This City is Getting Ravaged

Well, it's been a few days since the last time I blogged and that's mostly because I wanted to wait to rack up a few great stories before I set out to entertain. Now, I'll warn you that his blog is a legitimate play-by-play of everything we have done since getting here, including the number of showers we've taken and how much each taxi ride has cost us. But, Luke created it because he feels he's being misrepresented at best and slandered at worst by my blog. In order to get rid of the confusion, I'll be telling stories and whenever there is one about Luke that might be considered incriminating, I'll post pictures to ensure its veracity.

I'm sure the only reason you're reading this blog at this point is because I mentioned I'd write about the one time I got mugged in Buenos Aires. It's true. Michael got mugged on a jam-packed street in the middle of the day in Buenos Aires. I was minding my own damn business waiting for Luke to figure out where the hell the Teatro Colon was located. We came upon a bus stop--I forked left and he forked right. I made the wrong call. Three guys about 18 years old jumped in front of me and asked me for money. To which I responded in English, "No." Well apparently Jorge (I felt it necessary to name him) had been hopped on the Speed before this encounter and decided he wasn't taking no for an answer. With the biggest stones on the planet, he decides he's going in for the kill and grabs the cross on my neck and just yanks. I don't know what this thing is made of, but I'm pretty sure my head was closer to coming off than the chain. Now I'm holding this cross with my right hand and he's pulling while his friends are just yelling--I have no idea what they're saying but it was probably something like this: "Jorge, get this gringo's necklace, we can but more speed later on!" Or maybe something like this: "Jorge, are you sure it's wise to be stealing a foreigner's necklace at 2 pm on the busiest street in Buenos Aires?" Either way, Luke looks back and pretty much got the deer in the headlights look. In all fairness he had about 2 seconds to react before the whole thing was over. I somehow managed to walk away with everything in my pocket and a broken chain--I'd call it a successful counter-mugging on my part and if I wasn't awake before, I felt like I had just injected myself with 2 grams of adrenaline. Well, Luke finally got to see this incredible theatre. Here's the picture.

What a beautiful mug.

The rest of the day was pretty standard if you want a picture of everything that happened, go check out Luke's blog. We pretty much went out to a Tango club that was absolute hole in the wall and didn't dance a single song because we don't know how. I even begged the DJ to play a country song so we could teach everyone how to two-step. I miss my cowboy hat and boots. After a long night of absolutely nothing since it was Wednesday we met our best friend of the trip up to that point, Milo. He was one of the few individuals that actually liked us and made our lives more exciting for the short time he was with us. He's pictured with Luke here:

I think Luke was trying to get a kiss. Would have been his one and only in Argentina.

The next day we went over to a friend's house for dinner. But not before having this incredible authentic Argentinian lunch that could have served a small African village. 

                                   

 It was quite the diverse crowd. There were Brits, Argentinians, Germans, Americans and even a couple French... The food was great, the company was interesting and we definitely through on a few country songs before heading out for another wild night on the town. I don't know if I've mentioned this yet but the first few nights we went out we made crucial mistakes. Primarily the fact that if you enter a bar or dance club before 3 am you're pretty much going to be the only people there. For this reason we've learned that it's best to start the night around 11 pm with dinner and a few drinks then take a taxi to our final destination around 2:30 am. I don't like it, but when in Rome! We headed to some sketch dive bar near our place and realized it wasn't the play. We found some tango club that was supposed to be hopping and of course it was closed. Luke pulled through (one point for America) and we found an incredible spot called Liquid Bar. It played some weird music but we sucked it up and had a blast dancing all night. Luke even met a really nice girl--needless to say she wasn't the one.

Alright I've finally arrived to what is definitely the most exciting story of the trip thus far. Our international friends informed us that Argentina was playing Colombia at the national arena last night. We made the team decision that this would be an experience we couldn't pass up. We walked about 5 miles looking for interesting things to kill time before 7 pm game time. Probably the only thing in South America that starts that early. We arrived at the Arena with about 800 pesos combined. Our goal was to find some cheap tickets from scalpers. We still aren't really sure how legal that is but we had no choice--we were in it to win it. We made the mistake of talking to the first scalper we saw and just dishing out 500 pesos for two tickets. We thought we got a great deal. We used those tickets to enter the area right outside the arena. However, when we tried to get into the game, the security guard asked us where we bought the tickets and I just said a friend. He took the tickets and ripped them up and said they were no good. We were absolutely destroyed. I usually pride myself on my ability to travel and outwit con-artists and therefore nothing pisses me off more than getting schemed in a foreign country. My first instinct was to exit the arena area and go mug this guy and get our money back. But I wasn't ready to quit. We literally walked around in this area for 45 minutes. Luke was ready to throw in the towel and I was hatching plans to jump 20 foot fences or bum-rush guards to get into this game. My pride had been bruised and I was willing to do just about anything to get into this game that we had paid 500 pesos to attend. 

After a while we walked up to the head of security and I told him what happened and explained we were from Toronto, Canada and didn't know anything about fake tickets because people don't do that in civilized countries. He proceeded to look like he was going to help us and then he told us he could get us in if we paid 400 pesos. Obviously that was not the play for two reasons: 1) We had already spent 500 and, 2) we only had about 180 pesos left to our name. 

As we were walking around we met some nice girls that were working for some Orange Card company and we explained the whole situation to them after snapping this great picture:

 The last time in the night we were fans for Argentina.

As is the case in any country, it's never what you know but who you know. These girls, specifically the one of the left, saved our night from total disaster. We saw her after the game had began and she was off work and she walked us over to her friend who happened to be scalping tickets. We were able to get two legitimate tickets for 180 pesos--everything we had. 

This time, I took a ticket and walked in and once I got in, Luke gave the guy the money and followed me in. We never had a chance to thank her but maybe when this blog becomes world famous she'll appreciate the shout out. 

We made it. And never expected to have as much fun watching a sport where men get paid to pretend to cry. Yea, I said it. The highlight of the game was obviously not the 0-0 tie that we witnessed, but the fact that we happened to be seated in the section that was cordoned off entirely for Colombian fans. Now, we don't know much about Colombia but we were not about to start cheering for the opposite team when we were surrounded by thousands of Colombians. From that point on we just told everyone that we weren't from Colombia but that we were friends of Colombia and we learned every cheer necessary to fit in. Which basically consisted of yelling "hijo de puta" every time the ref made a call against Colombia. 

The game changed our night entirely. We met these really awesome Colombians as well. One was Luz. She was about 55 and she had lived in Argentina for quite a while. The other was Mauricio who was 22 and is here studying at the University. 

Turns out Colombians know how to have a great time. We followed them out of the arena after the game and they brought us to the official after-party of Colombia. It was some salsa/latin dancing club that was packed with around 2,000 Colombians all wearing Yellow, Blue and Red. As luck would have it there was a huge statue of Lady Liberty in the back that we couldn't stop taking pictures with. We were forced to drink some Colombian drink that wasn't necessarily top of the line, but it was much better than some of the other things we've tried in this country. 

All in all, the night turned out much better than we had originally thought it would after we got swindled and I was ready to risk incarceration to get into this game. I can only hope that when we go to the Colombians' house tonight for dinner, the menu won't included harvesting our organs for sale on the black market. 

Here's a bunch of pictures that sum up the night much better than I could do in words. Ciao!

Apparently this guy gets flown all over the world for every Colombian soccer game by the team. I yelled at him from the stands that "Friends of Colombia want to take a picture with you." He clearly loved it. 

This is our pose in many pictures in Argentina. We feel it's a subtle way of telling everyone that America runs the show--so deal with it. 

Colombian after party. Can't tell you how many times we danced with some girls and within 3 minutes they were so annoyed at how bad we were that they left us for some old ugly rich guys that can move their hips. 

Luke and our Colombian friends. 

I'm not sure they understood what they were doing. 

A true Colombian futbol fan.

Tie. 0-0.

Shadiness with a Side of Tango

Photos will have to wait. Turns out the one thing I forgot this trip was my USB connector for my camera. Luckily they probably sell it on the street below my temporary apartment in Buenos Aires. With 4 pairs of boxers, three shirts, two pairs of pants and two pairs of shoes we begin this 2 month escapade through South America. Luke, myself and Matt Wheeler all happened to arrive within one hour of each other in Buenos Aires. Matt was a special guest for a few hours as he had to fly to a seminary in Northern Argentina where he'll spend the next two months.

We live in a shady part of town--then again, the whole city might be pretty shady. I was warned not to walk anywhere at night because I might get mugged. Probably wouldn't be the best way to start a two month trip.

After picking up the essentials at the grocery store next to our apartment we decided to take the advice of the passenger I sat next to on the airplane. His name is Bruno. Apparently the guy worked pretty high up for the IMF at some point and he explained in exquisite detail the disaster that is the economy of Argentina thanks especially to the wonderful Cristina Kirchner -- a Marxist by trade.

With inflation in this country around 30-40%, they poorly ATTEMPT to peg the Argentinian peso to the dollar at around 5.25. Well luckily for us, Bruno explained the thriving black market of currency exchange in what we soon found out was an extremely sketchy endeavor.

We asked a few people and were informed of the closest location to our apartment. After finding a beautiful galleria, we were told to look for the store that appears to be selling paintings. We were told to walk to the back and there would be a guard sitting on a stool doing absolutely nothing and he would know why we were there. With a combined $150 we approached said man and he simply nodded and unlocked a door into a small office whose windows were entirely covered with paper--very discrete indeed.

Instead of the official 5.25 exchange rate, we were able to get 8.2 pesos for every dollar. Essentially cutting the cost of everything in this country by about 60%. Aside from the fact that we could have been shot and fed to the pigs without anyone knowing, it was a fairly simple exchange. We entered, the man in the suit sitting at the computer just said 8.2 and we nodded and handed over our dollars for far more than we could have gotten at the bank. Apparently two gringos can figure out the inner workings of a city in less than a day. A pretty good start if you ask me. If only our good friends that have traveled to this country had told us this we definitely would have brought more than a combined $150.

After this delightful experience, we decided the only appropriate way to begin a stay in the city that claims to have created Tango dancing was to head to the most famous Tango dancing place in Buenos Aires for a lesson. With great reviews on TripAdvisor, we decided to find our way to Flor de Milonga with the help of a little liquid courage. Lessons started at 7 pm and unfortunately for Luke, there were only two teachers--a man and a woman. You can guess who was stuck with the man. I have some incredibly graceful images of Luke Tangoing with a 60 year old Irishman who moved to Buenos Aires because of his love of dance. I couldn't stop laughing but apparently we are both pretty good dancers if you ask Seamus, Luke's partner for the night.

The night pretty much ended at 10 pm after three Bornean women in their 50's invited us to their table. I wish there was an interesting end to the night but it pretty much ended with us deciding the 5 people in this Tango house was as crazy as it was going to get. Back to our apartment we went to watch the Kings dominate the Blackhawks in game 3.

I can only hope the next 7 nights in this city go as smoothly as the first because I get the feeling that won't be the case. As always, if anyone can find some interesting things to do in this city, please let us know. I'll be sure to take pictures and post them

As I finish writing this, Luke is doing Yoga in the apartment because his dancing partner and him really connected and it got pretty crazy on the dance floor last night. He claims he needs to stretch from the flight. I better go before this gets any worse. Until tomorrow.

PS: As we're watching the news in Spanish, Luke says: "Wow, congratulations Cuba, finally have internet access."

PSS: I promise this will be the most boring blog of the trip. I just had to get something down in writing so everyone knows we're alive.

Update: Pictures

Matt and Luke on day one at the apartment. 

 

Don't be fooled by his long curly hair. It's a man.

Democracy in action... Oh, wait.

Outside the Presidential palace. Unsure if the dog is dead or alive. A symbol of the economic times in Argentina.

Luke toasting to what would become an incredible night of dancing for him.

Unsettling Facts

Loyal Followers,

There hasn't been much excitement here in China since Dad and Janie left so I haven't felt the need to post a blog. However, I know my Mom and Dad are dying to read something written by me so I felt the need to come up with something relevant to my time in China but also interesting enough to post on here since they aren't the only ones who read it.

I'll begin with an update on life. It has been getting much warmer lately in Beijing. Yesterday it was about 70 outside and I even went and laid in the university park to get some sun while reading. The forecast for the next 5 days looks similar. Surprisingly, there has also been very little pollution, the sky is beautiful and I'm trying to take all this in before it's too late and the sand storms begin. Last week I had exams, and while I haven't heard about the grades quite yet, I felt like I did pretty well. Other than that, I've just been relaxing and doing a lot of reading. I've started a new blog actually http://realistguidetolife.blogspot.com/ . You'll notice I haven't posted anything on it yet because I haven't really decided what I want it to be. I think it will just be a compilation of interesting news articles and my thoughts on them as I like to think millions of people might actually care what I have to say!

Anyway, moving on to some more interesting information. I'd like to start by discussing something that surely all of you have heard about but the details of which most people are unclear. The One-Child Policy. It's still very much alive in China and the repercussions are only now beginning to be noticed by the government as they attempt to scale it back as much as possible. Currently, the One-Child Policy only applies (on the books) to individuals who are Han Chinese and are not only children. If you are a minority ethnicity in China you are allowed to have more than one child but usually not more than two depending on your locale. If you and your wife are both only children, you are allowed to have two children and if you live in a village you are allowed to have two children and a third if the first two are girls. This is a very basic breakdown and it is much different in different parts of the country. Why am I telling you about this? Because I've been asking a lot of people in Beijing their thoughts on the One-Child Policy just to get a feel for the trend. Surprisingly, about 50% of the people I talk to are totally in support of the One-Child Policy. I often hear responses such as "I know people should be able to decide how many children they have but we have too many people in China and there is no other way." This might be the propaganda speaking or maybe the day-by-day misery of sitting in traffic for hours.

However, there is also a huge amount of people that object to the policy on the grounds of freedom. I learned from a friend last week that Beijing University professors, even if they meet the requirements to have two children, are threatened with losing their job if they give birth to a second child. While stories of this are common, to actually know these professors and hear it from their mouths makes it so much more real. There have been stories of female professors or even employees working for the university being given ultimatums of having an abortion or keeping their job. I think this is really hard for most of us to fathom given that we live in America and this is probably unheard of or if it isn't that's because you've seen someone taken to court for it.

The One-Child Policy is a very difficult subject to talk about in China. The Country certainly has a population problem that they need to focus on. As more and more people are learning, the One-Child Policy is only leading to what might become larger problems in the long run. Currently, China has a surplus of 30 million men that will never have a chance to start a family. It's hard to believe but it's even more terrifying to think how those men might start to behave as they get older and are spurned from society because they can't find a wife.

The second thing I want to talk about is something that should be discussed now that Dad and Janie are done eating Chinese food for a while. It's called 地沟油 (di gou you) in Chinese and it literally means "sewage oil." That sounds pretty disgusting, but just take a look at the pictures in this news article written by a Chinese person and translated into English. Oh, and in case you want more reliable sources, check out this one from the New York Times.

Basically, 地沟油 is used cooking oil that is thrown down a drain of a large (usually more upscale) restaurant. As it slowly travels down the sewage system, some lovely entrepreneurs open the man hole and retrieve the used oil as it settles on top and usually gets stuck in their collecting devices. Once this SEWAGE is collected in large blue bins, it is then taken to one of  two places, a large factory (if you're lucky) where it is sorted and "recycled" or to someone's backyard where they filter it themselves. The worst part about this whole story is that the restaurants SELL the rights to their sewage to whoever bids the highest price for it. They are participating in this black market horror. This might be something that is easy to shrug off as a lie if it wasn't for one very important and horrifying proof that this really goes on around me. Every week, as I leave my hotel room to head for class, several times I will see a little white van parked behind the restaurant with an old man and an old woman and huge blue bins in the back of their car. I first shrugged it off as someone possibly cleaning the sewage. Then I heard about 地沟油. They certainly have long spoon-shaped devices and large buckets to collect the 地沟油 that leaves MY HOTEL! I promise, the next time I see them, I will provide picture evidence.

From the people I've talked to about it, everyone in China uses 地沟油 if the prices are low. This terrified me, given that I tend to eat food that costs less than 40 cents a meal. Street food? You bet. 地沟油 might just be the primary ingredient. Low estimates say that 10% of the oil used in China is 地沟油. My guess is that it's more along the lines of 50% considering that I've found very few places that serve expensive food and that the people I've talked to simply shrug off 地沟油 and explain that it's fine to eat. This leaves me with one of two options as I have about two months left in this country. The first--start eating at expensive upscale restaurants in Beijing that might take me an hour to get to by taxi. The second--lay back and enjoy my 地沟油 filled street foods and hope to God that if it's safe enough for the Chinese, it's safe enough for me.

Checking out, 地沟油 street food is calling my name. Sorry for the long blog!

Michael

For the Chinese aficionado check out this Chinese Wikipedia-like site to learn more about 地沟油. Unfortunately, our very own wikipedia doesn't seem to have an article on it.

UPDATE:

After sniping this poor picture (I'll work on getting better ones) I asked the people who work in the lobby of our dorm why the same couple came every other day and opened the sewage drain. I asked if they were coming to collect 地沟油 so they can sell it to other people on the street and the answer was straightforward and surprising, he said "Yes, that's what they are doing. That's the way China is." Anyhow, for the time being, please enjoy the disgusting picture.

Let me explain what is going on here. Directly in front of the van is the kitchen for our upscale hotel restaurant. This man and his wife come every other day to collect the sewage that runs off from the kitchen. The "ladle" resting on the van is used to sift through the food that is floating in order to collect only the finest quality cooking oil. The blue bins in the back of his van are filled to the brim with used oil that we can be sure is not properly cleansed before being resold on the street. Next time someone tells you that food you're eating from Panda Express isn't "Chinese" enough, look them dead in the eyes and say, "Thank God it isn't!"

A Collage

In order to make up for the several blogs I've posted without any pictures, I decided to dedicate this blog solely to pictures. There will be about 15 pictures in total with a caption on each to make for some interesting stories. If you have questions about any of the pictures, please feel free to ask and I will explain in more detail. 

ENJOY!

Every weekend we never fail to stop by the Southwest gate of Beijing University's campus for the best 串儿 (chuan - kebabs) in town. In this picture you can see the guy who looks like a boss, IS the boss. The girls are from Japan and they were here studying for one month. Boston is actually from Korea, his name is Steve and he lives on my floor.  

A lot of people with cake on their faces. This picture was taken on Nozomi's birthday after we went out for sushi. She turned 20, which apparently is a big deal in Japan, so we celebrated in style with a huge cake and a food fight to follow. Nobody was spared.  

You're probably thinking "Who's that really hansome guy?"  Okay, probably not. But the reason I took this picture right before my haircut was because I'm starting to come to terms with what my brother has been telling me the past 22 years of my life. I'm going to go bald, sooner or later, most likely sooner. I took this picture because I'm at the point where I think I might not have that much hair on my head ever again.  

This is a wonderfully ironic picture. Dad in the foreground saluting Mao (in the background) while wearing a Red Guard winter hat. The good news is he had a great time while in Beijing with Janie, the bad news is, he might not ever be allowed to return after this picture...  

Ignore me, I primarily posted this picture to show two things: First, the pollution on a bad winter day, second, Beijing University's campus. It's a really pretty campus when you can see more than 300 yards. I shouldn't complain too much, the past few weeks have been amazing. The weather has been between 40 and 60 and the sky has been blue for quite a few days now! 

Take it back one month to my birthday. These next few pictures belong with the blog about my wonderful birthday night. This is a picture of us at Hou Hai on my birthday stopping on the barely frozen lake for a quick and safe picture.  

My best guess is that this is saline solution and some other important little bottle of medicine. I don't really know because I didn't read. I was too busy running up and down the halls trying to find where to buy the medicine that presumably saved my friend's life. Thank God for spoken Chinese.  

This is what an emergency room looks like in Beijing at about 2 am. There were about 15 other people laying out in the hallway on the beds that are more easily observed in the following picture.  

Face blurred for confidentiality reasons. This individual had a very rough night. It's a blessing he is still alive today and it surely made for a lot of memories on what could have been a much worse birthday. Kindly take note of the missing shoe. I advise you to enlarge this picture and laugh for a few minutes before moving on.  

As I mentioned before, Beijing University has a feline rescue program where they just bring stray cats from all over the city to their campus and let them run wild and feed them. This is one of those cats. She/He sits in front of our dorm every morning meowing waiting for the cleaners to feed her. Her eyes are pretty awesome!  

My first experience with snake. I know this is cliche, but it really does taste like chicken... or fish.  

The Great Wall. I tried to take this picture to make me look like I was on the edge of the world and about to fall, but it didn't really come across that way. Probably because my face is a horrible mix of falsified fear and laughter. Anyway, the ground is about 12 feet below, I was in no danger. I'm sure you already guessed that though.  

This picture was taken with someone who I do not know. We both happened to buy these wacky glasses at the Summer Palace and saw each other. I helped her put it together and she was very grateful--so grateful she let me take a picture with her. 

We stumbled across the North Korean Embassy after eating dinner. I tried to take a picture of the front sign but the guard was defiant. These pictures really represented the beautiful side of North Korea. They almost make you want to visit the place and set up shop. 

Janie, Dad, and I at Asia's largest screen (seen above our head). You can probably only see 1/5 of the entire thing in this picture. It was massive.  

Janie and Dad were blessed with incredible weather while they were here. In the 5 times I've been to the Great Wall, I've never seen such a beautiful sky as a backdrop. 

It was her 20th birthday. One of the cutest girls I've ever seen. Too bad she speaks no english and just started studying Chinese! 

Thanks for tuning in. Pictures courtesy of John Wurth who helped me come by a camera! 

Well, At Least I'm not a Journalist

I'm sure many of you have heard about the protests going on around the world and the crazy revolutions that have pretty much taken over the Middle East, but... You probably haven't heard about the so called "Jasmine Revolution" that is kindling in China. As of right now, there's nothing very newsworthy to be blogging about but I thought I would share some things I've read and some things I've seen since I have been here that strike me as interesting.

Click Here for More Information

I realize that I probably shouldn't be writing about this on my blog, considering some foreign reporters have had their faces beat in for tracking this issue, but I figured it would just make things even more interesting if something like that happened to me right? Ok, maybe not so fun while it was happening but definitely a story for the grand kids.

This past Sunday, Gabe and I took a trip to Tiananmen Square and Wangfujing with no prior knowledge of the allegedly planned protests. (Please read the article above for more information on these places). When we first arrive at Tiananmen we took a detour to check out the shops to the left of the Forbidden City. As I was waiting for Gabe outside the shop, I noticed people running around and cops coming from all directions. First thing I thought was, "Time to make my peace with God." But then I realized that their attention was on the moat that surrounds the entrance of the Forbidden City. Apparently a woman had jumped into the moat on her own will, perhaps as a sign of defiance, and was swimming around as several people attempted to lower a ladder and drag her out. While this was happening, hoards of police and undercover police started pushing all the people back and putting up caution tape. Because I was a foreigner, I just pretended I didn't understand Chinese and was waiting for my friend who was in the store. At this point, I saw two police officers dragging the woman out of the moat and dropping her, sobbing, on the ground. Once this happened, the police car backed into the cordoned of section and she was loaded into the car. Where was she taken? Why did she do it? I have no idea.

But, as we continued walking around the Forbidden City and Tiananmen, we started noticing how many police officers there were and more importantly how many "civilians" were wearing wires and headphones. When we arrive in Wangfujing, mentioned in the article, we were there right around 2:30 pm when this meeting was supposed to occur. Of course, we didn't know about it so weren't exactly on watch for interesting things but we did see the "construction zone" that hadn't been there the week before. I actually asked a police officer why there were so many police and he didn't respond to my question. In hindsight, having known what was happening, I probably wouldn't have asked that question.

Anyway, the day was pretty much uneventful other than that. Shortly after, I went to Church and met a priest who actually studied at seminary in the United States. He's a really nice guy and invited us to participate in their youth group so we could improve our Chinese. All is well in the Middle Kingdom, if anything interesting catches my eye, I'll be sure to convey it as quickly as possible!

Michael

News Article Courtesy of Rachel Will!