they never stopped working for more than a second or two.  There were friendly, smiling but they were all definitely focused on the task at hand.  It’s hard, backbreaking work.  I was struck by the sheer size of the workforce and the range in age.  There were teens as young as 14 or 15 on up to some elderly ladies who must have been well into their 60’s, perhaps even older.   This foot belongs to a young girl in her 20’s, caught as she was trudging out of the paddy to get more seedlings.  Yes, her foot looks like it belongs to someone much older.  Like I said, it’s punishing work.

Paddy Pedi

This stout mud-spattered young man had spent the morning on the business end of a water buffalo.  A small group had gathered  at one end of the field under the sparse shade of a few trees and there was a fairly heated discussion going on.  Probably about whether or not they could get away with taking our cameras and chasing us away back to the car.  I kid.  I kid because I love.  Actually, I have no idea what they were talking about.  In this minority controlled area of Guangxi, the local dialects are impossible for me.

Jackson Pollack in Guangxi

Here’s one of the many elderly women we saw that day, she’s headed back to the fields here after her lunch break.  The women were almost all dressed in a similar way, with longer slacks they would roll up before heading into the field.  Younger girls favored t-shirts instead of blouses and all the men had on shorts.  I am always amazed by the elderly women of rural China, they show a vigor and vitality of western women half their age.  In the two large fields we stopped in, I estimate the ratio of working women to men was about 2 to 1.  Maybe that’s not representative of China as a hole but that’s what I saw on this day.

Hi Hoe!

No more time now, I have to get out and run some errands, fighting the Labor Day Holiday crowds in the process.  I broke my glasses a while back and I’ve been too busy to get a new pair, so today is the day.  As usual, I’ll take the camera along, just in case I come across something.

Peace!

During my trip last week to Rongshui County, I was able to observe and photograph some aging but still very elegant women in a small Miao village.  Robert Lio, his wife Xiao and I, along with Xiao’s cousin (he drove) made our way to this particular village because it was supposed to be “authentic”.  An out of the way place that didn’t usually cater to tourists.  It was indeed out of the way, and while they weren’t set up for it, they did actually cater to us pretty well.  Only one problem.  There was hardly anybody there!  As it turned out, a baby had been born and most of the village had made their way into town (no small feat) to see the baby.

As is often the case, it was probably better the way it turned out, more intimate somehow. A precocious ten year old served as our guide, his young uncle made lunch, and there were all these old gals who came around and sat down to watch us eat.  The light was low, creating a lot of good shadows and I noticed the hands of these two women in particular.  They sat perfectly still during the entire meal, never saying a word.  Even as I raised the camera, fooling around for what seemed like an eternity trying to get the exposure right, even then, they didn’t flinch.

Hands of Rongshui I

When I got home and began to process the photos I was struck by how extreme the hands were.  What I mean is, that while they are clearly weathered and worn from years of hardship, they were still somehow very beautiful to me.  When I look closely, I still see the hands of  young Miao beauties with all the dreams of their youth intact.

Hands of Rongshui II

So, I’ll be away for a day or two I think, returning to school and the students and well, work.  I’ll have more on the trip to Rongshui soon, it was an interesting day.  As a precursor, I can NOT recommend the home-made Miao moonshine rice wine.

Hasta!

]]> http://expatriategames.wordpress.com/2009/04/29/the-hand-of-china/feed/ 10 Expatriate Games Hands of Rongshui I Hands of Rongshui II Bookmark and Share http://expatriategames.wordpress.com/2009/04/27/traveling-with-bob/ http://expatriategames.wordpress.com/2009/04/27/traveling-with-bob/#comments Mon, 27 Apr 2009 08:31:04 +0000 Expatriate Games http://expatriategames.wordpress.com/?p=1276 ]]>

Last week I was able to spend the day with Robert Lio and his wife Xiao up in Rongshui County.  Rongshui is just north of Liuzhou and is a predominantly rural farming area dotted throughout with minority villages.  Robert, Xiao and their two youngest kids were making a whirlwind tour of China so we only had the one day together before heading off in different directions.  We hired a driver (Xiao’s cousin) and took off with no itinerary or plan of any kind.  We decided we would just drive, stop wherever and whenever we wanted and load up some memory cards.

The first place we stopped (below) was a large wide open field at the base of some karst mountains.  There were hundreds of people scattered around the paddy fields planting rice.  This guy kind of reminded me of a Crane in the water.

Paddy Dance

We sauntered through without going too deep into the fields, as there was a wide concrete road smack-dab in the middle.  It’s a hard life. for these folks.  As hard as it is, we were only met with friendly smiles.  I found it interesting that not one soul stopped working.  On the way out I somehow managed to make yet another Chinese kid cry (number 342) before we climbed back into the car and headed on down the road.

Bamboo Hat & Basket

We went another 20 kilometers or so before coming across a huge open space on our left with the largest collection of paddy fields I have  personally seen so far in China.  We drove in, getting as close as we could to where the majority the villagers were working and then walked the rest of the way in on foot.  I am not sure if I can describe it in a way that does it justice.  There were hundreds of folks of all ages in that space planting rice.  Everywhere I looked, people in colorful clothing dotted the landscape.  I remember thinking it was like a show, a choreographed  performance just for Robert and I.  Everyone was  hard at work with their own unique set of tasks.  It had to be nearly all of the local community, it may have been thousands actually, I’m not certain.  Just trust me when I say it was a lot of people.

We snaked our way into the paddy, doing our best to avoid the calf deep mud but I soon realized it was a futile effort.  With no doubt in my mind that we were going to get wet, I figured what the heck, made the ill-fated first step and plowed on through.  The locals were pretty surprised to see us walk into the fields and it was kinda’ funny to see all the double takes.  Still, as curious as they were, not one person stopped working.

Bob got some great shots but his cameras took a beating.  This particular farmer laughed (very hard) when he realized his water buffalo had splashed Bob.  I seem to remember laughing too.  A little.  Of course getting his camera equipment messed up wasn’t funny but I had to laugh because the farmer found it so amusing!  I also realized, even at 51, I still like to play in the mud.

Whatever it Takes

Finally, here’s Bob’s mud-spattered D300 after our foray into the rice paddy.  I got away unscathed except for a nice layer of mud covering my Adidas trainers.  The look on Xiao’s cousin’s face (the driver) as I pretended I was climbing into his car without taking off my shoes?  That was priceless.

Tools

It was a good day.  We eventually made it to a remote Miao village, only to discover there was (almost) nobody home!  I’ll write more about that soon and I have a lot of photos still to post from the day.

I am back in Liuzhou, feeling good, getting stronger and finally getting caught up with everything and most everybody.  I’ll be back at school on Wednesday and I hope I’ll soon be into some sort of normal routine again.  If I owe you email, trust me, it’s coming soon.  I really mean it this time!

I can see my blog is blocked again in China.  I didn’t expect that being unblocked was going to last much longer, I’ll soon have the new website up and running.  Until next time…

Peace!