Teammate Tuesday: Michael

Summer 2010. We had arrived in Beijing, our first time stepping into China. Training in was over, it was time for Camp China to begin. Still a little woozy from jet lag we all grabbed our bags and I plopped myself down on the bus, ready to get to the hotel. The seat next to me was soon taken by this guy (the one to the right). For the next hour we talked about life, our excitements about China, how we got here, college, and everything else in between. How was I supposed to know that a year later we would both be back, serving on the same team? From a one hour bus ride to one year in China, I guess it was destiny that Michael and I were supposed to be friends.

Introducing, Mr. Michael Spannuth, the garbanzo bean of Team Harbin (that's such a fun word to say...garbanzo!) Michael has lived the majority of his life in Aurora, Colorado and attended Colorado State University. He obtained a B.S. degree in Mathematics and in approximately 234 days we'll be celebrating Michael's birthday (that would be May 12 for those of you who don't want to count all those days.) Ahh yes, Michael's major has come in quite handy a time or two whilst with the team, however we've certainly learned the importance of always having a calculator around just in case.

One thing you need to know about Michael is that he is in love with spicy food. Luckily for him, the Chinese enjoy adding large amounts of cilantro to a lot of their dishes adding some nice flavor and spice of which Michael's taste buds approve. His favorite Chinese food thus far is from one of our favorite restaurants in Beijing self-titled "Fannies" [as the owner always wears a fanny pack]. The dish is called "spicy pork and cilantro". His M&Ms of choice would be peanut butter ["of course"] and the cookies that take home the prize are chocolate chocolate chip. "My favorite movie fluctuates depending on the day, but 'Kung Pow! Enter The Fist' is always good." Michael's favorite fast food place in the states is 'Spoons'. "It is a great soup, salad & sandwich place in Fort Collins, CO that has soup. I imagine the Soup Nazi soup from Seinfeld tastes like it."

Michael wants the world to know that "if you play with fire, you don't always get burned." Michael has a hobby of playing with pyrotechnics and performing some really cool stunts with them too! Michael says "if I had a million dollars I'd have to invest wisely and turn that million into 10 (or more)." In my 49 days of knowing Michael, my guess would be that fair percentage of that 10 million might end up being spent towards fire-related objects. :)

If Michael could meet any person from history, he'd like to have a chat with CS Lewis. "I think we'd get along." Also, Michael says "I can't deny that I'm looking forward to seeing the ways in which I'm going to grow through this year in Harbin." And just for the record, he would only eat a crayon if I was forced to do so...except if it was aquamarine. Three of Michael's favorite hobbies include fire poi, anything frisbee-related ("especially frisbee golf"), and organizing things. "I'll never forget. Once when I was a child I broke a finger and had to get a cast. I thought it was the coolest thing ever."

Oh, and he desperately wants you to know that in his opinion, "Wordpress is better =P". Click the link to the left to see Michael's blog {and the other blogs of Team Harbin as well!}