World Cup Recap

In today's anticipated world cup semi-final game between Italy and Germany, all of the allotted time, including two 15 minute overtime periods were needed to decided a winner to play for the championship this weekend. In the 119th minute, only 1 minute before the ref would call the game and force the game to be decided by penalty kicks (in which Germany was heavily favored to dominate in), the Italians came up with a beautiful goal.. set up by an even more beautiful assist. Then to top it off, the Italians ran the ball back down in the stoppage time of the second overtime to seal the deal, and earn a spot in the championship match between the winner of Portugal vs. France, in tomorrow's second semi-final match. Both teams of these teams have played well recently. France is coming off of a decisive victory over the heavily favored Brazilian team; however, they had a slow start to the tournament with two ties, many wondering if they would make it out of group play. However, Zidane is playing well, and Henry has been a reliable scorer this tournament. They happened to be the two that came together in France's only goal in Saturday's win over Brazil.. as Zidane played a beautiful ball from a set piece to hit Henry as he made a cut to the far post. Portugal won all three of their group matches, defeated a tough Netherlands team in the second round, and held off the English on Saturday in penalty kicks. Portugal had an easier first round, and proved worthy opponents to the Netherlands and English, so we'll see how they match up against France. My pick is Portugal tomorrow, simply because I think France won their world cup over Brazil on Saturday. However, if Zidane controls the midfield, and Henry can get open for a header off a corner kick, or free kick, than France could very well be playing Italy over the weekend. Anyways, enough talk about the World Cup. My brother and I have been obsessed with it though since I've been back in the States. Anyone who watches 119 minutes of scoreless soccer non-stop, is truly a fan in my book. Alright, I'm headed to bed. I hope everyone avoided the storms, and got to enjoy some fireworks tonight.

World Cup Semi-Finals

Tomorrow at 2:55, US Eastern time, World Cup host Germany will play Italy in the Semi Finals of World Cup Germany 2006. We will find out if the host country can pull off another amazing victory, after Friday's penalty kicks win against Argentina (who I was pulling for to go all the way), against this year's solid Italian team. The Italians took care of a difficult first round group that consisted of the United States, Ghana, and the Czech Republic. Deep down, I'd like to see the Italians be victorious this year, only because the American squad gave them their toughest match yet (1-1 tie) in the qualifying round, so that makes the U.S. team look good. I think the Italians will ultimately be defeteated by a scrappy German home team though. The home team has done well in my lifetime of World Cups. For example, France won the tournament in 1998 when it was played on their home pitch, and then South Korea made an amazing run in 2002 when it was played on their home turf if I recall correctly (however, my blog is by no means ESPN.com). This year has been an exciting World Cup, even though I was in China for the first 3 weeks of it, where the games came on at 11 p.m., and 3 a.m.. Tonight I'm in Apex, hanging out with my brother and Melissa, getting ready to drive to Raleigh to spend the night with my sister Lisa and Josiah. My brother and I are going to spend Indepence Day morning hitting some golf balls on the Driving Range, before I head back to Greensboro in the afternoon. Two of the coolest people I know, Turner Krebs, and Hannah Page are coming back to Greensboro this week.. so I'm definitely looking forward to seeing them. Alright, I'm out.. hope everyone has a great night.. and support soccer in the U.S. by watching the World Cup tomorrow.

sequal to 13 reasons

For fairness, and in return for the six amazing weeks I spent there this summer, I will now post the sequal to the "13 Reasons post" from a few days ago, with "Book the next flight: 13 Reasons I want to go back to China".
1. I bought 8 bottles of water for $1.00, and 3 cokes for $1.00.. I was rarely thirsty.
2. Riding bikes is not recreation.. it is a test of coordination, fitness, and agility on the bike. Closest American comparison: Dodge Ball.
3. Thursday night International touch Rugby league.. I will do my best to make it catch on at ASU.
4. Practicing English with Chinese friends
5. Conveniant transportation: 1 yuan bus ride; 3-5 yuan rickshaw ride; 5 yuan taxi ride (8 yuan = $1.00 U.S.)
6. Speaking Chinese (not conversationally), just every now and then to impress Chinese friends
7. Carre-four (French supermarket).. Everyday shopping crowds like it's the day after Thanksgiving
8. slippin, slidding, and hooping it up on a DIRT court with International Fellowship peeps on Sundays
9. Jiaozi (fried dumplings), Banana Pancakes, Peter's Tex Mex Grill, and my favorite: Jenny's home cooking.
10. Watching World Cup matches with the rest of China in the middle of the night
11. Eggs and Testosterone: Men's Thursday morning breakfast.
12. Alex, Jenny, and all of their co-workers over there.
13. Being Wendy Jane's bodyguard

I thought about doing 22 reasons, simply because China has 22 provinces; but, the concentration of 13, as I did with America may lead to better, funnier reasons. I'll let you be the judge.

We'll it's nearing 4 AM Sunday Morning, and I feel like it's 10 in the morning.. or atleast sometime during the day. I went to bed at 12.. woke up at 2.. got out of bed at 2:30.. and am definitely awake. Jet-lagged am I. Oh well, atleast you get to enjoy another blog as a result. Hope everyone has a good weekend.

By the way: Jenny, Alex, and Wendy Jane arrived safely in Uganda Friday. They will be there through the entire month of July. Be praying for Jenny as she and Wendy serve with high school students in an orphanage in Kampala, and for Alex, as he provides leadership for a team of high schoolers.

Railway to Tibet

This weekend marks the opening of the railroad from Beijing to Tibet. This railway will be the first of its kind, as it will allow people to travel from Eastern China to Western China easily. I don't know about you, but I think I've had a dream about this sort of thing before. Imagine journeying across mainland China old school, by train, and looking out your window to see the Himalayas off in the distance! Wow. Here is a brief description of how the plan was started, and also, how the train can bear the intense altitude changes.

"In 2001, the plan was resurrected. Engineers determined they could build elevated bridges over the most unstable tracts of permafrost. In other places, they could sink pipes with cooling elements into the ground to stabilize track embankments, ensuring they stayed frozen."It's kind of like non-electric refrigeration," said Zhu.The train cars, manufactured by Canada's Bombardier Inc., are fitted with double-paned windows with ultraviolet filters to protect passengers from the sun's glare and have carefully regulated oxygen levels in all classes of travel."

For anyone who prefers to be a few feet off the ground, rather than 30,000 (by plane), like myself, this sounds like a sweet adventure! Anyone with me? For the full story, here is the link: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060630/ap_on_re_as/china_tibet_railway

By the way: Here is Tibet relative to the rest of China

13 reasons why I'm glad to be back in the United States:


13. Blue sky and fresh air (much of the time)
12. Drinking water from the tap
11. I don't have to fear visiting a squatty
10. Speedo's are not a natural occurance at the swimming pool
9. Sweet Tea & Sportscenter (they kind of go together)
8. Boone trout streams & rivers
7. Riding in a car/taxi does not make you want to be sedated
6. Pringles don't come in seafood flavors
5. Communicating in English comes more naturally to me
4. Democracy
3. Westover Church, and friends and family
2. Dog is never an item on the menu (although it does tastes like beef)
1. World Cup games come on during the day, not while I'm sleeping

IPod-Wendy

It's Thursday afternoon, I think, although my body is telling me it's Friday morning. I just got off my third and last flight from Chicago last night around midnight. It's good to be back in Greensboro, see my parents, and talk to friends for sure. This was my fourth adventure to China, and it sure did not dissapoint. It took a few weeks, as usual, to get reacclimated to Chinese culture.. but by my last couple weeks in Chengdu, every bit of me would not have minded staying the rest of the summer. It was especially hard leaving Wendy Jane. That is her playing with my IPod in the picture. The hat was staged for the picture, but the IPod was all her. I felt honored that she started saying Jiu Jiu by mid-June, which means mother's younger brother in Chinese. That is now one of about 10 words in Wendy's arsenal of vocabulary. Jenny, Alex, and WJ will be traveling back to the States for about 2 months next summer.. so it was refreshing to keep that in the back of my mind as we said good-bye in Shanghai. As I was boarding the plane in Shanghai, the three of them were preparing to go to Uganda for a month, where they will be leading trip for high schools students from China, and America. It's been a dream of theirs for a while to go to Africa.. as it has recently become mine.. so it'll be cool to hear how the trip goes in August. For anyone living within two hours of Greensboro this summer, namely Raleigh, Charlotte, or Boone.. give me a shout, and we can hang out. I start an internship at my Dad's office July 10.. but weekends roadtrips will definitely be in store until Senior year starts back up at App State.

Sunday Morning

It's Sunday morning here in Chengdu, and I'm getting ever some sort of stomach virus that I picked up Friday. It's been a rough couple days, but I slept better last night, and can hopefully do some solid eating today. On a better note, tomorrow marks the birth of my brother Chris - he'll be turning 26. Happy Birthday Chris. The past few weeks here in Chengdu have been good. I think Wendy Jane learns something new everyday. For example, literally overnight she can know identify a clock.. and say "coo coo" if you point at it. WJ is practically a celebrity here in Chengdu, and anytime we're out in public she draws a crowd, and has probably caused a few bike wrecks or two by distracting people. The Chengdu Weekly Internship is going well, although it is much different than I imagined it would be. I'm still writing articles for the paper, however, it is more of a free lance position... as I only went in to the office Tuesday morning this week for the meeting to pick up my assignments and give my ideas. The articles so far have included a restaurant review on Peter's Tex Mex, an NBA Playoffs article (which was mad fun), an article on a rugby league in Chengdu (that I actually played in last week), and a couple more. Friday I interviewed a carpenter here in Chengdu, and will be writing about him for next Sunday's edition. One of these weeks I'd like to be more involved in designing a page for the paper, and doing some editing. Time with Jenny and Alex is great. Jenny mentioned a few weeks ago that this summer is perhaps the longest time we've lived together in eight years. It's cool to see what life is like for them over here, and meet a lot of Chinese friends they have. I'm headed down to Kunming with Jenny in about a week, and will be visiting the one and only A-Roc, as well as Flan-Daddy, Matt Foster, Parke, Whitney, Alinna, and the rest of the App Crew there this summer. I'm stoked about seeing some of the best in China. Also, last week, I got the chance to eat dinner with Ryan Berry, and the Hollendfellows group from App. It was great to be thousands of miles away from App and see people who were RA's with me, and had class with. Again, if you want to wish the bro a happy birthday.. check out www.thebeahms.com/blog.html , and leave him one.