This news hits home, though, because I lived on Brick Workers’ Lane, a hutong in the shadow of the Drum Tower. I was told it was named because it was originally housing for the builders working on the drum tower, and I loved the connection to the past as we made our way down the twisting pathways. Lasseter says that at least one block’s already been razed, with plans for more to go, and I wonder if WarCraft Man or Grandma Waitress or any of my old neighbors have been moved on.

I liked the neighbors in the hutong. I was still a tourist attraction — like in Yantai, I often found neighborhood children hanging on my gate waiting to see the white girl — but the hutong grandmas would fight through my toneless Mandarin and limited vocabulary to ask if I was warm enough, or cool enough, or wanted to drink some tea. I’ll never understand the Chinese love of tea in hot weather, but it was lovely to be asked. Especially after Stick had gone home, and I was alone again.

I loved the area, down back alleys to the small grocery or noodle shop, or out of the maze of twisty little passages and across Dianamen Wai Dajie to the real brewed coffee and rooftap bars of Qianhai.  I loved walking home with takeout Xinjiang barbeque and beer, and passing Beijing-ren who were living just as Beijing familes have lived for generations.

It’s sad that this neighborhood will be over soon.

Via McClatchy blog: China Rises (well worth a visit for the hutong snapshots)

From the blog Simpson's Paradox, please comment here:

Bu Chai

Tweet this!

We’d planned to take our drinks to go, and continue on Hugo and Diana’s tour of all the reasons we should move to Denver, but were distracted by the toys, games and Asian magazines in Lollicup.

There was also a stack of I have a desperately uncool habit of looking at anything written in Chinese and announcing the characters that I can recognize.  It’s lame and annoying, and yet I’m so incredibly proud of myself that I can’t stop. Eventually I will progress beyond just reading the date aloud and actually know what’s in the paper.

We played some foozball, too, blaming any mistakes the headless players and the rogue Red Shirt on the Blue Shirts’ team.  It was pretty close, but eventually Stick and I pulled into the lead. (This has more to do with Diana scoring on herself slightly more often than I scored on myself, but let’s not talk about that.) (We are prize girlfriends, let me tell you!)

And then Hugo turned Lollicup into yet another reason we should move to Denver.

From the blog Simpson's Paradox, please comment here:

Lollicup

Tweet this!

After a film strip of photographs of dioramas showing the history of the mine, our guide drove us up a hillside to the mine. Then he gave us maps and said he’d see us back at the bottom when we were through. I don’t think this had anything to do with our debate about which of the Argonaut’s heroes would have made a good miner…

I try to detect secret doors.

We walked ourselves down, following the map. This wasn’t a particularly long walk, but I was still feeling the effects of  stupid altitude sickness, so I kept falling behind or stopping to pant.  Along the path, there were piles of abandoned tools and equipment, all sharp edges and rusted metal.

Also, I would not want to chaperon a field trip here.

The inside was equally rundown. We climbed rickety steps, crossed uneven floors, and looked down over wildly unsafe drops, to see the wildly unsafe old-fashioned mining equipment. That description sounded a bit like weathered boards in a charming old farmhouse, and it was, while at the same time, there are nails sticking out of this charming antique handrail. It was really interesting to see the old-fashioned mining equipment up close, but we also spent a lot of time joking about getting killed by a falling beam from the Argo.

From the blog Simpson's Paradox, please comment here:

The Argonautica

Tweet this!

Diana whispered quickly that they were throwing a Mexican-themed party as a joke, and that their friends had already started preparing Mexican food, drinks and decor, and man, wasn’t Hugo going to be surprised when he saw it?

Hugo’s surprise for Diana involved a ring. (And wow, it was incredibly hard to keep that quiet. Stick and I could never be Secretkeepers. Stick would forget and just let it slip in conversation, and I’d post the Order of the Phoenix’s secret address on my blog.)

On the morning of the party, Diana left to help the friends hosting Hugo’s citizenship party prepare Mexican food and hang up the pinata.  Meanwhile, back at Hugo and Diana’s house, Hugo was getting ready for something else:

After a bit of maneuvering with Karena, the hostess of Hugo’s “citizenship party”, Diana was inside waiting to surprise him with a sombrero and a margarita, and Hugo was at the door, waiting to surprise Diana with a ring and a bouquet of roses.

I guess she likes roses.

Skyping the family (PS: More photos here, Silvana!)

Obligatory Ring Photo

Oh, and Diana’s surprise? Turns out Hugo thought the Mexican theme was pretty good too!

From the blog Simpson's Paradox, please comment here:

Mile-High Romance

Tweet this!

Spaceship Broke Need Money For Parts, by Simpson’s Paradox

We passed this guy as Hugo and Diana gave us a tour of Denver. (And yes, we did give him some cash for spaceship repairs.)

From the blog Simpson's Paradox, please comment here:

Spaceship Broke Need Money For Parts

Tweet this!

I’ve read that Denver is on a plateau in the middle of the Rocky Mountains, but that doesn’t really describe bumping into gorgeous views of the mountains as we stop for coffee or take a drive.  It’s amazing. With the Rocky Mountains where ever I turn, I feel a lot like I pioneers heading West. And, um, also because Stick and I are considering a move out here. Which means that every so often,  Hugo or Stick will begin singing “Go West! Life is peaceful there!” It’s a lot like playing Oregon Trail.

As you played Oregon Trail, you’d be going about your normal pioneering day, and someone in your wagon train would be struck down with deathly illness. Dysentery. Cholera.  This altitude sickness is a lot like Oregon Trail… We’re going about our normal business when Meg is struck down with nosebleeds. And dizziness. And nausea. And exhaustion.

Most of my memories of being sick involve missing school to lie in my bed and read books, which was kind of what I wanted to do most of the time anyway. I remember being Really Sick a few times. Once, when I had mono in high school, and once when I had Genghis Khan’s revenge in Mongolia, and now here in Denver, where the AIR IS TRYING TO KILL ME.

Turns out, I need oxygen. Who knew?

From the blog Simpson's Paradox, please comment here:

Bracing Mountain Air

Tweet this!

But it doesn’t matter, because tomorrow we’re leaving for Denver! To see our much-missed friends, Hugo and Diana! We used to live across the parking lot from each other in Amherst, but the last time we saw them was when they came out to visit us in Beijing:

Diana and I recreate the heroic battle of Heracles and Apollo. (Oh, classicist humor!)

I’m not entirely sure what Hugo and Stick were doing here, but I think it involves dragons.

And here’s a celebratory dance in a Dunkin’ Donuts on our trip to the Met:

You can't see me doing the dance here because I'm taking the picture. But rest assured that I was also dancing.

From the blog Simpson's Paradox, please comment here:

Colorado Or Bust

Tweet this!

“Sure,” Stick said, loading Facebook. Thank goodness for Facebook, because otherwise people like me who move a lot and are totally irresponsible would have trouble keeping up with everyone. “Look, there’s a Burger King perfume! Can you believe that?”

“Can I have Hugo and Diana‘s address too?” I wished some of our classics friends a good Saturnalia, and some pagan friends a good Solstice.

“Sorry, I got sidetracked. What did you need? Hey, look, movie scenes done in stick figures!”

I wrote a card to Isabelle.

“Whoa! Listen! Which 80′s movie are you?”

“Now I need Josh and Terri, Hugo and Diana, and I need the King-Learys’ address too.” (Note: I am often accused of exaggerating on this blog, so I’m letting you know that I did not make that up. I’ve been trying to convince them to hyphenate for years, since the King-Leary wedding.) “The Egglestons, and Steph and Jeff, my cousins, and both your brothers.”

“Ok, just as soon as I take this quiz to find out which Lord Of The Rings character I am.”

Maybe I ought to get an address book.

From the blog Simpson's Paradox, please comment here:

The Wonders Of Technology

Tweet this!

From the blog Simpson's Paradox, please comment here:

Sabado Gigante

Tweet this!

Stick just happened to catch it as he was flipping channels, but he managed to get most of the show TiVoed, and I’ll post it the clip once I figure out how to get it off the TV, or when someone else puts it on YouTube. If you happened to see it, the couple laughing hysterically at the whole thing are our dear friends Hugo and Diana. Actually, now that I think about it… it was Hugo who wanted to go to Da Dong and Diana who recognized Don Fransisco… I kind of wonder if they set us up!

“Hey, did you watch Stick’s proposal?” I asked Char, Stick’s stepmom, when Stick’s parents came home the next day, “It’s saved under Sabado Gigante on your TiVo!”

“That little %&$#! He didn’t really propose!” Char said. “He just said ‘I want you to be my wife’… that doesn’t count!”

Related: Stick’s Sabado Gigante proposal!

From the blog Simpson's Paradox, please comment here:

Sabado Gigante

Tweet this!