2009: A year of firsts

If I still sent things in the mail, you all would've received a Christmas card with the above picture. Title: "I hope you YAK it up in the New Year!" I know, it's genius. Instead of hanging that on your fridge, you will just have to see it on the blog. What can you do? I blame technology.

Riding a yak was a first in 2009. One of many. In fact, this was a freaking great year. I traveled to Bali, Hong Kong, Macao, Tibet, Everest, Kathmandu, Datong, Pingyao, Qingdao, Hangzhou, Monroe and back to Beijing.


It sounds like I don't work. Ha! Government employment is not all bad, especially when you can earn comp time on top of your 20 days of vacation. Having time off to do what I want is definitely a first.

I became the first foreigner to ever report for Xinhua News Agency in China. Granted, it wasn't a very hard-hitting story. Still cool, however. Work sent me to Zhejiang province on July 22nd for the longest solar eclipse of the 21st century. My stories aired on the new show I am now producing called China News.

Yeah, the editors messed up the video and the live shot wasn't supposed to air with the package, which should have been voiced by me, but we are slowly making progress.

There were a couple of fun things to come out of this experience. I was taken to formal meals 3 times a day and was forced to try boar, wild rabbit, swan, root of a water lily, preserved stinky dofu, snake soup, a drink made with red beans and an entire fish (eyeballs and scales) floating in some soup-like concoction. All firsts.

For my "job well done", the big boss decided to pay for me to travel around to the major sites in the area instead of shipping me back to the office in Beijing right away. Reward by boss- also a first.

It wasn't just a year of firsts for me. My mom, Aunt Mary and cousin Jon came to China for a visit. It was two weeks of awesome. Spending one on one time with each of them was a real blessing and a hoot. It's also nice to have them understand my experience over here a little better.

After the Moms left, Jon and I took a trip of a lifetime. We traveled to Tibet, making our way through Lhasa, down to Mount Everest, then on to Kathmandu in Nepal. It was one of the most spiritual things I have ever experienced. The religious devotion of pilgrims, the rich Buddhist history and the landscape will stay with me forever.

Firsts on this trip include: altitude sickness, off-roading down a mountain and through a river, riding a yak, drinking yak butter tea, experiencing third-world extreme poverty, sleeping in a hut and using prayer flags.


The ten-day trip rocked. It was one of many I took in 2009. For the first time in Bali, a monkey sat on my shoulder, came near death on a horse ride and climbed up and into an active volcano. Yes, it was a sulfer volcano.

Other trips, exposed me to other firsts such as torture devices....

I love how this whole year enriched my life. I am seeing a part of the world I was once wary of. I realize now how interconnected we all are, despite cultural differences, of which, there are many. But thanks to my adventure in China, I have a better, though still small, understanding of what those differences are.

I learned to be more independent. For the first time, I travel, eat, live and experience things on my own. There is no safety net. I have become fine with just being by myself. The other side of this, is my new found ability to network with people, make new friends and maintain old ones.

I was away from the familiar for an entire year- Sept 08-09. First time I missed Christmas with my family, missed birthdays and didn't see my sisters or dad for that long of a period. I traveled home to WI for three weeks. For the first time, I met my nephew Ole and my niece/Goddaughter Emma. So glad I am not yet procreating. That is not a first.

I also realized for the first time, who I really loved and how wonderful of a person Devon is. How blind I was to what was there the entire time. It took a "voice" to open my eyes and my heart. First time that's ever happened. Which has led to another first- a long, long, long distance relationship.

There have been so many firsts in 2009. I can't even list them all. What I can do is hope 2010 is just as good for me and all of you.

If for the first time, you feel like seeing China, you have a place to stay.

With love,
Gretchen

PS- Jackie Chan also sends his well wishes to you for the new year.

WTF Wednesday- Meow Meal

There is a saying that applies to southern China: "They'll eat anything with four legs except the table."

I haven't spent much time in that part of the country, and after reading the following article, I was reminded why. WTF


BEIJING, Nov. 25 (Xinhua) -- More than 800 cats, locked up in rows of iron cages in a store in northern China's Tianjin municipality, would have been transported to Guangzhou, Guangdong province, and slaughtered had it not been for about 30 residents who rallied for nearly 24 hours, negotiating with the trader and police, to free the animals Tuesday.

Pet lovers and animal welfare volunteers started pouring into a neighborhood in Hongqiao district of the municipality, 120 km from Beijing, minutes after photographs of the caged cats were flashed on the Internet on Monday night, according to Wednesday's China Daily.

The trader said the cats, which he bought for 10 yuan apiece, were to be sent to Guangzhou, slaughtered and served as food at restaurants in South China.

Li Na, a saleswoman by profession, who was present at the spot, said the cats were either picked up from the streets or stolen from their owners.

Li was among dozens of local residents who spent the night outside the "flower and birds store" to ensure the cats were not sneaked away behind their backs. Residents said the store, which has a license to sell flowers, birds, fish and worms, had been trading cats for the last six months.

Qin Xiaona, chief of the Beijing-based Capital Animal Welfare Association, who rushed to Tianjin as word spread, alleged it was obvious most of the cats were stolen.

"The police told us that the trader bought the cats. But the trader was unable to provide receipts to prove any of the 800 purchases," Qin said. Qin said the cats were suffocating in the cages and many of them would have died on the way to Guangzhou.

It took Li, Qin and their likes 24 hours to convince the trader to free the cats after intervention from the police last night. Police have given the volunteers a room in a nearby school to house the cats, many of which are in need of urgent medical care, Qin said.

"Even though I was happy when the trader agreed to release the cats, I was simply disgusted when he asked for money in return for the animals' lives," Li said.

He Yong, a representative of the International Fund of Animal Welfare, said the incident was only the "tip of an iceberg".

China has no laws prohibiting the trading of cats, resulting in large-scale theft of the animals, which reportedly get eaten.

"The chain of the cat trade is really long," He said.