Netball season is over

Miya's netball season finished last week.  A couple of months ago I wrote here about how she had joined the (HASCA) homeschool team.

So, the homeschool team won two out of seven of their grading games, and were put into competition Grade 7 (out of 10).

After the grading games, they had another seven competition games.  They won two, drew one, and lost four.  Consequently, they came sixth (out of eight teams) in their grade.

In the final game of the competition they played a team that they had also played in the grading round.  In the grading round the homeschoolers won; in the competition round the teams drew.

I give these statistics not because winning matters (it doesn't), but because it gives context.

There are about 80 teams in the overall competition for that age group (school Year 6).  We can assume that the teams in a grade start the competition round at a mostly similar playing level.  Any team might win their grade.

Consequently, the way I see it is that the position a team comes in their grade competition reflects the amount of effort the team put into playing.  The top-ranked team genuinely deserves their placing because they worked hard to improve themselves more than the other teams.  Similarly, the lower ranked teams deserve their placings because they didn't put as much time and effort into improving themselves.

As I see it, the homeschoolers deserved their sixth placing (out of eight).  To be honest, they didn't put a lot of effort into their netball this season.  Practices were fairly minimal, with a team get-together for about 30 minutes to an hour before each game.  And these practices were fairly general in structure, with no apparent learning objectives or systematic skills development.

In contrast, we might look at Mulan's first season of netball, which was in 2015.  That year there wasn't a homeschool team, so Mulan played for Bayswater School.  In addition to the game, the team met twice a week (at school lunchtimes) for practices.  The two team coaches were also teachers, and they were very organised in their coaching.  Activities during practices were varied and explicitly chosen to develop skills that had been identified as weaknesses during the previous game.  Consequently, the team significantly improved their netball skills, and they came second in their grade competition.

I realise that improving ball skills and netball playing skills are not the only reasons why someone might join a netball team.  The social aspect is hugely important too.  As is enjoyment and the positivity of participating in team sports.

But in my opinion we can have these social and enjoyment aspects but also have a bit more emphasis on skills development.  Without taking anything away from the awesome job that the team coach and manager did this season, I really wish the focus had been slightly more on the game skills side of things.

Book review: Utopia for realists

I've just finished reading Rutger Bregman's book Utopia for Realists.

You may have heard of Bregman.  He was the guy who in January got worldwide attention by mentioning the word "taxes" at the World Economic Forum in Davos.  The mega-rich attendees were talking philanthropy -- patting each other on the back for their supposed generosity.  Bregman pointed out that many mega-rich got that way through tax avoidance and unfair tax systems -- they weren't paying their fair share to begin with.

Bregman made a plausible point, but I thought I'd better get his book to learn the details.  It turned out lots of other people had the same idea.  After requesting the book from our local library I had to wait several months before it was my turn.

I've now passed the book on to Yeye to read, so I don't have it with me as I write this.  I hope my memory holds and I get the essential facts right.

Bregman has a master's degree in history and works as a writer and journalist.  Utopia for Realists brilliantly combines these two skills to make an enjoyable, easy-to-read book filled with masses of historical references and evidence.  The English version, which I read, was translated from the original Dutch by Elizabeth Manton.

Bregman attempts to show that there is ample real-life solid historical evidence for why his "Utopian" economic and political ideas are indeed realistic.  Repeatedly he makes the case that opponents of these ideas rely on armchair intuitions that actually are factually wrong in reality.  Often, objections to Bregman's ideas are versions of "but it just won't work in reality."  Bregman, as a historian, gives real world historical situations where it did work in reality.

Those of us who are not historians and don't know the historical facts have to choose whether or not to believe Bregman's account of what went on in the situations he describes.  But at least for me I felt that Bregman argued well and plausibly.  With several points he made me reconsider my previous views, and I have to accept that my previous armchair intuitions may not match reality.

Bregman's Utopia is about making things better for everyone, overall.  He is entering into the ages-old discussion of what is the best way to improve everyone's lives.  He doesn't have all the answers (no one does), but he is aiming for an evidence-based approach to creating a better world for us all.

The way I read Bregman is that his vision of Utopia is essentially egalitarian.  That is, he thinks a better world is one in which there is fairness and some sense of equality for all.  This, of course, is not equality in every sense -- he is not saying everyone should be or have exactly the same.  But it is saying that there are some specific things that everyone should have universally.

Those who don't accept this egalitarian presupposition are likely going to disagree with Bregman from the outset.  Those who currently have a bigger slice of the pie may well oppose Bregman merely because they want to hold on to their luxuries (Bregman's interview with Tucker Carlson would seem to be an example of this).  But also, those who sincerely believe a better world is one in which some people count for more or get preferential treatment won't find Bregman's Utopia desirable.  (In one of his historical stories Bregman mentions an Ayn Rand follower who used misinformation to stop the implementation of one of Bregman's Utopian policies.)

To put it another way, Bregman is writing for people who, when they encounter unfairness because of power differences, are more inclined to feel for the little guy rather than get turned on by the power of the big guy.  In this sense, I see Bregman as one of the Good Guys.

So, what are the economic/political policies that Bregman argues for?

Universal Basic Income
The first main policy is that of Universal Basic Income.  This is the idea that everyone receives an income, no questions asked.  There is no means testing, and no work requirement.  Everyone universally gets it for free.  A suggested figure is something like $12,000 or $15,000 per year.

This is the policy that gets the armchair intuitionist objectors out in force.  There are scoffs galore at the thought of free money for everyone.

In his book, Bregman informs us that there have been a lot of studies for a long period of time on Universal Basic Income, and the overwhelming evidence is that it works.  On the relevant measures (both social and economic) there are significant improvements when compared against similar groups that didn't receive a Universal Basic Income.

This might surprise some people, but the facts are the facts, and it seems the scoffers are letting their emotional prejudices get in the way of evidence.

The most common objection to Universal Basic Income is that it will encourage laziness.  But it turns out, according to Bregman, that this armchair intuition is simply false.  Repeatedly the studies show that people who receive a Universal Basic Income don't reduce their work hours significantly.  Many will still keep working as much, while many others reduce their paid work a little and replace it with further education or unpaid voluntary work.

There was even a study on homeless people who received a Basic Income.  A negative stereotype might suggest that homeless people are more likely than anyone else to waste money given to them.  But it turned out that most made good use of the money they received and improved themselves significantly.

According to Bregman, the evidence shows that giving homeless people money directly is more effective than education and counseling for them.  It turns out that for many their main problem is a lack of cash, not a lack of education or social services.

My armchair intuitions were most shocked by Bregman's suggestion that more good would be done by reducing the numbers of social workers and simply giving their salaries directly to homeless people.

15-hour paid work week
The second main policy is that of reducing the paid working week.  The thought is that it could gradually be reduced over a period of time, with a 15-hour paid work week achievable by 2030.

Working long hours for a wage/salary is a choice that society has made; we could choose to change this.  We don't need people working the long hours that they currently do:

1. The ongoing trend in increased automation and efficiency means that we need fewer people to produce the same amount of stuff.
2. Increasing sexual and racial equality has increased the number of potential workers.
3. Many jobs are "bullshit jobs" -- jobs in which the work really serves no purpose.

Existing, essential jobs could be job-shared between two or more people.

With fewer hours needed for paid work, this frees up people to do more unpaid voluntary work, engage in ongoing education or pursue leisure activities.  In other words, people could have more enjoyable, fulfilling lives.

Again, this policy suggestion shocks the armchair intuitionists.  But again, Bregman informs us that studies show that this is practically and economically realistic.

Open borders
The third and final main policy is that of open borders between countries.

Bregman points out that borders are the biggest source of inequality worldwide -- 60% of your income is dependent simply on where you were born.

Bregman admits that this is the most "Utopian" part of his book.  But if countries gradually increase their immigration limit then open borders could be a realistic end goal.

Summary
The main message I got from reading Bregman's book was that there are plenty of studies that show that change for the better is solidly realistic.

Too often we hear and read "experts" informing us that making people's lives better in this way is idealistic and impractical.  That we have to get our heads out of the clouds and be realistic.  The world is a tough place and we just have to accept it.

These "experts" are wrong.  (And many are well-paid liars.)

Working to make the world a better place and being realistic need not be opposed to each other.  The evidence is out there about how it can be done.  Bregman's book is an awesomely inspiring demonstration of ways in which we might achieve it.  We just need the political willpower to make it happen.

15 years

This day 15 years ago was quite significant.

Five years ago I wrote about it.

China trip: Beijing and Harbin

Sunday 30th June 2019

Another year, another trip to China.  Last year, we stayed mostly in the south, travelling from Guangzhou to Chengdu, and reuniting with old friends from our time living in Guangzhou.  This year, we decided to head up north to Beijing and Harbin, spending quality time with Laolao (Mama’s Mama).  We were last in Beijing two and a half years ago; we’d never been to Harbin.

As always, our main aim with these yearly trips to China is to maintain Mulan and Miya’s bicultural connectedness.  We want them to feel at home in China, just as much as they feel at home in New Zealand.  We definitely don’t want them to hate their time in China, and nor do we want them to feel like foreign tourists.  We want their time in China to be as normal a Chinese life as possible (whatever that might really mean!).

Laolao lives in Beijing, and Harbin is her old childhood home. The plan was to spend most of our 20 days in Harbin, staying in an empty apartment owned by Laolao’s brother.  While in Beijing we did our usual thing of staying with Laolao in her apartment.

This time, we got a nighttime flight from Auckland directly to Beijing.  The flight left at 8:30 pm, an hour later than scheduled as the plane was late getting into Auckland.  We all struggled to sleep, watching movies to pass the time.

I watched the two Fantastic Beasts Harry Potter movies.  I've said it before, I'm a big Harry Potter fan, and this was a pretty good addition to the story.  I especially liked that the main character, Newt Scamander, was different from the usual Hollywood movie heroic males (I totally agree with this analysis here), though I didn’t like that they had to include a Love Interest for him.  I also felt that the Grindlewald character was too cartoonishly baddie.  I liked how Grindlewald (and Dumbledore) was presented in the original Harry Potter books, and I think these movies dumbed down the character too much.

Our flight was mostly smooth, and we arrived safely in Beijing about 6 am China time (China is four hours behind New Zealand).  Miya was feeling sick for about the final four hours, and vomited three times.  After catching the subway (the Beijing airport subway is far too overpriced), we arrived at Laolao’s apartment about 9 am.

Monday 1st July

None of us had slept well on the plane, so we spent most of the day resting in the apartment.

In the evening, Mulan, Miya and I had a walk around the local apartment complex area.  Apparently,  it was originally the athletes' village of the 1990 Asian Games (I often wonder which athletes were roomed in Laolao's apartment).  I was first there in 2006 and have been there several times since.  The environment hasn’t changed much since we were last there in 2017.  Things are merely continuing their gradual decay, as the apartment complex managers don’t do much in the way of maintenance.  Sadly, the area is slowly turning into a slum.

Tuesday 2nd

At this time of year in Beijing the sun is up before 5 am so we all got early starts to the day (it also didn't help that the curtains in Laolao’s apartment are very thin).  Or, to put it another way, it was a little bit like still being in New Zealand time, except that in Beijing it gets dark around 8 pm.

In the morning, Mama and Laolao went out together to do some paperwork stuff.

Meanwhile, the girls and I continued our rediscoveries of the area.  This time, we walked the ten minutes to what we had previously considered the best local playground.  The playground is still mostly the same, although some equipment had fallen apart and been removed (nothing repaired or replaced).  The girls are older, though, and the playground was not so interesting for them this time.  We didn’t stay and play for very long.

For lunch, the four of us met up at a restaurant with one of Mama’s old school friends who lives in the US but was coincidentally in Beijing at the same time as us.

After lunch, and after saying goodbye to School Friend, the four of us went to our favourite Chinese sports mega shop, Decathlon, for supplies.  We spent about RMB1100 on swimming gear, bike helmets and clothes.

During our travels, we noticed an interesting change with the Beijing subway advertising.  For the first time, some of the advertising posters on the walls had pictures of families with two children.  Previously, of course, all Chinese Happy Family advertising photos had just the one child.  Clearly, this change is part of the push to normalise the idea of two-child families.  Moreover, one poster showed the family with an older boy and younger girl — again this was obviously part of the effort to normalise the idea that even if you have a boy first up, you may still choose to have a second child.

Wednesday 3rd

This was another social responsibility day for us, as once again we met up with acquaintances at a restaurant for lunch (lunch at restaurants with acquaintances is such a huge Chinese cultural tradition).  This time we were with Laolao to meet two of her old friends.

In the afternoon, while the others rested at home, I took off for a walk for a few hours, wandering over to and around the Olympic Park.  This is something I often do when we stay with Laolao.  The park, which is about 45 minutes walk from Laolao’s apartment, is a little slice of green paradise in an otherwise concrete jungle.

At one point I walked past an older couple, maybe in their 50s.  He was taking photos of her posing and as I got closer she gave a huge smile and waved me over.  As I walked up to her she grabbed my arm; she clearly wanted to have a photo taken with me.  Hubby, however, was having none of that.  He turned around and walked off in the other direction.  She called and waved to him, but he refused to acknowledge her.  Laughing, I said my goodbyes to her.  Sadly, she missed out on a photo with the Hairy Whitey.

Thursday 4th

We had an early start to the day, the five of us leaving home at 6 am to catch the 7:55 am fast train up to Harbin.

Trains are far more relaxing than planes, and the six and a half hours passed by easily.  The girls loved their instant noodles that Mama bought them.  Boxed instant noodles on a long-distance train is another core Chinese cultural tradition.  I enjoyed my usual homemade sammies.

The train arrived into Harbin at 2:30 pm, where we were picked up in two cars by Laolao’s younger half-brother and his wife (Uncle and Aunt).  Uncle reminded me so much of the stereotypical Chinese TV grandfather.  Even though I didn’t understand much of what he said, and he never spoke English, his tone of voice and mannerisms are so recognisable!  He was a career military man.

Driving from the train station in the south to our apartment in the north, my immediate impression of Harbin was that the greenery was much more lushly green than in Beijing, and they like to plant colourful flowers along the roadside.  The temperature, in the mid-20s, was perfectly pleasant when we arrived.  Overall, it was a very nice first impression.  In winter, however, Harbin gets incredibly cold — Harbin is famous for its ice sculptures.

Our (Uncle’s) top-floor apartment, in building 41 of the gated community apartment complex, was something of a shock to our Guangzhou/Beijing trained eyes.  By Guangzhou/Beijing standards it would be super-expensive — one of the elite-style apartment complexes.  Firstly, the apartment itself is huge — or at least each room in the three-bedroom apartment is huge.  The apartments even have a garage each.  Secondly, the apartment buildings are relatively small (only 12 apartments per four-story building), and there is plenty of open greenery spaces throughout the gated community.  The ground floor apartments even have their own outside garden space, which are mostly entirely converted to rows of veggies.

(This photo was not real-estate-style exaggerated!)

Surprisingly, though, the apartment complex is not very popular.  In fact, it was more like a ghost town.  Most apartments in the complex are empty, the public areas are overgrown, and the local shops abandoned.  Weirdly, the buildings all had trees growing on the sloping tiled roofs.  My guess is that seeds have blown up onto the roofs and started growing.  The buildings’ roofs are starting to crack.

(Sunrise at 4:15 am)

Over the next several days of our stay in Harbin, we realised that these ghost town areas are fairly common.  My impression is that in Harbin they are continuing to madly build apartment buildings, but so many previously built areas are near empty — even the large new areas.  So often, we passed by buildings that are sitting empty and slowly deteriorating.  In some areas they have built wide roads that clearly don’t get much traffic, and the footpaths are growing up tall weeds in the cracks.  I have no idea why they are continuing to build — maybe government subsidies to construction companies give local people jobs and allow the businesses to still make profits?

I’m told that Heilongjiang Province, where Harbin is, is now one of the poorest provinces in China.  It used to be super-rich 40 or so years ago, thanks to the oil fields which powered China’s industrial rise, but these have mostly dried up and it seems that most youngsters choose to head to the coastal cities these days.

Friday 5th

The Beijing morning sun got us up bright and early, but in Harbin we were forced up even earlier.  The sky was starting to get light soon after 3 am, and by 4 am the sun was streaming in through our too-thin curtains.  Forced up early, I noticed that a lot of the locals had their morning walks around 5 am.  In the evenings it was getting dark just before 8 pm.  The short nights and thin curtains were especially hard on Miya, as it was a struggle for her to get enough sleep.

We kept things simple this day.  In the morning, we walked around our gated community and then out to the local grocer/supermarket, which is about 15 minutes walk away.

In the afternoon, Mama and I caught a bus to a nearby shopping area, hoping to find a larger supermarket.  We couldn’t find a supermarket, just more small grocers — in fact we started to realise that Harbin doesn’t seem to have many of the big supermarkets that we are used to.  And importantly for us, not many shops in Harbin have bottles of milk — mostly, the best we could do was get 250 ml bags of milk (a hassle, since we use about 2 litres of milk a day).

Saturday 6th

In the morning, the four of us had another walk around our local area.  This time we wandered in and around a nearby large gated community, which has several high-rise apartment buildings.  Again, this fitted the pattern of large and fancy buildings being mostly unused.

For the afternoon we had arranged with Aunt to watch her dance rehearsals.  Back in the day Aunt was a professional dancer, and in her retirement she has continued to enjoy dancing with her old friends.  They were rehearsing for a concert they would be performing in a few weeks.

We were picked up in the car at 12 noon, and we watched the rehearsals for a couple of hours.  It was all very inspiring.  Aunt and her friends, most well into their 60s, all look very fit, and clearly they love doing what they do.  The leading man was especially muscular, fit, strong and agile.

The dancers kindly invited Mulan and Miya to join them when they did some ballet drills together (the muscular man leading the class).  The girls (especially Mulan) loved getting involved and dancing again.

The main problem was that (as is so typical in China) they had the music on far too loud.  Watching the rehearsal was not so relaxing and peaceful for us.  (Miya also struggled with the many dancers who were very expressive in their kindness to us.)

While the dancers continued their rehearsals, Uncle and his son picked us up in the car.  We drove to the Harbin Cultural Island, which is just a short walk from our apartment.  We walked around the Theatre building before walking home.  The Theatre building is a fascinating shape.  We couldn’t decide whether it was more like (a) a helmet, (b) the Sydney Opera House with the dishes fallen over, or (c) an Ohmu from Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind.

Sunday 7th

Our apartment was right next door to a tiger park.  Uncle decided to take us there.  We preferred not to go, based on what we had previously read about the cruel conditions at many of these sorts of parks.

The six of us spent the morning at Siberia Tiger Park.

(Back in New Zealand, a quick Internet search popped up this blog post about the Park.  It's worth reading.  I didn't know about the tiger cub petting, but the rest is similar to what we experienced.)

The main feature of the park is that we board Park buses and drive through enclosures where dozens, if not hundreds, of tigers live.  There were two types of buses — one with bars on the windows and one without.  If you ride the barred one, you get up close to some tiger feeding from the bus.  We (ie Uncle) chose the non-barred bus.

After the bus, we walked over and around various cages containing tigers (and a few other great cats).  Miya tried to take a photo of every tiger she saw; our camera is full of tiger photos.

We walked past buckets full of live hens squashed close to each other.  Mulan realised what they were for and was quite upset (if you want more details, the blog post linked above graphically describes this).

After the tiger park we drove to a restaurant for lunch.

After lunch we drove to Sun Island Park, where Uncle dropped the four of us off before taking Laolao back home.  We hired a 4-person bike (actually a quad) and biked (quadded?) around the island for two hours.  This was the perfect relaxer for all of us after the earlier activities — a bit of physical exercise together as a family in a beautiful park, and feeling free to choose wherever we wanted to go.

In the evening, we took a short ferry ride to the bus station and bused home.

Monday 8th

In the morning we caught a bus to a large shopping centre.  I was only half joking when I said, as we entered the shopping centre, that I finally felt at home again.  This shopping centre was a fairly standard modern Chinese mall, and the first we had been to this time in China.

Our main aim here was to get new glasses for me.  Sadly, I’m heading towards my twilight years, and I had to change my glasses from nerdy shortsighted to oldie progressives.  My previous frames are too narrow for the new lenses.  We decided to try to find something in China, as New Zealand doesn’t seem to have a very good range of frames — I wanted ones that also have sunglasses magnetically attached that can be put on and taken off one-handed (while driving).  The shop that Aunt recommended (and had a discount for) had a frame that suited me.

We also found a new pair of togs for Mama.

The girls merely put up with all this boring shopping.  But they were delighted with two findings at the shops.  Firstly, we had cheese teas with our sammies for lunch.  And secondly, we found an ice skating rink in the shopping centre.  We agreed to go ice skating the following Monday when the glasses were ready to be collected.

Tuesday 9th

It was arranged that on this day we (including Uncle and Laolao) would all go in the car to see the grave of Laolao’s parents and other brother.

Unfortunately for me I finally caught the cold that Mama, Mulan and Miya had all got earlier.  Laolao was worried that she would then catch the cold from me, and ordered that I stay at home and not go.

So, that is what we did.  I hear that their day went as planned.  The grave was Chinese-city-style — basically a locker containing the ashes alongside rows of other lockers in a large building.  Traditional Chinese tomb-sweeping consisted of wiping the locker door with a cloth.

Wednesday 10th

The four of us caught a bus into the city centre to have a look at the riverside and the old buildings.

It seems that about 100 or so years ago Harbin was hugely influenced by Russia.  Russia was expanding, building railways out east, including over the border into China.  As part of this expansion, Harbin city buildings acquired a Russian look.

Along the riverside we walked through Stalin Park (!), stopping to watch a local oldies band playing their traditional Chinese instruments (with one cello).

We visited one of the main Harbin landmarks, a memorial tower for those who worked to help control river floods in the 1950s and again in 1998.  And we did our traditional jumping photos in front of the huge water fountain in the river.

Perpendicular to the river, we walked up the old main street, with the old Russian buildings converted into modern fashion shops, before ending our walk at the Russian-style St Sophia Cathedral.  During our walk we tried the traditional milk ice blocks, which seemed to be sold at little shops on every block.

Thursday 11th

We all enjoyed our biking so much that we decided to go again, and this time with Laolao.  We caught a taxi to Sun Island Park, arriving just as it opened and while it was still cool at 8:30 am.

We hired two bikes, one 4-person and one 2-person, for one hour.  Miya and I shared the smaller bike, while Mulan and Mama peddled Laolao around on the bigger bike.  It was very relaxing and enjoyable, and not nearly as crowded as our Sunday ride.

From Sun Island Park, we rode the cable car over the river back to the Stalin Park area.  We refuelled on cheese teas again, before walking through the Park and the city centre.

Next, we caught a bus to Children Park.  This was a really special back-to event for us and Laolao.

Back in 1956, when Laolao was 14 years old, Harbin opened a new children's railway in this park.  What made this children’s railway special was that not only was it built especially for children to ride on, but it was also run by children.

When the railway opened, Laolao was selected to be the first child in charge of running the railway.  Her duty was to run the main “Beijing” station; others worked on the train or the second “Moscow” Station (now renamed “Harbin”) at the opposite end of the park.  Once a week, when she was not in school, for two years Laolao worked at the children’s railway.  If foreign visitors came to the park during the week she was called out of school to meet them.

The children’s railway is still running, and we bought tickets and rode the 10-minute loop.  On the train Laolao met another woman who had worked there as a child several years after Laolao.

After the train ride, Laolao got to talking with the adults working there (this was a weekday, so the children weren’t at work, and I guess foreigners aren’t special anymore).  It seems that they are in the process of setting up a museum there, and delightedly got Laolao’s contact details.

Friday 12th

Last year in Chengdu we had planned on swimming at the water park inside the world’s biggest building.  But we couldn’t because of Mulan’s untimely infection.  This year, all staying healthy, we found another water park -- Estuary Wetland Park.

Getting into the water at this park was an exercise in the absurd.  It was just one step after another in crazy admin.  The website (probably intentionally) didn’t explain the system.  Once you were there you just had to accept and follow (and laugh!).

Our online-purchased tickets were just the first step in a progressive payment system.  Once there we had to pay extra to use the changing rooms.  And then to get into some pool areas we had to hire compulsory swim rings or rafts.

And of course the park adopted, but exaggerated, the usual Chinese system of having several different ticketing offices, inconveniently located, which we had to progress through one by one.  There were even separate ticketing offices for the male and female changing rooms, distant from each other and distant from the changing rooms themselves.  The ticketing office to pay for the compulsory swim rings was far from the swim ring storage area — we were given a slip of paper when we paid, which we then carried over to the swim ring storage area.

The water park was inside a wetland area, and so in addition to the water park tickets we also had to queue for ticketing entry to the wetland area, where we were bused to the water park.

But once we were finally in the water we all had an awesome day.  It was a beautiful blue-sky sunny day, and I even got a bit sunburnt on my face and shoulders.

For the six hours we were at the park we kept busy trying out the various pools and activities.

There were a couple of wave pools.  We all needed swim rings for the large one, and children needed swim rings for the smaller one.  This made the pools not so fun, and also the waves didn’t have much force to them.  Our local New Zealand beach is better.

Mulan and I tried all the scary fast slides and rides.  If it wasn’t for Mulan, I probably wouldn’t have done them all.  With Mulan keen to have a go, I felt obliged to accompany her.  Though Mulan did admit afterwards that a few times at the top she had second thoughts.  The least fun ride was one in which we were on a four-person raft, basically just dropping for several metres down a steep slope then up the other side again, back and forth several times.

Miya was too small for the fast rides, and Mama was too scared, so they mostly stayed in the more gentle sections.  For the final hour or so I was (mentally) exhausted from the fast rides, and enjoyed a few gentle rides with Miya.

Saturday 13th

This was one of the big, important day trips for Laolao.

In the morning, the five of us, plus Uncle, caught the intercity train to Daqing, a small city about an hour north-west of Harbin.  We were met at the station by a couple of Uncle’s old army buddies.

Daqing is the centre of the oil fields in the area, and is also the home of a museum dedicated to one of the heroes of 1960s Chinese oil production, Wang Jinxi (also known as Iron Man).

Oil was discovered in Daqing in 1959, and, in a rush to make China self-sufficient, oil workers immediately headed to the area to start the extraction.  One of these was Wang who, thanks to his single-minded dedication, had recently become a hero model worker in the Yumen oil fields.  Wang and his 1205 drilling team fought temperatures below -40 degrees, and with lack of equipment were amongst the first to set up rigs and wells.

In one famous story, as they were drilling 700m down there was a blowout.  They needed to secure the well, and to do so they needed to mix cement.  To speed things along Wang, previously injured and on crutches, jumped into the well and stirred the cement with his body.

After this, Wang was a huge national hero.

In 1966, in his early 40s, Wang visited Albania for 40 days with the China Petroleum Delegation.  Laolao, in her mid 20s, was also part of the team, translating for the delegates.

Laolao tells us that Wang genuinely was a truly decent guy.  This was at a time when the Chinese Cultural Revolution was happening.  Laolao’s mum, who worked at a university, was understandably in huge danger.  Wang asked Laolao if there was anything he could do for her, and she mentioned her mother.  Personally endangering himself by associating with her, Wang took the time to visit Laolao’s mother.

When the Cultural Revolution leaders turned on the earlier leaders, Wang was tortured.  Wang died of cancer in 1970.

The Daqing museum has a display about the Albania visit.  Laolao is in the display photo with Wang and the other delegates.

Our visit to the museum was not just an important event for Laolao and us.  It was also big for the museum.  Several museum staff, as well as media, escorted us around the museum, recording Laolao’s recollections of her interactions with Wang.  At the end of the visit we retired to the museum’s VIP room, where they presented her with several books and a large Iron Man statue.

After the museum visit we had a restaurant lunch with Uncle’s army buddies.  We ate in the restaurant’s VIP room — we could get used to this VIP treatment!

Before heading back to the train station, we stopped off to look at an oil pump — seemingly hundreds of these dot the landscape all throughout Daqing.  Mulan mis-translated the name of these machines into English, and we started calling them “banging head chickens” (machine and chicken are both “ji” in Chinese, though they are different characters).

Sunday 14th

After a busy several days, we needed a rest.  I stayed at home all day.

In the morning, Mama and Mulan had an outing together, watching Spirited Away at a local movie theatre.  Apparently, a new generation of Chinese are wanting to watch the classic Miyazaki movies in real movie theatres, and they are re-showing them.  Mama and Mulan watched a Chinese language version with Japanese subtitles.

On the way home they picked up a birthday cake for Miya.  Miya’s 9th birthday is not until next month, but Laolao wanted to have small party for her since she’ll miss the real day.

Monday 15th

We returned to the shopping centre we had been to the previous Monday, to pick up my glasses.  We also bought Mulan and Miya new sunglasses, as we got 50% discounts for them after buying my glasses.

But the most important thing for the girls was that we went ice skating in the shopping centre’s indoor skating rink.  It was the first time the girls had ever ice skated, although we have got both regular skates and inline skates at home, which they often use up and down our driveway.  I’d ice skated as a teenager several times, but nothing since then.  This was the second time that Mama had ice skated — her first time was also in Harbin, outdoors on the river.

The girls and I quickly got into the skating, and were mostly doing okay around the rink.  Mama was less mobile, spending most of the two hours holding onto the side rail as she wobbled around!

After skating, we had our third cheese teas of the trip.

Finally, before heading home we noticed a curling rink/field/pitch/court (I wonder what it’s called!).  We went in and watched a boy practicing for a bit.  They tried to convince us to buy a session, but we were tired from the skating and it was a bit too late in the day.

Tuesday 16th

Sadly, I was denied breakfast in the morning.

Mama and I had booked in a medical checkup at a local hospital, and they required us to not eat beforehand.  So, we were scanned and prodded, and liquids were removed.  It seems that a floor of the hospital is dedicated to this activity.  We joined the queues going from room to room as the doctor inside performed his or her particular task before filling out the paperwork that we carried around with us.  Partway through the testing we went to the canteen where they supplied us with a cup of milk and a couple of sweet buns, to keep us going.  One immediate medical result was that apparently my liver is a little fatty.  We’ll get the full results in a couple of weeks.

After the hospital, we all had yet another lunch date — this time with Uncle, Aunt and Aunt’s mum.

Wednesday 17th

And here ended our holiday in Harbin.

We left our apartment about 9:15 am to catch the 10:43 am train back to Beijing.  Again the girls loved their instant noodles and again the ride was smooth.  We arrived into Beijing just after 6 pm, where we were picked up in a car by a friend.  The car couldn’t fit us all with the bags, so Miya and I caught the subway.

Thursday 18th

We spent the day doing traditional Chinese cultural activities.  That is, first up we wandered the shopping centres looking at shoes, stopping occasionally to eat.  (The shoes were for me — I needed new comfy walking shoes for New Zealand winter.)

For lunch we had what we call yummy bin-bins (jianbing) — one of my favourite foods that are common in Beijing.  And for afternoon tea we had yet another cheese tea each.

Meanwhile, I found a super comfy pair of shoes, which normally cost over RMB5000 but we bought for the super low price of RMB850 (yeah, it was a fake brand, but it was still a genuine comfy pair of shoes).

In the evening, we caught the subway to Tiananmen Square to watch the flag lowering ceremony.

Every time I go to Tiananmen Square I comment on how the security is increasing, and this time was no exception.  The first time I was there, in 2006, people could just freely wander across the road into the Square.  Gradually security increased, with fences, secure entry points and bag scanners.  This time they surprised us by requiring us to present ID at the security gate.  We hadn’t brought ours.  I guess we looked suitably innocent and genuine, because after a quick check with a higher up guard we were allowed through.  (Should we be thankful to the kind guards and benevolent system that flexibly allowed us in?)

The crowds were also larger than the previous time I watched the flag lowering ceremony.  It seems to be turning into quite the event, though not nearly as spectacular as the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace.  We were a few rows back behind the fences.  Miya, on my shoulders, had the best view and took heaps of photos.

Mama informed me that visiting Tiananmen Square is one of the must-do activities for Chinese in China.  She asked me if there were any similar must-dos for New Zealanders.  I suggested walking the Milford Track.  I guess that sums up the big cultural difference between China and New Zealand.

After the ceremony was over the crowds were asked to leave the Square.  This is again a new security measure, where they close the Square in the evenings after the flag lowering.  So much for our plan to eat our boxed baozi in the Square.  Instead we left the Square and walked in front of the entrance to the Forbidden City, sitting with the crowds on the garden railings.

Friday 19th

Our flight back to New Zealand was scheduled to leave Saturday morning at 1:05 am, so we spent most of our final day resting.  In the afternoon, we all had a snooze.

Mama, Mulan and Miya went out for a final special restaurant breakfast together.

In the morning, I had another walkabout for over three hours, wandering around the streets and to the Olympic Park again.

We said our goodbyes to Laolao and left her apartment at 9:45 pm.

Saturday 20th

Our flight left on time and was smooth; no one vomited this time.  We landed about 5:30 pm New Zealand time.

Knowing we were arriving home in the evening, where we could all relax and sleep, we all watched too many movies.  I got through four!  Guardians of the Galaxy was the weakest of the four, though entertaining enough as a wisecracking superhero movie.  The Adjustment Bureau was intriguing, though the romantic soulmate theme was naive.  A Street Cat Named Bob was warm and inspiring.  Please Stand By was sweet and appealing and the best of the four.

Book review: Humble Pi

For the past few years we've been watching Matt Parker on his YouTube channel StandupMaths.

Parker is an ex-high school maths teacher who now works as a maths communicator.  He's perfect for the job.  Parker has a unique way of presenting maths that is laugh out loud funny while at the same time being inspiring and educational.

Humble Pi: A Comedy of Maths Errors is Parker's second book, and was just published this year.  After a wait of several weeks I finally had my turn with a copy from our local library.  It was definitely worth the wait.  I highly recommend it.

In Humble Pi, Parker tells lots of real life stories about how maths errors have caused problems in the real world.  There are plenty of engineering problems of wobbly buildings and bridges, or crashing planes and spaceships.  There are wrong street signs and advertising posters.  There are computer programming mistakes and ancient Sumerian tablet mistakes.  There are mistakes that caused billions of dollars in losses.  And there are mistakes which are just really annoying.

Along with the fun storytelling, Parker does a brilliant job of educating us with plenty of thought-provoking maths.

But I think the most important thing that Parker does brilliantly is to emphasise that maths is about making mistakes and learning from those mistakes.  It is about putting the effort in.  To quote Parker:

Mathematicians aren't people who find maths easy; they're people who enjoy how hard it is.

Finally, I love how Parker numbered the pages in the book.  The first page is 314; the last page is 1.  Awesome!  It's with a maths book that for the first time I have to do less maths as I read.  With this book I didn't have to do subtraction in my head to work out how many pages I had left to read.  After all, that's the main purpose of page numbering, isn't it?