You Down With MSG?

Thanks to my friend Chris at Future 3 (www.livejournal.com/users/klotho), I've recently been re-educated in the taste-enhancing greatness that is Monosodium Glutamate (MSG). Well, perhaps not so much of a re-education as a re-evaluation.

I remember walking past various Chinese restaurants back home and them often proudly displaying a sign that had MSG circled with that red cross of anti-ism made famous by such campaigns as No Smoking and No Public Nudity.

Not really being clear on what MSG was, but knowing it sounded BA-AD, I accepted that if a restaurant was going to make a sign claiming they didn't have it, it must be not so great and chucked it towards the dark recesses of my mind. Later I learned that MSG stood for Monosodium Glutamate, and life was not made clearer. I knew sodium was like salt, and most people said that was bad for me too, but mono meant one, and one salt didn't sound all that troublesome. And glutamate... well, I had no idea. Glutamate.. glu.. glucose was sugar... could be related to that I guess, and who doesn't like sugar? Sort of sounds like glue, and that was always a tasty treat as a kid.

Basically, I was clueless about MSG other than my multi-media induced aversion to it. When I reached China there was talk about it in our foreigner circles and someone mentioned it's a chemical that basically causes your brain to like the taste of stuff (I am pretty sure I got this from a chemistry major who was teaching here). I guess, that is not a bad laymen's definition looking back, but it didn't really explain the myth and misinformation surrounding those three deadly letters.

I highly recommend anyone at all concerned or curious about MSG to give this excellent article a read: If MSG is so bad for you, why doesn't everyone in Asia have a headache?

At no time has any official body, governmental or academic, ever found it necessary to warn humans against consuming MSG.

Basically, you're best off reading the article and deciding for yourself, but a couple quick facts about MSG that I now hold in my cive-like mind.

• Discovered/Invented in/from kelp by Professor Kidunae Ikeda, in early 20th Century Japan.
  
• Large amounts found naturally (free form) in tomatoes, cured meats, parmesan cheese, and a boat-load of other things.
  
• "It's a chemical as much as water or oxygen are chemicals."
  
• "Every government across the world that has a food licensing and testing system gives MSG - 'at normal levels in the diet' - the thumbs-up. The US Food and Drug Administration has three times, in 1958, 1991 and 1998, reviewed the evidence, tested the chemical and pronounced it 'genuinely recognised as safe.'"

And though a bit of a hypocondriac's nightmare, www.truthinlabeling.org has a plethora of information about MSG and Aspartame and all the alleged maladies that come with the consumption of either.

In the end, I'm still not certain if it's harmless or the bringer of the apocalypse, but like most things, I'm just not going to worry about it. I think society is far too concerned with its longevity. Who wants a mind as clear as glass when they are old? Gimme crazy and forgetful, as the last thing I want is to be conscious and lucid while watching the nearing approach of death.

Caught The Shutter Bug

Right, so I did it. I finally got myself a new camera. After a year and a half of putting up with a damn blotch on the inside of my old digital camera's lens, and in turn having to photoshop it out in every photo I take, I've stepped up and bought myself a rather nice new one.

As mentioned in the previous post, it's the Canon A620 (largely recommended by Sera and her husband Zac, who were kind enough to show me their A610). I've been a fan of Canon since I bought my Canon EOS SLR back in college, and don't think my expectations will be let down with this new one. Though not the digital SLR I had been hoping to one day purchase, it does go full manual, and that's all I really need. Basically I just want the ability to do creative things with photography again, and this guy will let me do it - plus it's not even half the cost of a low-end digital SLR.


The Group Of Us
Last night our little group went out for some Beijing Kao Ya (北京烤鸭), or known better in the West as Peking Duck. We found a pretty good Beijing restaurant on the back end of Olympic Square, and stuffed ourselves silly.

It was a bit of a sad affair to say goodbye to Erin. Much like when Tom left, you realize how quickly someone can become a familiar part of the group... and it's strange to think you might never see them again. Anyway, off to class.







Oh, along with these photos, I've also included a video of the guy cutting up the duck. Just click on the photo of him. The quality isn't representative of my camera, as I had to scale it down to make it accessible online. The photo of Maeve above shows her sporting my Secret Santa gift.




[LEFT] Mmmmm... duck. [RIGHT] I think Cam is really going to miss Erin.

X-mastations Met

Mounting Christmas Expecations have been something that consistantly foil even the best intended Christmas celebrations year after year for me. I think the problem is I've just learned to induce such a build up in the days leading to the big day, that when it actually arrives, happens and departs I'm left with an "is that all?" feeling.

Granted, these last couple years have withered my Christmas expectations a bit, as well as prepared me for the mix of emotions that come with being away from your friends and family over the holidays. And though not completely able to avoid the melancholy, I have learned to prepare for it.

So it was I went into my Christmas plans yesterday. The day started off rather slow and sluggishly as I drank half a brewery's worth of cheer at the Future School Christmas Party the night before. Maggie and I got up and exchanged our gifts while sipping some homemade (and noticably missing vanilla) egg nog, and then had a lovely breakfast of french toast and sausage.

Things got a bit stressful when I decided I wanted to buy myself a new camera, rightfullying thinking it would be much easier to justify the expense if it was bought on Christmas day. Maggie and I went to Olympic Square, but didn't find the Canon A620 that I was looking for. We ran into Walmart and grabbed the chicken for dinner I had promised Adria I would bring (settling for the already roasted kind, as it just looked and smelled better - despite the stickers on the fresh whole ones that claimed they were bird flu free) and then headed over to an Electronic City by Carrefour that I knew had the model I was looking for. Once there, I tried to use an ATM to get the money I needed out of my Chinese bank account... but sadly I couldn't remember my pin, and after trying every combination I could think of, I hung my head and accepted I was not meant to have the camera today...

In mixed spirits, we were off to Adria's for Christmas dinner. I really didn't know how this day would turn out, as I sort of assumed everyone would have their personal feelings of how Christmas should be held, and that would lead to conflicts - but it didn't. Kudos to Adria and Victoria for whippin' up some amazing grub, and a shout out to James for his wheaton bread (no relation to the dog I once had, I checked) and mulled wine. I was well impressed with the spread. We had:
Roasted Chicken
Stuffing
Roasted Veggies
Mulled/Red/White Wine
Roast Potatos
Mashed Potatos
Salad with Vinegrette
Green Peas
and homemade Cookies, Pie and Fruit Salad for dessert.

We topped off the dinner with a few more drinks and a watching of Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer and How The Grinch Stole Christmas that I managed to burn onto VCD. All a bit run down from the night before; Cam, Maeve, Erin, Steph (who lives in my old apartment in Jin Zhou!), Maggie and myself all headed back to Cam and Maeve's place to do our Secret Santa.

I got Maeve, so after racking my brain about what to get her, I decided to make her a t-shirt as a bit of a souviner from China. Maeve has become a legend in our group for having done an amazingly BAAAD version of Michael Jackson's Bad at KTV one night, so I found a place that could print a t-shirt of the following graphic I whipped together in Photoshop. [Click On The Photo To See Maeve's Amazing Singing!]

Despite Cam stating repeatedly that she got really lame gifts for her Secret Santa, I was well impressed with the things she got Maggie and I. There was a definite theme of photos and frames, but that's great, as it's looking more and more like Maggie and I will be getting our own place come March, and it'll be nice to have some photos to put on the wall and stuff. She also got us his and hers mugs, and me some much needed gloves. And breaking the Secret Santa concept, Maeve got me a really cool Mao-era communism poster... tres cool.

So, all in all, even with the unrealistic expectations that the holiday-buildup brings, I really feel like I had an excellent Christmas. Of course I still missed my family lots, and have made some silent vows to try desperately to be home next Christmas, but I must thank the friends I've made here in Dalian for taking what little Christmas spirit there is here in China and finding a way to amplify it to a level that left me feeling all warm inside... though that might have been the wine.

Paranoia Strikes Deep

Student Gets Federal Visit For Requesting Mao

Honestly, I'm not going to waste too much blog space talking about the often-said, and sadly obvious fact that America is FAR too concerned about things. I mean, for a country that spawned the biggest peace/love movement in recent history, one has to wonder how the whole place fits so comfortably in that hell-destined handbasket.

On a COMPLETELY unrelated note, three Beijing students have mysteriously disappeared after being caught requesting Adam Smith's "Wealth of Nations". Just kidding. God, I hope they read the 'just kidding' part.

And for all the injustice we hear about every day, it's nice to read this:

CBC: Girls Often Torture Barbie Dolls

Mind The Flying Kimchi

Well, the last week or so has been a scramble to get the minimal Christmas shopping I need to do done, as well as balancing my over time hours and investigating possible job options for the future... and this week seems like it will be just as busy. Everyone say "Yay" to the holidays.

My friend Justin begins his LONG journey home for the holidays today, and as such we all went out for dinner last night to sort of say goodbye. A newfie, he has to first fly to Beijing, then to Vancouver, and on to Toronto where he hopes he'll have a direct flight to St. John's waiting for him. Fun!

We sent him off in style though, complete with very nearly having the police called on us. Maggie and I met up with the group at a hotel-cum-Korean restaurant not far from Justin's place, and we were later joined by fellow Jin San Jiao teachers Maeve and Cam, who was giving her just-arrived friend from home, Erin, a night out in Dalian.


[clockwise-bottom] Maggie, Adria, James, Jane, Justin, Victoria, Corey, Helen, Todd, Michael and Zhou Wei.
After consuming most of the restaurant's stock of beer and soju (Korean liquor) the staff asked us to leave so they could retire for the night. It was here that a problem we long suspected would surface caught up with us. See, Cam and Maeve, being the rather rowdy (but loveable) just-out-of-uni girls that they are have a predilection for "borrowing" various negligible items from the places we go.

As might be guessed, most of us rather dislike this, and don't see it for the laugh it is intended as. Foreigners are a small group in Dalian, and what one does effects the lot of us. Plus, what might be worthless or "cheap" to us, does actually have value to Chinese businesses that have margins thinner than an early-90s Kate Moss.

For months we've all subtly and not-so-subtly suggested they knock it off as it has the potential of making us all look bad, and such was the case last night. After we settled the bill Corey approached me and said that the staff saw one of the girls pocket something, and we needed to confront them about it. Corey sorted it out with the girls and the staff and things, though fragile, seemed stable. Enter, or rather exit, Adria.

The last of us to leave, she came off the raised Asian-style sitting area where we had been eating, and stepped too far forward on the stone/marble step, causing it to fall forward and break. Could have been anyone, and really was the problem of the restaurant, as it's a major safety hazard. However, the small truce Corey had established crumbled and they immediately demanded that we pay for it - no less than 500 RMB.

Perhaps not very fair, but the girls had burned any moral ground we had to stand on. Things were made worse by their attempts to defend themselves. Korean backup arrived (I think the staff was a bit worried because we out-numbered them), and threats of calling the cops were made. In the end, despite offers that we all split the cost (something I still really thing is the fair thing for us to do), Adria paid for it with money loaned from Corey.

I'm not really sure how everyone is feeling today... but you could have poked the tension in the air with a chopstick when we said our goodbyes last night. And to top it off I had the sad, and really rather pointless task of arguing what happened with Maeve the whole taxi ride home. Bah. For some reason it's rather difficult to impress on them that arguing about what is "just" and what is "fair" is just not a concept we are able to do. We are not on native soil, we are guests here.

Meh, I'm over it, but I really dont think Corey or his girlfriend Helen are in any rush to be around Cam and Maeve any time soon - and rightfully so, as Corey had to sort out a situation he really had nothing to do with, and Helen, ethnically Korean, was terribly embarassed by the whole thing.

Happy Holidays eh?

ANYWAY - I'm sure that much will be talked about it tonight at dinner. It's Cam's birthday today and we're all going out for dinner at a BBQ/buffet. The big question that's on my (and I'm sure her) mind is who will come.

Oh! So, as Justin was heading home and will not be here for Christmas, I gave him a rather hastily made Christmas gift last night to remind him in the Future of what his time in China has been spent doing. A shoddily-framed 8x10 of this (artistically remastered) photo I took of him in the summer.

Oh, and if you've got a couple hours to kill - check out Hapland and Hapland 2, two crazy puzzles that require a lot of clicking on things. Frustratingly fun.

Feed The Masses

Right, so I've added an RSS (Rich Site Summary) link to my site (over on the left side, at the bottom - replacing the graphic that reminded me I failed at NaNoWriMo).

It looks a lot like this:

If you don't know much about RSS then click on the darn links in this post and sort it out man. It's quite nifty, and as much as I'd love ya all to come directly to my site everytime, I know you get busy and well, I still want to be a part of all your lives.. so... click and be fed.

Believe In The Power Of Santa!

No Chistmas For You

I bought myself an early Christmas present the other day, an MP3 player. That's right folks, I own a cell phone AND an MP3 player - technically an MP4 player. Man, have I embraced the 21st Century or what?

Though it's no iPod or Lycra, it's not bad. It only holds 256 MB of stuff, but it has a little video screen that I can watch video on, it does voice recording, has an FM tuner and a couple of other things (ebook reader, phonebook, games).

The best part though is I paid the ripe ole price of 350元 (about $50 CAN). I mean, it's not Sony, or even a Korean brand, in fact... it's some generic Chinese brand, but it's got a warranty and all that, so meh.

In other news, this morning I went to see the new school I'm going to be subbing at for the next four weeks or so. I'm going to be working there for the next four Wednesday afternoons for about four hours. It's quite decent because I'm going to be doing it as over time hours, which Future School pays 100 RMB for. For all those folks back in Canada, that's about $15/hour.

This was my first foray into a public school, and I must say I'm impressed. The school is massive and has just loads of kids/classes. Each class is well-sized though, at only about 30 kids per class (not bad considering that the country's norm is between 50 and 80). The other big difference over Future School is that because this is their regular school, regular school rules apply, which means the kids are on their best behaviour. At FS we get the kids after they've spent a grueling week under the pressures of 'fail and die!' They get to our school on the weekend and most have figured out that if they piss about, nothing really happens to them. The result is a chaotic mass of kids that can sometimes be hard to control. Mostly it's alright, but it will be interesting doing these hours at the regular school and seeing how it compares.

The other thing I did today was meet with a woman about where I'm going next. Last week we had a rather cool guy named Jason sub at our school for one of the girls while they were in Beijing and he told me a bit about his job at public schools. He used to work at FS, but moved to the public sector in August. He mentioned they might need people for March (when my contract at FS ends), so I called the woman that sets it up and we met this morning. It looks like the deal is thus: About 7,000 RMB ($1,000 CND) a month for 11.6 hours a week - ah, yeah. That's $22/h CND... granted it's not FULL TIME, but even if you take out 800 RMB for an apartment (they don't pay for it), it still leaves me with more that I'd make a FS working twice as many hours. Needless to say I told her I was well interested. We'll see what happens in the next few weeks.

The other cool thing Maggie and I are doing now is Mystery Shopping. I can't say what we're mystery shopping, as it's a breach of our contract, but it's ace. Basically we just go to the place, check out some pre-established criteria of how the staff should act, how the place should look and the quality of the product, fill in a form, and voila! 50 RMB (plus the cost of the product) in our pockets. Pretty nifty for like 10-20 minutes work.

The Day I Tor Through The Wall

So, I've discovered a rather brilliant new program thanks to Chris, a fellow teacher over a Future 3. The program? Tor.

Actually Tor is two programs: Tor and Privoxy. The two programs work together to basically confuse all the computers out there that take note of where you're going and what you're doing. This is effective for two things; surfing in anonymity, and breaking through The Great Firewall of China.

For anyone that doesn't know, the Chinese government 'controls' the flow of information that can be accessed via the Internet in the PRC. This causes a number of Web sites to be blocked, justly or unjustly, to protect the sensitive minds of the masses from the horrors of the outside world. Some of the many sites that are blocked are most Chinese language newspapers from Hong Kong and Taiwan, sites hosted at Blogspot (the ban was off for a while, but seems to be back on again), and also Wikipedia, the open-source encyclopedia that is linked to above.

So... by installing Tor, you can effectively weasel through this sensorship and view whatever the hell you want. It's great, with one downside, it's a bit slow. Because it essentially bounces the packets of data (read: the web pages you are loading) through an intricate maze of servers and systems, it takes a little longer to access everything.

If you scrap the rather crap IE and get yourself a copy of Mozilla Firefox with the SwitchProxy plugin (as suggested, and explained, in the install instructions included in the download package above/below), it makes switching between surfing exposed and surfing covertly a breeze.

So.. there ya go. Download it here if you want it.

PS: Go read this, and don't tell anyone in the PRC I told you about it ;-)

You May Say I'm A Dreamer...

John Lennon, 1940 - 1980

Dear John
Dear John, it's been how many years since I let my hair grow long?
And so many years since my first Beatles' song,
It just doesn't seem that it could be that long,
But now you're gone - dear John.

Dear John, we all know you didn't deserve to die
But still you've gone to join Lucy in the sky,
And the questions we ask will forever start with "why?"
And now we cry - dear John.

Light a candle in the dark
Keep it burning in your heart
Light a candle in your heart
For John.

Dear John, we'll try to imagine the world that you sought,
And we'll remember the cause of peace for which you fought,
Oh to capture the feelings of love that you caught,
And what you got - dear John.

Light a candle in the dark
Keep it burning in your heart
Light a candle in your heart
For John.
PS: We loved you, we loved you
PS: We loved you.

lyrics by Michael McLaughlin (aka My Dad)

Oh, The Weather Outside Is Frightful

In a break from tradition (at least from what I hear about Dalian weather habits), it snowed pretty solidly all weekend. It's fantastic, and has really jump-started my Christmas fever.

I don't like to admit it, but I really do love Christmas. Don't get me wrong, the commercialism and all that crap sucks ass, but it always gives me a warm tingly feeling when I walk into a room lit only by a Christmas tree, and outside there's a luminescence that only a blanket of snow can give off. Oh, that reminds me, I got a tree!! It's three feet of festive fun, and I love it!!

This year marks the third year in a row I'll not be with my family back home for the holidays. 2003 - Belfast, 2004 - British Columbia, 2005 - China. It's a bummer, and I'm thinking that I'll have to do my best not to let it happen in 2006. Perhaps I'll be able to show Maggie a Canadian Christmas.

The snowfall has caused some problems for a city that doesn't have a lot of snow-removal facilities. China continually gives me new things to chuckle about, but an army of people out shovelling snow with random pieces of plywood is on my short list for goofiest.

At has also caused problems for some vechicles, namely taxis, whose standard practice seems to be to let their tires get as treadless as possible before replacing them. Most of the tires have a Buddha-like baldness to them, which makes it near impossible to navigate our neighbourhood, which is largely built on the side of a hill.

The slick surfaces have also given Maggie reason to curse the beauty that is winter, as she's repeatedly bruised her tail-bone; that gravity, she's a harsh mistress.

Oh, so Dalian now has a second representative from Niagara! Thank god, the pressure is off me. But yeah, Victoria (who recently finished studying at Victoria University, in Victoria, B.C.) arrived about two weeks ago to work at the Future School down town, and I finally got to meet her last night. She seems nice.

Well, I swear I had more to say... but I can't for the life of me think of any of it right now... perhaps it's that I've just spent about an hour and a half working on my Chinese, most of which time was used trying to piece together the average Chinese family tree... there is a different name for every family member... like your father's father/father's mother are a different name than your mother's; your uncle on your father's side has a different name than on your mother's side... and then if they are the husband or wife of your blood uncle/aunt, it's also a different name... and all the cousins have different names depending on whose side they are on and when they were born and what colour sweater they're wearing... it's ridiculous.

Not having a great camera sucks, but it does force me to get creative in Photoshop. Isn't my girlfriend beautiful... gawd, sometimes I wake up, roll over and wonder when the hell she's going to figure out that she's much too good for me ;-)

This photo was taken two weeks ago when we went out to a park not far from our apartment. I was using a tripod to take photos of the two of us, most of which didn't turn out very good...

The major problem with my little point-and-shoot camera is that I don't have any aperture control, and can't do any work with depth-of-field or forced perspective... but with a little creative use of blur tools in Photoshop... I can feel again much like a photographer... gawd I need a new camera.

Holy 1984 Batman!

Right, if you do nothing else with your day, visit Google Earth and prepare to be blown away. And for those of you that have seen this already and want to comment on how cool you are ... ah, hell, go ahead - it's true. I mean, my god, I was able to show my class my mother's swimming pool today.

Incidently, new maps on the side bar showing where I am. Unfortunately the peripheral cities of China aren't as highly detailed as the bustling metropolis that IS Welland.

"Culture of Blame"

"Provinces blame the federal government. Municipalities blame the provinces. Provinces blame other provinces. The Conservatives blame the Liberals. The Martin Liberals blame the Chretien Liberals and the NDP blame everybody."
- Jim Harris, Green Party of Canada Leader

God that's true. I guess the only reason the people of Canada don't look at the Green Party more seriously is because of trust. We like the smell of dusty rooms and old wood when it comes to politics - no matter how much we need to stop and really examine the political system and it's desperate need for change.

Being in China, both I and the Green Party have been mercifully saved from me running again. I hear rumours they might have a lawyer running for them in the Welland riding, which would be fantastic. Those lawyers, sharp as whips they are.

My big hope is the Greens get the disenchanted vote this year. They've got some momentum, having secured a respectable 4.3% of the popular vote 17 months ago and also now have some bucks coming from the feds (so expect to possibly see some advertising this year!). All of this might help to legitimize a party that has long had to battle the public's misconception that it just stands on an environmental policy.

Alright, enough about politics... lets move to a more intelligent topic - kids. Does anyone else receive those e-mails that are a collection of goofy (darndest) things kids have uttered to their grade 2 teacher or whomever. Does anyone else think this is a sham? I mean really. Did you ever see your Grade 2 teacher making notes on what you said in class... and exactly what federally funded agency is collecting these? Is there some, unknown to me, group that allows teachers to submit these? More likely it's just some bored, middle-aged woman whose cats have started to ignore her cooking these things up.

Well in continuing with my no-mention-of-China (crap I just did) entry... a possible big change is on the horizon for me. I might be going back to school, atleast in a highly 21st Century sense --- Distance Ed. I learned last year (and recently confirmed again) that Athabasca University has an agreement with Niagara College whereby I can apply my Journalism-Print diploma towards the first 2 years (60 credits) of a Bachelor's of Professional Arts degree. An added bonus is I can do it all from anywhere in the world, including China (damn, mentioned it again).

But like all things, there's a negative side; it's f'in' expensive. From what I hear, an average year's university tuition in a traditional institution is about $5,000, but through Athabasca I'll be paying $820/course X 20 courses (over 2 years) = $16,400 or $8,200 a year. This is where I get all pissed off at perceived value...

Logically, you look at the distance education concept and you'd think.. 'hmm.. must be cheaper. There's no big expensive campus to pay for, no full-time staff of professors in tenure...' but of course, this isn't how it's looked at. See, distance education is designed for people with jobs and little time. Evidently, people making money (no matter how little) and strapped for time because of it apparently have to smile and take it in the rear because of the "convenience" provided is "worth" the cost. 操他们妈的! Not only that, but best I can figure that $820/course I have to pay is simply because I'm in China - if I lived in Canada I could pay $200 less per course (a $4,000 savings). Sorry, didn't I pay taxes my entire adult life in Canada? Or does that money just go into the same slush fund that my EI payments went to? The magical pot o' gold that's going to pay for all the GM workers to get a nice long vacation and then get re-educated in gardening or something.

Well, I guess if getting an education was simple EVERYONE would want one, and what kind of country would Canada be then.