what have i gotten myself into...

oh man. this is crazy. school seems like it is going to be harder than i thought. i only have to take 2 classes, but need to maintain more than a 75% average, as well as conducting novel research, or i get the boot. so, that means lots of hard work, and long hours. so here goes. i guess i signed up because i wanted the challenge. looks like i got what i was asking for and more.
by the way, did you guys watch the canada vs usa game this morning? wow. that was fun to watch. toews was solid in that shootout. 3 for 3.
thats all i got.

the year the world was going to end.

we made it through another year. it seems like only a few years ago that everyone thought the world was going to end when we hit 2000. sure made those people look foolish.
now its 2007. crazy. tomorrow morning i head to saskatoon, register for classes and settle in. classes start wednesday. yeah. thats early. i know. doesnt take long for them to get you rolling.
regina has been great the last 2 weeks. lots of relaxing, good meals with good friends. some sweet family time and some hockey.
as of tomorrow, if you are ever in saskatoon...you need to look me up. besides, saskatoon is the new regina. tell all your friends.

kiva.org

for christmas, my parents gave me a 100$ gift certificate for kiva.org.
it is a pretty cool organization where you can use the money in your account to lend to entrepeneurs in developing countries as they attempt to get their business off the ground. the money will be repaid once they make it back, and then you can find a new business to fund, or withdraw your money...so its a neat idea, gives people a chance to make some money on their own but also to get something off the ground that might not otherwise happen. check it out. every little bit helps as usual, and you can always get your money back and take it out at the end. so thats all i got. much better than some more things under the tree that i dont need.

new look. new year.

so its time for a new look. my time in yellowknife is done, and so are my travels to the far east. with things wrapping up in 2006, its time to change things up around here.
so i did. really, all that changed was the color, and the location i am blogging from, but its at least somewhat fresh. as 2006 wraps up, here is my top 10 list for the year...

10-getting a half decent job to start my post undergraduate career

9-winning the yellowknife open tennis tournament singles, and doubles with nic

8-life at the ashbys for a few months

7-supper at tim and taras once a week

6-learning to fish and wakeboard on the n.w.t. lakes

5-cabin trips with joel et. al.

4-coming to regina to visit a few times throughout the year

3-camping trip with cody and arlen

2-road trip to china with jonny sly

1-the tennis masters cup in shanghai. hands down.

there are likely more, but a year is a stinkin long time to remember. so thats all i got for now.

back in the q.c.

it is good to be home! regina feels empty. lacking buildings, and people and vehicles. but i kind of like that.
sorry to kamara for talking so much during the soccer game. i havent spoken to a native english speaker for over a week, so i think i was a little deprived.
anyway, here i am. ready to sleep in my own bed. watch for new pictures on the flickr account in the next day or two.
and maybe some more thoughts when my brain becomes less cloudy.

one last time from china

so its been a cold, but good week in beijing. saw a lot of really old stuff. pretty cool. ate some food i havent had before, and likely wont have again (like dog, sorry to all my pet loving friends. but its true. i ate some dog) and got to hangout with anson. what a good guy. so tomorrow i leave. i get home monday dec 18 at like 8pm. so if you are in the mood for looking at some 1500 or so pictures...ill be glad to share them with you. it will be sad to go, but im super excited to get back home. and into a routine in january.
for those of you i havent told, i am starting grad school in saskatoon january 3rd. the final official word came the other day, so its all set.
so if you are ever passing through the "city of bridges" look me up. serious. it will be nice to have some company. thanks china, its been grand.

"something from the pig's insides"

yep. thats what i ate for lunch. we had chinese dim sum and that was one of the dishes. it wasnt anything like bacon or ham. more like inards. anyway. i tried it, but tried to avoid it after that.
today has been a long day already, but a pretty sweet one. we visited the Ming Tombs. tombs from an emperor that lived and died sometime in the 1500s. and is now buried in the hillside outside of beijing. pretty neat to see.
then lunch, and then off to the great wall. man. pretty cool thing to see. i have seen pictures and heard people describe it but its something else. really. so if you are reading this, or looking at my pictures when i get home...you will probably blow it off like i did. so come see it yourself. my legs were shaking when we got back down. lots of stairs and i am sure that no two on the whole way up are identical in height, length, pitch or size. no jokes.
anson and his family have been very good to me. although i cant understand either of his parents, his dad makes me laugh. he pretty much talked the whole 2 hr drive back home. maybe to the vehicles beside us, maybe to me, or maybe to himself. anyway. things are great in beijing. it is colder than hong kong though. a few more days of seeing the sights and kicking it with anson. and then back to canada for me. see you guys in a couple.

just like that

with the close of harms front door, jon is gone. headed back to regina. just like that. after sharing close quarters with the guy for a month, its gonna be hard not having him around for the last week im in china. this guy is the ultimate traveller. no lies. there isnt a map that this guy cant read. after all, he was trained by a first class institution in how to read maps.
anyway. it was great. we laughed. we sat there in silence, we sat there in awe of the greatest tennis player(s) in the world, we shook our heads in disbelief, we ate some unbelievable food, and laughed at some of the things they offered us on the menu, and we generally just had a really good time. im thankful for friends like that who will drop what he is doing and come to the far east with me. so, jon this is a tribute to you. thanks man. and nice work on joining the european swimsuit club.

the beauty of a straight blade

today was shave day in hong kong.
jon brought his razor, but decided not to use it, and i left mine at home on purpose.
however, yesterday we were walking to the bus and passed a barber shop. i noticed the guy was busting out a shave on a client and was sure it looked like a straight blade razor. now, this is something i have always wanted to do. so i looked into. $40HKD later and we walked out looking like new men.
now if you havent had a straight blade shave...you are missing out. not only is it great that someone else is doing the work for you, its great that its with a blade that, in a single motion, could pretty much end your life. its a trust exercise. trusting someone who doesnt speak your language. so not only is it a great feeling, its also character building. so next time you are near a barber that offers this service...pay him what he asks and get it done. seriously.
check out flickr for the results (looks like something got lost in translation). the photos above are of the guy who did this for me and the tool he used.

tea at the po lin monastery

more pictures are up.
hong kong is still great. it was hot and muggy today. almost too hot. but i shouldn't complain.
it started off with some more tennis and then to an east indian buffet with probably the best food we have had on this trip so far. the buffet included lamb curry, madras chicken, and likely 10 other dishes. so good. we ate and then had a hard time moving after that.
i found a place that will do straight blade shaves. so that is on the menu for tomorrow. they dont do them in canada anymore, so i have to take advantage of it. wish me luck.

starry starry nite

well. that may be a bit of an exaggeration. we were able to see one star tonite. thats all. one star was bright enough to shine through the smog and the light pollution and let its light hit our retinas. so, those of you in darker cities than hong kong, go look at the stars and appreciate them. cause even though they are above this city too, the 8 million people here don't get to see them often. and i think id have to say they are missing out.
today was wednesday in hong kong. jon and i went to the zoological and botanical gardens to hang out with some monkeys, a jaguar, some lemurs, a giant python and some crazy birds. pretty cool to see some of the diversity in the animal kingdom.
lots of walking today, finally led us to meet up with harm after she got off work and go to an egyptian restaurant. another good meal.
somehow we got on the topic of alberta and how none of us really liked it. and jon started talking about ft. mcmurray and how the city wasn't his favorite. we went on with this discussion for probably a good half hour. after we were done, jon got up to go to the washroom, and the guy sitting beside us says "sorry to be nosy, but i lived in fort mcmurray until about 25 years ago.." and proceeded to tell us that he was an alberta boy, now living in china.
pretty weird to be in hong kong, in an egyptian restaurant and have some white guy sit down beside us and listen in on our almost alberta bashing conversation. anyway. it was a good day. we are tired. im gonna go to bed.
jon and i have a date with the tennis court tomorrow morning...

a taste of hong kong

its true. well, not the part about my mom being a belly dancer. that was on the back of a bus that was in front of us here in hong kong. but it is true that i put some new pictures up. some of what we have seen so far, and some of what we have been doing. so go check them out by clicking on the flickr link to the right. more to come.

december 3rd.

we woke up to go to church. i wore shorts to church probably for the first time in december in my life. hopefully not the last. but with the way they are talking about global warming, maybe ill get to do that even in regina someday.
anyway. church was in a ballroom. giant chandeliers, gold everywhere, white satin looking chairs. it was ritzy. but ok.
the day went on. we ate at the "white spot" a supposed 'canadian legend since 1928'. a canadian legend that i have never heard of.
then we went to stanley market. i needed to do some shopping for my good friend hub. a request he sent me asked for an england rugby jersey. so i did it. so hub if you are reading this. your jersey is on its way home.
after shopping we made our way home. got off the subway in the most densely populated area on the planet. thats not a lie. unless harm is full of something. but , there were literally thousands of people crossing the one street at one time. likely the entire population of yellowknife. at one street corner. lining up to run at each other when the walk sign turned to a green walking man. wow.
we made it home and then changed into the closest things we brought to tennis clothes. after 8 days of watching the top 8, and even more of dreaming about it since, we finally got our chance to step out on the court. on december 3rd. in shorts. needless to say our dreaming paid off. man were we good. after i got over the pain from the gash on my hand everytime i hit the ball we even had some decent rallies. it was fun. no. it was the sweetest hour we have had in a long time. and that is saying a lot.
now its december 4th. at least in hong kong it is. time to hit the concrete jungle and see how lost we can get.

the walk of shame

the walk of shame. not to pick on harm. but its something you will have to ask her about again.
today was the day at the beach. and what a day. it all started with a "christmas breakfast" at bob & marilyns. friends of harms. it was fun. even though jon and i were in a room full of 8 or so teachers, who all talked about teacher things. later, i asked jon if this had deterred him from the possibility of becoming a teacher. he said it hadnt.
a short taxi ride, a medium length bus ride and a hike later, the south china sea (or maybe it was the pacific ocean) was in view. anyway, after some swimming and riding the waves into shore we packed up our gear and headed up a stream to a deep pool with some shear cliffs on the one side.
now for those of you havent read my blog during my summer in yellowknife, jumping off things into water is one of my favorite things to do. so i was pretty excited. we jumped, well, jon and i jumped. neither of us needed the walk of shame. ok, fine ill tell you about the walk of shame. harm ventured up the cliff intending to jump. she got there, looked down, and sat down. which is fine. the problem came when she sat down and didnt move for 30+ minutes. (that is not an exaggeration). jon and i continued to jump, took some pictures, swam, and gently persauded harm to jump. no dice. harm had to take the walk of shame.
after the swim and some jumping, we headed back to town for some fresh seafood. jon and i each ate a fish eyeball. a delicacy i am told. my aunt daphne will be proud of me. the eyeball was ok. hard. like chewing on a popcorn kernel, id say. try one someday. (especially you tim).
sunday will bring church, and then some shopping for my good friend hub in stanley market. thanks for reading this barb! im glad someone shares a bit of the same humor as me. sorry harms television appearance was dissapointing. thats all for tonite.

day one in hong kong

quite a good day.
after jon and i slept in, we met some of harms colleagues at a vietnamese restaurant. 2 of them were albertans, and one from saskatoon. weird to eat with people from home in a city like this.
did some walking around, partied with some bridesmaids and then headed to the peak. an amazing view.
we ate supper up there. i ate ostrich. jon had canard. i think that is a french duck.
a good nite for sure. lots of laughs with old friends. jon and harm are great.
next time you see jon, get him to explain his passion for roger federer. its great listening to him.
ok. tomorrow is the beach, some fresh seafood and cliff jumping.
bedtime for now.
email harm and ask her about her experience with a t.v. camera tonite.

king kong

yep. we are in hong kong. this city is ridiculous already. people, buildings and vehicles everywhere. the weather is nice. it is plus 20. at least. sounds like saturday we are going to the beach. life is good on this side of the world. any reports from canada?
miss you guys.

yangshuo snaps

i added a few more shanghai pictures, but also some pictures of yangshuo. we leave yangshuo tomorrow for hong kong. so that catches you up with the pictures, and least gives you some idea the crazy stuff we have been seeing. thanks for checking them out.
if you are interested, i will show you the rest when i get back home

shanghai via the D70s

i added a few raw images to flickr from our 10 days in shanghai. you can check them out by clicking on the flickr badge to the right, or go to www.flickr.com/photos/jeremyolson.
ill try to add more in hong kong.

my run in with a motorcycle.

so let me set the stage. jon and i rented pedal bikes today. and rode out into the country. we saw some real neat rural life, and rode through lots of mud puddles. it seemed like all our riding was up hill, and we were tired, and not sure where we were. we still dont really know. when we were pretty much at the top of the mountain and it didnt look like we were headed in the right direction, we decided to turn back and started to make our way down. and down. it was a long way down. we were going pretty quick. we stopped in a flat spot for a drink and some oreos and then kept on going. i pretty much felt like i was a downhill mountain biker. we pretty much were. and then around a sharp curve, a motorcycle came out of nowhere, so i hammered on the brakes. the thing is, the brakes on the bikes in china are reversed. that is, the front brakes are on the right side where the back brakes should be. so when my body reacted, it squeezed the right side good and i went up and over the handle bars, and into a superman slide on the rocky gravel road.
my camera made it though. thanks to my nifty lowepro bag. my body wasnt so lucky. just joking, mom. its fine. but i got some sweet scrapes. and lost a few layers of skin on my right palm.
we made it back to the hotel and annie kindly helped me out (and acted as my translator, and price bargainer). she took me to a side of the road retired doctor that cleaned me up and bandaged me up. all for 20RMB. so like 3 bucks. im a little sore, but have some scrapes and some neat stories to tell.

yangshuo me the money

so we made it. stop 2 on our journey. we are in yangshuo. we flew into guilin yesterday afternoon. by the time we got in the car and on the road to yangshuo it was getting dark. so we didnt get to see much. annie showed us to our room and we got settled and went out for supper.
so this morning i was pretty excited to see the view from our balcony. it is pretty outstanding. me and jon were talking, and it is too hard to describe this place, you just have to come here. maybe ask jason, his mastery of the english language may put it into words better than i could.
so this morning we woke up, ate some breakfast and headed out for a 2 hour cruise on the yulong river on a bamboo raft. got to see lots of country and had a peaceful trip. we got on bikes from there and headed up to moon hill. a hill with a whole in the middle of it. quite a climb up and down. two ladies followed us the whole way trying to sell us water or beer or mango juice. jon finally got suckered in at the bottom.
then we hit the bikes. we rented these from our hotel earlier in the morning. we rode and rode. my butt is telling me that we may have rode for too long. anyway, we got lost, in the country. this was kind of our first real run-in with the language barrier. a man on a motorcycle stopped to help us, but we couldnt understand him and he couldnt understand us.
we figured out that we missed our turn and headed back to where we came from. anyway. i took my 500th picture today, so there will be lots to see when i get back. this is long, i know. but my mom always complained that i wasnt descriptive enough. and i could write more...so, mom, this ones for you. tomorrow we might go rock climbing, or explore a cave, or white water raft, or hot air balloon ride. who knows. this place is full of crazy things to do. thanks jay and shannon and harm for the hot tip. thats all for today.