November 6, 2006
Winter is rushing towards us on the howling Siberian wind. The first
snow hit the ground Monday, and more is on the way. Meanwhile,
Dalian's face-lift continues, with more old buildings disappearing
with a boom and a cloud of dust. Elsewhere this week, BlogSpot was
blocked again and a crazy (but brave) woman in Beijing put her bike on
the line to enforce traffic laws.
Sunday Coffee: 10:30 a.m., Starbucks near Olympic Square:
Twice now the DalianXPat forum has met for Sunday coffee, taking up a
small corner of Starbucks near Olympic Square. We'd like to see it
grow into a true reflection of the forum, someplace where old hands
can pass on knowledge and bad jokes to us newcomers.
This weekly event starts every Sunday at 10:30 a.m. and runs until
people leave. Come whenever you like; stay as long as you like.
Volunteers needed:
The website needs volunteers. It can't run without people
contributing, even in small ways.
Here's what we need:
-a photo editor and organizer,
-help gathering events calendar,
-bar/nightlive/music reviewers
-expertise of Dalian businesses/services,
-a mapping project with Google.
And since few of us are pulling down the cash we truly deserve, check
out the discounts and special offers from some of our sponsors and
save some RMB.
(`Special Offers') (
http://www.dalianxpat.com/content/view/88/154/).
New reviews:
Pippa's Café on HeiShiJiao
Sometimes you just need a ham sandwich. I found Pippa's on one of
those days. The little cafe on HeiShiJiao is about a block from the
gate of Dalian Fisheries University, where I teach, and it offers free
coffee to foreigners at its Wednesday night English corner. That was
almost two weeks ago, and I've been here almost everyday since....
(
http://www.dalianxpat.com/content/view/101/166/)
Events Calendar:
[Your event here]
Seriously, I have no idea what's going on next weekend. I usually
check the forum. If you know of something coming up in the next two
weeks, send a message to Viaggiatore (me) through the website.
A note from the new editor:
DalianXpat.com works best when it works as a community. This isn't any
one person or one group's forum; it's a place for all of us to share
and make our lives in China more enjoyable, more profitable and a bit
more sane. Some of us (like myself) arrived in September and are still
learning the bus routes. A few have been around so long they know when
every sky scraper went up. All of us have a place in the city and on
the forum, and both will thrive as much as we're willing to make them
do so.
Jim asked me to take over this newsletter a week ago. I'm still not
sure why, except that I wrote a restaurant review and we both spent a
few happy (though non-overlapping) years in Santa Cruz. I'm new to
Dalian, and I only see so much of the city in my daily trek from
HeiShiJiao to Victory Square. So I need more eyes on the street and
more fingers on the keyboard. If you hear of an event coming up or you
want something addressed in the next email, send me a message through
the forum. This is much more your newsletter than mine.
- Chris
aka Viaggiatore
Alexis.Chu
