How I "Watched" Superbowl 48

Super Bowl Sunday in the United States was actually Super Bowl Monday for me in Quanzhou.  The game was not shown on Chinese television (at least where I was) I decided to "watch" the game through updates provided by my sister, ECG, KK and KK's husband BK.  Here's the transcription from our Whatsapp group.

ECC (myself): Ok, here’s my plan for tomorrow’s game.  I will put my phone on airplane mode for the entire game.  When I get back, I will read the transcript of the game from start to finish in chronological order.

I am turning off my phone in a few minutes.  Even though you are all in the same place, keep the comments coming……and goodbye for four hours.

KK: MC & ECG, where are you?

MC (my sister): We are here at my place till half time.

KK: Boo

BK: That’s bad luck

KK: Holy shit! Manning misses, safety for Hawks on first play!

ECG: BC we cannot control game outcomes.  Fastest score in SB history!!

BK: How do you know that?  You think you do, but can you be sure?

KK: Even Elie beat you here.

ECG: Love Kam Chancellor!!! Well, we’ll just keep the Nanaimo bars here….Broncos kept to punting after 3 downs.  We have ball on Seattle 28.  Marlene does not like 3^rd and long.

ECG: We need to watch our penalties.

KK: Who ever though the score of the Superbowl would be 8-0.   Kam!

ECG: Ok, the commentary between by brother and MC is kind of awesome.

KK: MC, your goddaughter is going after Kade again…Beast mode! Who would have thought the core would be 15-0.

ECG: Elie is in beast mode. Denver makes it’s first 1^st down with 10 left to play in the first half. Kam is back in. 2^nd and 22. Now 3^rd and 13 Denver ball.  Interception!!!  And TD!! 21-0!!

KK: Woot!

ECG: Extra point good.  22-0.

KK: C’mon fumble…..Boo

ECG: 1:06 left in half. We receive at top of 3^rd ECC, we won the toss.

KK: Elie just tried to tackle Kade.

ECG: Shut out at the half!! 22-0!  BC we’re staying put.  We ordered pizza.

BK: We’ll be over later for post game Nanaimo bars!

ECG: Then you’ll see the Knox era coach’s sweater!!  Marlene speaks for all when she remarks that she did not know that Bruno Mars was such a good drummer.

KK: Concur.  Will miss you but appreciate you staying put so as not to jinx the mojo.  We will be over for Nanaimo bars! Whew!

BK: Percy Harvin worth every cent

KK: That’s what six million buys!

ECG: Yes. Run back is good for TD! 29-0!!

KK: Who thought the score would be 29-0???

ECG: Not Vegas.

KK: Elie is now studying the Seahawks yearbook.

ECG: Denver with ball. 7:00 left Q3. 1^st and 10. Holy moly. Pick by defense.  Flag. On Denver!

BK: Yee Haw!

ECG: Our ball with 15 yd penalty for unnecessary roughtness.  YAHOO

KK: Ahhhh!

ECG: 36-0. This is insane.

KK: UW! So Crazy! 36-8. No biggie. Here comes the 4^th quarter.

ECC: I couldn’t wait.  I lasted 2 hours and 47 minutes. So after safety did we kick two field goals to make it to 8?

BK: Yep. Defense is dominating.

ECC: Percy Harvin ran back the second half kick off? Save a Nanaimo bar for me.

KK: Woot! Doug Baldwin TD!  43-8!

ECG: Incredible!!!

ECC: Is Wilson being a stud? Or is everybody?  Sounds like SF could have won had they beat Hawks.

KK: Wilson is solid, but defense is awesome.  Team effort.

ECG: Wilson is spreading the love. The defense is absolutely doing their job and Wilson has time to make plays.  I have yet to break the seal and know Marlene won’t let me.

ECC: What’s happening????

KK: Hold it ECG! You can do it!  ECC, 8:30 left, Hawks ball

ECC: Keep details coming

KK: Sherman sprained his ankle.

ECG: Not coming back. 3^rd and 1 our ball. On their 40 or so.

ECC: Has the deaf player run the ball?

ECG: On the 30. Coleman? No. Skeletor is carrying out the Lombardi trophy.

ECC: Slade Gorton? Lombardi Trophy?

ECG: No some old guy with translucent eyes and high cheek bones.

ECC: Hawks score?

BK: 43-8

ECG: We have the ball inside their 30

ECC: Still same drive?

ECG: Just lost on 4^th down likely intentionally. 2:00 left. Time is running out. :40 it’s us.  Even your sister is saying.  Called it!  It’s official!!!

KK: Wow!  11AM Wednesday Seattle Center start for parade!

ECC: I’m going to miss it! Damn it

ECG: Please let the record show that ECG broke seal after it was official.

Gulangyu Island

A half hour high speed train ride south of Quanzhou is Xiamen, which looks and feels a bit like Hong Kong, but the islands don't have the mountain islands that aren't as tall.

After the Treaty of Nanking turned Xiamen into a treaty port, the island of Gulangyu was where the European countries established their consulates, and so there is a great deal of non-Chinese architecture.

Sunlight Rock is at the center of the island.

Being the Sunday of Spring Festival week, the crowds were out.  Here's the line to climb the stairs to the top of Sunlight Rock.

Good weather and nice scenery!

After the wonderful day in the country, the crowds drove us crazy.  Back to Xiamen and back to Quanzhou.

Reunite with Relatives, Drink Tea, Eat Lunch, Repeat

When I told friends I was going to spend time in Fujian, I heard, "you're going to drink lots of tea!"  And...they were right!  Here's your typical tea set.  Tea is brewed in the covered bowl, then poured into the taller bowl with the spout and then distributed into the smaller cups for distribution.  The second your cup is empty, it's filled.

When I told friends I was going to spend time in Fujian, I heard, "you're going to drink lots of tea!"  And...they were right!  Here's your typical tea set.  Tea is brewed in the covered bowl, then poured into the taller bowl with the spout and then distributed into the smaller cups for distribution.  The second your cup is empty, it's filled.

The second day after the New Year's is the day to visit family.  We got our start early on the night of New Year's.  Here we are visiting with one of Onions' cousins (the female on the left) at her tea shop.

Kids EVERYWHERE are drawn to the iPhone!

The next day, we drive into the hills of Anxi County.....the home and heartland of Oolong tea.

The goal of the day is to visit many of Onions' Mom's family in the mountains where she grew up.  Our ultimate goal is to get to Grandma's house.  Here we are at the first stop, an older sister's house.  I had yet to figure out how the day was going to work.  We sat for tea, then ate lunch. Little did I know this was to the be the first of FOUR lunches.  I didn't pace myself well and ate myself full at the first stop.

So in the 1970's Onions Dad, as part of a program to help the rural areas, was sent from the city to work at this tea factory in the Anxi area.  It was while he was here in the area that he met Onions Mom.

The family lived in the dorms of the factory until Onions was 4.  Even after he moved to the city, Onions would come up here every summer and hang out in the country with family and friends.

Stop 2.  Onions Mom's youngest sister and her husband, who live in the house on the left.

The other two houses belong to the younger brothers of the wife's husband.  You'll see the tea set up in all the homes.  So it turns out that these families don't live here but all work in the big cities along the coast, such as Quanzhou, Fuzhou and Shenzhen.  The big deal about Spring Festival is that everyone comes back to their homes and gets to see each other!

One of the favorite people I met all day was the youngest sister's husband.  Very chill and open to conversation.

Tea with the husband's middle brother.

Then five minutes later with the youngest brother.

Then lunch number 2.

Quick stop for tea with on of the older sisters (far right).

Then it was up farther into the mountains to visit more relatives.

Then it was up farther into the mountains to visit more relatives.

A drive up a steep hill (of which they all used to have to walk) we ended up in a high mountain valley where Onions mom and her family grew up.  Two brothers live in the white house farthest up the hill and a house that you see the side of to the right of that house next to the trees.

Tea at the home of the youngest brother, who lives in Shenzhen.

Lunch Number 3.

Lunch with a view

Tea with another brother.

And then it was time to go to Grandma's house, which is pictured, tucked back up against the hillside.

Onions and his Mom.

The entire family grew up in this home, which is on the walk up to Grandma's house.  It now sits empty but is apparently given to one of the brothers.

GRANDMA!  88 years old and lives on her own.

Raises her own animals to eat and plants her own vegetables.

Raises her own animals to eat and plants her own vegetables.

Onions Mom, Grandma and Onions.

Time for lunch number 4.

One of the sisters took some of her Mom's vegetables.

Funniest scene of the day.  The youngest son came over to go refill the Grandma's propane tank.  She comes out with food to give him.  He reverts to being a kid and exclaims he doesn't want it.  It was funny to see how he went back and inhabited his teenage self.  I probably do the same.

He left with the food!  Like he ever even had any other choice.

Time for us all to leave the mountain and we all paraded down to the cars.

Sunset on a crazy day of tea, food and relatives.  It was totally a Chinese cultural day.