holidays

as the holidays approach I realize that I havent been around the states for a a festive season for a long time. I am really lucky with the prospects for this year. I get to spend thanksgiving with my rents and grandmother in South Carolina(i know but one cant have it all) and the best part is i get to help make the turkey dinner. It will be my mother and I just like when I was a kid except this time I will get to have some wine while preparing and not have to sneak off to get intoxicated. I am actually looking forward to the turkey even though I havent been eating meat for the last 5 months. I figured that if I am going to eat one meal with meat it would be one that tastes the same as it did half my life ago when i last had it. I hope it is as good as I remember and not just nostalgia skewing the memories. Then it is to the other holiday. Xmas. And again i am in luck. I get a few days off from school so I will have time to spend Xmas with my favorite company. ME. I get to spend the entire vacation reading and lounging and generally doing whatever I want. Its perfect really. No one to entertain, no one to be entertained by. I couldnt have planned it better. Durham is amazing still, I have a few bars that i frequent, I have met lots of interesting people and I like the commute to work and downtown. 3 miles on a bike trail is ideal. Its getting colder and the mornings there is frost on the grass when I leave, makes me so happy to be on a bike where i can look at it and be awed.

crash

Well I wish I could relate the whole story in precise detail but things are a bit fuzzy and some parts are missing all together. Here is what I do know. Last night at the beer garden, wait let me go back a bit, before heading out to the beer garden I decided to make use of a few mangoes that had gotten too ripe in my home, so I threw them in a blender with some ice and a bit of yogurt and a few shots of brandy. A few seconds later I had a delicious little starter cocktail. Then I saw the bottle of brandy sitting there and decided to do a shot or two, you know predrinking helps to keep a night on the cheap. So after that I hopped my trusty bike and off I went. I made it to the beer garden no problems. It is after all only 15 minutes away. Met a few friends there and had a whole bunch of beer. There is of course food served there as well but i didnt feel like eating so I just drank and drank. Then it was time to go home, now here is where it gets a bit fuzzy. I got my bike, got on rode around the first corner and there was a curb that leapt out of nowhere into my bike tire. I of course was pitched off my bike onto the sidewalk where I landed and scraped the shit out of my knee. I also seem to have bruised my elbow and side quite a bit. In all it wasnt so bad. That was the first minute or two of the bike journey home. I managed to ride more or less safely home and a a greatly diminished speed. I think I should get a helmet or at least try not to get so drunk and then ride. I probably will just buy the helmet geeky or not I dont want to smash my noodle on to the pavement.I did of course wake up this morning feeling great except for the knee elbow and side. Such is life.

24

Did I mention that I biked 24 miles yesterday? I went out to the fragrant mountain just outside the city, it was quite a ride and after arriving I rested for about 10 minutes and then biked back home. I showered and then went out for dinner and drinks. A most productive day. I even managed to get a bit of sun while riding on my bike. The city is interesting as the center is jammed with people but once I got outside of the 5th ring it really opened up, few cars, almost no tall buildings. Strange. I can remember being in boston and even after exiting the city there would be office parks where people worked but here it just doesnt seem to be the case. I am not sure what that says about land management and zoning but it was remarkable to see first hand the city just stop being the city. I do love to bike and as the weather gets warmer I encourage all of you to try to get out and about at least two times every month on a bike journey. I dont think you will regret it.

while it lasted

Well spring slipped away here. It has gotten windy and cold and rainy. Not too much fun for me. The thing is the other day I went to a bar for some cheap beer and to chat with friends and it is about a 15 minute bike ride to the bar, drank a few paid my tab and as I left it began to rain. Now I must confess that I am not the best prepared for the weather when it happens. I typically wear the bare minimum of clothes. If I could be naked year round I would. So I was in shorts and a shirt even though it was cold when I had left for the bar and the rain was freezing. I made it home without incident just soaked to the bone , pulled off my wet clothes and took a hot shower. All is well that ends well. I am getting ready now for a new week of classes this is week 5 just 10 more then I am on a long summer holiday. I still havent figured out where to go. I will keep you posted.

groovin

On a Sunday afternoon. Actually it is a Tuesday afternoon. But I am still groovin. I have had a good week so far enjoyed the classes that I am teaching and feel like I made some real progress in them, hoping to continue the trend with the rest of the classes this week. I rode my bike to work at the other college today , it takes about 25 minutes to get from this college to the other one, but all 25 minutes are in bike lanes, dedicated separated bike lanes with special lights at the intersections and all. It is something that the US really needs to get cracking on. No urban center should be allowed to widen the roads to accommodate heavier traffic without the inclusion of dedicated bike lanes for us non-drivers. I realize that it is impractical to get around in some places without a car, but I also lived in enough places to realize that if people are given the safe and relatively convenient option of biking to work or using electric scooters(all the rage here) many people will utilize that option. Now I know that it is impossible to bike across Houston or LA but many residents of those cities dont ever cross the city but live in their districts, and urban planning needs to be reinvented. Without the change in how we relate to the city around us we will continually fall back on what we are comfortable and familiar with. Plus why not give bikes their own lanes those people pay taxes too. They have a right to the benefit of those taxes. Why should they continue to pay for services that are not used by them without others reciprocating? Just a thought as I waited for the little bike light to go from red to green. I think I will spend the 20 RMB I saved by not cabbing it to the other job on beer. Then I can bike drunk at night. I wont get killed or run over as I will be in a bikes only lane.

Hey wait I gotta new complaint

Not really I just had nirvana in my head and wanted it out. So I got my bike back from the dudes and it is slammin now I am so happy that it is just what i wanted. And to make my life here in beijing even better I went for a run yesterday and I had been running in the park across from my house but it only goes for about 1 kilometer before you have to cross the street the first street is ok but the next one is a big street and it is a pain in the ass. So yesterday I went to the other corner and ran along the canal along a path that is a walking path, it goes on for about 2.5 kilometers without any interruption. So nice, just run and tune the world out and run. I will be going there for my runs from now on I think. But there is some bad news. I have tried twice in the last two days to go and play football(soccer) on the small field my school has and both times the thing has been locked. I must find out how to get it opened and when the hours are. As you probably noticed I have a bit more free time as I get into my groove at planning the lessons. I still have a few powerpoints to make so I gotta run.

bike

So this morning i woke up early went to fet the food i will need for the weeek and then went to buy a bike. Thats right people I am highly mobile and I am not afraid to use it. I got a used bike for pretty cheap. I was simply torn as to what to do, you see there is a used bike shop here in beijing and i went in and looked around they had some ok bike but nothing that blew me away. Then upon leaving the store I was approached by a shady character that wanted to sell me a bike. He wanted to know what kind of bike I wanted, now we all know that he was trafficking in stolen goods and if I bought a bike from him I would be contributing to bike theft in the city I reside. But his prices were really good, like silly good, like how can you say no good. Alas I walked away from him and went back to the used store and bought a bike i dont love but it is ok and it isnt stolen. I have had too many bikes stolen to contribute to that cycle, I just couldnt do it. I know that my refusal to buy a stolen bike will have little effect on the overall crime in this city, but if you have a bike be glad that there is at least one person who wont buy it if it gets stolen. I could have saved a few hundred RMB but it just didnt seem worth it to me. I rode my new steed home and now I have to get a bit of work dsone on it at the bike shop around the corner from my house. It should be ready at the end of the weekend. Look out world I am coming to get you.