Urinals in China are a challenge for Chinese men

Caution slippery floor

Any man who has been in China has had the unpleasant surprise to visit a men’s toilet (well yeah, we are not supposed to visit the women’s toilet). Indeed, urinals in China are a challenge for Chinese men, and a danger for us.
Chinese men have a big problem. Or maybe is it a small problem?
The floors are usually flooded with urine as the men apparently overestimate their reach. Not that they actually care.
If it is a matter of being “short” the new problem is also they often talk or text on their mobile without paying any attention and not even caring to aim, you need both hands for the mobile you know.
They thus obviously also never notice the instructions to “pay attention”.

Trying to educate the men

People have tried to put notices and educate the men. Does not work.
If we would remind the “others” they are missing the target, we would mostly get into trouble as Chinese have become arrogant and hostile to foreigners at times.
Well, creativity does exist in China. So now guys, aim for the ball in the goal, will you?
Oh well we need some decades.
This is why in most “star hotels” you have a friendly old man who is constantly cleaning the floor. But as some pictures show, even in a five-star hotel you better watch for the slippery floor.
I wonder if the ladies have similar problems? Won’t ask…

CCTV shooting with 6renyou at Morel Restaurant

CCTV invades the restaurant

On Sunday 18 December a complete crew of CCTV (Kids) invaded Morel’s Restaurant in Gongti Bei Lu for a CCTV shooting with 6renyou to introduce Belgian food. The restaurant is by far the most authentic Belgian restaurant in Beijing, not to say in China. It is frequented not only by expats but also by a number of top Chinese officials.
The website www.6renyou.com is in Chinese only and targets Chinese to travel abroad; they also showed cuisine from Israel in the restaurant Biteapitta (Tongli Studio, Sanlitun). See http://www.cityweekend.com.cn/beijing/directory/biteapitta
The idea behind it all is to show on CCTV several types of foreign cuisine, also to prepare Chinese tourists who are to travel and visit Belgium, and other countries.

It took more than a half day as CCTV takes it very seriously, preparing all in detail, installing the proper lighting and sound system.
The stars were obviously Renaat and his wife Susan who explained in great detail the history of the typical Belgian dishes.
I also came on for a short while to give some comments.

The dishes at Morel’s Restaurant

See some of the dishes: fish soup (with croutons, garlic, chees,…): tomato filled with grey shrimp from the North Sea; steak tartare (raw prepared beef); Belgian beef stew (prepared with beer); Brussels pepper steak; endive with ham gratinated; mussels; blood sausage; waffle with whipped cream and ice cream.
Renaat also received a big birthday cake from CCTV.
My favorite dish? Well, all of the above but in my opinion the signature dish of Morel’s is the endive dish (chicon as we call it). There is no restaurant in Belgium that makes the dish as good as Renaat. Except of course for my late mother!

The chef celebrates his birthday

Chefs also celebrate!

On Saturday 17 December Renaat Morel organized a great lunch for some friends, yes the chef celebrates his birthday too. He is the owner of the Morel’s Restaurant on Gongti Bei Lu, with his wife Susan.

I found him a real special red wine, from my collection:
CHATEAU SMITH HAUT LAFITTE 1947
GRAND VIN MARTILLAC

Happy birthday to our friend Renaat!

2016 BCIS Christmas Bazaar

Beijing City International School

On 3 December the 2016 BCIS Christmas Bazaar was held again in Shuangjing. Proceeds for the Migrant Children Foundation (MCF) of our Rotarian Helen.
Great job Helen!See: http://mcfchina.org/

Rotaract and Rotary both present

This 2016 BCIS Christmas Bazaar both Rotary Club of Beijing and our Rotaractors were present with a table.
Rotaract sold crafts that were handmade by the kids of MCF school. They raised over 2000 RMB.
Great job by our volunteers Julia, Peter, Vasko, Péha, Elaine, Yvonne and others.

Beijing Tai Koo Li Fantastic Beasts

The movie

On 7 December I visited the exhibit Beijing Tai Koo Li Fantastic Beasts, the promotion house for the movie.
“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” is a 2016 fantasy film directed by David Yates and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. A prequel of the Harry Potter film series, the film was produced and written by J. K. Rowling, in her screenwriting debut, and inspired by her book of the same name. It is the first instalment in the Fantastic Beasts series, and the ninth overall in J. K. Rowling’s Wizarding World. (WIKIPEDIA)
The year is 1926, and Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) has just completed a global excursion to find and document an extraordinary array of magical creatures. Arriving in New York for a brief stopover, he might have come and gone without incident, were it not for a No-Maj (American for Muggle) named Jacob, a misplaced magical case, and the escape of some of Newt’s fantastic beasts, which could spell trouble for both the wizarding and No-Maj worlds.
See the pics of the house inside and outside.

The promotion exhibition

Pretty nicely done. As the master Wizard of the location I instructed my new students in the art of wizardry. And then my magic.

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The funny thing is: the clip is sent to your email address, all free of charge. But you can’t see it without a VPN… So downloaded it.