July 4th is a big deal

Embassies and Consulates go to great lengths to celebrate July 4th. In Shenyang, we throw a big party every year. We invite our local contacts, government officials, representatives from other countries’ consulates, and American businesspeople to come. There are some speeches, food, and conversation.

This year we held our event in a local hotel. The theme was American music.  I brought my family’s Wii and copy of Rock Band. It was a big hit with some schoolchildren who came to the party.

Rockin' out to Rock Band

Rockin’ out to Rock Band

This year I had the huge honor of being the MC of the event. I made announcements and introductions in English and Chinese, and translated the Consul General’s speech into Chinese.

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That’s me on stage

The event was a big success; we had a big turnout, the food was great, and everyone seemed to have a good time.

It was also great that my wife could be at the event!

It was also great that my wife could be at the event!

Avoid the Buddhist dog adoption guilt trip

So, here’s a little piece of free advice for you.

If you ever find yourself in the city of Changchun, and you happen to wander into a Buddhist temple, avoid engaging the monk in a conversation about how he has adopted 10,000 street dogs to prevent them from getting slaughtered, because he will try to convince you to adopt 100 of them, and will guilt trip you if you refuse. Even if you insist that there’s no way in hell that the DEA would ever let 100 street dogs from China into America, he won’t believe you. 

Believe me, you just don’t want to go down that road.