12.03.2011

Eye For Eye, Tooth For Free

I have been on an impressive medical circuit considering my accrued stay in Taiwan amounts to but a month; I have already seen the dentist, an Eastern medicine practitioner, a massage therapist, a regular practitioner, and an orthopedics specialist. I am off of bicycling, skateboarding, and hiking, but I am on swimming, wearing a pelvic girdle, and special insoles. I mention this not to incite pity, rather recognition of, and familiarization with, the medical system I am dealing with here. The fact that I have been flushed through a deluge of tests without any waiting lists, or any substantial debts to pay, says something about the way things work in Taiwan. Time is money, the per diem disposable expenditure is low, and the amount of people requiring service is overwhelming.

Case in point. You often hear wisdom tooth horror stories, however my experience was quite nice. The 'dentist office' hosting the procedure was an old apartment conversion, fitting in three dentist chairs more than capacity, and falling significantly below anything considered hygienically passable by Western standards. That being said, from the time I entered the clinic door to the time I left (which included registering at the front desk sans identification) approximately 45 minutes elapsed. The dentist who removed my tooth is a friend of Stephanie's family, he initially did not charge me anything (!), but after an awkward "we have to have record of this" from one of the nurses, he retorted; "Fine, half price then", which amounted to about $50.00 CAD. Not too bad.


In high school we used to play a game called 'Murder Ball', it is quite simple to play. Pick two students, place them at two opposing ends of a lengthy corridor, give one of them a ball, then make the other one turn around and close his eyes, and you know the rest. The result of Murder Ball would sometimes look like the picture below.
In fact this is just the product of suction treatment, it is a painless, even comfortable, way of alleviating tight muscles.

8.04.2011

A Wedding And A Funeral

Drex and Danika were kind enough to invite me to their wedding. I was honored to see the betrothal of two people I highly admire.


Bride and Groom


Mansion past and present


Beautiful Couple


Fort-Night


Then off to Rosenort for Uncle Chuck's funeral. Few other places will you find tractor facilitated camera angles.


The subject? A motorcycle procession in honor of Chuck.


A healthy chunk of the Friesen gang came from the West, it was so nice to see everyone again.


My Uncle's grave lies in front of his pre-deceased father, Jake Friesen.


Another Rosenortism, benevolent graffiti under the bridge.


Two grand celebrations for three wonderful people, what an amazing weekend.

7.30.2011

Charles Friesen

July 27, 2011 marks the day that my uncle Charles Friesen died.
He was a man of God, a man of noble character, and truly compassionate.
There is a link to his blog in the top right corner of this page, that if remains there, will allow you to read for yourself his testimony. If you are interested in intellectual theological discussion, or care to step inside the mind of a faithful man struggling with cancer, go ahead and scroll through his musings.
I love you and miss you, Chuck.

7.16.2011

Birds Hill Provincial Park

Jadyn, John, Andrew, Geoff, and myself decided to take a small trip to Birds Hill Provincial Park.

Fixies and single-speeds, not the ideal steed of choice, but thanks to Manitoba's topography and the manageable distance we made it work. Quick food stop before we set out.


Heavy J is ready to party


There is a great path off of Gateway that we hit before Hwy-59.


Just 5 guys having a good time


Fire in the disco


This is aptly named 'Bacon Weave', it is delicious.


Hail the glow weave


Next morning much of the same


Let's go to the beach!


It was 33 degrees outside, which is premium beach weather, but dangerous long(ish)-distance bike riding weather.


All sunburned on the ride home.
Good times.

6.18.2011

Urban Camping Part 1

Beer sojourn to Omands Creek turned into an overnight stay. The idea of urban camping is kind of like running on a treadmill when it's nice outside, but something I am hoping to explore anyway.



Morning


6.11.2011

Gem Lake

Pleasant Valley Evangelical Mennonite Church Men's Retreat 2011
We went up to Gem Lake in Nopiming National Park, which is located in the northeastern part of Manitoba, bordering Ontario. This was my first time on this annually held trip. It was my goal to learn from and get to know the men I see in church every week; men who are skilled in trades, spiritual uplifters, and ultimately desirable role models. What resulted was indeed lots of learning, accompanied with an overwhelming sense of inadequacy. Being young and inexperienced is fine with me, but I have a feeling that before long I will be old and inexperienced. The weekend was a tangible manifestation of the dissonance between choosing learning over labor (not to say the two are mutually exclusive, however), and I think I am on the losing side.

We needed to notify the folks already stationed at Gem Lake of our arrival. Two hours on the road and we lost any trace of a cell phone signal, but apparently MTS is farther reaching than we thought.


Getting to the camp at Gem Lake is no facile task. We parked the church van and set out on foot towards the lake.


While this ATV pulled a trailer loaded with our gear.


We unloaded the trailer and reloaded our loot onto a boat. Our destination at Gem Lake is an island.


I'm on a boat


The camp's fishery shack


Main Lodge


A friendly chipmunk


This was one of the projects I was helping with, reinforcing and rebuilding.


I opted to tent


Poker at the Main Lodge


Things that move in the night


The root system of an upturned tree


Campfire banter


Went hiking and things got really real


Dock at dusk


Home time

3.29.2011

Christian Sentiment

Do not get caught hanging in the balance, keep your lamps trimmed and burning.

1.09.2011

Hallelujah, It's Christmas!

I talk about my family with pride, my appreciation and love for them goes beyond what I can conjure. We have grown up, expanded out and in numbers, and as a result now meet as a nuclear whole less often than all of us would prefer. So it goes, a Friesen Christmas.

The little one, who's littledom has been usurped by a littler one.


Shae!


Two Grandmas


After present train wreck


After train wreck card games

Beijing Minute

I arrived in Beijing, where I was to layover for 23 hours, anticipating draconian cramps and full-body plastic chair induced vertigo on account of having to, well, spend 23 hours in the airport. I learned at customs, however, that I was granted a day-visa, making possible a saucy sojourn downtown; realizing a long-time wish to return to the mainland. In a mad dash I stowed my bags, recovered a lost bag, exchanged yuan for RMB, found a place to stay, and hopped on a downtown bound bus, all in the span of a couple hours.


It happened quick, with nightfall pressing and little time to lose, my hot minute had begun.


What was to be my prison, now a wisp of transience.


On a macro-level, and by the same way that most houses can be characterized by a particular smell, so too can cities in China. Beijing smells good. Maybe it is just the smell-memory I have associated with the elation of my first visit, but something about the city is olfactory paradise. 'Earth Gourds' as they are literally translated, or potatoes to the layman, are being baked atop charcoal filled tin bins on almost all streets, their musk trumps the smog. I walked from the bus terminus further inland to the epicenter.


TianAnMen Square. The atmosphere is thick here: residual political animosity, power struggle, revolution, and the tread of tourist feet weigh in heavy.


I found this hostel largely by chance, with my idea of its whereabouts being tenuous at best I walked for nearly two hours before arriving.


The Chinese couple who runs it are very genuine.


Roofs that dot the windy HuTongs, or alleys; a Beijing must-wander.


It was the perfect amount of cold in Beijing. Dry and nippy, grey and dusty, the concrete jungle never felt so good.


'LanZhou' Muslim restaurants usually have these great pull-noodles, this particular restaurant was just mediocre though. I went because I couldn't find any in Taiwan, where as far as I know is nearly entirely void of Muslims. Despite being really cold outside and in, and 8:00 in the morning, it is tough to pass up 50 cent beer!


Then things got mega Chinese, Red Army Chinese. I caught these soldiers in-training training.


The imperial housing of bureaucratic giants.


Well, now it's just for tourists.





Heavy artillery


Few places have gripped me the way Beijing has, and this less than 24-hour stay proved to again ratchet that feeling.