Skateboarding Rules!
So life here in Beijing has becoming more and more stable. I have gotten used to a lot of things. Some things have even become second nature. What may have seemed exciting a few weeks ago seem kind of mundane. Despite this there are still a lot of fun things to be done. I am just waiting for the next opportunity to do something new.
Since my last update I really have not been up to much besides studying. Last Friday we had our final test for the first module. At IUP our 'quarters' are only eight weeks long. I did alright. I made a lot of simple mistakes, so I can't really blame anyone, but myself. I just didn't pay enough attention while taking the test. So even though my teachers took the chance to scold me they all understood and said that my test results don't reflect my in class performance. Next quarter I am going to try and study a lot harder, so I can do better on the tests. I would like to leave IUP with higher grades than lower grades.
Thursday morning started out nice. I was excited because this was the last day of my classes this quarter. I got on my bike, put on my headphones and headed for school. I knew I was early, but it is habit for my to ride pretty quickly to class because the weather is so cold. As I approached an intersection I tried to steer for the gap in the speed bump, but I missed it and hit the speed bump. This was no big deal. My water almost flew out of my basket, but I thought it was fun, so I laughed a little and kept riding. After pedaling for a little my chain locked up. I tried pedaling again and this time it was easy, too easy. I thought to myself my chain had come off. So I slowed down and thought that once I got off my bike I could easily put my chain back on. The only problem was that when I crouched down to put my chain back on, I did not see my chain. One of the links had broken and my chain fell off. I looked behind and could the chain in the middle street. After a little cursing and then realizing how much time I had I walked back to where my chain was with my bike. I put the broken chain into my broken basket and then pushed my broken bike to the nearest place I could leave it and then walked to school.
On Friday I rode my skateboard to school which did not take much longer than riding my bike usually does. It turned out good that I brought my skateboard because as soon as I got my test grades back I needed to do something to take my mind off my score. Even though it was alright I was still disappointed. I actually studied the night before unlike for the first test, but for some reason my grades were worse this time. Maybe studying and grades do not have anything in common. In the afternoon I grabbed my skateboard and went out skateboarding for a little bit.
In the evening I went with a teacher and a couple classmates to eat dinner. I thought we were going to eat a restaurant nearby our university, but first one of my classmates had to pick up a friend across town. We rode the subway across town and when we finally met my classmates friend I was really surprised because she was another UW student who had actually attended the same Chinese linguistics class I had attended almost two years. This world really is too small. Anyways, to make a long store short. We ended up going to a good vegetarian restaurant. We passed through Tiananmen Square on the way, so I took the opportunity to skateboard in Tiananmen Square. Even though I knew the security was not going to give me trouble I always felt a little uneasy passing them on my skateboard. Around 8:00pm we arrived at the restaurant and promptly ordered food because we were all really hungry. I would have to say the food was really good. Even though some of the food seemed like meat, there was no meat used. I was surprised at how good it all tasted. I want to go back to the restaurant, but first I need to remember the name and where it was!
Friday was pretty fun, but Saturday was even better. My friend Taylor wanted to go to Starbucks this weekend to start studying early for next quarter. Not wanting to let a fellow Seattleite down and miss an opportunity to drink some coffee I agreed to go, so long as we went to a Starbucks at Wangfujing. The reason I wanted to go was so I could go to the church at Wangfujing. This is a good place to go skateboarding. When I arrived in the morning there was no one there, but later in the afternoon I went and there were no less and ten or fifteen other skateboarders. I finally felt like there was a skateboard scene in Beijing, rather than just hearing about it. I skated around for a little bit and kept to myself, but after a while I started talking with some of the guys. We ended up playing a game of 'skate'. It works exactly the same as horse with a basketball, but we perform skateboard tricks rather than shooting a basketball. We did not have enough time to finish our game because I had to go, but I told them I would be back later in the week to skate with the again. Now I plan to go there at least every Friday to go skateboarding.
Besides eating hot pot with my friend Kitty for the first time this weekend there was not much else exciting that happened. I did a little bit of work and I studied a little. Tomorrow it is back to the grind. I am going to have to study more since my books got a lot harder this quarter. You guys will have to wish me luck!
By the way if you are interested in skateboarding in Beijing or you want to find some people to skateboard with in Beijing, click the image below.
Since my last update I really have not been up to much besides studying. Last Friday we had our final test for the first module. At IUP our 'quarters' are only eight weeks long. I did alright. I made a lot of simple mistakes, so I can't really blame anyone, but myself. I just didn't pay enough attention while taking the test. So even though my teachers took the chance to scold me they all understood and said that my test results don't reflect my in class performance. Next quarter I am going to try and study a lot harder, so I can do better on the tests. I would like to leave IUP with higher grades than lower grades.
Thursday morning started out nice. I was excited because this was the last day of my classes this quarter. I got on my bike, put on my headphones and headed for school. I knew I was early, but it is habit for my to ride pretty quickly to class because the weather is so cold. As I approached an intersection I tried to steer for the gap in the speed bump, but I missed it and hit the speed bump. This was no big deal. My water almost flew out of my basket, but I thought it was fun, so I laughed a little and kept riding. After pedaling for a little my chain locked up. I tried pedaling again and this time it was easy, too easy. I thought to myself my chain had come off. So I slowed down and thought that once I got off my bike I could easily put my chain back on. The only problem was that when I crouched down to put my chain back on, I did not see my chain. One of the links had broken and my chain fell off. I looked behind and could the chain in the middle street. After a little cursing and then realizing how much time I had I walked back to where my chain was with my bike. I put the broken chain into my broken basket and then pushed my broken bike to the nearest place I could leave it and then walked to school.
On Friday I rode my skateboard to school which did not take much longer than riding my bike usually does. It turned out good that I brought my skateboard because as soon as I got my test grades back I needed to do something to take my mind off my score. Even though it was alright I was still disappointed. I actually studied the night before unlike for the first test, but for some reason my grades were worse this time. Maybe studying and grades do not have anything in common. In the afternoon I grabbed my skateboard and went out skateboarding for a little bit.
In the evening I went with a teacher and a couple classmates to eat dinner. I thought we were going to eat a restaurant nearby our university, but first one of my classmates had to pick up a friend across town. We rode the subway across town and when we finally met my classmates friend I was really surprised because she was another UW student who had actually attended the same Chinese linguistics class I had attended almost two years. This world really is too small. Anyways, to make a long store short. We ended up going to a good vegetarian restaurant. We passed through Tiananmen Square on the way, so I took the opportunity to skateboard in Tiananmen Square. Even though I knew the security was not going to give me trouble I always felt a little uneasy passing them on my skateboard. Around 8:00pm we arrived at the restaurant and promptly ordered food because we were all really hungry. I would have to say the food was really good. Even though some of the food seemed like meat, there was no meat used. I was surprised at how good it all tasted. I want to go back to the restaurant, but first I need to remember the name and where it was!
Friday was pretty fun, but Saturday was even better. My friend Taylor wanted to go to Starbucks this weekend to start studying early for next quarter. Not wanting to let a fellow Seattleite down and miss an opportunity to drink some coffee I agreed to go, so long as we went to a Starbucks at Wangfujing. The reason I wanted to go was so I could go to the church at Wangfujing. This is a good place to go skateboarding. When I arrived in the morning there was no one there, but later in the afternoon I went and there were no less and ten or fifteen other skateboarders. I finally felt like there was a skateboard scene in Beijing, rather than just hearing about it. I skated around for a little bit and kept to myself, but after a while I started talking with some of the guys. We ended up playing a game of 'skate'. It works exactly the same as horse with a basketball, but we perform skateboard tricks rather than shooting a basketball. We did not have enough time to finish our game because I had to go, but I told them I would be back later in the week to skate with the again. Now I plan to go there at least every Friday to go skateboarding.
Besides eating hot pot with my friend Kitty for the first time this weekend there was not much else exciting that happened. I did a little bit of work and I studied a little. Tomorrow it is back to the grind. I am going to have to study more since my books got a lot harder this quarter. You guys will have to wish me luck!
By the way if you are interested in skateboarding in Beijing or you want to find some people to skateboard with in Beijing, click the image below.
posted by Jon Keto at
10:20 PM
5 Comments:
So you just left your bike? That kinda sucks. At least you got your trusty skateboard! Yeah!! Glad things worked out with the exception of the test. You'll do better next time!
-Anh
Scrawled on the wall By
Anonymous, at 4:32 PM
That afternoon I went and got my bike and pushed it home. I have not gotten it fixed yet. Lately the weather has been nice and since I start class at 10:00 am it has been warm enough to skateboard to class. I know it won't let me down, not like the cheap bikes in China.
Scrawled on the wall By
Jon Keto, at 12:03 AM
Although life here in Beijing has becoming more and more stable, you are leaving soon. And I hope you can do better on the tests as you wrote.
Scrawled on the wall By
Anonymous, at 6:45 AM
I still have not got my bike fixed. I should probably do it soon as the weather is getting colder and it might start raining again.
Scrawled on the wall By
Jon Keto, at 2:30 AM
If you are interested in skateboarding China or Beijing you can check out some of these links.
A recent extreme sports competition I went to with a teacher. I think it was Sandro Dias who did a 900 on the vert ramp right before I showed up. I was disappointed that I missed it.
http://www.lgactionsports.com/asian_tour/galleries.html?venue_id=50&event_id=31
An article from That's Beijing magazine showcasing a Chinese actor who used to skateboard when he was younger.
http://www.thatsmagazines.com/features/index.asp?sectionid=50&location=bj&view=detail&articleid=425
An older and kind of silly article about the emerging skateboard scene in Beijing.
http://www.cityweekend.com.cn/issues/2001/25/Word_Skate
An article with a person who used to skateboard a lot, but now as an employee he is involved in a whole new aspect of the industry.
http://www.beijingportal.com.cn/7838/2004/11/16/1820@2375405.htm
Meetup.com's Beijing Skateboard group. Apparently I am the only member right now ... kind of pathetic. It is hard to leverage the power of the internet to get skateboarders involved in things. I guess that is why these kids are better than me. They spend their time skating, while I spend my time on the internet.
http://skateboarding.meetup.com/90/
If anyone else has some cool skateboarding links to add, feel free.
Scrawled on the wall By
Jon Keto, at 4:32 AM
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