Jinan (2/26 - 2/28): Shandong Wushu Reunion

We arrived, safe and sound, at Jinan International Airport and grabbed a taxi to the Shan Yin Da Jiu Dian (the taxi driver laughed when he saw it and said "it's not a da jiu dian! It's a xiao jiu dian!". Waiting for us in the lobby was Lu Laoshi (a.k.a. Wang Wei's uncle) who helped us check in and get settled in our rooms. He helped us talk to the restaurant people and also confirmed that practice was at 8:30 the next morning in the wushu guan. He had to take off for a meeting so he left us to our own devices for the evening.

The first thing we did was grab some dinner in the hotel restaurant. What did we eat? Northern food, of course! Beijing Roast Duck and Sweet and Sour Pork. It was delicious!

Sweet and Sour Pork

Tiffany at dinner

While we were finishing up our meal I got a text message from Ding Hai Juan who said her and Yuan Feng Ling would come over to say hello. I met them in the lobby of the hotel and then the four of us went to the grocery store down the street to pick up some things for Tiffany (shampoo, tea, etc.). Then we grabbed a cab to go to the Bank of China ATM to get some money for Tiffany but she was having problems with her card. (But that is something I'll save for later in this entry ... )

It was nice hanging out with those two again. They're super nice. It made me regret that my trip was so quick since they invited me to go to a hot springs over the weekend. Ah well ...

Ding Hai Juan next to the ATM Machine

Yuan Feng Ling

After that it was back to the hotel where we spent a while looking at wushu videos but then they had to go back to the dorms and Tiffany and I had to get ready to hit the sack (in our separate rooms, of course).

The next day we got up early, grabbed some breakfast downstairs (yummy bing) and then went to the wushu guan. We showed up just a bit after class started so Tiffany warmed up on the side and then joined in. Lu Laoshi came in and talked to the coach (who's name I never remember) about Tiffany and then had to take off for a meeting (he goes to a lot of meetings). I watched the class which was mostly basics and nandu, and I took a lot of pictures too.

Athletes doing basics

Ding Hai Juan watches Tiffany practice after class

After class we were told that they were having some big-wigs come to the afternoon class so Tiff wouldn't be able to train. We were also invited to Lu Laoshi's for dinner at 5:30 so we decided to just come and watch class and then head to dinner right after.

For lunch we grabbed some bing-type-stuff in the street food, but my favorite food item was no longer there, which was sort of a bummer. But it was still yummy. We took the food back to the hotel to eat in our rooms. We also rested a while before the afternoon class.

Making delicious food

Tiffany is very very hungry!

I went first and showed up in the wushu guan to find just a few kids training and not much else.
The kid's coach (who used to train the women's team) came in and said "Hey Mark! You're back!" to which I thought "She remembers my name???". She went on to tell me that the team was training in the weight room up the hill so I said thanks and made my way to where they were.

After a while Tiffany showed up too. It turned out that they had rescheduled the big-wig class observation for another time so they were working on physical conditioning for the afternoon. Tiffany quickly went back to the hotel and changed into her workout clothes to join in. Yang Laoshi was there for the afternoon class and they put all the athletes through their paces. Lots of strength conditioning, stance conditioning, sprinting, stretching ... it was nice to watch. And, of course, I took a bunch of pictures.

Tiffany uses chakra to keep herself from falling

Nice drop stance. Believe it or not she's 17!

Sprints conditioning on the hill

More sprinting

Stretching on the wall

Stretching on the wall

The girls stretching on the wall

Guys stretching on the wall

Athletes listening to the coach after class

Listening to the coach

After all of that we had some time so we went back to the hotel so that Tiffany could change before dinner. Then it was back to the School to meet up with Lu Laoshi for dinner. On the way to his place we ran into his daughter, Danny (Dan Ni), who keeps looking older and older each time I see her. She had a new haircut and it made her look like she was 17. She's actually 12 though. And now she's taller than me too. When I first met her in 2005 she didn't even come up to my chin. Time sure does fly.

We went to their home and partook of Lu Laoshi's cooking. He really made a ton of food -- way more than we could have eaten between the four of us (his wife was working late so didn't join us) and we spent some time looking at his collection of tea pots, flipping through old photo albums and listening to a bit of Danny's piano playing.

Danny at dinner

Another picture of Danny

Tons of food

Danny playing piano

Danny and Tiffany discussing Naruto

Lu Laoshi

Around 9:00 we said goodbye and then grabbed a taxi to another Bank of China to try out the ATM. This one didn't work either. It turned out later that Tiffany's card had a stop-hold put on it. Here is the lame part:

Before she left the U.S. she called her credit card company and told them to put a travel alert on her card since she was going to be in China. They did so. Then after she was in China and used the card a few times they apparently put a stop-hold on it. She called them from Jinan and asked why there was a stop-hold. They said it's because of activity from China and said that she should put a travel alert on her card. She told them she had. They said "Oh, right. I see that here."

Long story short, the travel alert doesn't actually do anything because the computer is the one that determines whether or not to stop-hold the account. And it does it on pre-defined parameters (i.e. lots of charges from China) without having a human check before hand, and without checking for travel alerts. The whole purpose of the travel alert, it would seem, is just to pacify people into thinking that they are doing something pro-active about their card. In fact, the travel alert doesn't do anything at all. Even if you have one on there, but still charge things from China, they will put a hold on your card.

Isn't that lame?

Tiffany asked them "So, even with a travel alert, once my card is okay to use, it's just going to get another hold on it once I start using it again?" and they said "Yes, most likely".

I guessed I lucked out because my Credit Union calls me whenever they have "suspicious activity" (which is pretty much whenever I use it) and since I have my skype-in number forwarding to my HK or China cell phone I am able to tell them that the expenses are legitimate before they put a hold on it.

Anyway, she found that all out in the evening when we got back to the hotel and she called her bank. I spent the evening watching some "Sliders" on my computer and then went to bed.

The next morning I slept through breakfast and then got up and went to the wushu guan to watch the practice. A little bitter-sweet since I was leaving after that for Shanghai. I got some good footage and this time they were doing more forms practice which was nice to watch.

Crazy felxibility

Tiffany gets stretched

Ding Hai Juan

Splits pose

The athletes

After class Tiffany and I grabbed a cab for the technology center / computer store that I visited last trip up. We had 3 missions: First we needed to use the ATM machine (now that her card was unblocked), second we needed to pick up a power strip for her to use, and third we had to go get some bing-type food in the street behind the building.

All missions were accomplished without too much fuss and we left with some food in hands back to the hotel where I quickly ate and packed for my trip back to Shanghai.

Delicious Bing-type food

Very crowded food alley

Tiffany walked me down to the lobby and I grabbed a taxi to the airport. I also spoke quickly with Lu Laoshi before I left and thanked him for everything. My flight from the airport was delayed so I sat in the terminal with my laptop and wireless modem chatting on trillian with various people. Thank goodness I had the extra battery.

I was only back in Shanghai for a day, but I'll save that for the next entry...

You can view more pictures from this entry here