dalianxpat.com site syndication http://www.dalianxpat.com 2008-10-07T17:35:18+01:00 http://www.dalianxpat.com http://www.dalianxpat.com/images/M_images/joomla_rss.png text/html 2008-10-01T11:27:50+01:00 http://www.dalianxpat.com http://www.dalianxpat.com/content/view/1120/166/ Editor's Note: This article was contributed by Dannie Ly (component/option,com_comprofiler/task,userProfile/user,4913/Itemid,41/), a regular on this website. Dannie recounts her experiences as a volunteer in the earthquake area this past summer. This heartfelt story originally appeared as a Forum Post but we thought it should stand as an article so it can be easily retrieved in the future. The terrible earthquake in Sichuan affected all of China. After this tragedy of 5-12, my roomate and I came up with the idea that we should go to the area to be a volnuteer even though we did not know exactly how to do that. Then we learned through our university (Dalian Maritime University) that there would be a selection of about 100 teams which would get finacial aid and some other support to do certain project research during our summer holiday. The university conducted an application process where teams were invited to submit a project, write plans on how to run it, and give a speech before a panel of judges who then selected the teams to carry out their projects. Six of us put our heads together and developed a project to submit to the university panel. text/html 2008-10-02T19:54:15+01:00 http://www.dalianxpat.com http://www.dalianxpat.com/content/view/1122/166/ Editor's Note: Some months ago, our own Meyer Hurn submitted this article about Suntory Whisky, a bottle of which will be the prize at this week's Sunday Coffee. Seeing as how the Sunday Coffee Lucky Draw is for a bottle of Suntory whisky, I thought it appropriate to tell the story of this “Scotch . I had the pleasure of attending a launch/promotion of Suntory whisky which was hosted in the Kempinski Hotel here in Dalian. The launch was well organized by the Shanghai representative office of H-Line Ogilvy Communications Company. Suntory was the whisky used in the movie, Lost in Translation, starring Bill Murray, who goes to Tokyo to promote this Japanese whisky. As most of us expats have probably experienced before, it is so easy to get something lost in translation when living in Asia. The company's whisky operation takes over 60 percent of Japan's market share, and Suntory is as well known in Japan as Jack Daniels is in the United States. Whisky, whether domestic or imported, is a very popular drink among Japanese consumers, perhaps even more popular than Sake. text/html 2008-09-19T17:00:36+01:00 http://www.dalianxpat.com http://www.dalianxpat.com/content/view/1118/ October 12 Coffee at Starbucks 10:00 to 1:00 Congratulations to Phil Cagle, the winner of the Lucky Draw for the famous, much discussed Japanese Whisky (which tastes like Scotch). Come and meet your friends and make some new ones at the Starbucks at Olympic Square. text/html 2008-09-24T10:46:29+01:00 http://www.dalianxpat.com http://www.dalianxpat.com/content/view/1119/166/ If you have a free Saturday or Sunday morning, I have a recommendation for you. Head to Labor Park (Laodong Park--劳动公园 ) around 8:00 a.m. and just walk around and enjoy the many different groups of people who gather there. You will find various groups of fan dancers who are often dancing to the same beat of music but wearing different color costumes. You will see sword dancers showing their balance, dexterity, and flexibility. You will see other groups kicking feather (my term) at a very, very high level. One of my favorite groups to watch is the one where each person has a small tennis racquet-type deal (taiji rou li qiu) that has a flexible rubber covering instead of strings. These people are amazing in that they can move their racquets around in unbelievable ways and keep a plastic ball on the racquet through centrifugal force, toss the ball into the air, catch it, flip it over their shoulders, etc. all in unison and in time with music. Around the lake filed with beautiful lotus flowers is permanent seating where people play cards, chess, and mahjong. The woods of Labor... text/html 2008-09-15T22:46:28+01:00 http://www.dalianxpat.com http://www.dalianxpat.com/content/view/1115/166/ Editors Note: Catherine is a young teacher from Vancouver who has a very interesting blog at http://cathsmath.blogspot.com/2008/09/best-weekend-ever.html Catherine is a frequent visitor to DalianXpat.com and she hopes to contribute more articles in the future. Okay, I just had the most amazing weekend and it's not even half over yet! Yesterday, right after school, I packed up my bags and took the qing gui (aka skytrain) from Jinshitan to Dalian with Anita and Anjali. We went to an Indian restaurant on the fifth floor of the Zhongshan Hotel and met up with some other teachers from the Foreign Nationals School downtown.