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There were some exchange students from Japan - some lived with his family - and he was excited to think they were his friends. At university he went looking for courses in Japanese culture, "but they were all focused on ancient stuff".
There was, however, a course on modern Chinese history, starting from 1911 and taught by a professor who had been to China in the 1980s. Tavalin was "immediately" hooked on the energy he could feel in the classroom.
"But the time I made my first trip to China in 2005 - a six-week language-credit program that would let me graduate early - I already knew I was ultimately going to live here," he says.
The bagels happened late one night, when Tavalin and a couple of friends in Beijing were surfing the Internet, eager to find "the thing" - the business opportunity most expats are sure they will find in China.
"We saw it was a niche that wasn't being served, and I know a good bagel when I see one," he says. "We tried a lot of recipes to get the bagels just right. And we use quality ingredients, which makes them a little expensive. But it makes all the difference."
Now the bagel business has settled into a routine - "everything that can go wrong has gone wrong enough times that our Chinese staff can handle routine problems" - he's working on a new project: an Internet TV show like those on YouTube.
"I've written the first season's scripts, built the sets, developed the characters, made the costumes, all that," he says, adding that he expects to start production in about six months.
"You know Beijing," he says with a grin. "As much as it can be crazy, it's just ripe with opportunities."
