Yu'en

There was this little cart or go-cart thing. It was tiny, smaller than the 3-wheeled taxis. And it was made of shiny metal--you could see the lines from the pieces being welded together. It passed right next to me, standing on the corner of the sidewalk. And I had this sudden--sudden but strong--urge to kick it, with the toe of my boot. I refrained. Strong enough to write about, at least.

We saw Forbidden City. Henry II said they have a step in the middle of the doorway, and one reason for that is because ghosts can't bend their knees.

This morning we visited the park that surrounds the Temple of Heaven. I got to play Chinese hackie sack with several different groups (I love hackie). They smiled a lot. It's only old people who exercise at the park. Some did the splits, pushups, pullups, and many other impressive feats. I played a Chinese frisbee game where you throw these soft rings, and your partner tries to catch them around his neck. It was way fun. A whole huge group was watching me and this one guy. I would throw them really high, then the next one really straight, and keep them coming as fast as I could. I think he had a good time. Bobbie took great pictures.

Henry II also told me about a Tai Ji game called pushing hands. I want to try it with Jeffer and Jax.

I talked to two young kids at the Silk Factory. Only one of them spoke decent English. They first tried to sell me some caligraphy, but then I just got to talking with them. They told me about this idea of yu'en. He said it was hard to explain but that before you meet a person, you have no yu'en. Then when you meet a person, you (the two of you) do. Then as you talk, your yu'en grows. I think it has something to do with brotherhood and friendship. Tanner later told me it has to do with fate too. If you don't have yu'en, you could live next door to a person and never meet him. Fate draws you together. No, yu'en does. I asked Tan if it was like karma. He said it has to do with people, and relationships. As I was leaving, the caligrapher painted the yu'en character in black on a red piece of paper and gifted it to me. My best souvenir.