黄花城水长城 – Water Great Wall in Huanghua Village

Water Great Wall Panorama

Last weekend was pretty fantastic. I spent a lot of time with great friends doing some really unique things that I’ve never had the chance to since I started coming to China in 2008. Not least of which was driving a car on the lawless streets of Beijing. Quite a few people gave me recommendations of things to do—some feasible and some not so much without taking a long vacation. The big event of the weekend was visiting the Water Great Wall (direct translation) which came from the recommendation of a coworker. But I’ll get to that later. 

One of my friends, Merlin, back from 2013 when I was working part time at the Apple store is visiting China to study Chinese medicine. I felt like it was a great opportunity for him to really experience Chinese culture the right way. Too many people come to Beijing and visit the obligatory sightseeing locales and miss the REAL China which is hiding right under their noses, and I feel like its a disservice to the incredible culture that this country possesses. Yes, Tiananmen Square is fascinating, as is The Forbidden City and the Great Wall, but these are just the surface—the part of China that the government here wants you to see. There’s so much more.

This is Merlin and me at our awesome lunch spot

Friday night I decided to take Merlin out to a traditional Chinese dinner of Beijing Duck and baijiu. For those of you blessed enough to have never tried baijiu, the only way to describe it is to say that it’s a Chinese form of clear liquor that tastes like a combination of gasoline and acid with a few sparks to ignite. I don’t think I’ve met a single person who has ever actually claimed to enjoy the taste of it, nor will I hold my breath waiting for said person, because I don’t think they exist. Baijiu is awful. Beijing duck is delicious, albeit about as healthy as deep-friend marshmallows dipped in gravy.

My dear friend Wen Wen (seen below) helped set the whole evening up at a hole-in-the-wall restaurant beside the Forbidden City. We had a great meal and even better company mixed with a few miserable shots of baijiu (9 of us barely made it through the 500 mL bottle). 

Wen Wen broke out the Macallan 12

The next day required that we call it a night relatively early so we could embark on the adventure I had planned out. Which brings me to my next point. Until this weekend I had never driven a car in China, nor had I ever really wanted to given the utter disregard for rules on the road in this country. I kind of just assumed I would always use a taxi or the subway because that would minimize the chances of me killing someone behind the wheel. There’s no simple way to describe the roads in China, you truly have to experience them. I’ve driven in worse (Ghana) but it’s not really the same because there are a billion people cars on the road on any given day combined with another 3 billion bikes and electric scooters. The driver is constantly on the look-out for stray pedestrians, dogs, bikes, police, and an occasional vehicle driving on the wrong side of the road. 

My terrified driving face

I used to think that every driver was just terrible, but after driving I have come to have a profound respect for the skill required not to kill somebody while driving here. It really is a vicious cycle that self-fulfills. Yes everyone is terrible at driving and following the rules of the road, but if you aren’t you won’t move because everyone around you is doing the same thing. Nobody will politely let you change lanes, you have to push them off the road to get over. There’s almost always a car parked in the middle of a road waiting for someone or just taking a cigarette break which requires you to enter oncoming traffic to go around. It’s quite literally anarchy and perhaps that’s because it’s the only place in China where any sort of anarchy is allowed, who knows… California thought we had “Carmageddon” when part of the 405 was shut down, Beijing is in a state of perpetual Carmageddon. 

So why on earth would I want to drive here?

Well, mostly because I like doing stupid things sometimes because they keep life interesting—and the stars kind of aligned. My friend Susie was flying to Hong Kong on Saturday morning to attend Art Basel for the day. Yes, I literally mean she flew 6 hours for an 8 hour art exposition in Hong Kong. And Susie happens to own an Audi and also happens to be one of my best friends in China and one of the kindest people I’ve ever met. She’s also the person who told me that she never took the driver’s test in China and never was trained how to drive because she didn’t have time, so she just paid an extra “fee” to get that waived and learned on her own. Perhaps that explains the driving situation in Beijing. I, on the other hand, don’t have a Chinese drivers license, so I couldn’t pull out that card to get away with anything if I got pulled over—but I have a much more valuable card. It’s called the “I’m a foreigner and don’t speak Chinese but I thought my California Driver’s License would be fine” card. Luckily, I didn’t have to use it.

I picked Merlin up from his hostel which is located in the smallest alley in all of Beijing, at least it felt that way when I was driving someone else’s Audi. But once we got outside of Beijing proper, it was a lot easier to not follow the road signs and the rules of the road because there are significantly fewer cars around. We made it safely to the Ming Dynasty Tombs where we stopped for a quick lunch at a local restaurant. The two sisters that work there were so excited to serve foreigners and even asked for my WeChat (which is their version of Facebook for mobile devices here in China). I am pretty certain it was the first and maybe only time in their life they have served foreigners at their restaurant. 

Here's the alley I had to drive through

Ming Tombs

After the Ming Tombs we set off for the Water Great Wall. Every time someone visits, they always want to see the Great Wall, so I make it a point to try and visit a different location of the Great Wall to keep it interesting for myself too. This time didn’t disappoint. It’s a relatively lesser-known part of the Great Wall that is absolutely gorgeous. Instead of visiting BaDaLing, where every tour group goes, and standing in a 4 kilometer line as you try and climb the Wall, I think there were at most 150 people at this location. The pictures don’t really do it justice since the pollution was pretty bad that day, but it was stunning. 

I mean, everything except for this AWFUL toilet that they provided the public. Because things like bathrooms are only installed at the three main Great Wall locations. Sacrifices.

I probably shouldn't have posted this picture...

But these pictures are much better. Be sure to click and enlarge them.

The highlight of my walk around the Great Wall was meeting this group of High School students with their mother. We kind of caught them listening to some Hip Hop music dancing on the Great Wall and they were pretty embarrassed. I proceeded to tell them that it was my dream to dance on the Great Wall and I was wondering if they would be able to play the music and possibly dance with me. The video that follows could be described more like flailing. I definitely wasn’t impressing anyone with my moves, but maybe I would have if they knew how to two-step and they played some country music instead of that poor excuse for music they call Hip Hop. 

Please reserve all judgment, I'm really going out on a limb here posting this. The music was playing on the girl's phone, so it literally looks like I'm dancing to nothing at all. I'm not sure if that makes this any better. Actually, I'm pretty certain it doesn't.

After the dancing, we continued our hike and saw some awesome parts of the wall where the water from the lake has destroyed parts of it and it kind of looks like the Wall fell into the lake. 

As we drove back in to the city it was pretty awesome seeing the sun set and seeing the life of the people who live way in the outskirts of Beijing. I almost wanted to stop and join some of them for the BBQ they were having over their burnt out metal trash cans. I can’t imagine what kind of fascinating stories these people must have. 

We arrived safely back in Beijing just in time for a foot massage and dinner with some friends. I can’t say I love driving in Beijing, but it definitely provides a perspective that I’ve never had before and really forces you to pay attention to things you normally don’t notice sitting in the passenger seat of a taxi or taking the subway. 

(Mom this is the part of the blog you should skip)

And since I can’t really afford to get a car in a city where a license plate costs $10,000 and a car usually runs around 30%-50% more than in the US, I decided to do the next best thing and buy myself an electric scooter. It’s not the safest means of transportation, but so far I haven’t had any close calls and I’ve gotten an entirely new perspective of this massive city. I had the chance to drive through Tiananmen Square around 11 pm when all the lights are on and nobody was on the road and it was something like an out-of-body experience. It was surreal being one of the only people on the road in the vicinity of such a massive square with so much history (good: Forbidden Kingdom, dynasties, etc. and bad: self-explanatory).

(Mom you can start reading again).

Everything else has been going great so far. Work is fun, I’m learning a lot. I was asked to host the Annual Party for the Beijing office since they heard I also hosted the Annual Party for the Shanghai office as most of you saw on my Facebook page and that went pretty well. I’ve met a pretty good group of people and started to attend a weekly Bible Study with Chinese young adults which has been enlightening and is a great way to meet new friends. I’m looking forward to my few months in Hong Kong starting in April, but I really can’t wait to get back to Beijing and find my own apartment and truly LIVE here.

Thanks for reading, I know I really need to work on my brevity. Just so much to say and I haven’t written in so long so it’s pretty tough for me to make it concise when I don’t have a page limit for school! I’m hoping next week I’ll be able to write a blog about my trip to visit Wen Wen’s family in Shandong. That should be an experience I won’t forget. It’ll be the longest I’ve ever spent in a very small farming village in China and I honestly have no idea what living there is like. Can’t wait to share.

Until next time.

Merlin and his friend joining me for a toast on the ULTIMATE PI DAY

"Our Lady of China"

This is my favorite Chinese painting of Jesus and the Blessed Mother

What's It Like Living in China? Part 2 (People & Opportunities)

As I sit here in my apartment overlooking the balmy 30 degrees weather with an AQI of 350… I can barely see across the street, which is a huge plus. Now that the obligatory update on pollution is out of the way, I can discuss a few of the things I love about living in China. Without question, the primary reasons I have chosen to live, work, and study in China are the opportunities and people that I meet on a daily basis.

I feel like I could probably write a blog about each of these two separately, but the reality is that they are complementary to the point that I don’t think you could have one without the other in this country. Opportunities arise, in large part, due to the people that you meet here and the people that you meet here only come here because of the opportunities. I think we can all agree they don’t come for the sunshine.

Explaining the dynamic of the various types of people in China is not easy. I don’t think there’s a perfect way to describe what I mean by that, but I’m going to do my best. There is nothing particularly unique about the people in China that you could not find elsewhere in the world. What makes the entire situation unique, however, is the way people in China interact and what kind of exposure one can have while here even with relatively average social standing. In some ways it’s like a race-based gentrification amplified by cultural barriers like language.

(Remember, I’m speaking as a Caucasian-American living in Beijing. From what I’ve heard, this is completely different in Shanghai and I know for a fact it’s different for the millions of Chinese people who live in this city. I’ll leave the moral question of this entire system for another day since I do have a strong opinion about it.)

It’s all about accessibility—I’ll define this as who and what people have access to that in most places in the world would be unthinkable. The well connected in California, for the most part, are inaccessible to the average citizen of California. To a large degree this is what many people refer to when they talk about institutional factors that keep the poor impoverished while the wealthy get wealthier. In Beijing, these barriers are virtually nonexistent in the expat community. Of course there are some very wealthy people here who are “inaccessible”, but there are an incredible number of successful and very interesting people who drink at the same bars student expats drink at and eat at the same restaurant that these students eat at. Yes they have the money to eat at 辉哥火锅, but who wants to eat live frog and pig brain at a place with a name that they can’t pronounce being served by waiters that don’t know how to ask if you like your steak medium or well-done.

In other words, they are given two options: experience loneliness and extreme physical comfort in Chinese-oriented spaces without the possibility of much person-to-person communication, or they can congregate at expat watering holes with decent food and English-speaking company.

The whole experience is like a small-town enclave trapped in one of the most populous cities in the world. If you stay here for more than a month, it’s almost impossible to not run in to somebody that you’ve met before, who introduces you to somebody new, who happens to have an uncle in the Politburo… etc.

Since I’ve been here I’ve met hugely successful businessmen and pretty impressive politicians. I spent an entire night out eating and drinking with the man who owns the Arena Football League in China; I spent four hours one night drinking beers and discussing international politics with the ex-Ambassador of a Scandinavian country to Taiwan (he’s technically not called an ambassador since Taiwan isn’t recognized as a country, but it’s the equivalent); I went out to a Chinese dinner and show with a European ambassador to China and several friends; had the pleasure of meeting a belligerent drunk high-ranking Communist party official who proceeded to stand on a chair in a restaurant and proclaim in Chinese to his "comrades" why China would soon eclipse the West and become the world's sole superpower before all 300 pounds of him collapses the chair and caused a minor earthquake as he hit the ground; and I met an investor from Southern California who has funded multiple films in China that will be and have been released in the United States. These are just a few examples.

All of these people have incredible stories, work extremely hard, and are definitely successful in very different ways. But never in a million years would I have the opportunity to go out to dinner with them and even become good friends with them if I wasn’t in China. This isn’t a unique experience. It has nothing to do with me or the charm that my mother tells me I have. It has everything to do with being in the right place at the right time and having a culture in common within a country that has very little international diversity.

Which brings me to my final point, for this blog at least. Simply because China is such a radical shift in lifestyle, it generally only attracts people who are seriously willing to be uncomfortable and take on challenges—the risk-loving. Half the people I invite to visit me in China think I’m crazy and wouldn’t even come for two weeks—God forbid they might have to use a squatting toilet while they’re here. In contrast, there are people that decide to move their entire lives here from the comfort of some European or American city where they don’t know a single word of the local language and have to watch where they’re walking just in case someone stole a manhole cover on the street to melt down and sell as scrap metal.

Every day in China is a risky adventure. But every day in China is also an opportunity. You don’t meet many people who are lukewarm here. That’s not to say everyone is motivated in the right way, but it definitely means they make decisions and won’t let anyone or anything get in their way from accomplishing something.

This is why I live in China. I can put up with the fear of eating sewage oil or the 2-hour drive to go 4 miles on a Friday night. All of that is worth the excitement, opportunities, and learning experiences that come with living in a foreign city that is emerging faster than any nation in recent history.

Now, if only they could open an In-N-Out in Beijing…



Here are a few pictures that are somewhat related to this blog post, and others that are just pictures of me in China.

Some of the great people I've met here. Celebrating Thanksgiving.

Another group picture out having Mexican food and Margaritas.

Most foreigners stick to food like this (Spanish paella).

And maybe some rare steak.

If I have to choose, I usually prefer the "Small Rape"

... Or Griddle Gordon's Ass and some Bullfrog Casserole.

Because squatting isn't painful enough, you have to have someone beside you with three others watching as they wait in line.

What's It Like Living in China? - Part 1 (Pollution)

This is probably the most frequent question I get from people when they first learn I live in China. And the answer is much too complex to explain in one conversation or even one blog, so I felt like I might try and blog a bit about it to clear the air (no pun in intended). Now obviously this will solely be a perspective of someone moving here from paradise, so I can’t say it’s completely unbiased. I’ll do my best to explain the good, the bad, and the ugly. There are quite a few that fall under each category.

First, I thought I’d lay out some factors that drastically change my experience from most others who make the transition: 1) I’m of European descent and I speak Chinese. 2) I’m living in a service apartment that is being paid for by my employer. 3) I’m a practicing Catholic. 4) I’m living in a city that I’ve lived in before (for approximately 6 months) during college. 5) For the most part, I have the opportunity to return to California at any given time and continue with my same job there.

It also might be beneficial to explain why these 5 factors drastically change my experience: 1) Being white in China makes everything you do slightly more interesting. In Beijing I’m still somewhat of an anomaly, especially when I visit places where few foreigners congregate. Adding to this the fact that I can communicate in the language significantly adds to my experience (and my strangeness) as I am capable of befriending just about anyone who lives here, as opposed to most expatriates who only speak English and their native language. While this is absolutely a huge benefit, I also have less of an excuse for cultural misunderstandings, which might sometimes frustrate Chinese citizens. 2) I’m obviously not experiencing what 99% of Chinese people experience in their living conditions. I have an actual toilet, someone cleans my room every weekday, and I live in an area that I could not afford on my salary, let alone the average Chinese salary. 3) While religion isn’t expressly forbidden in China, ever since 1949 and the Communist victory, it certainly isn’t promoted. Communist party members are forbidden to profess a faith and there are constant news reports of Chinese people being discriminated against for their faith. There are 5 official Catholic churches in Beijing (many more in Shanghai) and it’s extremely difficult to find daily mass that is reasonably close. Sunday mass is generally easier, but still not a short walk by any means. 4) The fact that I know Beijing quite well, even though it changes rapidly, and that I have friends here helps significantly with just about everything I’d ever need. I also don’t have to go to expat enclaves to meet people, I can venture into more traditional locations and interact with friends of friends that would otherwise be inaccessible. 5) I always have an escape. This might seem small compared to the others, but it really is a relief to know that at any point if I get really sick or just can’t handle the smog anymore, I can throw in the towel (although I don’t intend to). I can’t quite imagine what it must be like for the people who come here looking for opportunities with no place else to go. For that I’m definitely blessed.

Now, to answer the initial question. Literally no part of life is the same. Yes I still take daily showers, drink water (never from tap), and occasionally have a beer or five, but every moment of every day presents new challenges that most of the people reading this never have to navigate in their day-to-day decisions.

It wouldn’t be a blog about Beijing if I didn’t mention the most common topic of conversation here: Pollution. The first thing I do every morning, without exception, is check the air quality index (AQI). The temperature is important but for someone like me I pretty much know it’s too cold to be comfortable between October and April so the most important thing is deciding whether I have to wear a mask for the day. Recently, thanks to APEC, the air has been relatively clean. The average AQI in Los Angeles is 47.1, which is pretty terrible. It’s all the yellow smog you see when you go into the mountains and wonder why it’s not clear. According to the AQI index, this is actually considered “Excellent” air quality. Yesterday was a pretty great day here in Beijing, the AQI was only 175 and was indexed as “Moderately Polluted.” Today was not so good. Unfortunately there wasn't a windstorm at night and so the current AQI is at 400 right now and here is the warning that accompanies it: "Healthy people will experience reduced endurance in activities. There may be strong irritations and symptoms and may trigger other illnesses. Elders and the sick should remain indoors and avoid exercise. Healthy individuals should avoid outdoor activities as well." 

The average for Beijing this year was around 124 ppm and is considered “Lightly Polluted.” That’s 2.6 times as many particles in the air as Los Angeles. I could use a deep breath of the pure Los Angeles air right now. To be fair, there have been a few days that fell between 10-20, those days are cherished and require some kind of outdoor activity. However, on October 9^th, when I arrived here, the AQI was 379 and this was the lovely view I had from my window:

This was one week later when the AQI was 25 (same view from my window):

That’s not the fog of San Francisco. Now obviously, that’s not average, but the fact that there was a whole week where it was that bad says enough. I could almost see the building across the street… Needless to say, that was a day that I wore a mask and rented my air purifier for my apartment. The upside of this environment is there is literally never an instance where you can’t break the ice by complaining about the air.

To Taxi Drivers: “I’d like to go to Tiananmen Square. [Awkward Silence]. The air is pretty bad today isn’t it. [Endless conversation].”

“How do you feel about the price of bread in Ukraine these days?”

“Well, it seems a little high but I’m sure the Beijing pollution will reduce the sunlight that gets to the crops and the lack of photosynthesis will decrease wheat yield even further and cause an exponential rise in the price over the coming months.”

There’s not been one single conversation I’ve had with someone I just met that didn’t touch on this topic, and I doubt there will be anytime soon.

While the pollution is a significant downside to living in Beijing, there are tons of upsides and a few more downsides that I’ve decided I’ll continue in my next blog. I’m going to try and switch each blog with a difficulty and then follow it with a positive. I think that’s the fairest way to introduce you all to the Forbidden City that I just happen to love so much. Feel free to post questions in my comments or on my Facebook!

And here are a few pictures from my first month in Beijing.

Standard Beijing attire.

Statue of Liberty pose out with my coworkers.

One of my best friends in the middle (Wen Wen) and her friend (definitely forgot his name).

Toro, Toro!!!

It's been a while, but I'm back at it. Writing to you from an apartment somewhere in Barcelona overlooking the night sky with an Estrella Damm beer in hand. In the words of Brad Paisley, "It doesn't get better than this."

I could go back to Peru at this point and post blogs about what happened the rest of my stay there and then Brazil where I saw the Pope and Mexico where I enjoyed life to the fullest... But that would take way too long and due to my own laziness, I guess you'll have to hear about those stories in person.

Spain... What an incredible country. I arrived in Madrid on September 20th and spent the first couple days just exploring the city. However, on the 23rd of September, I achieved one of my life goals by running with the bulls in a small village called Villaviciosa. Contrary to what most Spanish people immediately assume, I was neither drunk nor hungover for this rare occasion. I wanted to survive. However, I was short on sleep after getting to bed around 3 am and waking up at 7:30.

When we arrived in the streets of this great city, everyone immediately knew I was a foreigner. It probably had something to do with the backwards trucker hat that said CALIFORNIA on the front. I don't know if they were more surprised that a foreigner found this place or that I was walking straight and visibly sober. The festivities quickly began.

My new friends in Spain recommended I at least watch the first bull run by so I can get a feel for exactly what would be happening. I obliged after an assurance that there would be 5 more bulls running by right after. I figured 5 runs was enough for one day.

Here's what the street looked like. The smart people are behind the fence, I am pretty damn well trapped if I fall or forget how to climb a 7 foot wall.

This is what pursued.

Now I realize it looks like I wasn't very close at all, and the reality is I wasn't. But that was also the first run and also I was holding my iPhone which about 25 people warned me not to do. . I did 4 more after that and it got heavy. I started getting a little bit too brave and that's when I decided to enter the bull ring with the bulls and nearly lost my leg as I tried to jump a wall to escape. Playing hockey, I should have been pretty good at this but it's been like 5 years and I wasn't on skates. Where everything went wrong was when my friends told me we had to leave and I hadn't exactly had my fill of adrenaline. I ran towards the bull and started jumping up and down and yelling at him. Well, apparently bulls don't like that and he went straight at me. I lived, and that's all that matters.

I don't have a video of that precise instant (for obvious reasons) but you'll get the idea from this video of right after I jumped in the arena. 

Panorama of the Arena

After getting my fill of adrenaline, my friends invited me to a Real Madrid game. I don't usually care for soccer--excuse me, futbol--but I couldn't pass up one of the biggest teams in the world so I once again fell to peer pressure. The game was pretty exciting. We were sitting in the nosebleeds, of course, because any other ticket would have broken the bank. 

During my last few days in Madrid, I stayed with a friends brother. We rode a motorcycle through Madrid to the Prado Museum and then I gave him and his wife a golf lesson which he claimed was my rent for staying at his beautiful apartment. All in all, Madrid was an incredible experience. 

That's not to say that Barcelona hasn't had it's own adventures of course. 

Since I first attended a bull fight in Aguascalientes, Mexico, I have pretty much become obsessed with the art. Yes, it is an art and let nobody tell you otherwise. However, bull-fighters, in my opinion, come second only to Rejoneadors. I don't think there's an english translation to this particular art, but I really wish PETA didn't have so much power so we could get this going in the States. Basically, a demigod since atop a stallion that is so well trained I'm convinced the damn horse can read the riders mind. Both the horse and the demigod are placed in the bull ring together with a bull that looks like it just emerged from hell. Like bull-fighting, the man uses decorated spears that hook into the bulls back to make it bleed before finishing the bull with a final thrust of his sword between his shoulder blades into its lungs. 

That all sounds terrible, difficult, and impressive, but imagine doing all of that on top of a horse. That's what Pablo Hermoso de Mendoza does for a living. I learned about this guy from Spanish friends back home and watched some of his videos online and fell in love with everything he does. I'm positive I'm his biggest fan in California and will be his only fan in China. 

Here's an example of why they call this art: Pablo Hermoso de Mendoza and Merlin

So I knew when I arrived to Spain that one of the things I absolutely had to do was see this demigod in person. However, it's also the end of summer which means the end of bull-fighting season and I was in Barcelona where the liberal bull-lovers decided to make bull-fighting illegal. None of that stopped me. 

I found Pablo's schedule online and the closest he would ever be to me on my journey through Spain was in the town of Alquerías del Niño Perdido which has a population of 4,500 people. This was my next destination. Of course, I had to get there first. 

Me on my journey to the Middle of Nowhere, Spain. 

After waking up at 7 am, taking a 3 hour train ride to Castellón and another 1 hour train ride to Alqueriás, I only needed to figure out how to buy tickets. Luckily for me, everyone in this place might just be a saint. I talked to about 3 people in the first 10 minutes and they all offered to walk me the 20 minutes to get to the City Hall where they would have all the information. Once I got there, they sold me the tickets at a discount because they learned I was from California and had come just to see Pablo Hermoso. Finally, the lovely lady recommended I eat at a restaurant across the way because all the bull-fighters were going to be there in 45 minutes. What a gal. 

While Pablo never showed up for the lunch, I was still about 3 hours away from witnessing what I had, in theory, come all the way to Spain to witness. I walked another 30 minutes to the Plaza de Toros, which couldn't have held more than 2,000 people. 

Small Arena, perfect for the up close videos!

My first proof he would actually be here. The horses are majestic... There is no other word. 

Since I was pretty much the first person there, I was able to talk to all the people working on his horses getting them ready. They were so nice and spoke decent english as well. One of them gave me a big picture of Pablo and told me when he gets here that she would help me get a picture with him and introduce me to him. I felt like my little sister going backstage to meet Justin Bieber.... sad but true. 

For the rest of the blog, I'll let the pictures and videos do the talking. 

My special meet and greet with the man himself before the festivities.

Before watching: If you think this is a brutal sport, don't push play. If you realize that what this man is doing on top of this horse is absolutely astounding, you'll love this video. I've never seen anything so beautiful in my life that was made or done by man.

The Kill: This part is also pretty impressive although not quite as impressive as the previous video. I kind of just put this up to piss off my faithful PETA followers.

And last thing before I go. I don't know how I got so lucky, but apparently this lineup of bull-fighters was absolutely incredible. The guy that came up next was a traditional bull-fighter named Juan Jose Padilla. If you think those videos above are rough, youtube this guy and you'll see why he wears an eye-patch when he fights bulls now. He lost his eye last year to a bull and he was back at it in this arena again yesterday. The guy is nuts and has no fear. He was literally on his knees fighting the bull and his clothes were blood-soaked because he was touching the bull every time it went by. See the eye patch below. 

As always, to zoom in click on the picture and check out his eyepatch!

Take away for the day: Patience and a dive head first attitude makes shit happen. 

Hope you enjoyed the blog because I don't know when I'll write another one. I realize the writing is pretty dull but I hope the pictures make up for it. 

Pray that I make it out of the Holy Land alive so I can start working...