Tea Photo Shoot

Our friend Seven was gracious enough and agreed to take tea photos for the website. http://teaparadigm.vendder.com/ He has superb skill and an impressive portfolio.

Sarah is re-vamping his portfolio but for now you can find his work at:

http://www.moko.cc/post/shangwen/indexpost.html 

 And I present the tea photos.

And I present you Seven in his two forms.

Lucky to have my Sarah with me in China

After some convincing, my friend Sarah made her way to Beijing from Berlin last Chinese New Year. Thanks for coming! Some of my pictures will come from her skill with her handy lumix. Because of her, I started this blog, without her inspiration this blog would be non-existent. thx!

You can visit her @

www.sarahcolobong.com

Oh yeah, she has a font obsession.

China DIY: Halloween

Living in China brings out creativity to another level because of the lack of resources a.k.a Michaels and Jo-Anns (my favorite craft stores). We have to be resourceful and think way outside the box in our creation process. Halloween always pops up quicker than anticipated. This year I decided to be a lion. I made my mane out of recycled material from a local taylor. 

                             Prepping the Mane                                                 Does it fit?

 Photo courtesy of Sarah Colobong

-http://www.sarahcolobong.com/sarahcolobong/home.html

         We decided Chris should be a zoo keeper since we were all dressed up as animals. We made his hat and bow tie out of cardboard and I painted his face in different colors. His costume came together very well.

Tea Packaging in an Origami way

Living in China, I have been introduced to the amazingness of tea and its great variety. So I am trying to start an on-line teashop: http://teaparadigm.vendder.com/ to share my finds with the rest of the world. One of the parts of this project was creating the packaging. I had some criteria when I was brainstorming which included:

• hand made
• recycled materials
• good aesthetics
• bold

So I came up with the idea of using origami boxes, which I made using paper from this art book I found at this second hand store.

It took some practice but I can now make a box in a little over a minute!

Project mode

Sometimes Being a Foreigner = FREE!

The great thing about China is all the free stuff that is pushed in our direction because of our passport status. Free ( 免费) with a question mark is a good word that translates into an expression to know. Also, thanks to my boss who is awesome and treats us to lovely dinners and nights out. Sarah and I realized we had a free week last week and didn't have to pay for a single thing.

 

Thanksgiving with my boss at Mr. Wu's private wine club

These boxes from the white house were in the wine celler.

(photo's courtesy of Sarah)

Night out with Happy Robert- Entrance and Drinks on the House 

Our friend Robert invited us to his friends club, Bobomee. It was nothing special, just a normal super Chinese club. 

                                            

                                           Cheers Sarah!                                    Drink Prep time

                                                              

 

Wuhan land of possible future prosperity

Welcome to Wuhan

 Last Chinese New Year we decided to make a trip to Wuhan because plane tickets were super cheap. If I remember correctly, a ticket was only $45.00. This city prides themselves for being in the middle of China and cooking Chairman Mao's favorite fish. Wuhan was a bit on the ghetto side but it was still fun.

 

Arriving at the train station 

 

So many people in one place but is not an uncommon sight.

                               Meat stick men singing to attract customers              Random Street Art
                                                                    

I was very surprised to find this group of women in the middle of China trying to save the world. They were very impressive and funny.

Cute old lady selling snacks next to a bus station

I've never seen soooo many pads in one isle and no tampons.

We found this guy on a bridge making insect figures out of bamboo.

Hanging out with these kids eating my deep fried banana covered in mayonnaise and chocolate. Sounds nasty but was quit tasty.

 

The banana guy making my delicious concoction.

Experimentation with the frog...

Chris and I

By the end of this trip we were so ragged looking. I think I was in the same two outfits for over a week. I hate having to lug my stuff around when traveling.

Our Beginning

We survived a treacherous journey crossing the great ocean, sitting through boredom and slight drunkenness for 14 hours. Or in the case of Sarah, an extreme hangover... We found ourselves amidst millions of dark haired Chinese in this Oriental land. Our adventures began in the capital city of Beijing but I was not prepared for the journey ahead. This was about a year and a half ago, time has passed and we have all adjusted to our new "home".