Sunday, April 29, 2007

AKIC will be away till May 6th!!!

Our train to Changzhou leaves Wuxi station at 1000 a.m. tomorrow. I don't think I will be able to access the Internet for the next little while, though I will try, damn it!!! So good bye, possibly till May 6.











And it would be remiss of me if I did not say:


Go!

Canucks!

Go!

Saturday, April 28, 2007

Quiet Sunday Morning here in Wuxi.

I must have this blog set on Canada time. Really, it is April 29 in the a of m.

The wife is still asleep. I play on the computer.

Whenever the wife rouses, I will have work to do. We will clean the house and pack for next week.

My most important decision is what books to bring along. I will bring Armageddon by Leon Uris, a pulp novel about the cold war that I am actually enjoying. I am thinking to bring Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham as my second novel. I will also bring along STET: Dammit by Florence King, a collection of her Misanthrope's Corner columns. A Call to Arms by Lu Xun is also a possibility. Basic Chinese: an elementary grammar and the Lonely Planet Mandarin Phrasebook are a must. Now if only the wife will let me carry these things.

Alas, packing can be a source of squabbles.

27,500 Youtube video views

A quiet Saturday night. Political thoughts.

I am spending the evening with the wife. When I got home from work she was asleep in bed. I was feeling bushed after work so I joined her. After half an hour of being in each other's arms, we got up and went to a nearby restaurant and had simple food: fried noodles. A plate of that and I was full. I hate having to eat four dishes of food and seeing most of it not eaten. Afterwards, we had ice cream at KFC for dessert.

We walked from KFC to a nearby island which can be accessed from a foot bridge near the Wu Ai Jia Lu apartment complex. The wife did not care for the Island because it meant having to walk; I thought it was a revelation. The Island contained a tea house, nice traditional style buildings, courtyards, interesting murals, garden paths and greenery. I will return to the island and take pictures.


The defining political issue of this day and age is how you feel about America and how you feel about the Iraq War.

I believe America is a force for good in the world and has done good in the world. No matter what course of action it takes it will be dammed. It is the first World Power to ever try to bring about an idealist agenda. But its very success, its very openness for all the world to see earns it derision. Because we are all so well aware of the imperfections of the USA, many are so quick to despise it. But despite its imperfections, it is still the most successful country in history.

What other world power has been able, for instance, to rebuild Japan and Germany, after having defeated them in battle. Other world powers in a similar position would have flatten them and rendered them extinct (like Rome did to Carthage). The Marshall plan which rebuilt Europe after WWII was without precedent. I know some have said it was solely a plan to benefit American business. Even if it was, it brought enormous benefit to Europe. You can make profits and benefit people. I am still waiting to see government social programs that could benefit people and raise their dignity. And the money is wasted.

I support the Iraq War. While you could say America did if for Oil (France did not go to Iraq because it had signed oil contracts with Saddam), America at least had an idealistic component to going in. Toppling a dictator and replacing it with rule of law, democracy and property rights is a goal that should have been embraced by all decent minded people around the world. Why it has not been I think can only be attributed to bigotry and self-loathing pacifism. The bigotry is against America. Americans are the New Jews. Pacifists, if they had their way, would have us living in a fascist Europe in 2007. In the 1930s, they thought Hitler was a decent guy. Pacifists feel the same way about Saddam. In a strange twist of logic, the fascist who they did not want to fight against in the 1940s: Hitler is seen the alter-ego of the fascist they don't want to see engaged in a fight: Bush-Hitler. The truth of the matter is that if you want peace you have to fight for it.

If people have affinity for the poor and oppressed they should have sympathy for Bush and the war he is fighting in Iraq. They would also abandon the left.

I started out as a Leftist. At about 23 or 24 years of age, I changed my mind. First, I remember playing Devil's Advocate about America with a NDP type (the NDP is Canada's version of the old Labour party in England) and saw to my surprise that this person was one of the biggest bigots I have ever met. He talked the talk about caring for the poor but when it came to America he turned hateful and spiteful like a Nazi. Nothing about America was good. The second turning point was listening to Rush Limbaugh. I listened to Rush out of curiosity. Every one said he was a conservative monster. He was nothing of the sort. The conservative position that he advocated was that the Left, mostly out of decent motives was ruining the life of the poor through social programs. After listening to the Left portray him, I was surprised to see what a decent guy he was. More and more, I realized how bigotry and narrow-mindedness was a leftist phenomenon. I felt I had been lied to all along by the left. They were never on the side of the angels.

Please refer to this blog entry form seablogger: http://www.seablogger.com/?p=7571. It is ostensibly about Paul Wolfowitz's struggle to improve the World Bank, but it contains some passages which inspired my about rant:


Perhaps the word “wolf” in the man’s name has inspired his enemies, but he is
hugely misunderstood. Wolfowitz is a classical liberal — an idealist who
believes that any nation can prosper, given property rights and rule of law. He
welcomes the overthrow of tyrants like Saddam Hussein. He worked long and hard
to achieve the ruin of one dictator, hoping that the linked causes of law and
liberty would advance everywhere.
Given the backlash, it remains to be seen
whether Wolfowitz was correct; but if he erred, the cause was his profound
sympathy and affinity for the poor and oppressed. Unlike leftist ninnies, he
champions ideas that would produce objective improvement for backward nations,
if implemented.
Amen.

Tianamen Honour Guard Video.

I took this video near Tianamen Square in December 2006. The video shows first the soldiers practicing. Later, you can see the soldiers marching to T-Square to take down the flag of China.
I was taking video in the tunnel under the portrait of Chairman Mao when I was told to move off.


Check out my other sites:
http://andiskaulins.spaces.live.com/
http://www.andiskaulinsinchina.blogspot.com/
http://blog.myspace.com/wuxiandis

Friday, April 27, 2007

Ba Bai Ban photos. Youtube traffic videos

Here is a photo of the ongoing demolition/renovation of the Ba Bai Ban department store in downtown Wuxi.

Here is my most popular Youtube video:


But I think this traffic video is better.


I have thought to sing nonsense to my wife's stomach (in which there is my child). Today I sung to my child the song of the fork that had two names.
There once was man who used a fork to eat his pork
So the fork had the name of pork
But then his wife used a fork to eat chicken
And so she called the fork Ken
Thus the fork was called Ken and Fork
Till the couple's daughter had a boy doll......
I have another song
Changzhou, Changzhou here I come
Boy oh boy am i going to have fun!!!

Quarter Pounders in China.

I don't know what they call the Quarter Pounder in Chinese. But the QPs in China have a strange spicy sauce and cucumbers in them.

Here is a silly video I put together with Adobe Premiere. My friend, the King of Wuxi talks about Pizza and Mitt Romney's candidacy in 2008. The video starts in downtown Wuxi. The Building at the start of the video is the moresky360, currently the tallest building in Wuxi. The moresky is located near the corner of Renmin and Zhongshan Roads.




I took the wrong bus this morning. It was not something I planned out. I got on what I thought was the #27 bus which takes me to work. Instead, I got on the number 2 which goes to the train station. I saw all those passengers bearing luggage. I was all set to compose a blog entry about how all China was on the move because of the May holiday. But then I thought about why these people were on a bus that was not going to a train station. Then I looked out the window.... Oopsy...

Thursday, April 26, 2007

Happy Birthday Kyle!! China Daily English Edition for sale in Wuxi. My May Holiday plans.

Here is a recent photo of my nephew Kyle who is celebrating a birthday on April 27th. Time flies for me now that I am so old so I reckon he must be 25 or 30 now. It only seemed like yesterday that he was a baby. I believe that he is a good kid. He does not smoke pot or steal cars that I know of. He is very athletic and an expert on BMW's.
Maybe I am just not with it any more now that I am married and about to be a father, or maybe I just did not bother looking at what was available for sale at magazine stalls or maybe I am just blind to all that is staring at me from a position in front of my nose but, it was a revelation to me to see the English language edition of the China Daily available for sale at a magazine stall near the intersection of Zhongshan and Renmin roads for one and a half rmb.

For my May holiday, I will be doing whatever the wife tells me to do. So far, Jenny has told me that we will catch a train to Changzhou on Monday. Changzhou is on the rail route from Wuxi to Nanjing. After that I have ben told that we will go to Taixing. We will see a Dinosaur park somewhere in Jiangsu.
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Wednesday, April 25, 2007

new youtube video

New Youtube videos.

Check out these youtube videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlTGQ14bpfk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPDqO8ZdR9Q

type blogspot in the comments.

You gotta to love the rice in those Muslim hole in the walls.

The noodles at those Muslim noodle houses in Wuxi are good. But you should also try the rice. Cheap (4rmb for a plate) and delicious.

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

I can't get to my spaces site.

I can't get to my Spaces site today. So here I am instead.

I ran into Les at McDonalds. He tells me that the Blue Bar had its busiest week ever last week.

I asked a student if they enjoyed romantic walks. Several students told me they did not because they like to walk fast.

Why come to this blog?

Because you will learn the real dirt about what happens in Wuxi. Like
who is gay and who is sleeping with who and other juicy bits of gossip that I would not dare put into my more public blog.

cool youtube video!!

This is my wife's pregnancy update video which I have posted on youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Vlu2x7wo1Y

Monday, April 23, 2007

Our Wedding Photos




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Here is a video slideshow which includes the above pictures.

Done to the music of New Order.

Morning Funeral

A Salvation Army Band was playing in the neighborhood at about 730 a.m. this morning. I looked out the window to see they were playing at a funeral. The band stopped playing and all these grief-stricken people walked out.

Rice patterns on the ground



Somebody died so this man is making patterns on the ground with rice




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Wuxi Traffic

I am always been looking for the a photo that conveys the confusion that is traffic in China. I hope that maybe this photo gives an idea.




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Sunday, April 22, 2007

Welcome to Andis Kaulins in China


Hello. I am not new to this blogging thing. I have been doing an Andis Kaulins in China blog on msn spaces. Here is the URL: http://andiskaulins.spaces.live.com/.

I am starting this blog because I want more exposure.

Who am I? I am a Canadian of Latvian origin teaching English in Wuxi, Jiangsu, China. I am married to a girl from Taixing, Jiangsu, China. That is her in the picture above. She is pregnant. We are expecting the baby in September. I am about to begin the greatest adventure of my life: being a father.

I hope you want to join us. I want to hear from those who are having adventures of their own.

Go to Youtube. Enter Wuxi Andis in the search engine and see what comes up.