Worlds Collide: WWE Shanghai

WWF (as it was previously known) was a big deal back in the day. I remember anxiously waiting for Thursday night Smackdown and even more so for Friday morning debrief with my classmates. We could smell what The Rock was cooking, and we were ready to rumble.

It wasn't just a show you watched on Thursdays and Mondays (if you had satellite, which I did not!), it was a lifestyle. I had WWF pajama pants, a glow in the dark pillow that my grandma had crafted, a WWF soundtrack, and numerous other pieces of swag to show my allegiance to WWF.

My fave from back in the day!

When one of my besties began working for the WWE, it was too good to be true. She hooked my family up with some free tickets when WWE was in Minneapolis, and months later WWE was coming to Shanghai. Anwer, some friends, and I headed to Shanghai via bullet train for what was sure to be a cultural explosion.

Sure our seats were plenty far away, but that did not take away from the fun of it all. Here are some major takeaways from WWE Shanghai:

1. Chinese security and orderliness sucked some of the life out of what I imagine are true WWE fans. They kept telling the floor side people to sit down. How can people sit down when their superheroes are flying around the ring in front of them? It was very bizarre.

2. Watching wrestling on TV is a very different, dare I say, cooler experience. There was no commentating for us to hear, no backstage interviews, and a lot less of the other shenanigans you expect when you see WWE. And sadly, it seemed, maybe, less real in person. 

3. No wrestlers spoke in Mandarin to the audience, which I thought was a huge ball drop. I remember in the months leading up to the event, John Cena was doing some bits for his Chinese friends, but in real time, he did not even talk to his fans! I felt that most of the wrestlers were underprepared for their interactions with the Chinese audience. 

4. There are some senior citizens on the roster. Chris Jericho and The Big Show were wrestling when I was in the fifth grade. They are still running around that ring today! Part of me was proud that they could stand the test of time, and the other part of me was bored with their old slow bodies. I wanted to see more of the high flying tricks of Jeff Hardy and company.

5. My favorite performance/match was with the New Day, which reminded me a bit of the days of Rikishi and his crew. They had great dance moves, amazing crowd involvement, and there was a trombone. LOVED em. 

tjrwrestling.net

6. All of the cheering and chants were in English. This was strange to me, but I guess if you are a wrestling fan, you are familiar with the language. During a few very slow moving matches/smack talking sessions, there were even some "this is boring" chants, which I found very clever. 

Real time pic of John Cena and The Big Show

Iceland Part 1: South Iceland and Wedding fun in Reykjavik

Anwer and I were blessed to be invited to our dear friend Grace's wedding in July. We took full advantage of this opportunity and headed to Iceland for 9 days. We only took 4000 photos.

Upon arrival in Iceland, we picked up our new friend/Grace's college friend, Chante. We then went to pick up our rental car from Sad Cars. When we began researching Iceland in March, it was clear that it would be expensive, and I saw Sad Cars advertised on a few "budget" posts about Iceland. To be clear, do not go to Iceland if you are on a budget. After picking up our car from a car rental company that has no gas policy, we went straight to the petrol station as our car's gas light was on. Cool. This would be the beginning of not knowing how life works in Iceland, but we managed to get out with a few confused card swipes and an $80 gas bill.

The street we stayed on.

We stayed at an AirBnb in Reykjavik. It was perfect for our group of four. We picked up another one of Grace's friend, Julia. This would be our cheapest accommodation during our trip. I think we each paid about $90 for the three nights. We had a great welcome barbecue with the wedding friends and family on our first night. The group decided to travel South towards Vik on Friday to optimize travel opportunities and make our ring road adventure easier post wedding.



We saw our first waterfall!

Skogafoss

We went a bunch of majestic sites with scenery that would blow your mind.

Anwer wore a fabulous green jacket that allowed optimal camouflaging. 

Black beaches!

We followed Mama Hyun's advice and stopped where we saw buses and people. As you'll notice, we were not alone too much during our trip. 1.5 million people visited Iceland in the summer 2016.

Driving was pretty straightforward. No shoulders, lots of sheep wandering, and pure tourist driving--everywhere. 

We went to a glacier. And walked on it, for like one minute.

Iceland loves churches. This is the gorgeous one where the wedding was.

Horse everywhere. Even at the wedding.

View from the reception venue. Never ending sunset.

Great Wall Marathon 2016

To say that this semester has been challenging would be Midwestern nice. Maybe I would call it “interesting.” Spring 2016 presented itself with several challenges:

-10 credits in my masters-maybe that was a bit much in hindsight

-Coaching 70+ track and field athletes, which included a fabulous weekend in Beijing as well as a Great Wall visit with 30 students and several other weekends/nights of cold, wind, rain, and sun burn-in true track and field form.

-Training for the Great Wall Marathon. This also brought severe knee pain beginning in April. Doctor visits, heartache, and general sadness accompanied this knee pain.

-An apartment break-in on May 4^th. Loss of stuff and feelings of safety. And now we are apartment hunting. Again.

-Getting a sinus infection two weeks before the race and losing my voice here and there in the week before the race.

-Doing the actual job I am paid to do. All of the things listed above only cost me money, and something needs to pay the bills!

On May 21^st I was faced with the most challenging endeavor I have ever experienced. As I had completed the GW half marathon last year, I sort of knew what I was in for, but I really had no idea. In my blog, I wrote: I'm going back next year. I'm going to do the full. It's going to be awesome.

 

We left Suzhou on Friday on the bullet train and were checking into our hotel around 11:20 PM. Our wake-up call was only a few hours later as we had to be on the bus to the wall by 3:30 AM Saturday morning. We traveled by bus for about two hours, and then had two hours before our race to stay warm in the chilly mountain shadows. We also had two hours to question everything in our lives. My dear friend Kitty also took on the 42k with me. Anwer was about to complete his first half marathon, and there were some other teachers from SSIS there to do the half and fun run.

 

My wave began at 7:40 AM. The race begins with a 5k (3.1 mile) uphill climb to get to the wall entrance. Once on the wall, I did some steady walking. From last year’s experience, I knew to be conservative, and it was difficult to get around people during this time. As I was heading down and off the wall, Anwer passed me looking truly fabulous considering his longest training run was 10k. I kept him in my sights as I trucked along at a conservative but steady pace.

First time on the wall-looking happy, sweaty, and cool. 

With my knee pain plaguing me for the peak weeks of training, I had major concerns about my ability to complete the race. I had considered not racing at all or maybe switching to the half. My knees had gotten so bad by mid April that walking and stairs were becoming too much. I took three weeks off and did not run. I missed three long runs and had severe anxiety regarding the lack of training. This fear and anxiety begun creeping up as I was leaving the wall because I knew I was about to run more than I had properly trained for.

 

Once we headed into the village, I was excited to get my running legs back after the stairs. The course for the half last year was all flat, which I mistakenly assumed the full would be. I kept Anwer’s white Wisconsin hat in view, and I slowly caught him again. I was hoping one of the camera crew would catch us running side by side in a state of hope and pre-exhaustion. I left Anwer in the dust after about 1k together. Then the marathon course split from the half course and headed towards beautiful fields of trees and crops and general happiness. I could smell horse poop, and I liked it. There were children lining the sides of the course demanding high fives, waving, and in some instances requesting autographs. I used the least amount of energy possible to show appreciate for the fans.

As I was approaching the 21k mark (halfway; 13.1 miles), I could see a terrible view of some runners on their way back coming down a fairly steep downhill. Obviously, I was concerned to see what sort of uphill I might be approaching. We then faced another ~4k climb that was steeper than the first hill climb at the start of the race. I enjoyed an aggressive walk during this portion. Knowing I had to go back up the wall, there was no way to convince myself to run at this point. I had a reasonable time at the halfway point ~2:40, and I thought there was still hope for a reasonable time to finish.

By this point in the day, the sun was beating down and encouraging sun burn on all of the pasty participants. I was consuming as much water and Chinese Gatorade as I could without getting a gut ache. I enjoyed the downhill after the walk up, and I had a brief passing with my friend Kitty as she was heading up the hill I just finished. It is always good to see a familiar face in the middle of nowhere when you are starting to question your life choices.

The next section of the race continued to go down a bit through some dirt trails and more beautiful scenery. We finally rejoined the half marathon runners and were headed back towards the square where we started to head back up the wall. All things considered, I did not feel terrible. I still thought I would be OK. I returned to the wall at 4:40 with 8k left. After my first about 10 stairs, I knew things were about to get dark. I managed a few more flights, turned back and saw that I was so close to the square. I sat down, put my arms on my knees, and had a pre-cry gasp. I did not cry. I picked myself up and moved it along. Slowly. Very slowly. My legs were getting very crampy, and I had finished my Chinese Gatorade. I knew there was no more electrolytes on the course. I began to fear a calf cramp or foot cramp. There were a few people already down for the count on the wall screaming in pain, and I did not want to be them. I took the stairs in a variety of creative ways-sideways, backwards, toes out, toes in, anything to avoid using the calf muscles.

Finally getting off the wall and seeing the road that would begin the 5k downhill was a relief like no other. I wanted to run as quickly as I could and get it over with. My calves were still in no condition to handle any attempt of an aggressive downhill run. Still fearing cramps, I made the borderline crazy decision to lick my arms to get some salt back in my body. I recognized the crazy in this. I could taste a faint flavor of sunscreen, but I didn’t even care. I licked my arms as if my life depended on it.

Someone convinced me to smile or laugh, or I was starting to go nutty. 

I continued my casual jog down the 5k. I felt like I was going “fast.” Although, I’m sure it was nothing more than a fast walk. I ran towards the shade and tried to avoid any unnecessary steps. My knees began to ache for the first time. Running downhill will do that, and I tried to put it out of my mind. I was more or less alone in this part. There were a few runners here and there. I’d pass one. One would pass me. I got to the final flat 1k towards the finish, and I ran as much as I physically could manage. Running into the square did not bring the tears that I assumed would come pouring out. The announcer said my name, and I accepted physical defeat. My time was 6:15.30. Slower than I wanted, but I was happy to be alive.

I was hungry. I was thirsty. I was in pain. I had never felt pain like it before. My whole core was in pain. My back muscles. My abs. Laughing hurt. The heavy weight of the medal announcing my accomplishments hurt as it pressed on my chest. I looked frantically for shade and a place to sit. Anwer kindly got me some soggy Subway subs while I sat down. Chewing was difficult.

 

The Great Wall Marathon was unlike any other race or physical endeavor that I have ever attempted. I applaud those who take on this challenge. The physical and mental pain have left some scars that will take some time to heal, but I am grateful for this experience. And I hope to go back for the HALF next year!

Read my friend Kitty's post on the good, the bad, and the ugly of it all here.

This is what getting old is like.

I graduated from High School in 2006, which means I have been out of high school for ten years. It is no longer acceptable to reference my high school experience to students. I am an irrelevant source and not allowed to be cited in the reference section.

This is what I was doing ten years ago:

Living the High School Track and Field Dream! Now I'm coaching about 50 students every Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. 

Senior class trip: hello pale kids from Minnesota! Most of these people have jobs, babies, and house payments now.  

I graduated college five years ago, which is still an appropriate amount of time to reference and is deemed unnecessary to give a photo flashback to. Also, my internet is horrifyingly slow due to China continuing to stop all forms of Google from reaching its people.

We've been busy. We're becoming masters, working, surviving, running, and patiently awaiting warmer weather.

March is closing out, and it's going to be a busy few months ahead!

Next weekend-long weekend in Beijing to see the French family one last time before they leave Beijing forever or at least awhile!

Spring break-end of April: Xian to see Warriors, Guilin to the rice terraces, and back to Yangshuo that we loved so dearly!

May: Track and Field Championships in Beijing, Great Wall Marathon-first full since 2011-I'm so old.

June: International Youth Award trip to Thailand, home to Minnesota, and Iceland for Grace's WEDDING!

It's not all sunshine and roses.

December was a month of loss. My good friend's mother passed, a colleague of mine died of a sudden heart attack, and my Grandmother passed away on December 26th.

In my fifth year of living outside of the United States, this is the closest death that has happened while I was away. My heart breaks for my Grandma and the suffering that she went through during her final days, weeks, and months. I knew my Grandma was surrounded by love and faith during her final days, and that gave me comfort while I was time zones away.



My Grandma was a hard worker, animal lover, flower specialist, and family supporter. Some of my earliest memories of my Grandma are of her washing the barn walls and the pipeline. Washing walls in the barn is about as fun as cleaning mold in monsoon in India-except worse. Although, I know my Grandma had done many jobs in her life as a mother and farmer that far exceeded the struggles of washing walls. She enjoyed sharing with me the stories of power outages from storms, dog shenanigans, crazy neighbors, and milking the cows. She came to the barn and cleaned, until she couldn't. It might be why I always thought it was important to clean the pipeline and walls because I knew she would want it that way. Even when I was little, weak, and tired easily, I would clean one or two sections of the walls and give up until next year when I would clean the same two sections.

Xena visits Grandma, one of the times I'm glad my Mom is such a
photo clicking machine-Thanks Mom for capturing this memory!

Grandma loved her dogs, cats, birds, and any other breathing creature. While it was unacceptable to accidentally mow or trim any flowers in her yard, if the beloved Xena put her big ole butt in the flower bed for a snooze, all was forgiven. The cats that came to dine at Grandma's were never short of food or quality. The pans never emptied because my Grandma worried the cats would cross the road for food and get hit by a car or worse end up at the neighbors.









She had an extraordinary garden that looked like it was in a home and garden magazine. She knew the names of all the flowers and how to care for each plant to make it through Minnesota winters. As mentioned, her love of cats and dogs may have trumped her love of flowers, but it was rare the day that a beautiful arrangement of flowers did not brighten her smile.


And above all things, my Grandma loved her family. Her worries were usually focused on my Grandpa-much to his dismay, but her worries also surrounded the wellbeing of her entire family: have you eaten? are you working? is your hip hurting? did you eat enough? did the hay get done? And don't even bother lying to Grandma to spare her worry. She knows. She knew. 

Delivering Grandma good news was its own reward. I'd find myself searching around the farm for signs of life and growth that would relieve some of her worries. We finished the hay, a cow had a baby heifer, Kyle's putting the wagons in the shed, and Dad's milking is about as good of news to my Grandma as finding out you just won the record Powerball of $1.3 billion.

Watching my Grandma over the past few years has been hard, but I know that she stuck around to share in the many gifts that continued to bless our family. Great grand babies were coming at rates that made names hard to keep track of, but she held many and proudly displayed all of their pictures. She also got to meet one of the most important people in my life: Anwer.

She loved whole heartedly and lived with passion, and I am so lucky to have had such a passionate and loving role model in my life.

Many of the grandkids and grand babies-not all.