Brad Coley

Test

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 01:47:19 GMT

Test

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 01:31:42 GMT

Wed, 30 May 2007 15:58:02 GMT

Obscure Holidays

Fri, 31 Mar 2006 19:02:58 GMT

One last thing before bed...

Happy Bunsen-Burner Day (Mar 31) to everyone!

Another Life First

Fri, 31 Mar 2006 19:01:04 GMT

I had my first ever Big Mac (hold the cheese and pickles) tonight. Not bad, but honestly...I don't get what all the fuss is about.

Wed, 29 Mar 2006 17:40:52 GMT

.6L bottle of rice wine: $0.75
1.25L bottle of Sprite: $0.60
.6L bottle of Coca-Cola: $0.38
Two beers at clubs: $6.00
Taxi rides: $2.50
Singing along with a Philipino coverband in China (on a stage that included a pole) as they sing Cher or Abba: Priceless

If a better time can be had anywhere in the world for approximately US$10...I'd sure like to know about it.

Showgirls...

Wed, 29 Mar 2006 12:30:47 GMT

Here I am watching "Showgirls" before going out for a night of live-band karaoke...

When I read that some people call "Showgirls" the greatest post-modern comedy of all-time...I thought they were out of their minds. Then I saw "Showgirls". It will change your life. You will measure your life in "before I watched 'Showgirls'" and "after I watched 'Showgirls'".

Be sure to get the VIP Edition and listen to the amazing commentary. You will laugh until you cry!

Everybody else was doing it...

Tue, 28 Mar 2006 19:38:16 GMT

Since all the cool kids on LJ are writing posts about the immigration issue, I thought I'd just throw in my 2 cents (or maybe 2 jiao) from China.

Since the founding of our country, we have been a country afflicted with severe Schizophrenia regarding immigration. With this post, I will single-handedly defuse today's most contentious issue (or maybe not).

A couple of quotes to start off:

"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free." -- inscribed on the Statue of Liberty
"If one attitude can be said to characterize America's regard for immigration over the past two hundred years it is the belief that while immigration was unquestionably a wise and prescient thing in the case of one's parents or grandparents, it really out to stop now." -- Bill Bryson in Made in America, in his great book on the history of the English language in America

Why I Love America...

This whole debate strikes me as both a touch overwrought and thoroughly hypocritical. How anyone can honestly get up on their high horse about immigration in America is beyond me. If we were in France or Japan where national identity could be more tightly linked to a specific ethnicity or language, it would be one thing. But being Americans means that we live in a melting pot. That's the whole notion of America. The beauty of American citizenship is that a person can choose to be American. You can't choose to be Chinese or Nigerian, but since America is more than anything an abstract idea, it is possible for anyone in the world to rightfully call themselves an American. That Korean grandma who got sworn in just last week is as American as me. And that’s a good thing.

For me, one of the things in recent years that has made me proudest to be an American is a simple scene. The control room at NASA's JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) on the campus of Cal-Tech. While America has achieved some amazing things on Mars recently, that room has been filled with men and women from countries the world over. That's the beauty of America. People can come from the world over, work together, and make discoveries or innovate in ways never before thought of. We’d be much the worse as a country without the foresight of past leaders to allow such large scale immigration.

The current debate has become super-heated for no good reason, I think. Per usual, America and Americans have been struck with a severe case of historical amnesia. Many people like to trumpet the fact that their relatives came to America legally and therefore they somehow have the moral high-ground to tell the would-be immigrants of today how to conduct themselves as they seek a better life in America. I would just point out that what was entailed to come into America legally in the days of Ellis Island was a five hour wait to be processed before being sent out into America with our best wishes. That is in NO way comparable to the complex quota system currently in place. It takes years and many thousands of dollars for a person to come legally to this country. To continue such a system is to simply deny the reality facing the many people seeking to come to America for a chance at a piece of the American dream. If they had the ability to wait for years or the financial wherewithal to pay the thousands of dollars, they wouldn’t need to come to America in the first place. If it was good enough for immigrants in the early 1900’s, then it’s good enough for the immigrants of the 21st century. Nothing much has changed in America regarding immigration other than the color and language of the bulk of the immigrants.

Why We Can't Just "Deport them all"...

And for some perspective on this issue, let’s recall that there are an estimated 11,000,000 illegal immigrants currently in the country. As George Will pointed out on ABC’s “This Week” (a great podcast, I recommend it), it would take 200,000 buses to deport them all. Those buses would, if lined up, stretch from San Diego to Alaska. And with as much trouble as the federal government had busing out people who wanted to leave New Orleans, I wouldn’t count on Uncle Sam to drive all these people “back to where they came from.” Not only do we not have the logistical capabilities to deport these people, many of them now have children whom, having been born in the United States, are fully legal citizens. So it’s not all that practical to deport parents and either leave their children alone in America or force legitimate American citizens to leave the country. These people are here to stay and there’s simply no denying that fact. As much as people might wish that it weren’t so, that won’t make it so. It’s too late to turn back the clock entirely on illegal immigrants. What America must do now is to face this problem with the compassion and generosity that has for so longed characterized our great country. These people are not criminals (if they had committed a crime, they would have already been deported). They are members of our community (estimates are that 70% of illegal immigrants have been in America for more than five years).

The Language Issue...

There’s a joke that people tell around the world that’s not often heard in America, it goes something like this:

What do you call a person who speaks three languages? Trilingual.
What do you call a person who speaks two languages? Bilingual.
What do you call a person who speaks one language? An American.

Sadly, I think this joke is entirely too accurate. Because of our relative geographic isolation from the rest of the world, Americans have for too long thought that there is some inherent birth right to speak ONLY English. To quote a Texas state education administrator from the 1930’s who after a thorough reading of her Bible remarked on a bilingual education proposal: “If English was good enough for Jesus, it’s good enough for the children of Texas.” Maybe I’m a bit biased here, but I speak Spanish. It’s not a particularly difficult language. It was offered in my schools starting at the age of thirteen. Learning Spanish has been one of my most rewarding educational experiences. It has broadened my horizons and allowed me to view the world differently. Because I can speak Spanish, Spanish TV, radio, newspapers, and signs don’t bother me. But I know what most people are thinking: “Why don’t they just learn English? Everyone else did when they came to America!” I have good news and bad news. The good news is that studies have shown that 70+ percent of second and third generation Hispanic immigrants speak better English than Spanish. As with other immigrant groups, the adults have a difficult time fully acquiring the English language, but their children and grandchildren embrace the language quickly and entirely. The bad news, historically…immigrants have not simply learned English overnight. In the 1800’s, the second most widely read newspaper in Cincinnati was in German. Early in the 1900’s, the country had 40 individual newspapers that were entirely in Norwegian. Up until the 1940’s Dutch was still spoken in rural parts of the Hudson Valley in upstate New York. So even back in the “good old days” of the golden age of immigration in America, there was no real hurry to learn English (at least on the part of the adults). Immigrants could and sometimes did live in America and get along without any grasp of the English language. Somehow, America survived and continued to speak English and eat apple pie. I have no doubt that we can survive as a country going forward.

My Plan...

Now that I’ve complained about everyone else, what do I propose to do about it? Firstly, I applaud the current bill that has been passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee. It would open an avenue for immigrants who are currently illegal to move towards citizenship. In order to even begin the formal process of becoming a citizen, each person would have take civics classes, learn English, pay any back taxes they owe on their wages earned before they were legal residents, pay a fine, and then and only then are they allowed into the back of the line for formal citizenship proceedings. They are not going to the front of the line. They are going to the back. They are being fined. This is not rewarding bad or illegal behavior; it is recognizing a reality and correcting it. Going forward, I would actually not be terribly opposed to the construction of some sort of physical barrier(s) along the US-Mexican border. I recognize that in this time of increased security concerns, it is simply not good policy to have a porous border that presents an inviting target to those looking to do harm to America or Americans. I wouldn’t oppose this wall…on one condition: that one or more Ellis Island type facilities were constructed along the border so that people seeking to come to America could legally enter the United States. At these places, the process for becoming a legal resident on the path to citizenship would be efficient and straightforward. Any concerns about a criminal background or medical fitness could be resolved at this point before allowing anyone into America. After they are processed, we would have a photo, a fingerprint, and contact information. That way, we know who is here and where they are.

Once they had been cleared to enter America legally, the would enter a probationary period (similar to the one for Ellis Island era immigrants). For 1,2, or 3 years, they would be forbidden from applying for most forms of government aid (although I would probably allow for extenuating circumstances somewhat). If they were to become a “ward of the state”, it’s goodbye to America. Back home with you. If they were to commit a felony during this period, similarly…it’s bye-bye America, hello homeland. I’m not for indiscriminately allowing criminals or anyone lazier than me (a pretty low standard) into America. Also, from day one, these new citizens-to-be would be paying full federal and state taxes. They would come out of the economic shadows. But if you want to make a better life for your family through hard work and perseverance, far be it from me to tell me that you are simply out of luck because you are arriving after the 1920’s introduction of harsh immigration controls and a quota system. Just because my family was lucky to have arrived before the Revolutionary War, doesn’t somehow give me the moral authority to now say who can and cannot immigrate themselves.

If this is truly about “following the law”, I don’t understand where my plan wouldn’t work. If, however, it’s more of a cultural and ethnic issue for people who are more concerned not about legal status, but rather about the culture and other aspects of this era’s immigrants, well…that’s another issue for another day. Though I would say that most Americans were just as terrified of your Polish/Italian/Greek great grandparents as you are of today’s immigrants.

The End...

Good thing I was brief there, or else this would have been a seriously long post, right? I’m sure that even still, I left some stuff out. I’d love to get a comment or two if you even made it this far.

Pics from the wedding...

Mon, 27 Mar 2006 19:41:38 GMT

I got around to uploading the pics from Peggy's wedding that I went to on Saturday night.

Peggy's Wedding Gallery

Tammy took them all, so I can take no credit for good or ill on their quality.

Aquatic Eden...

Mon, 27 Mar 2006 08:16:58 GMT

I recently redid my 6-7 gallon aquarium in my bedroom. Before, it had artificial plants and decorations, but I decided I wanted to go "all natural." I think it looks much better just with green plants. The great thing is that the plants are SO cheap in China. Most of the plants cost between $0.12 and $0.25. I'm going to be so depressed when I go home to America and have to pay American prices to get my "fix" for my uncontrolled aquarium addiction.

Since I only work four days a week for about 17 hours a week, I've had no trouble finding time for hobbies like this in China!

BTW, I also have a 75 gallon aquarium and a 10 gallon aquarium in the living room. The 75 gallon aquarium has fallen into a bit of disrepair, and the 10 gallon one is sort of Tammy's now. Maybe if/when I get the 75 gallon monster back up to snuff, I'll post a picture of it.

Rainy days and Mondays...

Sun, 26 Mar 2006 06:02:04 GMT

This is what they call the "rainy season"...

It's been like this for a month. And to be honest, I'm not really all that hopeful about Tuesday or Wednesday. If I actually hope to see the sun, I'll probably just be disappointed.

The great part about this weather is that without a dryer for our clothes, nothing gets truly dry from being hung on a balcony with rain and 95% humidity. I'm starting to forget what truly dry pants feel like.

My First Chinese Wedding

Sat, 25 Mar 2006 16:59:32 GMT

I attended my first Chinese wedding this evening. Though it's not really a "wedding" in the western sense as much as it is a reception. Since the whole concept of "marriage" is pretty much entirely divorced from religion in China, the actual "wedding" is pretty much just the filing of paperwork with the government. It's the after-party that's the big social event.

The wedding was for my former TA (teaching assistant) Peggy (her English name). Peggy's great. Her English is probably the best of anyone I've met in China. She works for Coca-Cola in Zhuhai during the week and works as a teaching assistant on Saturdays only to practice her English and meet westerners. She has been an enormous help to me throughout my time in Zhuhai. From buying my multitude of aquariums to helping me find the American Consulate in Guangzhou on her off day, she's really been there when I needed someone to break the language barrier for me.

The event tonight was by all standards huge. Around 600 people in attendance. 60 tables of 10 people each. And everyone was served a full dinner with drinks. The money that was dropped in that room boggles my lil' English teaching mind. So for all of you who think the Chinese are just poor farmers or underpaid factory workers, fear not...plenty of people are doing quite well for themselves over here!

Things of note:

Sixty suckling pigs (one for each table) were brought out as the first part of the meal. As an added feature, not only were cherries places in his crispy little eyeballs, the cherries were put on blinking light bulbs so that the eyes blinked on and off. Nothin' says lovin' like blinking pigs' eyes fresh from the oven!
Peggy wore three different dresses during the course of about an hour and a half. Two red more traditional Chinese dresses and one "western" white wedding dress.
The "wedding photos" are actually taken in a rented dress and tux a month or so before the wedding.
There is no formal "wedding party" of bridesmaids and groomsmen in a Chinese wedding.
Only money is given to the couple. It should be placed in an unsigned, sealed red envelope and given to either the bride or groom at some point during the event. As a single individual, I put in about US$25. A married couple is expected to put in about $125! Do the math of those numbers multiplied by 600...and Peggy is set for a while!
The bride, groom, and both sets of parents visited each of the sixty tables for a toast and a drink. (Had I been the one getting married, I probably would've been sloppy by table 10 or so...fake drinking after a toast is for wimps!)

BTW...if posts like this about Chinese culture are too long or too boring...you can let me know and I'll cut them in the future. Now, after a long day of teaching and with another ahead of me tomorrow...I'm off to sleep!

Part Three of: "A Series of Unfortunate Events: Brad Travels Southeast Asia"

Fri, 24 Mar 2006 16:28:35 GMT

Sadly, this one is true.

I had been in Phuket for two days at the time. I wanted to tour around the area a bit and see what was left of the tsunami damage. Michelle and I went to rent mopeds and within the first five minutes, I had driven it into a parked silver Toyota. I know what your thinking, well maybe you could just drive away and nobody would notice, right? Only problem with that theory is that I managed to sideswipe the car that belonged to a hotel. Parked in front of the open air check-in desk...where the manager happened to be sitting. Dammit.

Luckily, I wasn't injured (thank God). What happened was that I was trying to make a u-turn to go back and get Michelle after I'd driven maybe 150m down the road to sort of get my bearings on the moped. When I tried to accelerate slightly to get the thing turned, it shot across two lanes of traffic and was going too fast for me to turn the moped sharply enough to avoid the car. So instead of avoiding the car, I sideswiped it starting around the rear quarter panel up to about the drivers side (right side in Thailand) side mirror. Unfortunately for you, I forbade any of my friends from photographing the "scene" of this "occurrence."

The hotel manager was actually not that upset. He just wanted his money. Nor was the place that rented the moped to me angry. They just wanted their money. Originally, the hotel manager wanted about US$400 to fix the car. So much for things being cheaper in Thailand! Michelle was able to talk him down about $50, so although bad, it wasn't as bad as it could have been. The moped shop ended up sucking about US$60 out of me to fix the mirrors and headlight cover on the moped.

In the final analysis, I think the problem is that the throttle (or throttles in general) on the moped wasn't spring loaded. I guess I thought they would be spring loaded so that if you took your hand off of it, it would cut the engine. Not so, my friends. At least not in Thailand. Does anyone know if that's how they are in the US? At this point, I'm just curious.

Needless to say, I was pissed and at this point genuinely fearful for my safety. I'd already had the passport go missing cutting short my trip by four days, and now I had nearly been injured/killed. Luckily, I was able to extract some early birthday money from my folks back home along with a bit of an emergency loan thrown in for good measure. My travelers check supply had been entirely wiped out by paying off the hotel and moped shop. I'll probably pay them back the extra eventually...I think.

The other thing that pissed me off is that everyone else in Phuket rides the damn things seemingly without incident. Though a lot of the people there are European tourists and they have those Vespas back home which is sort of cheating. And Thais don't really count since it's in their genes or something. Thais can put like 2-3 people on one moped and the passengers still manage to sleep!

Up next, I either spent time in a Thai prison or get terrible food poisoning. Excitement, she wrote!

22 Days...

Fri, 24 Mar 2006 16:01:41 GMT

DONE.

If I can e-file my taxes early from China, there's really no excuse for you kids back Stateside.

Finally, pics...

Fri, 24 Mar 2006 13:58:36 GMT

After more time and effort than should have been necessary, my pictures from my time in Singapore and Thailand have been uploaded. I haven't gotten around to "annotating" them yet, but I get bored easily in China and I might get around to it one of these days.

Click on the picture below to go to the galleries.

Test...1,2,3...testing...

Fri, 24 Mar 2006 13:02:14 GMT

Just testing out my brand new paid membership. Lets hope I get my $5 worth
over the next two months!

<br /

Part Two of: "A Series of Unfortunate Events: Brad Travels Southeast Asia"

Thu, 23 Mar 2006 14:08:53 GMT

Nah. But man, if it were true and I had survived...that would have been awesome!

Wed, 22 Mar 2006 17:01:02 GMT

So, yeah...the trip that I took in January and February, the reason that I haven't posted about the trip is because for a while, I just wanted to forget about the whole damn thing. It was pretty much a wreck from start to finish.

In talking to mankelly, I gave him a list of five possible travel "disasters" that I encountered on my Chinese New Year vacation. I'm going to do it in installments. There will be five posts, three will be true, two will have not occurred.

The five events are the following:

My passport was lost/stolen
I was attacked by a bear
I crashed a moped into a parked car
I spent time in a Thai prison
I got the worst 10 days of food poisoning of my life

Up first...

Originally, I had planned to spend about three weeks traveling from Singapore up to northern Thailand. Something about "the best laid plans", right?

It started off terribly. On the Wednesday before I was to leave on Friday, I discovered that my passport was missing. I'd been in Macau (which is "Special Administrative Region" and former Portuguese colony, that although now technically a part of China, has its own immigration) for the day. That's the only reason I'd even had my passport with me (normally I don't ever carry around town). So at around 11pm, I realize that it's gone and I'm pretty much f*cked. I checked at the places that I'd been that evening and no luck. At this point, all that was left to do was to get a new US passport and China residency permit. Easier said than done, folks.

Basically, you first have to get a Chinese police report where you report the loss/theft of the passport, then go to the local "Public Security Bureau" and get an official "loss of passport" statement from them before the US government will even deal with you. It took me all day Thursday to get those taken care of. Friday, I set off for the "bright lights, big city" of Guangzhou to get a new US passport. Since they've changed the security features in passports following 9/11, they no longer make "real" passports overseas. All US passports are now made IN America. But what if you have the worst travel luck of you life and lose your passport, you ask? Well, you're in luck. They can issue a 1-year "emergency passport". Basically, it's just a pre-fab passport that they print your name and details in. Then they glue, yes glue, a picture of you in their for identification. But then they put a stamp half on the photo and half on the passport along with imprinting a US State Dept seal on the passport paper to make it at least marginally more difficult to counterfeit. The good news is that it only takes about an hour for them to crank one out. They were actually very nice and I didn't get any lecture about how passports are valuable things and all that jazz.

The next and more difficult task was getting a Chinese residency permit for this new passport. Sometimes I think Chinese bureaucracy is sh*tty just because it can be. In America, as much as the government might screw you with red tape, you'll still feel like, "Well, it's my government...I could (though I won't) vote the bums out". But in China...no such luck. You're gonna wait for your permit, and you're gonna wait with a smile. So instead of simply verifying the details on the photocopy of my old permit and simply printing a new one on the spot, he said it was going to take five business days, but he'll *try* to do it in three. COME ON. I got plane tickets here, man. Nope. Can't do it. Sucks...for me.

That weekend was spent cursing the very foundations of Chinese governance while my friend Michelle soaked up her "me time" in Singapore without me there. I eventually got the permit on Monday afternoon (which I guess would count as "rush service" for China, but I was still pissed). I flew out to Singapore on Tuesday evening after paying a fair amount in multiple ticket change charges as I moved my flight from day to day waiting on the residence permit. Because, I don't think I mentioned this, you can't LEAVE China without a visa. Not only can you not ENTER China on a visa, they won't let you LEAVE without one. So God forbid I had actually NEEDED to leave. I would have been really up a proverbial creek on that one.

So the gist of the lost passport is that I was four days late to Singapore and that lost time meant that I didn't go to Kuala Lumpur. Sadly, no Petronas Towers for this boy. Not until this fall when I'm in Kuala Lumpur to catch a flight home to America via Sweden!

Stay tuned for further "disastrophes"...

Things that are fun in Guangzhou, China...

Tue, 21 Mar 2006 15:48:43 GMT

Getting treated like a VIP rock star at the US Consulate
Ice skating
Unsafe bumper cars
Carnival games in Chinese
Pizza Hut for lunch
Five hours spent at Ikea spending about $20

Tue, 21 Mar 2006 15:00:19 GMT

If you've never shopped at an Ikea with *actual* Swedes, I highly recommend it!

Tales of a (very White Guy's) Life in China

Mon, 20 Mar 2006 13:09:57 GMT

It's come to my attention that some people might enjoy hearing the inane details of my life in China. (Please direct howls of scorn and derision at a one raiderguy76) So here's a (hopefully) condensed version of it.

I've been here since August of 2005. I spent a semester in the fall of 2003 at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. I've started to realize with hindsight that at this point, it would have to be counted as the best four months or so of my life. I had gotten lucky when my advisor heard me talk about an inkling of interest in studying abroad in Asia. A few months later, and with a nice chunk of scholarship change in my pocket, I got a plane not knowing who or what the next four months would have in store for me. I met people from literally all over the world and I dare say had the most formative four months that I'll have in my life. It completely changed my perception of the world. It was no longer "us" (America) and "them" (everyone else)...it's so trite, but I really felt like I became a "citizen of the world". All of these abstract countries like Australia or Sweden were no longer places on the map, they were where my friends lived (and places that I'd soon visit and see for myself).

As I approached my college graduation, I realized that I just didn't "feel like" going straight to grad school, and God knows I wasn't looking for a real job (hereafter referred to as a J-O-B). I had enjoyed my time in Hong Kong and had done a bit of traveling in Mainland China during my time in Hong Kong. I also knew that I still had friends in Hong Kong. So what the hell, I thought...why not pack it up and head for China? I got a teaching job teaching English to children and adults in the city of Zhuhai. China map in general, close up on my region. By Chinese standards, Zhuhai is a "smaller" city coming in at "only" 1.3 million. So just imagine a country with about 1,000 cities of 1.3 million people and you get 1.3 billion with a 'b' Chinese people.

I only teach 17 hours a week and have three days off. The salary isn't much in US dollar terms, but I live like a king by Chinese standards. It's a private language school, so we work around the schedules of our students. Which means tons of children’s' classes on the weekends and adult classes in the evening during the week. It makes for some long weekends (I currently have seven 100 minute classes over the two of Saturday and Sunday), but it also leaves plenty of spare time during the week.

I must say that the experience has worked out pretty well all things considered. China is definitely very different and still qualifies as a *developing* country. But the more I've traveled, the more I've realized that really, there's very few places in the world where I couldn't conceivably live very comfortably. (With the obvious exception of that whole patch of land between Indonesia and Morocco...praise be to Allah and all that, but they can keep it for themselves)

A few frequently asked questions:

Brad, you live in China and teach Chinese students, do you speak Chinese?
Oh, silly, silly man. I speak all told maybe 50 words of Chinese. It's enough to get by, but for any larger tasks, I have a great local friend who speaks terrific English and does all my bidding with local shops and other such things. In my classes, if the students English isn't that great and they are in early classes, we have a Chinese teaching assistant to help us with translation of difficult terms or concepts and often times, serve as a bit of a disciplinarian. So no, I don't really speak Chinese. But I do speak Spanish!

Do Chinese people hate America?
Well, they aren't big fans of President Bush. But I look at the positive side of that, and the fact that there dislike is something China has in common with approximately 2/3 of Americans. So even on the other side of the world, Chinese can spot incompetence, and I'd say they didn't like him way before it was "cool" to think he was an idiot in America. To me personally, they are very friendly. Though the country is full of thieves and con-artists, but they steal from the Chinese as much if not more than they do from westerners.

What's the food like?
The food isn't bad. Food from this region of China can be kind of "blah", but there are tons of restaurants from other parts of China and that food is much better. Though I honestly don't eat as much Chinese food as you might expect. There is a good Indian restaurant and a good Thai restaurant in town, so in an effort to awaken my taste buds, I usually eat at those places once a week or so. And when I need it, I can get canned pasta sauce and make "Italian" at my apt. Lastly, there is tons of fast food over here. KFC and McDonalds dominate. Though there is a Pizza Hut.

What's it like to live in an area dominated by Communists?
How would I know? I've never lived in Northern California. Even though China is still officially "Communist", it's pretty much a market economy in an authoritarian country. The "Communist" party was wise enough to learn lessons from the Soviets and open up the economy before it collapsed. So at this point, you can do what you want in business just as long as you don't challenge the government's political leadership position.

Well, if you made it this far, congratulations. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask them. In case it's not obvious by now, I like talking about myself.

I've been meaning to post about my trip that I took over Chinese New Year. The trip that could only really be called a "disastrophe". It was bad, though not entirely so. I've just been trying to get some distance from it so that I could write more thoughtfully about it.

Tue, 17 Jan 2006 20:05:58 GMT

Up until now, I've refrained from ever actually using this thing mainly because I didn't think there was much particularly interesting about my life right now. Granted, I'm in China teaching English for a year, but after you've been here for a while (I've been here since August), you get settled in and the newness wears off.

Well, the good news is that I have a three-week break coming up where I'll be travelling to Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand. So I think I'll sort of copy and paste with some editing my emails that I send home. That way, I'll have some record of my trip online and I'll be able to put a little bit of "me" on this Livejournal thing instead of just lurking in the shadows.

So with that in mind, here's my pre-trip email. We'll see if I'm feeling adventurous enough to put in links and pictures.

By the way, the part at the bottom of the post still applies and comments count.

Well, well, well…it’s been a long time, hasn’t it?

Hope everyone had some great holidays. Belated Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hannukkah, and Kwanzaa (that one’s for Phillip), and New Years greetings to you all!

Chinese New Year is fast approaching over here. (About 13 hours faster than most of you thanks to the time difference) The actual date is Jan 29, but I see no need in waiting for the actual holiday to get busy celebrating, right? The school gives us about three weeks of paid vacation to set out to wherever we see fit…so yours truly has decided he’s headed for Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand.

I’m leaving Zhuhai via the Special Administrative Region of Macau for Singapore on Friday, January 20 at 6:30pm. It’s about a three hour flight down there. Singapore is located just a mere 100km (60 miles) from the equator. If I hadn’t already been to Australia, I’d fine that horribly unsatisfying. But luckily, I’ve already checked off the “below the equator” requirement last Christmas/New Years in Australia. I’m going to be in Singapore from Jan 20-23 (Fri-Mon). That gives us about two and a half days to see an area the size of Washington, DC (before Virginia got all huffy around the time of the Civil War and took back it’s half of the previously perfectly rhombus-shaped capital of America) My “partner in crime” for this portion of the trip will be a Ms. Michelle Zittlau. Michelle’s a first-generation American whose parents came over from Germany during the sixties. Amazingly, I think Michelle is the only person I’ve met that can talk as fast if not faster than I can. That should mean that we sqeeze in a years worth of conversation in the space of a week of traveling together. Some quick information on Singapore…it’s a lot like Hong Kong. Strong British colonial past and a clean, modern, and bustling metropolis. But to be honest, I’m not interested in any of that. What I’m most excited about is that Singapore has *multiple* Mexican restaurants. One of which has a happy hour that goes until 9pm. That means half-priced margaritas and a very inebriated couple of English teachers! I guess there are cultural sights too in Singapore, but we’ll worry about that after I’m stuffed full of tacos, chips, salsa, lime juice, and tequila! Viva Singapore!

After Singapore, we’ll leave for the capital of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur (KL). Up until recently, KL had the worlds highest towers in the form of the Petronas Towers. A couple of years ago, they were surpassed by Taipei 101 in (you guessed it!) Taipei. (Editor’s note: I’ve been there too) But they still retain the title of “worlds tallest twin towers” (they were also taller than NY’s World Trade Towers). So that’s enough of a hook to draw me in. I don’t have much else planned in Kuala Lumpur. It’s mainly just a quick stop on the way to Thailand.

And now on to the likely highlight of the trip...

In Thailand, I’m going to Phuket Island, or Patong Beach in particular. This should be a pretty interesting part of my trip as this is the exact area that was *devastated* by the tsunami just over a year ago. Apparently, they’ve done a good job of rebuilding and they really want people to go visit as tourism is pretty much the only economic activity in town. So I’m going to do my duty as a “citizen of the world” and stay in a hotel with a private room, private balcony, air conditioning, satellite TV, and a pool for the hefty price tag of (drumroll please…) $12 per person per night. This is way easier than giving blood or something. Part of me wonders if there will be some sense hanging over the beach that so many people died here, but hopefully, the recovery will be in full swing and I won’t have to worry my pretty little head about it. Phuket’s climate is about as tropical as it comes. We’re talking 88 degree sunny days with 84 degree crystal clear turquoise water. Apparently, a popular beverage is a frozen or chilled coconut with a straw! I think chilled coconut + gorgeous beach + duty free Bacardi rum bought at border crossing = LOTS OF FUN. I’m going to be in Phuket for five nights. Jan 26-31.

In Phuket, I’ll be meeting Tammy who will have been with Christian a great German guy we met here in Zhuhai. After we meet up, we’ll be departing for Bangkok via an overnight “VIP” bus. Apparently, this is the closest we’ll come to touring like rockstars in a motorcoach for the price of $20. We’ll be in Bangkok for a few days to enjoy some cheap shopping and seedy bars. My friend Taylor has advised us that there’s one bar we can’t miss. Since my mother is reading this…I’ll just say think Thai women and ping pong balls! ;o)

After Bangkok, we head further north into the mountain region to Chiang Mai. Chiang Mai is supposed to be kind of a hippy expat area. The big things here will be temples, elephants, and taking a Thai cooking class. I’m pretty excited about all three. We’ll be in Chiang Mai for 3-4 days.

After Chiang Mai, we head back to Bangkok to catch our flight home to Macau and Zhuhai on February 9th. So if you notice that I’m not online much at all in the next three weeks…now you know why!

So now that you’ve made it this far reading (or had the good sense to scroll down and be done with it)…the first 10 replies that I get to this email with a full mailing address get postcards from the country of their choice (Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand are your options). See, we should always read to the bottom of emails, kids!

Because I'm nice (and a geography nerd, I've included a helpful map for those following along at home)...

I'm going to China

Tue, 12 Jul 2005 08:15:59 GMT

Hey.

Why is it that most of my posts lately occur when I'm highly intoxicated yet I somehow manage to correct for typos. Thank God I paid attention in my typing clas in high school, eh?

Well, my friend Niklas will soon be in the air from Sverige (Sweden). Strange, to be honest. Even though I've traveled to Hong Kong, Europe, and Australia, I'm still constantly amazed by the concept of time zones. Logically, I completely understand the concept, but it's still quite amazing to think of the sun being up in places whilst its completely dark where I am. I'm very much looking forward to Nilas getting here. It should be a good time showing him around the South and taking him out to Texas which I consider bascially "foreign land."

I think this "international exposure" will do me good. I need to get ready for leaving for China to teach english and I think Niklas being here will give me a good chance to get prepared for the whole notion of being "not in America." Sometimes it's good for me to get a non-American perspective. It's been nearly four months since I drove up to Canada which just *barely* counts as "not America." It's time for me to leave America or have a friend from "not America" visit. Even though the more I travel outside of America, the more I realize that I am *definitely* American through and through, I feel like it's very important that I get outside of America to expand my horizons.

Well, I'm supes drunk as if this post didn't make it incredibly obvious. I'm going to sign off and wait to see my Swedish friend Niklas

-Bye

Screw you...

Sat, 02 Jul 2005 23:07:49 GMT

I don't care what anyone says, "Troop Beverly Hills" is a helluva movie. It's some of Shelly Long's best work. You should catch it the next time it's on a TV dead zone late at night or during a weekend afternoon.

How much do I love CNN International?

Thu, 24 Feb 2005 08:15:15 GMT

"It's afternoon in Asia, middle of the night in the Americas, and morning in Europe. Time for Business International." How cool is that?! As much international travel as I've done, the whole concept of time zones still fascinates me. It's dark here and light there? No. Seriously?? I love CNN International. I guess when I'm sitting in the hole that is Athens, I can't help buy enjoy anything that connects me to the larger world. So few people either know or care about international events, it's nice to see that there is a whole network out there for nerds like me. Too many people in this town forget that there's anything outside of the state of GA much less outside the US. Guys, there's a whole world out there. If you can't go there, at least read about it.

Thank God I'm going to Canada for spring break. I know that it's a foreign country mainly on a technicality, but I'll still get to show a passport and that counts, dammit. My American cabin fever is starting to flare up again. It happens like clockwork after I've spent about two months continuously in the US. I think it's similar to the situation of moving out of home for the first time. Somehow you lived happily (more or less) there for 18 years, but after you leave, it's a chore to spend longer than a week back with the 'rents. I love Uncle Sam and all, but sometimes absence makes the heart grow fonder.

Get me out of here (so I can want to come back)!!

Brad Coley

Test

Obscure Holidays

Another Life First

Showgirls...

Everybody else was doing it...

Pics from the wedding...

Aquatic Eden...

Rainy days and Mondays...

My First Chinese Wedding

Part Three of: "A Series of Unfortunate Events: Brad Travels Southeast Asia"

22 Days...

Finally, pics...

Test...1,2,3...testing...

Part Two of: "A Series of Unfortunate Events: Brad Travels Southeast Asia"

Things that are fun in Guangzhou, China...

Tales of a (*very* White Guy's) Life in China

I'm going to China

Screw you...

How much do I love CNN International?

Tales of a (very White Guy's) Life in China