NYC Dance Studio plans to open March 1st

Sister company NYC Dance Studio is announcing the Grand Opening of Kunming’s first international modern dance studio! Come to the grand opening event March 1^st at 5 pm for a dance performance and sign up for dance classes during the performance to receive the first week of classes for free. Performance will be followed by a special live music performance by local American singer/songwriter Jeff Boldt at Chicago Coffee 7 pm.

Over 15 sessions a week in styles including ballet, jazz, hip-hop, Latin, funk, lyrical, contemporary, Chinese classical, & aerobics. NYC Dance Studio offers classes for children and adults taught by professional dance instructors in both Chinese & English. Check our website for map and details… www.nycdancekunming.com.

During the next two weeks receive a coupon for a free dance session for use any time in March with any purchase at Chicago Coffee.

A Coffee Shop Christmas

No, we didn't celebrate Christmas after New Years, it just ended up being the way I posted.

Our 20 lb bird that was just about right for the 23 people that came.

Our staff and some friends

After dinner and a game of white elephant we proceeded to back sugar cookies and let the staff and their friends decorate them.

Artists at work. They definitely got into the decorating as we spend a few hours just decorating the cookies.

Someone, I won't reveal who, decided that by skipping the cookie part more sugar, icing, and candy could be directly consumed.

New Years Bash

December 31st, New Years Eve, marked one full year of coffee operations. We celebrated as any coffee shop would.

Customers enjoying our free coffee tasting. The coffees available were Colombian Suppremo, Ethiopia Jimma, and our Holiday Blend.

As far as we know we hosted the Kunming's first Barista Championship and we opened it to any Kunming area barsitas. 10 competed by preparing one shot of espresso and one cappuccino for our three judges.

We are hoping to raise awareness of the art of coffee making as well as encourgaging local baristas to improve their trade.

Less of an art and more of a science was our Chicago style Deep Dish Pizza Eating Competition. 12 competed for the rights to pizza eating champion.

1 KG of deep dish pizza left a few more than overwhelmed.

Some of the Chicago Coffee Crew

12:00 AM 01/01/2009

A English Corner Miracle. Love proposed by two of our English Cornerians who met a few months ago through our Tuesday Night English corners.

2008 Kunming Barista Champion- Doug (top left) 2008 Kunming Barista Runner-up- Carol (top right) 2008 Kunming Pizza Eating Champion- Guo Chao with a time of 5 minutes & 23 seconds (bottom left) 2008 Kunming Pizza Eating Runner-up- Jeff (bottom right)

Debunking Myth #3: When in Rome...

As the year has now come to a close, I have begun to reflect more and more on this first year of the coffee business. I certainly drink more coffee than I did before and I certainly won't view business in China in the same way as before. But there is one thing that really stood out to me that I felt deserved to be mused about.

"When in Rome, do as the Romans do."

Although the idea of adapting to the culture and customs that you are immersed in is certainly true there is only so far we can take this idea. Because the ends dont justify the means. What I mean by that is that it doesn't matter if you consider yourself to have a higher calling or not we should not practice the same corrupt or devious or dishonest practices that the "Romans" excelled at just because we happen to be Rome. It does not matter what you are doing or what your purpose, there are still some things that are wrong and it will never matter how much you try to sugar coat it or paint it with a fresh coat of paint.

I see so many people and businesses that follow the same corrupt practices that are entrenched in this city and it sickens me. Yes that way is the easy way and leads to the fastest success. But is it the success that we should be striving for? Is it the success that we will proud of 10 years down the road?

Thoughts on the Cafe Bombing

Crazy times here. There has been a bombing of buses down the street and around the corner, a bombing of cafe up the street, earthquakes in June, earthquakes in December, and a hostage situation at the local supermarket. And all of this coming in the last half of this year.

The bombing at a cafe up the street has been the most unsettling. The thought that it could have just as easy have been our coffee shop does not sit well with me. There is no defense against somebody willing to do that with no regard for their own life. There aren't really preventive measures that can be taken.

No news is certainly not good news. Nothing reliable or new has come out since the day of. Conflicting reports continue to sweep through what little online reports there have been. No major news agency or media has picked up the story at all. We are left to guess what happened, why it happened, and whether or not it will happen again.

The anti-foreigner backlash has been probably the most troubling. Online some locals have blamed foreigners for this assault or asked for all of us "laowai" or outsiders to leave China or even for us simply to die. There is still deep hate in some people's hearts to say such things in the wake of this tragedy.

New Years Bash at Chicago Coffee

Cafe Bombing - Kunming

Photo by www.salvadors.cn

Earlier this morning, reportedly a man walked into Salvador's Cafe with an explosive device and detonated it. Some are reporting casualties but none of it has been confirmed. Salvador's is a well known cafe just down the street from us. Actually I passed by on my scooter after teaching my class this morning and noticed something of this nature must of just happened. It turns out that it happened only shortly before that time. More information is available on www.gokunming.com.