Travel stories and photos and the occasional life lesson

Two weeks ago I was an owner of two bicycles. Today I own one collapsible bike and one broken down bike with no brakes. My old, ugly bike sat idle for many many weeks until it walked away on it’s own. For quite some time I have contemplated purchasing the folding bike. I finally did it!  Today I must get some sort of fancy extra long chain to wind through all of the parts of the bike so it does not walk away when I leave it outside. I did bring it in and I will continue to bring it into my apartment each day. I do intend to ride it to the subway and many other places. I will attempt to get it on the subway with me. I will write more about that after my first attempt. Since I am in China, I will have a custom made carry case made for it to fit neatly onto a subway with me.

I have been gentle with my wounded knee for the past four weeks. The pedaling motion irritated my wound so I refrained from riding for a few weeks. Now, with caution and a knee that heals more each day I travel by my favorite mode of transportation again. The exercise bonus of the experience allows for a clear head.

Greg Gordon Uncategorized

Greg Gordon Uncategorized

I almost forgot- I had a few friends over for my birthday:

I ran out of food. It started out as a few (4 people) friends and I kept talking to people and the crowd grew to where I ran out of food. I made noodles from scratch.  In attendance from left to right:

Justin from Vidro, TX, Chris from Austin, Danqing from Beijing/ New York, Richard from England, Amy from Beijing, Andy from Switzerland, and in front in black- Morgan from Beijing, young Elizabeth and mother Sharon – both from Beijing/ California, and me.

After dinner we went to Q Bar next door for a margarita and then Justin and I went dancing elsewhere.

Greg Gordon Uncategorized

My emotions run up and down and up and down over and over like a roller coaster.  I find it similar to my experience more than nine years ago when I was involved in the Austin mayor’s race.  My life in Austin satisfies me. My job allows me to live comfortably. I have always attempted to achieve more and more while not getting bored. I am satisfied at times and then I raise my goals and get out of my comfort zone in an effort to avoid boredom. Presently my comfort zone is 7500 miles away in central Texas. I  do not need to be in China. I do not need to attempt to create an entirely new world for myself because the one I have in central Texas satisfies me.  Most days I enjoy the challenge.

Since my return I have only been hiking once due to my knee still healing. I have had to move apartments because of a pending lawsuit.  I am experiencing a Minnesota cold winter. My bike disappeared and my secondary bike broke, and I am going into my winter (slow) work season. I now (winter blues) struggle to find things to do during my days.

Mandarin changes from 1.5 hours three days a week with an instructor to 2 hours three evenings a week in a group class beginning Monday.  My new bike arrives tomorrow.  I now pay no fees to ATM money out of my BAC account through any China Construction Bank ATM. This saves me $14 every ATM transaction.  I now get to hike again and I have several new work projects that I am working on regularly.

Without a bike I walk and subway and very occasionally taxi around. The bicycle trumps all other methods of transportation even in 15º weather. The 12 minute bike ride equals 35 minutes on foot or 45 minutes by subway or 15-55 minutes by taxi. One day I will learn a few buses.  Today I love the bicycle.

More differences about China.  Comprehension of the quantity of people here for me needs more time.  With the number of people being so high in such a small area many things that I don’t even think about until I experience them fascinate the heck out of me. I notice that one Chinese person in a crowd feels alone and does not appear to feel any kind of connection to those around.  When I am around many people I exercise a bit of common courtesy to hold a door as I enter or exit through it.  I make room for someone near me. I smile, maybe nod my head, or simply acknowledge someone else. The people here don’t even have those thoughts in their heads. They don’t wait in line. They always seem to be in a hurry to do everything.  They can’t stop hawking and spitting either.

The class system exists in China.  Wait persons = dirt.  I do not comprehend how poor people treat folks in the service industry. I imagine that the folks receiving the poor treatment can separate themselves from their jobs. If they can not then I imagine they would kill the patrons barking at them the entire time they are around.

This time back I have begun eating much less Chinese food. I spend hours and hours drinking hot tea in Starbucks and soaking up the smoke free atmosphere at my new favorite Liangmaqiao Starbucks.  I get more done when I have a room full of people (I don’t know) around me versus sitting in my solitary apartment.  I can stand about two hours of work in the morning and another 45 minutes before bed on the computer in the apartment.  Those two hours and forty-five minutes are extremely productive because there are no distractions.

I read and agree with an article about the efficiency (or lack thereof) of today’s society with all of the modes of communication.  Thirty years ago the phone would ring or someone would knock on your door to interrupt.  Today, the cell phone rings, the text message beeps, the email messages come in, the desk phone rings, the msn beeps in, the skype or g talk beeps in or someone knocks on the door. We do appear to be much busier with all of our new technology and we are so much more connected to one another but studies show that it takes so much more time to get back on task after being interrupted that if we don’t get interrupted then we would be able to get more done in less time.  I try (and succeed) to work without distractions for more than three hours each of five work days each week in China.  I really feel like I get many more tasks completed in those three hours than I do in eight hours of a typical Lockhart workday.

Greg Gordon Uncategorized

The trip back to the states lasted for forty-two days. Before I went I thought it might be too long. Once I arrived back in Texas and got adjusted to the time I knew the trip should have been shorter.  I have a new life that I am making in Beijing and to be gone for forty-two days in a row seriously puts a kink in all of my new relationships. I had a great time. Knowing that my time was limited I made very efficient use of it. I could have stayed longer. The trip lasted so long that I started not even missing my China world.  The three major events that I scheduled were: my mother’s surprise birthday party on October 16, my Minneapolis trade show the week of October 23 and then my Florida trade show the week before Thanksgiving.  The scheduling of these events stretched my trip out.

Now, being back in Beijing with a knee that is finally healed and being on the time schedule again I am settling back into life in my new world.

Greg Gordon Uncategorized

My trip flew by because of the lovely young woman named Geneva. I sat next to on the way from San Francisco to Austin.  She hails from Austin and McCallum High School but has been living and working in San Francisco for many years.  She creates high end piercings and sells them all over the United States through her website and her retail shop. I even think I will see her again in San Francisco on my next visit there.

I informed nobody outside of China about my accident so as not to concern them with things out of their control until they viewed me in person so when Isabel picked me up at the curb at the airport she showed real concern and a little frustration in my keeping my secret from her.  I received the same reaction from my mother and several other folks for the first two weeks or so of my trip back to the states as I used crutches and limped around without crutches a bit also.

The first two weeks back I proceeded to sleep at a different place nearly every night.  The list reads:

10-14 Shallcross home Austin

10-15 Danny Muslin home Austin

10-16 Melissa Marks home in Houston

10-17 mother’s home in Houston

10-18 Danny’s home again

10-19 my warehouse in Lockhart

10-20 Nadel’s home in N Austin

10-21 Sarah Kiehl home in S Austin

10-22 Warehouse in Lockhart

10-23 hotel near downtown Austin after attending a wedding

10-24 Paul Gordon’s in N Central Austin

10-25 through 10-28 – same place Sandra & David’s home in Minneapolis

10-29 – hotel in N Austin with Ari – in from Dallas

10-30 through 11-5 at Isabel’s – She was in Spain

11-6 KJ’s home central Austin

11-7 Lockhart

11-8 Isabel’s

11-9 Tara & Brandt’s- they made dinner and fed me wine

11-10 through 11-14 Isabel’s

11-15 through 11-19 hotel in Orlando

11-20 & 11-21 Isabel’s

11-22 Shallcross home before Stephen drove me back to the airport early on the 23rd

Greg Gordon Uncategorized

Many emotions have been running through my head since my last entry.  October 12, 2010 my left knee smacked the ground after the van knocked me and my bike down. The scariest thing I have ever experiences in my life occurred a little more than two months ago. Lunch with my friend Chris, a young lady, and my trip back to the states all whirring around in my head I took my concentration off of the scariest thing I do every day for a split second and SMACK I went down. I stayed awake the entire time. I imagine it lasted a few seconds. I am certain shock set in. I did not feel the need to get a name or phone number or license plate number from the guy who ran into me.  I took a few minutes to lie on the ground in front of the van before looking for bones sticking out or blood and to my relief I saw none. With a little assistance I got to my feet, used the bike to steady myself and began riding off. I remember thinking that I would shake this off and be on my way to lunch and then back to Texas less than 48 hours later.  I think I made it 50 meters (this is China) down the road before realizing that the pain made it impossible to bike anymore. I then walked the bike another 50 meters before stopping again to catch my breath.  At this point I felt even more pain and decided to wait (standing and using the bike for support) until I had to sit down and then fairly quickly lie down because of the pain. The eternal optimist inside of me kept saying that the pain would pass. Heck, the blood and bones were hidden away safely under the skin. I could wiggle my toes.  I was fine.  I remembered my Tylenol in my backpack and decided to eat two of them as a precaution without water.  I think I stayed there for three minutes or maybe six minutes before a security person (who happened to know enough English) offered to call help for me.

At this point I was stationary and not moving besides to call Chris and explain to him what happened.  He immediately headed to the hospital to meet me. I also called a hiking friend to speak to the ambulance (mini van) driver with directions about getting me to the hospital near my home.  I then made a few more safety calls and headed off to the hospital.  My knee had swollen to the size of a grapefruit and hurt when I moved.

Chris and his driver assisted greatly at the hospital. The entire experience (x-ray, ambulance ride, pain pills, crutches, and hospital fees) set me back nearly seventy US dollars and took less than an hour from the ground out the door of the hospital.  I love health care in China. I paid as things occurred.  no money = no x ray. I waved my wallet and my service improved. SERIOUSLY The x ray showed no broken bones so Chris took me to lunch and then home for ice on the knee for two solid days before I received wheelchair treatment at the airport and a fairly comfortable plane flight back to Austin.

For the first two days after the accident I sat on a chair for my shower and I slept on my back with the knee elevated and iced.  After those first two nights I slept in small increments because each time I would move in my sleep the pain would wake me.  The knee improved and I stopped using crutches after 12 days or so.

Greg Gordon Uncategorized