Depressed

The last three weeks have been boiling hot and almost entirely smoggy in Beijing, broken up with just a day or two when it was possible to see the sky or the sun. Fortunately I was working in Shanghai for the better part of a week and thus at least able to get some rain as well as see some friends down there.

 

Our current apartment was a fantastic deal; about 15% cheaper than alternatives in the same place. Unfortunately since our landlord bought the apartment for half price from the government (who owns the building) as pat of the beenfits package of being a government employee, two weeks ago the government decided that they should not be allowed to rent it out (and thus profit from the cheap price they paid), thus we had to look for a new place; knowing we were unlikely to get one at such a good price, and knowing that after recent attempts by the government to cool the property market which restricted buying -but thus encouraged more lending- we would have to pay more for less.

 

Not a fun experience, but never mind. We found a good place; and poor Andrea will have to do the moving herself (with a removal company of course!) whilst I am in Burma with Dad for the next 12 days. Definitely a way of getting over the depression of moving out of a great apartment and not seeing the sun!

Sports and war crimes

thankfully this morning it was overcast and the temperatue was only in
the low 20s; yesterday, in the sun, it was 36 degrees+. This mattered
a great deal as today I ran/cycled/ran a duathlon. Not a big deal
really; taking a third of the time of a full triathlon but since I
don't ever swim I chose to stick to the duathlon. It was almost a full
2 years ago I was last at the triathlon venue to watch the Olympic
event. It's a beautiful location set next to the hills around Beijing
and by a reservoir (where the swimming takes place). It does make for
a hilly bike ride unfortunately.

The last few weeks, since I last wrote have been fairly busy. A few
days in Hong Kong for work took me to one of my favorite cities.
Althought its only been 18 months since I was last there, i had almost
forgotten how great the place is; and in particular how distinctive it
is compared to Shanghai or anywhere else in China. The skyscrapers,
hills, high density, fast pace, linguistic mix and the diversity
between the islands, Central, New Territories and the suburbs are all
worth exploring. And everything is so accessible due to short
distances and excellent transportation.

Of course the World Cup has been the big distraction over the last few
weeks. Andrea's certainly happy at Germany's progress and performance
with crisp passing, pace, invention and finishing. All of which
England lacked for all but half an hour or so of their 4 games. One
day, hopefully in my lifetime England will actually play well as a
team against other good teams, and maybe win a match or so. But the
last few finals we've been in, we have never hit the heights that we
think (or dream) we should be capable of.

The big game last week was fun to watch, that's for sure and Germany's
progress has got Andrea much more passionate about football... which
will hopefully carry on into watching Spurs in the champions league
next season, also at 2.30am on weeknights!

The last thing of note to mention was a film festival organized by
some students at a film academy. We went to see a few films; one of
which was particularly interesting as it was done by a young Japanese
girl who wanted to better understand why the Japanese did not want to
admit, or learn the lessons from, their past atrocities in World War
2. Overall, for a 1st film, it was a good documentary but she could
have spent less time on the facts of the atrocities, more time
interviewing those who disagreed with her opinion (instead of only
interviewing those who agreed with her) and more time analysing the
reasons, and consequences, behind the 'denial' that continues. For
those interested int he topic or war crimes, or unaware of what Japan
did against the Chinese and the American POWs, check out the website
by googling: silentshame