Gibberish from WiredGeek

President Obama!!

Jacob Redding — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 18:05:45 +0000

Diana and I woke up early morning on the 5th of November to head out to an American Cafe in the Wudaokou area of Beijing, China. When we arrived the place was already packed with other Americans (as well as others from around the world) to watch the poll results. Diana and I had both cast our ballots weeks ago in our registered state of New York thus our votes were already counted.

It was really nice to be amongst the company of other Americans that were anxiously awaiting the poll results. We cheered, applauded, sang Americana songs and came together as Americans. We even applauded John McCain's speech; which I think was quite good.

Sarajevo Pigeon Square

Jacob Redding — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 09:55:06 +0000

The famous pigeon square.

Sarajevo Sniper Alley

Jacob Redding — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 09:55:06 +0000

The title and the video somewhat say it all, if you're unfamiliar with sniper alley check out the wikipedia article.

Voting from afar

Jacob Redding — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 12:26:36 +0000

I probably don't need to write how important it is for every citizen in America to vote. Elections and voting is one of the primary elements that make America great. Even though Diana and I are several thousand miles away from our country it does not stop us from voting. We registered and then cast our ballots using the old-fashioned write in method. Fed-Ex is incredibly awesome and has a program called "Express your vote". American expats living in China are able to send their ballots for free.

I'm not exactly sure why its free as Fed-Ex runs this same program in other countries but as a pay-for service (about 20USD usually, which isn't bad). I will say that I'm extremely happy that they offered this service because I do *not*.. let me repeat this I do NOT trust the Chinese Post Office to deliver an American ballot. The post office opens every letter, box, package, everything in or out so I don't trust them to not tamper with my vote. I hope they change this outright invasion of privacy but their country their rules; I'm but a guest. Fortunately Fed-Ex came to the rescue. Tracking number confirmed our votes were received about two weeks prior to the elections.

Beijing Mourning

Jacob Redding — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 15:19:55 +0000

Every day I come across something that reminds me that I'm in China and that things are different here. This evening as I was returning home I came across a woman burning a pile of paper on the sidewalk. Just behind her was a teenage girl crouching near the edge of the street consoling an older gentleman whom was doubled over sobbing quietly. I realized that the woman stoking the fire must have been the mother thus completely the family. Each of their faces was somber and you could tell they were in mourning.

Burning piles of paper is very common practice in China. Typically it is paper money or paper representations of other material objects being burnt as a way to send it to the deceased such that they may enjoy their after life. Tomb sweeping day (清明节) is the time of year when almost the whole of China performs this ritual but it is not unusual to see it during other times of the year often on the deceased birthday. Its entirely possible that the person they were mourning has passed on years before although their expressions seemed to reflect something much more recent.

It was a somber reminder of what life is as I walked home from a long day of working and planning in my head what work I was going to do once I got home. Instead of working I uploaded this short video.

Belgrade's Crazy Famous Church