"Old Godzilla was hopping around Tokyo city like a big playground..."

NOTE: FOR PEOPLE WHO DON'T USUALLY READ THE BLOG

IF YOU'RE LOOKING FOR THE SONG FROM THE TITLE IT IS THE ULTIMATE SHOWDOWN OF ULTIMATE DESTINY:



Yesterday I had one of those moments where you just stop and think to yourself "What the hell am I doing here?" (But, in a good way.) I was playing basketball with a handful of security guards from the school and we were doing our best to communicate in broken Chinese and English. I was trying to explain that I was going back to my apartment to cook pasta. They couldn't understand why I would ever want to eat so late (this was at 7:15pm). It's very weird to live in a foreign country, surrounded by people who speak a different language and have a profoundly different way of acting (and seeing the world around them). It's wonderful though. It forces one to appreciate the multi-facetedness of everything around us. There is never one way to look at something. Interpretation matters just as much as the actions/events themselves and we all have our own unique ways of interpreting 0ur environment. I'm rambling on a bit more than I had intended...

I was thinking today about why I am here in China. As many of you know, I have delayed moving to Colorado and deferred my enrollment in my Statistics PhD program for one year to come to China. I came to China with three main goals: 1) explore a new country 2) learn Chinese 3) relax and enjoy myself. So far, I think I'm making pretty good progress all 3 fronts (particularly #3), but next semester I'd really like kick things up a notch in the Chinese studying department. I am going to begin formal instruction at a university. I'm looking at a semester-long, intensive study program with 20 hours of instruction a week. I'm psyched!

我很喜欢打蓝球！

再见！
Jon
P.S. I will continue experimenting more and more with typing in Chinese!

Shanghaied

We had our first visit to Qi Pu Lu (also endearingly called Cheap Street) in Shanghai this past weekend. The street is basically a one-stop shopping extravaganza. It's a bargain hunters dream. There are thousands of little stalls selling everything from freaky wigs to hip-hop sweatshirts and nothing has a listed price (so bring your bargaining skills). The place was teeming with people on Saturday and that only added to the experience. Here are a couple of pictures from our time in Qi Pu:

This is what I would look like if I went platinum and did a lot of drugs.

Wig store.

Grabbing some post-shopping food with the gang!

Happy couple :)

Despite my non-consumer tendencies, I ended up purchasing two items. A new Chinese flannel and a fake Nuggets basketball jersey.

- Jon
P.S. In other news, Hugh taught me how to text in Chinese on my phone. Pretty exciting!

Sugar in Your Gas Tank

It's been a long time since I mentioned anything about my classes. Things have been going really well at school for me. I've been enjoying my classes for the most part. I think I'm connecting with the kids despite the language/age barriers and I'm teaching some interesting material (at least in high school). I don't write much about teaching on the blog because I prefer to keep my work life separate from the rest of my life. I try not to think about work after around 5 or 6pm. This is particularly important for me while I'm teaching because there is ALWAYS more to do to become a better teacher.

This past week my PGA3 (high school seniors) class finished up the material for our math and science classes two weeks ahead of schedule! This is really a testament to the dedication and diligence of my students. I decided that we should have a party to celebrate their hard work... So yesterday, instead of evening class, I met my kids in the music room for their party. Now, I was planning on just going along as an adult chaperone (kind of like chaperoning a middle school dance), but the class had other plans. They did their best to include me in all of the goofy activities that they had planned. The whole party was really bizarre. It started off with a KFC feast (Chinese people LOOOOOOOOOOVE KFC) and then was followed by an acapella performance of some Britney Spears song by one of the students (which was awesome). After a bit more singing and drumming they started playing a game similar to hot potato. If you were the one holding the hot potato you had to perform a "show" of your choice. Basically, this game is all about watching your friends make fools out of themselves. Now, the kids rigged the game repeatedly and forced me to perform shows for them. I'm not much of a singer and I couldn't really think of anything, so I ended up teaching them how to line dance. Hilarious... I really wish I had a video of it. There was a lot more singing and goofy games. It was really fun and I think the kids enjoyed it!

In other news, I have been getting a Joke-a-Day email. Most of the jokes are terrible, but I recently got one that was sort of clever. Hope you enjoy it:

A woman in her eighties made the evening news because she was getting married for the fourth time. The following day she was being interviewed by a local TV station, and the commentator asked about what it felt to be married again at that age and would she share part of her previous experiences, since it seem quite unique the fact that her new husband was a ‘funeral director.’ After a short time to think, a smile came to her face and she proudly explained that she had first married a banker when she was in her twenties, in her forties she married a circus ring master, and in her sixties she married a pastor and now in her eighties, a funeral director. The amazed commentator asked her why she had married men with such diverse carriers. With a smile on her face she explained, ‘I married one for the money, two for the show, three to get ready, and four to go.’

- Jon

“This place is like Dr. Seuss’s worst nightmare."

This weekend a small group of frisbee players got together to celebrate our Team Blue fall league victory. The fall league victory wasn't really a big deal at all - we just wanted a good excuse to hang out together after frisbee was over... We all met up at Erich's (a Swedish professional disc golfer) house, chatted, drank some beers, and admired his apartment. He had an impressive bachelor pad laid out. Simple and elegant design, huge bed, jacuzzi in the bathroom, and a refridgerator filled with drinks and not a piece of food in sight. At some point, Geoff got a text from one of his friends who works at a club and was offering us each 5 free drinks. Now, I'd hang out just about anywhere if there were free drinks involved in the deal, so I was happy to pile into a cab and head over to JJ2 Lounge (or something like that). We picked up a couple of more friends here and walked into the club and it was like entering an alternate universe. I've never been in a club like this before. There was smoke swirling around the whole place, bizarre spotlights flashing all over the place, music blasting, a scantily clad dread-locked singer dancing around (and being drooled on by about 10 guys). JJ2 lounge defies description - words really can't do this place justice. The best description I could muster when I entered was turning to Robin and saying "This place looks like space." Not my best work, but funny nonetheless.

- Jon

Thanksgiving in a Strange Land

China is definitely a strange land, but that's not really the focus of this post. I just want to write a quick blurb about Thanksgiving here. Thanksgiving (being an American holiday) is not celebrated here at all, but a group of American teachers at my school decided to get together and give it our best shot. We all got gathered at Keli and Amanda's for a delicious pot-luck dinner. Everybody brought bizarrely different (but still wonderful dishes) - Emma made zucchini, Ryan made fruit salad and bought some chickens, Sebastian brought some Chilean bruschetta type stuff, Pilar contributed an amazing cake, Mike made macaroni and cheese, and I made 2 lbs of pasta (those of you who know me well would have expected nothing else). I really like potluck dinners. There's something special about cooking/baking your own food and then bringing it to share with others. That's what Thanksgiving is all about to me - bonding over food :) It's not the same as turkey dinner at home with family, but these funky Thanksgivings abroad are just as special.

- Jon

Mario's Pizza

My mom and dad arrived in Italy on Thursday for a little vacation (I must admit, I was kind of jealous…probably because I miss them). That same evening, Jon and I went with one of my students and her mom and little brother to this restaurant called Mario's Pizza. It's kind of far away from us: a 25 min car ride (and about a 2 hour bus ride....we took their car….sweet!). My student's dad is part owner of the restaurant...not Italian though. The evening was a big deal to me because Mario's pizza is pretty famous: it’s written up in LonelyPlanet and a few friends had mentioned a while back that they wanted to check it out….even before knowing that my student was involved in any way.


Anyway, I've really wanted to go there, and the food was surprisingly really good…and not just for a Chinese Italian restaurant! I got the seafood pizza.....mmmm! Delicious! One of my favorites. And my student’s mom got red wine, that she barely had a glass of so Jon and I shared the bottle... Yup…just what you’re thinking…

We had a caprese salad (with surprisingly AMAZING oregano), and some bread (eh, on that one) with olive oil. AND chocolate pizza, which was essentially a quesadilla with nutella inside...i.e., super awesome scrumptiousness. All in all, it was a sweet evening (and a treated dinner) – my belly and heart were very happy (a little taste of Italy and home).

Chocolate pizza. Buonissima!

Over and out,
Em

"Boots with the fur..."

Many of you will recognize the lyrics from this post's title. Sadly, the title has nothing at all to do with the content - the song has just been stuck in my head recently (mostly because of Sarah singing it incessantly at frisbee). On the upside, the song still brings back pleasant memories of Smartwhores in Brooklyn. Also, I still can't get over the fact the name Flo-rida. So impressed. Haha.

Anyways, this week has passed by relatively quickly and not too much out of the ordinary happened. We had a going away party for Angela (one of my colleagues at school who has quit and is moving back to Germany this Sunday). The highlight of the party was definitely watching the straight confusion on the faces of our Chinese friends as we tried to explain Texas Hold 'Em and Mafia. Their faces just screamed "help me!" It made for some pretty entertaining (if slow moving) games. On Thursday Emma and I were treated to a delicious meal at Mario's Pizza. As a rule, we don't eat much Western food in China (it is much more expensive than Chinese food and usually doesn't taste much like the real thing), but one of Emma's student's invited us to Mario's (a restaurant owned by her father). The food was delicious, the wine was good, and we even got to play with a two year-old Chinese boy who stumbled around the restaurant. Free food always warms my heart :)

In other news, I have been thinking about Japanese game shows a lot recently. Do they have Chinese equivalents? Are they half as ridiculous? Can I get on one? In college, I considered myself a connoisseur of Japanese game shows (if you can be a connoisseur of something so stupid and ridiculous). I've been rewatching them on YouTube recently and showing them to my students - who are duly impressed by such nonsense. Here are a couple of my favorites:



Japanese tongue twisters + mechanized crotch shots = recipe for hilarity.



Human Tetris is always good for a few laughs.



Endurance. Probably my favorite of all time. I still can't believe it exists.



Here's a pretty silly one where they do stupid things in a library. You have to wait until the "Old Man Bites Tenderly" event. It's worth it.

- Jon