August 2008 Archives

Actually that title is a bit misleading. Im actually happy that they are over, hopefully now life can get back to normal. Not only did the Olympics give me a hard time getting a visa, they also caused the closure of all shops in subways during the month of august, and worst of all, they closed my local DVD shop!

Im not all hate and anger about the Olympics actually, hell I even went to watch one of the soccer matches at Shanghai stadium, but come on, closing the dvd store! whats an unemployed man to do.

On that note I've actually landed myself a job, and I'm off to sign the contract today. I also successfully extended my tourist(L) visa by one month, so I didnt have to make another run to Hong Kong to get another dodgy tourist visa from my friend in the subway.

Over the next month I will do a few blogs to outline whats going on with the visa process, and some details about my new job. So far Ive discovered (again) just how important the little piece of paper you get when you register at the local police station is. Although they have changed it from a pink piece of paper to a fancy white print out, basically you cant extend a tourist visa incountry, or apply for a working visa without it.

Ive been a bit slack on the posts lately, but I have the Olympics to blame for that, so ill follow this up with some info about Qianshi Sanda, as I promised.

I recently went to the Titans Kickboxing club to try out a class and see what it was like.

The club is run in the Gong Dojo, where Shihan Gong runs his Kyokushin Karate class. There are a few locations, I went to the main one in the Jingan sports center on Kangding rd.

The center itself is quite good. They have showers, a small gym with machines, a bench press and smith machine( I hate those). The training area is a decent size, but not huge.

The teacher was nice and friendly and seemed to know his stuff. He also teaches Kyokushin Karate, so was obviously well conditioned. The only qualms I had were the fact that they didnt have any heavy bags, everything was done with pads, and also class time is only an hour - thats only enough time to warm up, do a bit of conditioning and run some basics. Also there were only 2 others in the class, they say weekdays have more, but this cuts options for sparring etc with only a few students of varying levels. Overall, I'd go back based on the teachers ability. Those Kyokushin guys tend to do a lot of sparring and it showed in his knowledge.

Next up I'm going to check out Qianshi Sanda and see what their Sanda class is like.

So its Olympic time, and despite the fact that Chinas moment in the spotlight also seems to be causing my moment with no visa, I still have a little love in my heart.

I went out and got tickets for the round robin soccer matches at the Shanghai stadium. The tickets cost a whopping 60 yuan, and their pretty good seats too. The best part is you get two matches for one ticket so not only do I get to see Korea Vs Honduras, but I can support my own country New Zealand as they take on Belgium.

Im not big on national pride, but at that price I couldnt say no. Plus I'm hoping there are some friendly Belgians in the crowd who just happen to have a lot of Belgian beer and chocolate. Dreams are free right?