August 15th

The boys are back

August 11, 2008 Email from Andrew

Andrew sent us the following email which has a lot of news that we thought everyone would be interested in.

"Well hello from China. The other night we had a show at our usual bar/club, Club 64. We watched the first hour of the opening ceremony till about 9. Lear and his grandfather got the lucky opportunity to go to the 2008 Beijing Olympic Opening Ceremony.  Then we headed off to the club thinking the guys (Ryan and Teddy) would perform. But soon we realized that every club/bar in all of Beijing had the opening ceremony televised. Being the stars we are at our club we got a nice seat outside facing the opening ceremony which was being televised on the wall. At first it was nice watching some of the countries come out then it got a little boring. Then I learned that the order of the countries went by the number of strokes it takes to write the country in Chinese characters. Finally after a while USA came on and we went crazy and it was a lot of fun. Some guys from Belgium began booing us and talking shit but we explained to them that we had cheered for them and quickly they began to cheer for the us. I also got a little opportunity to speak some French to them. Thinking the ceremony would be over after about 3 hours (11) we soon realized that wasn't going to be the case. We all gave a sigh of relief when the ceremony finally ended exactly 4 hours after it started. We thought it was our turn to perform in front of the very large crowd that was already there for the ceremony but the manager explained to us that the clubs main attraction had to go first. We said all right and waited, soon we realized the main attraction was actually a female and male strip pole dancing duo in leather boots, mini leather shorts and ripped up leather shirts and bras. Lets just say that was quiet the show. It was now the guys turn and we had a tired but large crowd and the third show went really well. But we were tired as ever from waiting around the whole night and called it a night after the show around 130.

 

Yesterday was Saturday and was our big day being that we got to go to the Olympic games. We slept in for a while and then went out for lunch. We were told at lunch (not by Lear seeing he wasn't there) that we would be leaving at 4 to get to our venue.  By the way our game didn't start until 8. So like planned we didn't leave on time but we left at 3:40. We asked Lear why in the world we would leave so early and he told us it was because of the subway. Having taken the subway ourselves the past few days all over Beijing we knew he was misinformed. We had to take 12 stops to get to the games and it still only took about 50 min. We got to the games 3 hours early. But whatever it's how the trip has been going the whole time. The tickets themselves are pretty cool seeing that they have RFD tags in them which are like tiny little computer chips. Chethan and I some how scored 2d row seats on the upper deck. Lear and his possy had upper deck 3rd row seats and the rest of the guys had upper deck nosebleed seats. We watched USA play Chec Republic. USA was doing terribly during the beginning of the game but ended up winning by 40 or 50. The best part of the game was seeing the Men's team across the stadium sitting their all by themselves. Rellinger and Teddy went down to where they were sitting and tried to get their attention. Kobe Bryant walked in late and was being escorted to their section when Teddy got a quick handshake with Kobe himself. Rellinger got about 20 feet away from all the players. They almost all had headphones on but still Rellinger was persistent and continued to yell trying to get their attention. They all ignored him the entire time even when he yelled at Jason Kidd who went to St Joes in Alameda and grew up in Oakland. He yelled everything he knew about Oakland, Alameda, St Joes but Kidd wouldn't turn around.  Lets just say Rellinger was quite upset about how they wouldn't even turn around for a sec. but anyways he got to see them from about 15-20 feet away and Teddy got to shake Kobes hand. All in all we got to go to the Olympic games and got to see the men's basketball team and it was as much as a success as it was going to be. Today is Sunday and we have no plans at all but to watch the games on TV and USA vs. CHINA basketball tonight, a VERY VERY big game here in  China.

 

Hope everything back home is going well see you guys soon.

 

-love Andrew.

 

p.s. we get no internet in Beijing and only get a half a bar on wifi in a weird angle in one spot so forgive the spelling/typing. and i hope you get this."

August 11, 2008 Email from Ryan Pattee

Ryan's Pattee's parents received the following email from Ryan and they asked me to post it on the Blog.

"Lear's condo in Beijing is really nice and they actually haven't even stayed in it before us.  They basically took a bunch of stuff from their malls and threw it in the apartment.  The place is really nice but there are no phones or ethernet so I haven't been able to call.  

Anyways, we just saw the women's basketball game last night.  We got to see USA play Czech Republic, USA women won by a lot.  The USA men's team showed up to the game last night and Teddy actually got a handshake from Kobe Bryant while he was running with Security Guards to get to the seats where the rest of the Dream Team was.  We're excited here to see them play China tonight, it's gonna be a huge game! 

We went and saw the Great Wall the other day and saw the Argentina Men's Basketball team, one of whom we saw was Manu Giniboli!!! We took pictures with them, it's pretty cool.  The funny thing is that we actually got more Asian people taking pictures with us than the Argentina Basketball team.  It's pretty funny, we'll be at some place like the Great Wall or The Emperor's Tomb or The Forbidden Kingdom and we'll be asked to take pictures with people."

August 6, 2008

Lynne and I had a great talk with Andrew tonight.  Apparently things are going better in Beijing.  They boys arrived yesterday and have been staying at the Gao's new Beijing condo near Tienanmen Square.  They still have not been out at night, but Andrew told us that they intend to do that tonight.  Lynne and I were not too far from Tienanmen Square and were able to get around by cab.  The boys each have a piece of paper with them that has instructions in Chinese that they can give to someone if they get lost or in trouble.  I also asked Andrew to make sure that they have the address of the condo written down so that they can give it to a taxi driver. 

Today the boys went to the Great Wall and they were going to the Ming Emperor's tomb afterwards.  Andrew said that they were all having a good time.  Apparently they met and talked to the Romanian girls handball team and had a good time joking around with them.  They also met the Argentinian basketball team, including Manu Ganobli, who they talked to and had pictures taken with.  Andrew also said it was really funny listening to the tour guide that the Argentinian team had because instead of talking in poor English, the tour guide was speaking in broken Spanish. 

Hopefully one of the boys will email some pictures home so that I can post them.

. 

News from the Kosaraju's August 4, 2009

We talked to Andrew and Chethan last evening, seems to be doing fine. They said they were all packed up and just about to leaving for Beijing shortly. Chethan said Lear's dad took them out to a great restaurant and told them they could order anything on the menu. Boys wanted to order KOBE beef but unfortunately it was not available. Lear's dad also ordered Robert Mondavi wine for them and Chethan says he got light headed after a glass. Well, now the boys are in Beijing, hopefully they will have a great time(as they expected) last two weeks.

August 3, 2008

Andrew called on Sunday night.  The boys were on their way to Beijing and they will be staying in Lear's mom's condo while they are there. They also will be returning to the US from Shanghai so they will be leaving Beijing on the 12th or 13th to start back to Nanjing and then Shanghai for the trip back.  Andrew said they were all looking forward to getting to Beijing so that they can get out on the town a bit at night.  We told him that we went camping this past weekend and he asked if everyone had enjoyed themselves.  He sounded good and said everyone was healthy.

August 2, 2008

Ryan Relinger's mother, Kathryn, had just returned from a trip to Canada and the east coast the other day and was thinking about the boys and wondering how they were doing in China when she looked across the street and saw Drew with his girlfriend. She did a double take was wondering what was going on. Well Drew came back early. His health hit a snag and everyone thought it best if he get back to the states.

This past weekend the Relinger's, Finston's and Kosaraju's went on their annual camping trip arranged by Helmut and Kathryn. We had a blast camping, hiking and swimming in the alpine lakes north of lake Tahoe near Grey Eagle. We had a nice camp sight near a creek and a short distance from a number of nice hikes and lakes. As usual the food was great, the wine tastings a lot of fun and the fire pit was full of burning logs until the wee hours. Rick (Ryan's brother) and Lee (a good friend) went fishing for dinner one day. Fortunately we were not relying on them to feed us because when Rick and Lee bot back they reported the the fish had won the titanic battle. Rick and Lee had lost several hooks and lures and the fish swam away apparently laughing at the failed attempts of the valiant fishermen.

Meanwhile, we went on two great hikes. The first was up to the fire lookout at the top of Sierra Buttes. It was a rather long hike (4 miles each way) and quite a lot of elevation change. But everyone eventually made it to the top. The next day we hiked into Little Bear lake. It was only about a half mile gentle hike. The lake was very pretty and several people went for a swim, including Helmut who was the only parent brave enough to test to cold mountain water.

Lynne about to climb up the 147 stairs to the lookout tower at Sierra Buttes.

Helmut taking a dip in bear lake.

A nice view of some of the alpine lakes on our hike up to Sierra Buttes.

Lynne, John and Rao taking a break mid way up to the Sierra Butte lookout station.

John and Lynne taking a break.

I want to thank Rao for providing the pictures.

We have not heard from the boys in a few days. They are in Nanjing and even though we try to get them to send pictures back, our requests are ignored. We hope that they are settling down and having a good time.

More soon. If anyone reads these posts, please send Lynne or me an email and let us know how you like them and if you would like anything posted on the blog.


John (Big Daddy) Finston

July 29, 2008

I just talked to Andrew about the trip to Xian.  Andrew said that they all had a good time in Xian.  It sounds like things are calming down for them and they are getting more accustom to China.  Apparently they took the train back to Nanjing.  Andrew reported that they got to the train station a bit late and had to run to the train OJ Simpson style to get to the train just minutes before it left. They got back this morning after traveling on an overnight train.  Andrew said that they were in a sleeper car and that it was pretty comfortable.  He said that they also met some girls from Holland that had been in Beijing and they told Andrew that they found Beijing to be very crowded and that the pollution was still quite bad.  They plan to rest a few days in Nanjing before heading up to Beijing.  Andrew also reported that they have been eating a lot of western fast food, especially KFC and that he is getting tired of it.  Maybe they will be more willing to eat the local food in Beijing if they are tired of KFC. 

July 22, 2008

I had a good conversation with Andrew today.  He reported that things are getting much more organized.  They went to an amusement park the other day.  Andrew said that the experience was a bit bizarre, but it sounded to me that the experience would be best described as unique.  Apparently they travelled for about an hour to a park and when they arrived they come to an outdoor amphitheater which had a stage that was surrounded by a mote.  The explanation for what they were about to see was not very enlightening.  Then several tigers and two lions came on to the stage, which had several levels of platforms.  Some trainers then came out and got the lions and tigers to get up on the platforms.  The animals were roaring and the boys were wondering whether they would attack the trainers.  Next two ponies came on to the stage and started running around the stage.  Andrew wondered whether the ponies, which were fairly small might be lunch for the lion and tigers.  But instead of a gruesome show, instead the trainers had two of the tigers jump on to the backs of the ponies and ride them around the stage.  Next two large rubber balls (like yoga exercise balls) were put on the stage and the lions jumped on top of them and started to "walk" them around the stage. Finally, the trainers bought out flaming hoops and had the tigers jump through the hoops.  Andrew said at first they jumped through one hoop and then through two hoops several feet apart.  The distance between the hoops was increased to about 7 feet and then to about 20 feet.  Andrew was quite amazed when the tiger was able to leap, almost from a dead stop, over 20 feet, through 2 flaming hoops. 

Next they went to an amusement park.  Andrew was somewhat sceptical about the safety equipment, but that did not deter Ryan Pattee and him from going on the rides, including a roller coaster and a bungee-type ride.  He said that the amusement park was almost surreal because there was no one, other than them, at the park and that they would open the rides up when they got to them.  It should be interesting to see their pictures of the show and the amusement park.

Andrew also reported that they will be flying to Xian tomorrow.  Apparently the drivers took their passports the other day to get the plane tickets.  They are all looking forward to a change in pace.  I once again asked for one or more of them to email some pictures so that we have something to add to the blog.  I have not received anything yet.  If anyone else has, please send them to me and I will put them on the blog.

July 20, 2008

On Sunday we talked to Chethan and Heng about a variety of things.  Chethan told us things were going OK.  The house that they are staying in in Nanjing is a nice house and with the exception of the air conditioning on the second floor being on the fritz, they are comfortable.  They have also started eating at more westernized places.  Lear still has a tendency to take them to "hole in the wall" places for lunch etc.  When Lynne and I were traveling in China, we really enjoyed these kinds of places because we were able to try authentic  local food and dishes that we would typically not get here in the States.  But I can appreciate that it might be a bit unnerving for the boys who have not traveled much (if at all) out of the US and may be reticent to try strange food in a strange local restaurant.  So it is probably a good thing that they are eating at western style restaurants more often. 

Heng told Lynne that she was attempting to locate another person with better English language skills to assist in showing the boys around and will also find a China Travel Guide for them.  That is probably we should have thought about before sending them to China.  When I think about it, it seems like a Homer Simpson type mistake -- DOH!  Anyway, the important thing is that Heng understands the need and is trying to address it. She also said that she would make sure that they had an English tour guide when they get to Xian.  Apparently the current plan is for them to go to Xian for a few days, come back to Nanjing for a few days and then go to Beijing.  The boys are anxious to get to Beijing because they are convinced that there will be more for them to do and that they will be able to get around a bit more on there own.  That might in fact be true since the  City is prepared for an influx of westerners for the Olympics.  There is also much more for them to see in an near Beijing, like the Great Wall, the Forbidden City and the Summer palace to name a few. 

When we talked to Lear, he did not sound too well.  Apparently he has come down with a bad cold.  Hopefully he will be able to get well soon.