As many of you know, safety is my number one priority in life. Just ask Stacy. So, today, when I noticed the gentleman in the video below in an unsafe situation and then quickly realize the error of his ways and remedy the situation with an appropriate safety precaution, I was more than relieved.
Here is the scenario you are about to see: a man welding on the sidewalk without face protection. However, only moments into the weld, he realizes the inherent danger and arrives at a safe, practical solution: a homemade welding mask, consisting of a sheet of newspaper to protect his money-maker, with a pair of sunglasses stuck through the eye holes cut into the newspaper to protect (*?*) his eyes.
Safety close-up:
This job site is now Aaron O'Hare Safety Certified.
Football season has started back up, and we are using the slingbox like crazy.
Our teams:
NFL - Green Bay Packers
College - Carolina & Notre Dame
In America on Saturdays we would just have football on all day long. It was so much fun. I would make chili, and football would be on while we were doing things around the house, stopping to watch big plays or the games we really wanted to see. But now, those days are over. Football comes on in the middle of our Saturday night. So only when Carolina has a football game, and Notre Dame has one at a different time will be awake for more than one game....and I'm not sure that I'll even be able to stay awake for all that.
But beyond football, this summer we got into the other football...and no, I don't mean soccer. I mean rugby. The game that helped start our version of football. It's strange watching it, because I am so used to the rules of football, that it really throws me off when they don't do things they would do football.....like when they go down in rugby, the guy who hit the ground can push the ball back through his legs to one of his players, who then picks it up off the ground and just keeps playing. The first time I saw this, I was like what??! How can that be? He is DOWN. But now, I've gotten used to it, and it is pretty amusing to watch the guys with their faces smashed in the ground passing the ball back between their legs. (Forgive me if there are any rugby fans out there who are dismayed at my lack of rugby knowledge.)
We became All Blacks fans this summer (the New Zealand rugby team) watching the Tri-Nations cup with some Kiwi friends here in the city:
America actually is in the Rugby World Cup. Our first game is against Ireland.....so Aaron somehow feels conflicted about who to cheer for. If y'all know my husband, you know why that is confusing to me. He loves America. I know he loves his Irish heritage, but not pulling for America? It cannot be.
New Goal (to be achieved by the end of the World Cup): Learn the Haka:
Adventure racing is a sport, or actually a "multi-discipline endurance competition," that I have been getting more and more interested in over the last two years or so. No two races require exactly the same combination of disciplines, but most races, which range in length from 8 hours to up to 10 days or more, generally involve at least some combination of trail running, mountain biking, orienteering, climbing and/or rappelling, and paddling.
Recently, I remembered that the biggest such race in Asia takes place somewhere close to where we live, so I looked it up and found that the 2011 Red Bull Mountain Quest would be taking place the weekend of September 3, so Stacy and I bought train tickets and headed out for a whirlwind weekend to check it out.
Stacy and I on the upper lip of the karst
Mostly, I just want to post video and pictures of the event, but I am trying to give enough context to make it all make sense. The event took place in a karst, which is a natural rock feature similar to the Grand Canyon, but instead of being open-top canyons, caves and natural rock bridges have been formed as water flows through the soft limestone.
This specific race has 15 co-ed, four-person teams from all over the world (America, New Zealand, China, France, etc.) racing for three days through the karst landscape. Teams navigate with a map and compass, kayaking, rappelling, running cross country, and mountain biking from one checkpoint to another.
Sadly for us, because of the rugged nature of the course, much of the activity did not lend itself to spectating, but on the race director's recommendation, Stacy and I positioned ourselves to see the rappelling, which was done in pairs off of a bridge. The course director described it as "spectacular," and I would have to agree. See for yourself:
On top of the bridge
The bridge racers must rappel off of: 500 ft. straight down
We arrived as race organizers were setting up the rappel and were able to see the whole event, from start to finish. Here they are rigging the scaffold and the ropes:
See the first team to arrive at the bridge rappel all the way down:
And finally, two teams are rappelling while a third, which has finished the rappel, links up with their other members and begins the trail run:
By the end of the race, we had met some students who were acting as interpreters for race teams, and volunteered to be a part of next year's squad of interpreters. Hopefully they will remember to call us...
Playboy = clothing brand for men (maybe women? I've only seen men wearing it).
In America
KFC = fast food restaurant, but not the most popular of the fast food joints.
In Asia
KFC= by far the most popular and a high end fast food restaurant, where you go to show your wealth. The one near our house is in the same shopping center as a Burberry, Coach, Louis Vuitton
Check out this article to see what other companies (ones you know are doing it big in Asia) - Huge in Asia
This was on our door when we got home .
It says that we are a civilized household.
When we got back from visiting our friends, we noticed that almost all of the stores were closed in our neighborhood; no one was sitting at tables along the street (and there were no tables on the street); everything seemed clean and quiet. It was strange. We asked our cab driver if it was a holiday, but he said no.
Then, we learned from Asian Kate that while we were gone the Cheng Guan ("City Manage" as it is translated on the side of their cars) came through and were bribing stores with gifts to close shops for two days. They painted white stripes on the sidewalks, telling people to park their bikes only in those spots. They kicked all of the mah jong tables off of the streets. They put up rods in the sidewalk to prevent cars from driving on it. Officials from Beijing came to town for two days to see if our city is a "civilized" city, so our neighborhood was being forced to clean up.
There were police & "city manage" on every corner for two days. It was amazing. I could walk the streets without dodging boxes, people, bikes, cars, etc. It was quiet and peaceful in the neighborhood. Amazing.
Once those two days were over, it was back to business as usual.
just a bunch of bikes with culture, parking within the white lines.
all restaurants were closed. there was nowhere to eat. civilized people don't eat.
Where the uncivilized mah jong playing used to happen.
new civilized trash bins, already slightly cultured.
no driving on the sidewalk. civilized people use roads.
Business is back to normal. Four poles have been taken out.
Cars are on the sidewalk, and that guy is shooting snot rockets.
That used to be the earliest that you could buy train tickets in China. Now, it's only five days in advance.
FIVE.
Ten days in advance seemed a little inconvenient during peak seasons, because you pretty much have to "get in line" in a culture that doesn't get in line early at the train ticket office, hoping that by the time you get there you have a clear enough mind to order the right date, time, and kind of tickets you want for the train, and hope that they'll still have tickets left. It's like when I tried to buy tickets for Jack Johnson on ticketmaster.com the day they went on sale and the lawn seats were already sold out by the time I got through.
Now it's five days in advance. And it is currently a peak season for train tickets, since students are leaving their homes and training to the cities where they go to school. So when, Aaron and I trained to visit friends, arriving five days before we wanted to return home, we immediately got in line at the ticket counter to buy our return tickets. We waited in line for an hour at 7:30 am, and by the time we got to the counter at 8:30am - the tickets had already been sold out for all of the trains going back to our city for the day we wanted to go back. The ticket office had only been open for 3 hours!
After failing the second day to come up with another option for how to get back home (and being told it would be best if we could just wait to go back home until the middle of September), we decided to get up at 5:00 in the morning and get a ride to the train station so we could be in line when the tickets went on sale. On our way to the train station, our driver could not understand why we would need to get up so early. Then we pulled up to the train station. It was busier than it was the other day.
We got in line, then noticed a line that had no people in it, labeled for "important people." Deciding I was important enough, or at least I could play dumb and say I can't read and/or speak Chinese, I got in the VIP line while Aaron stayed in the normal line. No questions were asked from the lady behind the counter. She booked the tickets I needed, and we were out of the train station within 15 minutes.
Lessons learned:
- status is a big deal in China.
- Though sometimes it is not awesome to have so much attention drawn to you as a foreigner, other times it really pays off.
- try not to travel by train mid-late August, unless you want to "accidentally" get stuck somewhere.
The Chinese have a unique sense of style. The ladies in our city wear REALLY short shorts year round, just supplementing them with tights in the winter, & stilettos pretty much all the time. I don't know how they walk around the city like they do or ride a bus for that matter. Little kids here are dressed pretty cute - with the girls always having pigtails. The older kids like to wear shirts with strange sayings in English like "Candy - I gave two lollipops to the kid," or " Szyamcfalj the life." (okay I made that last one up, but there are shirts that just have a random arrangement of letters that I am pretty sure the wearer believes says something awesome).
The examples I listed above are of people who are trying to have style & to dress put together. However about half of the population here, seem to really not care about how things look together - they're just clothes. So unintentionally they make awesome combinations of different prints, hats, and accessories. Aaron and I recently found a website documenting these cool cats - www.accidentalchinesehipsters.tumblr.com
Check out the website to get a little taste of the hipsters we hang out with everyday. I personally enjoy June 23rd & July 31. Aaron's favorite is May 30th.
So here he is - out of surgery. Actually at this point we're back in China, no longer in Thailand, and he's been recovering for almost three weeks.
People tend to do some pretty funny things when they are coming off of anesthesia. Aaron was his normal self, but instead the 28 year old Aaron, he was more like what I imagine 80 something year old Aaron will be like - falling asleep during conversations and when deciding what to watch on tv. He still had his normal sense of humor, including one time when I turned my back on him for a second. I turned back around and he looked like he had fallen asleep again, this time with his mouth slightly open (he never sleeps like that....though I frequent the open mouth breathing position while sleeping). After a few seconds, he opened his eyes and said, "That was my best Stacy." He didn't even remember punking on me until I told him about it a few days later.
I know I have already mentioned the amazing hopsital we were at but here are some things from our hospital experience that I want to add:
A) We booked plane tickets, planning on staying in Thailand for 2 weeks so that we'd have plenty of time to get an MRI and then schedule the surgery - we didn't want to have to make two trips to Thailand for this. Aaron walked into the hospital to meet with the doctor the DAY AFTER we got to Thailand. The doctor said after your MRI we'll just go ahead and get you in surgery TONIGHT. This was not an emergency procedure. We found them to be super quick & efficient with everything.
2) I needed to know my blood type for something, but didn't want to schedule an unnecessary dr. appointment - so Aaron's Orthopedic surgeon's nurse practitioner had the doctor order blood work for me. I never saw a doctor - just the lady who drew my blood & the nurse when she gave me the results. It cost me about 5 minutes of time and $18. This would never happen in America. In fact, in America I was told that insurance would never cover my blood type testing unless I had an emergency. I was also told it would cost a lot out of pocket. Only option - give blood (but not for me due to overseas travel).
D). The food available there was amazing. Aaron and I say that it's strange/embarrassing but the hospital has definitely moved up into the #3 spot of places we would go to eat in Bangkok. It is that good.
And now pictures of the other things that make Thailand a joy to visit. You'll probably notice they're pretty much all related to food....what fatties.:
fresh, sliced, cold fruit on every street.
Shwarma! Middle Eastern food is easy to find right outside of the hospital.
Shwarma was the first meal we had when we left the hospital
Aaron had at least one slurpee a day from 7-11.
Here with his slurpee he's standing in front of another favorite - Thai food stands.
Our hosts - Jeff and Jessie Gordon.
It was great getting to spend a week or so with them and their family.
New Zealand all naturals ice cream - mint chocolate chip!
Schweppe's has a lime flavored soda that they sell in Thailand called Manao.
I am always so sad that they don't sell this anywhere else I've been.
We stocked up on the airport this time to take some back with us to China.
So we're in Thailand. Last week we came to Thailand so that Aaron could have shoulder surgery (after a couple of recent dislocations). I'm sure I'll blog more about this and the awesomeness of Thailand (I've been taking a lot of pictures and video), but I have this to share first. Bumrungrad. This is the most amazing hospital I have ever been to, in fact most of the video I have been taking is trying to capture the efficiency and quality of the hospital.
But, I forgot to bring my camera cords with me so that I could blog while in Thailand (which is why there have not been any posts since being here).
So until I can show you just how nice this hospital is, I thought I'd let CBS's hit show 60 minutes tell you....
Every year I really look forward to Aaron's birthday. It's really fun to think of things that he loves and surprise him with them on his birthday. This year for his birthday, I decided that I wanted to get him a grill....then Aaron made it his quest for the summer to learn how to make North Carolina barbecue, making the grill the perfect gift, so that he could learn to smoke a boston butt on a charcoal grill. Family helped by ordering him a boston butt, grill accessories, and surprised him with a sling box so that he won't have to miss a single Carolina basketball game next year. We spent the day after his birthday preparing pulled pork, baked beans, coleslaw, hushpuppies, and sweet tea for a pig pickin' in honor of his birthday. Here are pictures from one of my favorite days of the year.
Start of the day
His request - chicken biscuits at a local western restaurant for breakfast
1st gift - hickory chips
3rd gift - the grill to cook his 2nd gift, the boston butt, on
putting the grill together
"butts rubbed nightly" - that's the slogan from one of my favorite barbecue places
and happens to describe what's going on in this picture.
candid peace sign while eating dinner at our favorite japanese restaurant
mochi - a newly discovered love of mine and an ole favorite of Aaron's
starting the charcoal. i love him and that peace sign...ridiculous.
waiting on the meat, and getting the house ready
finished product
the spread
enjoying sportscenter on the slingbox after the festivities
