Finally, the Qingdao Beer Festival

My Summer of 2008

It is now Autumn. Yet, Summer is still so HOT!!

I met Summer at the English Corner of the SPR Coffee Shop in Wusi (May 5) Square. I, the English professor, approached her and asked, "Do you speak English?" The rest is history.

Now all my seasons are sunny, cheerful, refreshing as she always is. She wears a smile that disarms any man who appreciates beauty and charm.

Our friendship, like the rest of my girl friends, is something to behold, love and cherish. She is so eager to learn English, as I am of Chinese, so maybe there is a match here. A match of learning, I mean.

At Bei Jiu Shui, Mt. Laoshan (Sept 20, 2008)

All work, then some fun at Mt. Laoshan
On Saturday, 20 Sept 2008, the sales and operations staff of CIF-TAO (China Intl Freight / Qingdao Branch) trekked to the Bei Jui Shui Resort area in the Mt. Laoshan for its annual company outing. About 20 CIF/TAO beautiful girls and 4 guys enjoyed a day of fun and frolics. Click here for photos.

Relax guys, this photo was lifted from the Internet. Although my 'girls' at the office are as lovely, these are not them.......-ben

Oompah Band at the Crowne Plaza Hotel

A Jump on Oktoberfest (Sept 11, 2008)
America commemorates the 9/11 terrorist attack. Some twelve thousand miles away, the Qingdao-rens started celebrating their version of Oktoberfest. One of the first to host was the Crowne Plaza Hotel on Hongkong Middle Road, where a huge, white tent was setup for the occasion. I estimated as many as 500 Tsingtao beer drinking fanatics were in the tent that night.

The Qingdao Business Leaders (QBL) had a planning meeting earlier in the evening. I was impressed on how smooth and quick the meeting went. Then I figured out the meeting was just an excuse to party. Everyone just wanted to get out early and be at the big 'Beerfest' tent.

An oompah band imported directly from Bavaria (at least that's what I was told) belted out both traditional German folk songs, as well as American country music. They even played 'boogie' and foxtrot to the delight of the 'older' crowd. I couldn't resist showing off my boogie moves with my new friend's (Chris Wachendorfer) mother. Chris, as he introduced himself, is the chief 'Grease Monkey' in Qingdao. They are building a dozen or so of these automotive service centers here in Qingdao alone. I wonder if they have monkeys doing the car washing and cleaning? Incidentally, they call BMW's here - Bu Moi Wo, meaning 'don't touch me'.

Kathy, my dear Chinese lady friend, thought she was German and kept offering 'prost" to everyone. (Kathy Z. W. - she is the lovely girl caught eating too much bratwurst in the slide show below). It was a great night. I know, because I do not know how I got home.


....More to come on the Qingdao Beerfest on Sept 19th to Oct 5th.... In the meantime here are some photos taken at the Crowne Plaza festival.

Moon Cakes & Beerfest (Sept - Oct 2008)

The Mid Autumn (Moon Cakes) Festival (Sept 15)
This festival dates back to some 3,000 years and has many origins. Folklore attributes this festival to the worshiping of the moon (xi yue) during the ancient Xia and Shang dynasties (2000 B.C.-1066 B.C.). There are many beautiful legends about the moon in China. The most popular one tells how a goddess named Chang'e ascended to the moon. If you want to know more about this festival, click here.

One would know that this festival is fast approaching when moon cakes start appearing in stores. At Carrefour (pronounced: sha-lah-fooh), right across my office, a whole section is devoted to the cakes. Yes, they have many, many different moon cakes - from small ones to large pizza-sized ones. It is difficult to figure out which ones to buy, as the labels are all in Chinese. Anyway, it does not matter, as I have yet to meet a moon cake I did not like.

Alysia Zhang (The Master Spy) & the Missing Moon Cakes

Zhang Ting aka Alysia, my lovely friend thinks I eat too much of the moon cakes (she actually said, "You eat too much". Period.). I asked her how she knew this. She said she scavenged the trash can and counted the number of wrappers in it. Well, she is from Dalian, a former Russian seaport in the northeastern part of China. So, they know how to spy. But, I have wised up. Now, after eating moon cakes (which is quite frequent), I shred the wrappers, then scatter them into the wind through my 8th floor window. No evidence. No crime. Here she is in her military outfit:

Alysia Zhang, aka Jane Bond
Another Ting 'smartness' story: A few weeks ago she went home to Dalian for a week. As she is concerned about my being over weight (at least she did not use the "f" word), she told me not to spend too much time at the bars. I, of course, promised as told. For some strange reason, she did not believe me. So she ordered me to call her every night and on real-time send her photos of the show on Channel 44 (a Dalian station). This way she can check if I indeed was at home. And to make sure that I do not cheat (where is the trust here?), she said to have the camera on timer and take the photo of the TV with me in the background. She should have been named Jane Bond.


The Tsingtao Beer Festival (Sept 19 - Oct 5)
Now, here is a real festival. Although not a national holiday, it is quite famous in this part of China. It is similar to Germany's Oktoberfest and is mainly held at a park called, guess what? - "Beer City'. The park is deserted (fenced in) the whole year except for this 16 day holiday. I will tell you more and post some pictures as soon as I emerge from the big tents next week.

For this festival, I have appointed myself the 'lagermeister' and as such I am organizing a group of expats to go on one (or more) evenings together. This way we can protect ourselves from the rowdy Germans. Oh, I wonder if they sell the beer in plastic bags over there?


Hocks and Feet
In Bavaria, a traditional dish during the Oktobefest is Schweinsaxe - roast pig hock glazed in beer. I heard the Qingdao-rens have their own version but made of chicken feet instead of pork feet. Clever, these Chinese. Hock. Feet. What's the difference?

hock (dictionary meaning)

1.	the joint in the hind leg of a horse, cow, etc., above the fetlock joint, corresponding anatomically to the ankle in humans.

2.	a corresponding joint in a fowl.

Two American 'Idiots' at the Paralympics

Cheering for Team USA
On Wednesday (Sept 10), my fellow Asian-American friend (Hubert Ho), my boss (Michael Kou) at China International Freight (CIF/TAO) and I decided to see the Paralympics sailing competition (the venue is about 30 minutes from my office). Tickets were very cheap - 10 yuans. For that price, I could not complain too much for the lack of visibility that day.

We befriended a wheelchair borne Australian lady named Jakie Kay and Chris Mitchell, her friend. They build Dinghys somewhere near Sydney. Hubert and I pretended to be seasoned American sailors. You know - the 'know it all' Americans. Jakie and Chris versus the seasoned American 'wanna bee' sailors. We had a little friendly bantering on who is best.

And so the race starts for the two person Yngling (keelboat) competition (notice my mastery of this sports?). Well, the mighty American nuclear powered boat was on first, while the Australian rubber ducky was close second. It was a close race, until....

Half way through the race, Hubert jumped and said, "Oh no, the American sailboat just went down." My eyes being less than perfect, I squinted and could not find any boat with an American flag on the horizon. I yelled, "There goes another gold."

Jackie looked condescendingly at us and said, "You American idiots. They just brought down their sail for faster turning. Those boats do not capsize!" Jackie did not really say the "I" word. I think she had something worse in mind.

Well, the Americans got their gold anyway. No thanks to two 'mentally handicapped' American cheerleaders.

The Philippine Sailing Team
In the same race, we saw a boat that was way, way, way behind. Jackie informed us that was the Philippines' entry for 2-man Yngling race. I was so proud, yet quizzically wondered why they were so far behind. True to my 'joker' nature, I said, "They fooled us (Filipinos) again. They said the race is on for tomorrow."

Actually there is a heartwarming story about this Philippine Paralympic sailing team. Apparently, there is only one disabled sailing person in the whole Philippine islands who competes in sailing events. So, she and her coach set out to search the archipelago (7,000 islands) for a 'navigator'. After months of searching they found a fisherman with no legs and no arms but was agile enough to navigate his boat and fish for his family. Untrained and untested they took the man with them to Qingdao. So off to the races, albeit coming in last. But the Olympics as well as the Paralympics is not just about who is fastest, highest and swiftest, but also who tried their best. I was proud to be of Filipino heritage at that moment.