Go'n'Games China Trip

How the typical day goes by...

2006-07-16T23:52:00.000-07:00

10:00 AM - Morning lessons
Noon/1:00 PM - Lunch served by the aunt, always good stuff!
2:00 PM - Afternoon lessons or sometimes a lecture for all.
6:00~8:00 PM - Go out for dinner.
9:00~2:00 AM - Varies, ranging from Warcraft 3 LAN parties (Wang Yang 5p is TOO strong at this game --) to Texas Hold'em tournaments to some people Ogame-ing (Ogame - a game that Chen Jia 2p got a few of the people addicted to, sadly :D) to a few of us going out for some good street barbecue and/or 80-minute foot massages...and oh, pool, basketball, and badminton here and there as well.

And of course, everything in-between those time slots include simuls with the professionals that are with us, people just playing/watching games on KGS, group competitions (there are 3 groups, one led by Chen Jia 2p for the higher-leveled players, the "medium" group (I'm in this one and loving it) led by Li-yun Bo 2p, and the last group led by "Vicky", a strong amateur 5d/6d.). Wang Yang 5p helps out as well.

Currently, I haven't even used more than $150 (and it's nearly been 1 month!), it's amazing how CHEAP everything is here! My mosquito bites are healing up as well, and I have read about half of the super-cheap Go books that I bought at this humongous bookstore.

I will upload all SGF files after I'm out of here, since I can't even see my posts, only post them...China's internet connection is strange. I'll upload more photos as well soon, including me posing with Kong Jie 8p, 2nd strongest pro in China ^^. Can't wait for the picnic tomorrow.

Professionals - TOO Strong!

2006-07-04T23:19:00.000-07:00

Right now I'm VERY comfortable with my stay, and just recently we got another new student. The atmosphere is great, though there are some I'm having a hard time befriending because of their attitudes :-/, but there are a few I'm really enjoying company with.

Things I have done:
+Played Warcraft 3 with Wang Yang and Liu, 2 Go pros, at 12:00 - 3:00 am and then watching the Germany VS Italy game from 3:00 - 6:00 am, only to wake up at 10:00 am for lessons. So tiring -_-.
+Met Sebastian, good friend from WA, in Beijing. Had a great dinner at Sizzler's and headed to the arcade to play an SM-rigged machine :D.
+Visited the craziest mall in China, can't remember the name :(.

Well, to relate to my title, here is a game I played on KGS (RedShield 5k VS muho 8k) with 2 stones for muho. I play TERRIBLY in the beginning, and realize I am #%*@d. So what do I do? I ask Chen Jia 3p who is sitting in front of me to help me out :P. Check out what he does with the corner. The side group I kill was my doing ^^.

Also, photos are available here.

Go'n'Games 2006 (KGS) - Redshield (W - 5k) VS Muho (B - 8k) (W+R) - Right-click to download

Go'n'Games 2006 - Chris L (W - 4k KGS) VS Me (B - 5k KGS) (W+R) - Right-click to download

Go'n'Games 2006 - Peter F (W - 4k Swedish) VS Me (B - 5k KGS) (B+15.5) - Right-click to download

Day 1 - 4

2006-06-30T20:44:00.000-07:00

Right now I have to say that I am LOVING China. Bad air aside, the thing that I'm still trying to get used to is that everything is too cheap. Restaurant food that should cost $10 - $25 in the US cost about 25 yuan or maybe 30 yuan here (~$3 - $4). I also enjoyed 3 80-minute foot massages that were not only extremely relaxing, but extremely cheap as well (28 yuan --> $3).

Of course, there is also the Go trip. It's cool socializing and having fun with people that share the same passion as you (though right now I have to say that there are a relative few that are too serious and few who will probably not improve more than 2 stones after this trip because they are too immersed with other entertainment here).

Things I have done:
*Climbed the Great Wall.
*Lessons.
*Warcraft 3 LAN against Go professionals :P.
*Foot + body massages.
*Too many Go games with other people + KGS.
*Still kept updated on FIFA World Cup games.

The only thing I'm not enjoying is me getting confused as a Chinese by everyone -_-.

SGFs:
*Still trying to find a way to record the lightning quick lessons.
*Me (5k KGS) (B) VS Peter (4k Swedish) (W) (B+15.5):
*Me (5k KGS) (B) VS Mats (5k Swedish) (W) (B+R):

Photos:
Soon

In Beijing

2006-06-26T02:47:00.000-07:00

Can't post photos up yet since I just arrived in the apartment and all, but just letting everyone know that I arrived in Beijing! Tomorrow there will be lessons in the morning and right now I am waiting for a bit until dinner, so hopefully I'll get settled right in.

Leaving to Korea on the 23rd; Arriving in China on the 26th!

2006-06-15T18:08:00.000-07:00

Can't wait! :)

I'm going to be using this blog to just let my family know how I am doing and to others know what the experience is like. No doubt it will be quite a trip!

gongames.com/china