thepismire » Chiner Keepers

Chiner Keepers: Beijing Guo An

thepismire — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 18:27:05 +0000

Beijing’s own football (soccer) team is the Guo An. I was able to go to a match, and I’ve never heard something so obscene being chanted in unison. Maybe the direct translation makes it seem worse only on the English side, but boy did they make sure everyone knew what they were saying. We won that night, and eventually would be the champions for this past season.

Chiner Keepers: 798

thepismire — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 13:24:14 +0000

The 798 is definitely my favorite part of Beijing. I like industrious looking places. When they are converted to a different function, it’s even cooler. The 798 is a collection of different factories for military purposes. Once it was abandoned, the art community moved in. Now it’s bustling with galleries, small cafes, random art installations. It’s also a photographer’s playground. Many subjects to shoot and have fun with.

Chiner Keepers: No More Bunz

thepismire — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 16:26:35 +0000

Finding pleasant surprises in Chiners is money, especially if it’s a food item that you thought this place would never be good at. No More Bunz was introduced to us by Jason, who is pictured above. This post is also dedicated to him. The rest is history. This place has become a regular spot for us, and it’s always a right choice if we decide to eat there. Heck, we even got them delivered on certain occasions. There are many memories attached to this place: Charlie, sauerkraut, deli mustard, baozi, Germany, “the old guy” and how we hated him, etc. No more bunz? More like “No more no good times!”

Chiner Keepers: Old People Hanging Out

thepismire — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 09:19:16 +0000

The Temple of Heaven was pretty neat, but even neater was the old people community teeming right outside. It was busy, and they were straight up playing the er hu, doing coordinated dances with various items, playing them cards, singing, ballroom dancing, having impromptu choirs, tagging calligraphy with water. The place was insane, son. The old people culture in China should be considered a sightseeing item, and if you’re ever in the neighborhood, just head on over to your nearest park in the morning, pack some bread crumbs to lure them in, find a bench, and enjoy the show. Old people FTW.

Chiner Keepers: Mao Harvest/Orphanage

thepismire — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 10:07:48 +0000

Two things make this a keeper. The first thing is the Mao Harvest. We challenged our youth club to raise money for a good cause by collecting maos (Chinese equivalent of pennies), inspired by NYC’s Penny Harvest (hence the name). It was our first time doing this, but one thing that I have learned while working with youth is that they have a tendency to come through in amazing ways. One student in particular, Paul, who actually deserves his own post, got his fellow classmates at school to join in and raised a lot. It even got the attention of his school administration, who thought it was a really good idea to even implement in their own school. Amazing.

Our students then voted to donate all the maos to a nearby orphanage. It was great seeing our students interact with these orphans. In China, the disabled, diseased, any part of society that isn’t part of the norm are brushed under a rug. Out of sight, out of mind is the idea. We hope that our students learn the importance of justice, and that they can do so much more with what they are blessed with, than to waste it all on educational success.

Chiner Keepers: Chinese New Year

thepismire — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 17:39:44 +0000

It’s just one of those things that are indescribable. I can’t believe how loud and insane the whole city was in those few hours. If you can’t feel the concussions in your chest, you are not experiencing it enough. The highlight of the night was the now infamous, “white box”. Some good-willed strangers just came, lit the box, and left. What followed was pure magic and joy. If you haven’t seen the video of the white box yet, I posted it below. I can’t wait for my second experience in a couple of weeks. It’ll be a nice farewell gift from China.

Chiner Keepers: Delirious?

thepismire — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 09:03:24 +0000

I was so sad when I couldn’t catch their last tour in America, but to my surprise found out they were coming out to Chiners. Not only did I get my wish, but since the fan base is not so big here in China, we were able to get right up front. Even after, they were cool enough to come out and take some pictures and sign some autographs for us. Only in China.

Chiner Keepers: Jin Gets Pwned

thepismire — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 13:03:36 +0000

In line with what Mike did before he left Chiners, I thought I would take some time to reminisce on my year here in this great country. I decided to stay away from any kind of list or ranking because that’s just stress and time that I don’t need. So, I will just randomly look through my pictures from this past year, and hopefully something will pop up now and again. I’ve titled the series, Chiner Keepers.

I remember this was about a week into our year here, and already I was at a birthday dinner for Jin the MC, surrounded by a community of friends that I just met. The moment Danny slammed that cake into Jin’s smiling face was the moment God assured me that the year will not be a boring one. Trudat. Who knew “these people” that I just met would become such good friends. Even more than that, we share the bond of experiencing China together, which is pretty special in my eyes. Looking forward to a partial reunion in LA, 朋友们.