Riske Adventures

Exercising with old men

2011-12-25T18:01:00.000-08:00

For the last year and a half I have noticed an old man exercising on the side of the road. His workout stations him are on my bus route. We do not see him each morning, but we have seen a variety of his exercises including:

1. Hitting a Tree
2. Doing the hula
3. Swinging his leg
4. modified push-ups
5. Doing the hula while hanging on to a bar

There was a period of 2 weeks that we did not see him and I got a little concerned about what had happened to him. Thankfully he returned and it was then that I decided I wanted to join him.

One Friday I went to the bus stop early and asked a friend to video me while the bus went by. Unfortunatelythat friend could not figure out how to video…. I had another friend video me. It was a short clip but fun none the less.

The following week was my break, so I decided that I would get someone to dedicate some time at oh…. 7am to video me doing all the exercises with the old man. My friend Carlos Fandango picked me with my hula hoop up in a cab and we went looking for the old man. We spotted him hitting a tree, but the time we got out of the cab he was gone. Why did the old man cross the road you might ask? To do the hula on the other side. I talked a little to the old man and showed him a couple of sentences in Chinese thanks to google translate “I like your exercises, can I do them with you?”. The old man is from the generation when a lot of people in China did not learn how to read so unfortunately we could not communicate, but we did get this video footage J

Here is the link to Old man footage

Two Drag Queens walk into a bar…

2011-08-15T18:57:00.000-07:00

Warning Mom, do not show this post to Grandma

My last week in New York I got a recommendation from a friend to go to Drag Queen Bingo at the Bowery Poetry Club. He said that he has been multiple times and is a great cheap evening with bingo cards for $2 and happy hour drinks. We were advised to get there early and be careful during the Challenge Round as it normally involves the prize of two free drinks to the winners and the opportunity, or job of dancing or parading on stage naked with one prop.

It did not take much convincing to get my dear friend Erika to join me. I got there early and secured us front row seating so we could clearly see all the action. Erika arrived after the first act started, Taylor Mead. Taylor Mead is an 87-year-old icon in SoHo. He has been featured in work my Andy Warhol and the short film Coffee and Cigarettes. I was not sure what to expect when one of the bar tenders helped him on to the stage and gave him his tape deck. He had a bag with him with drawing that looked like a child’s interpretation of fairly tale characters. He described one of the characters as having tried to draw a horse it came out looking like a fox. So much of his act was a stream of things that started part way through and stopped some where before. That said it was an interesting performance to see. He read some poetry and used his tape deck/radio for effects. While reading he would pause to hold the tape deck near the microphone and move the tape deck in and out to create fades. It was a little comical that the tape deck was something that he seemingly used before but still was not sure how to start and stop the tape inside and often would turn down the volume and was thrilled when he found pause. The last poem was rather explicit. I am putting in the link to a performance of his as I think I can not fully describe how you feel when you hear an 87 year old man start a poem with the line “I wanted to lick his @$$____”.(this is a link to his performance... warning about the content)

Taylor Mead was escorted off stage and then Bingo got set up, complete with bingo hamster wheel for all the bingo balls and shinny pink tablecloth. Hosted by Drag Queen Linda Simpson and Murray Hill with a non-Drag Queen assistant that could do no right. Linda’s dry sense of humor and tone of voice was hysterical. She made giving away two fake boobies a ripe roar riot of a time. The prizes for each round were nothing that you buy with a straight face or sober but better than what I see sold on the streets of Shanghai that I think will only take up land fill space.

Prize 1: A monkey that lights ups while it’s arms propel it forward on the floor. During the demonstration of the prize the hosts tried to do a monkey call, and I must say failed miserably. Since I am a natural at monkey calls I chimed in, which was a hit. I was referred to monkey girl the rest of the evening… on another note I did not have a summer fling while in NYC, perhaps this type of behavior explains that a little more in retrospect.

Prize 2: Spider man bath mat. Need I say more?

Prize 3: The Friendship prize: plastic boobies. The rules for this round was that the winner had to give the prize to someone they did not know to promote friendships. Two girls tied that round and picked two males to receive the boobies (one boob each).

Prize 4: 3D holograms art of a duck and horses….

Prize 5: Challenge round, 2 drinks from the bar and a paper plate to cover your bits when walking around naked.

Prize 6: Place mats of an orange juicer with matching coasters

Final Round: Cash $169 the money from the bingo card purchases.

The only thing disappointing about the evening was that I found out about it all the last week I was in the city. Now I will be counting down the Mondays til I am back in NYC for some B-I-N-G-O!

Sporting events

2011-08-02T06:41:00.000-07:00

I went to visit my parents in Seattle for a long weekend and see my brother’s band, The

Whisperlights, play one night. Before I arrived my friend Jen suggested that we go see the Roller Derby double header. I was definitely game as I had not seen a game yet and was super curious of the sport. I envisioned a bunch of angry women 30 somethings bashing into each other and yelling. This was not necessarily the case. We went to Key Arena and had a suite with some other people, a classy way to see the derby. When the players were introduced I knew that I found my new sport or spectator sport. The names are edgy clever plays on words and some alteration. I LOVE the names, the costumes and the creativity of the girls. The Rat City Girls were playing: Teams Grave Danger v. Throttle Rockets and Derby Liberation Front v. Sockit Wenches.

When being introduced the players’ sassy head shots were shown on the jumbo tron of each player. Some of my favorite names are:

From the Sockit Wenches

#17 Ima Handful

Grave Danger

#17 Muffstache

#12 Gauge: Carmen Getsome

DLF

Ann R. Kissed

# 20: Yoko Onoudi’nt,

Throttle Rockets

# 5 Eva Dead

The atmosphere was fantastic and the girls were giving other teams awards in the end and created a really positive environment. There were a lot of teenage girls celebrating their birthdays and I am sure figuring out what their roller derby name would be. Between the two matches there was a trapeze act that came on with only a small mat to catch them if they were to fall, making it more of a circus atmosphere.

When I got back to NYC I looked into the roller derby and saw that the Gotham Girls were going to play against Boston while some friends were visiting me. The teams were not as evenly matched… but still the environment was great. We saw families supporting their daughters, and friends there. I was amazed to see a grandma hike it up the stairs of a small college basketball court (the size of a High School gym) just to see her I am suspecting granddaughter play. The names were great and so were the costumes make up and of course the Jeer Leaders.

I got information on joining… possibly I will have to take classes in how to skate when I head back to NYC and become # 3.14 Risqué Roller.

Movie night

2011-08-02T05:59:00.000-07:00

Well this summer has been amazing full stop. I have been using Time Out as my Bible of NYC. Doing everything from a comedy show where Demetri Martin and Aziz Ansari show up, to the seeing the Prime Minister of the Tibetan people in exile being interviewed at the Asian Society, to bite size Broadway in Bryant Park and the list goes continues.

Last night I headed to Bryant Park with a friend to see Cool Hand Luke with Randy Newman a young prison on a chain gang. Cool Hand Luke was released in 1967 and the movie is very telling of the times and restrictions lack there of and censorship. The story line includes a lot of dares and “I bet you can not” mentality among the prisoners. The wardens do little to intervene besides putting different inmates in “The box” and wearing aviator glasses, which the cameraman has an affinity of taking shots of the reflection. There is one screen when the chain gang see a pretty woman washing a car rather explicitly, but still in censorship guidelines of MPAA, before the rating system started. The scene was basically a woman hamming up washing a car while the prisoners watched while digging a ditch.

We showed up around 8:30 and were able to snag chairs at the back. I guess if you want to get on the lawn you have to show up around 5:00. Old episodes of Bugs Bunny were being showed before show time. While the sound is probably better on the lawn we were able to see the screen well and were able to keep up with the movie. We still had a great time people watching and looking up at the buildings that surround the park.

Next Monday they will be showing Airplane! I think I will be there… despite the fact that later that week I will be flying half way across the world.

Bryant Park

Can take the girl out of China, but can not keep China away from the girl

2011-07-20T19:37:00.001-07:00

This week seems like it has been a massive pull toward China.
Monday I went to a comedy evening with a friend I know from Shanghai.
Tuesday: The Asia Society sponsored an interview with the Prime Minister of the Tibetan people in exile. I attended the interview, as I am planning on going to Tibet this October and want to understand more about the people and about China. Lobsang Sanyang was incredibly well spoken and his biography incredibly impressive. He talked about the hardships of Tibet and desiring a peaceful way forward.
Wednesday: I started by going to the Tex World trade show. There were hundreds of stalls there. As I was going through the rows of textiles, about 90% were vendors from China, 5% from USA and 5% from elsewhere. There were some from Shanghai and I looked at the addresses and knew where they were located or had been close to the location. I was handed business cards with two hands as they do in China, and heard Mandarin spoken. In some ways I want to be identified as having lived there and having some understanding. However, when I told vendors that I lived in Shanghai they assumed that I was with a factory or was doing manufacturing there, not that I was just in the US to volunteer for the cause of fashion.
Even though I am looking forward to returning to the US I still feel drawn to things from China while I am away only for a short while. I did not expect that when coming and wonder what will happen when I move back to the US full time. Perhaps I will have to take up Mandarin or frequent China town. Today I did get a whiff of a strong oder on the streets and thought, ‘wow it even smells like Shanghai today’.
With all this being said while planning a girls weekend in NYC in 2 weeks time, my only request has been “No DIM SUM”. I have to draw a line somewhere.

How we do it in China.

2011-07-05T21:52:00.001-07:00

So I am absolutely loving NYC. That said I did have some culture shook last week. I was at a great event at a remodeled hotel off of 5th Avenue opposite the park, Pierre Hotels Two E Bar. All of a sudden I had an overwhelming feeling that I had to leave. I just was overwhelmed by the differences in how people interact here as well as the adjustments that I will have to make. I successfully have made friends in each country I have lived in but got a little nervous about starting over in my own country. Realizing that I will have to understand what my country men do and I can not blame it on cultural differences as it really is my culture that I do not always understand, nor know how to completely communicate in.
There have been a few things here that I find strange:
1. The metro lines in Shanghai communicate more than the metros in NYC (and there is a massive language and script barrier there). Shanghai metros tell you the next stop before you enter the train and this information is at each door way to the train. Also there is a board that states when the next train will arrive. In NYC you are lucky to know what train you are on, rarely do you know when the next train will come and the entertainment is watching the rats on the tracks below.
2. Actually that is about all I got. I miss the Shanghai metro. Other than that I will keep the roof top parties, the cruises on the Hudson and people holding doors for me and answering questions without me having to wave my arms around or sound like a 2 year old.

Amanda in Shanghai Goes to NYC for the summer

2011-06-26T23:35:00.000-07:00

So I have not posted in AGES! I figure now is the time. I am in NYC for the summer staying with my lovely cousin in the Upper East Side. I am here to do two internships in the fashion industry. I am super excited as well as a little nervous about the learning curve I am in for.
I arrived yesterday afternoon and hit the ground running. I started out with a walk in central park then dinner and drinks in the city. Nicola works within spirits and has a fantastic network here. We went to a great punch bar where you can get a silver bowl of punch for table.

Dinner at a vegetarian diner consisted of heaping amounts of loud laughter with some of my cousin's talented bartender friends coming in from various areas of the country. After the dinner we continued to Amor y Amargo for some cocktails in a cozy place with an amazing bar top. Then to Death & Co. a speakeasy bar that has had the title best bar in NYC. The drinks were superb and the company was better.

Today I went shopping in SoHo with a dear friend Bobby. So many shops, so little time! I will definitely have to go back for more fashion research. Though all in all was a super productive day (glad I brought an empty bag).

I met up with my cousin for a rum cruise. We close to the Statue of LIberty and then back to South Street Sea Port. NY is amazing at sunset. The people on board were interesting and fun. There was a great mood as some people came from the Gay pride parade that celebrated the new law allowing gay marriage in NY.

I literally have had to pinch myself several times this weekend so far and i know that the summer is only beginning. The only downer was that some one stole my new month metro card, basically 100usd... it was a reminder that I lived in countries that are far safer than the country I come from. I think that will be the culture shock that I will go through while here and adjusting to being able to understand all the sign and the language but not always understand the behavior of my fellow country people.

That is it for tonight.

Calculated mistakes

2011-03-07T03:27:00.000-08:00

One of the great things about living in China is that I can afford to do things that I could not back home. Cost of living here is lower, and labor is cheap (hence most everything is made here). I have never really been a messy person, but really have appreciated having a house cleaner. Last year my Ayi (house cleaner in Chinese, direct translation is Auntie) was fantastic, her name is Huang Qing. I absolutely loved her, she organized my clothes in ways I did not know was possible. She did cute things, like putting my eye covers over my stuffed animal's eyes, re-organized my books, re-organized my kitchen, my bathroom... ok so not all the things were cute in the traditional way, but they are if you love organization.
This past fall I moved into the French concession, and I love my neighborhood, unfortunately my Ayi did not want to make the commute. I felt so abandoned by her and lost. I got a replacement but I found that she did not get everything done that my other ayi was able to accomplish. She did not organize things for me, I had to re-organize and always felt like I was disorientated looking for my clothes. I felt a void that was left by Huang Qing. I stuck with the new ayi, despite the washing a leather skirt, throwing away pictures, and not doing the ironing. However this past weekend I had to let her go.
On Friday I came home and she was still mopping so I just popped in and went out, noticing that my math books were in a bag, but I had left them on the floor so did not think more of it and went to happy hour to meet a friend. When I came back she was gone. In the morning I wanted to get some work done before going to the literary festival. So I looked for my math books.... no where to be found... I looked in the hall in all my shelves, piles of things, and nothing. I had to have a friend call my ayi to see where they were. I was fearing that she took them or that she threw them away. While i am used to student wanting to deface math books, I am not used to my house cleaner feeling so strongly about taking my math books. It was not so much that it was math books, though that is a strange thing to take for a cleaner that does not speak English, but that she took anything.
It turns out she thought I did not want them and took them without asking. Who knew she was a Good Will Hunting in the works? Unfortunately I had to let her go as I did not feel comfortable with her taking my things, even if it is spreading math around. If she would have asked I would have gotten her proper books, not books on how to use the TI83 in an algebra 2 class.

F-U

2011-01-15T02:20:00.000-08:00

Well over the last weeks I have been listening to NPR's year in review and have gotten addicted to Cee-Lo Greeen's song "Forget You (FU)". It is not just funny but it has such a great tune to it. Little did I know that it was popular in China, or at least that is the excuse that I am giving a dude I ran into in an Elevator door way. I was getting out on the elevator, and in China people have a different concept of personal space. Often in the metro you hardly have a chance to get off the metro before people start shoving themselves on. As I was getting out of the elevator there were two men, I went to the left and one of the men just stood there so I could not get past either way. I gave a look as if to say I need to get by, and his response was "F--k You" then I had to squeeze by him. I was shocked. I have not had a Chinese person be so verbally rude to me (well at least that I could clearly understand). I looked back and gave a dirty look, just to get a "F--k You too" back from him!

It was all too perplexing. Why, why the hostility, why the rudeness? WTF really. I am just hoping he had Cee-Lo Green in his head and was hoping I would catch the reference.

have not posted for a while

2011-01-08T19:14:00.000-08:00

Well, it has been ages since I posted anything on here. Sorry about that. I am enjoying Asia and still having a fun time here. I will be here another 1.5 years and then plan to head back to the USA.
I was just home and it was great to see everyone and do my traditional AZ visit which includes going up A mountain, cookie baking day and a night at Casey Moores. I did not get any sewing done but hopefully next time.

Caution and Careful changed to Confused Curiosity

2011-01-08T19:04:00.000-08:00

How people werer really helpful when I had a cast on then just confused and staring at the boot. I would catch people staring at me when walking around. When I got into cabs the drivers would point, laugh and start talking a lot. Once I was on my way into a pub and a guy from across the street yelled out "That is awesome!" My favorite reaction was a man that I walked past who stopped, then put his arms in the arm looking at my boot. It was like he was saying "Why why why did you do this to your self!"

Kindness of strangers

2010-09-25T05:42:00.000-07:00

I fractured my ankle again a couple of weeks ago. At first is was really upsetting, as it is my third time since I have moved to Shanghai…. Three fractures in three countries over one year! It happened while I was playing touch rugby. I damaged my ligaments around my ankle and it is the first time in my life that I have had a cast. Thankfully I only have it on for 2 weeks (so I get it off on Wednesday).
Over the last couple of weeks with the cast I have been pleasantly surprised at how helpful the Chinese people in general have been. Doors are consistently opened for me, people get out of the way when I hobble by. I have had guards come up and put their arm around me to make sure I get up or down stairs safely. The guards at my building will get a chair for me as they hail me a cab and will get upset if I move closer to the curb instead of having the taxi pull in. Being a position where I have needed extra help, the Chinese have really stepped up. I guess when they see physical boundaries of cast and crutches I am not treated in the same way (lack of personal space) and people feel compelled to help me.

Expo round 2

2010-06-09T06:11:00.000-07:00

Well I went to Expo over the weekend with Les & Chris. They came up from Hong Kong to see Expo and me : ) For a Saturday Expo was surprisingly really crowded. We went to the New Zealand Pavilion and Les and Chris knew people so we hung for a while.
As we walked around we would see people taking naps on benches, in the grass, in lines for Spain, Switzerland, and Saudi (I heard that the line was 8 hours alone!).
We had fun going between the pavilions and debating if we should get a drink or get in a massive line.
There was an expo parade with very non-PC participants, the USA float, at jazz instruments, cacti with big hats and people wearing head-dresses with cowboy shorts. It seems that they just mixed everything into two costumes to sum up a whole nation with a mix of cultural backgrounds.
I will be going back tomorrow to see DHS school band :)

A China Day

2010-05-28T20:14:00.000-07:00

Thursday: I got to school and get a call from the school secretary that my flat is flooded, as of yesterday, and that my landlord needs to go in and fix things. This was rather perplexing since I was home that morning and did not notice any standing water, nor did I leave my place in a state that I wanted people go around in.
Shortly after that, the guards at our school and Ayis (cleaning ladies) came into my classroom half way through the day and started taking my tables. Of course we could not communicate and they did not understand that I needed them only that I was waving my arms around and pointing to the desks. Turns out that they needed tables and were just going to take all of mine, despite me having to teach. I got some back before my 6th graders came in….
But the real kicker of the day was after work when I got on a bus to down town, then a metro to the expo site to get tickets. Now a little background of the last month I have been trying to get tickets going to all the places that are supposed to have tickets. None of which have them, they seem to be “sold out” even though expo is not attracting the numbers in the first month that were projected. Also it is continual event and there are no passes that are different from day to do, besides 2 or 3 holidays. I went up to the desk, asked on the way in if I could be day tickets “yes you can”. Get up to the desk, “we only have tickets for the evening”, I question and say this is ridiculous. I only get an “I am sorry” and a few giggles. I ask to see a manager to see if I can get tickets, he has food in his hands and continues walking after saying no tickets. They refer me to all the places I have already frequented several times. I ask for a number to call, they give China Mobile’s number, who is the major seller of ticket “No we do not have any tickets”.
The next bright idea they have is for me to call the expo help line, which does not sell tickets and refers me to China mobile!!!!!!!!! There were vending machines for tickets but that area was closed. So for the major event in Shanghai there is no place to buy tickets in advance, organization at it’s finest. This is just the cherry on top of the miss information on the websites, and such. I will be going next weekend, but really question the slogan of “Better City Better Life” and some signs even include “Deeper friendship”. I walked back to the metro and went into a Lawsons that had an Expo ticket sign, but was not surprised with the lack of tickets.
At least there is still Expo Taxi.

And then there was Expo taxi

2010-05-08T00:33:00.001-07:00

And then there was Expo-taxi.

Shanghai has a slogan around town “Better City, Better Life” in advertising for the world Expo that started last week (though only 80% of it all was finished). Since I arrived the city has been under a massive amount of construction for the roads, buildings and what seems like endless remodeling of stores. Things go up really fast here and it has been amazing to see. Out of all aspects of this facelift for Shanghai, my personal favorite by far is the Expo-taxi. Now it might seem normal to those in the West, but after months of smelly, run down, seatbelt-less taxis, the expo taxi is so refreshing and luxurious.
Here are the features of the Expo taxi:
1. Seat belts in the front and back
2. No white cloth on the seats (like all other taxi’s have here),
3. New car smell and not like cigarettes or weird foul smells,
4. Happy drivers (because they are driving Expo-taxi),
5. CLEAN
6. The doors are functional and one does not worry if you will break down.
The old taxis are still crawling the streets and you will see the expo-taxi sprinkled throughout all parts of town. When they first were sited about a month ago, I felt that every time I saw one empty I needed to hail it and just go for a ride down the block. Now when I need a cab, I will wait until a free expo-taxi appears. Today on my way home from the gym, I got a cab but before I opened the door, an unoccupied Expo-taxi came into my line of site and I ran for it.
I know I am not alone in this, as I was making my way home today in a fabulous Expo taxi, I saw a family about to get into a regular cab stop and stare with taxi envy as my Expo Taxi drove safely by. Yes “Better city. Better Life” Thank you Expo Taxi.

Changes in Shangahi with the coming Expo

2010-04-10T09:09:00.000-07:00

1. I went to Hong Kong for break and flew out of Hongqiao airport terminal 2. It is completely new, completely clean. When I got a cab on the way home I got into a new Expo taxi. I was amazed that there were seat belts! Also the new car smell

2. My street actually looks like a street rather than a big ditch.

3. I went to go get a DVD, and the pirated DVD store (which are pretty much all the DVD stores here) only had legitimate DVD's. When I asked what happened the store employ just said "The police". I asked about a DVD that I wanted and her response was ..."Maybe tomorrow"

Funny quotes

2010-03-19T05:23:00.001-07:00

Cash machines at Citi bank
"Please dip your card"
"Wait we are working on it"

Taxi
"Hello Passage, welcome to take my taxi"

How you say it

2010-03-16T05:20:00.000-07:00

This past week started 3 weeks of the Shanghai International Literary Festival. The weather has been absolutely perfect for the event, pouring rain and cold. It is at M-on the Bund which looks over the river and the high rise towers across the water. So far I have seen Norwegian journalist Åsne Seierstad who has stories of war on Chechnya, Kabul, and Iraq. She spoke of her experience in Russia as a foreign student during University and one day was introduced as a reporter and that is what got her writing and researching stories of children of war. David Grossman started his lecture reading a passage in Hebrew from one of his books, and then later spoke of his own experiences politically, as a writer and as an Israeli trying to understand both sides of the conflict. On Wednesday evening myself and a colleague faced Shanghai traffic and made our way down to hear two Scandinavian poets read avant-garde poetry with the back drops of the skyscrapers with electronic adverts and pink rain and designs on them. It was an interesting juxtaposition to Sjon talking about fox hunters in Iceland writing the most Icelandic book for the 300 000 readers in Iceland. Also, for Lars Bukdahl to read about his different alphabets address concerns of what he says his only reader… himself. This afternoon I just got out of a session on Gandhi and the impact on the world and continued impact. Ramachandra Guha started quoting Einstein, on his 131st birthday that gave homage to Gandhi for his political stance and peaceful demonstrations. David Grossman’s structure of his sentences and phraseology put interesting twist and visuals to his stories and thoughts. My personal favorite was “that was too many quantities of time”.
All of the sessions I have enjoyed what the authors said and the comments brought new light to their work as well as issues around their writing as well as how they said it. I heard pieces of places I have been and people that have been important to me in the reflection of their mother tongues onto English. Åsne delivered some of Oslo to me, while Lars Bukdahl reminded me of Danish friends while reading his Jensen alphabet from his book on alphabets (it is funnier than you can imagine), and Ramachandra Guha’s head bob brought me flavors of India and dear friends that have come and gone from there.

Basement Speed dating

2010-03-14T05:13:00.001-07:00

Between sessions at the literary festival I went to a café in the basement of M-on the Bund for a tea and get some work done. It looked as if there was an organized event but they let me sit down at an open table. I noticed that all the women were on side of long tables and men on the other. I ordered my tea and got to work.
The two men with microphones instructed the groups to get snacks. Then people started to be called to the front where three men sat in chairs with women volunteers behind them putting crackers on their foreheads that they had to get to their mouth without using their hands. In a way it reminded me of young life or camp and games we play with secondary students. I had no idea what was happening and tried to just continue working. Then someone sat down at my table quickly smiled looked at the men trying ever so hard to get the cracker to their mouth by contorting their faces, I asked what was going on …..speed dating!!!
As a single I have never been to speed dating and here I am stumbling upon it in Shanghai. I guess this is an alternative for these Chinese mid 20s early 30s, rather than having their parents sit in People’s square on a Sunday with their information written on papers hanging from clotheslines this group participated in speed dating to find a match. After the food on face event, the men got up and systematically changed tables. The fella that was at my table joined the others and no one replaced him at my table…. I never get mistaken for a local. I continued to watch the body language of the group: some people were not talking to the opposite sex or anyone for that matter, guys were talking to girls that were not their “designated” date, wing-men situations occurred to help out their neighbors; others went for more snacks possibly wishing they were not at the end of the table and could have more people to pull from.
I wonder if any of them will recount the story to their friends or kids of how they met at speed dating in a basement in Shanghai?
“When did you know you were for each other?”
“I knew by the expression that he was making that he was the one for me. I think he knew too, his eyes got teary and soft and it was not from the crumbs”.
I was writing this as I was sitting there and when I packed up my computer one of the male participants came up to me and started chatting. … haha

At close range

2010-02-28T05:07:00.000-08:00

Tonight is the lantern festival, the 15th day of the New Lunar Year and the first full moon of the New Year. The Chinese gather with their families for a meal, to put out lanterns and set off an amazing amount of fireworks. We went down to Tai Kang Lu for a walk around, dinner and in hopes of seeing the fullest moon for the past 53 some years, by 10%. We were only able to catch glimpses of the moon during the taxi ride. Throughout dinner there was a constant stream of fireworks surrounding us. All seemingly rather low and close to buildings. On the way home on Yan’an elevated road we could see displays throughout of the city.
From inside my flat I would easily mistake the sounds as an air raid. In southern China unfortunately it was the case in a village where 21 people died from firework blasts at a family party. Many people were hospitalized after a group of people set off fireworks in the center.
It is still baffling to me to see adults about 5 meters away with their children setting off a box of fireworks under power lines. People consistently do this along each street, so much so that the silence can be more deafening than the booms. With the light up of the sky with fireworks the smoke has covered the brightness of the first full moon.

In Chinese

2010-02-08T05:34:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday after rugby practice I took the metro home and then had to catch a cab home. It was raining which means it is very difficult to get a cab in Shanghai. I have waited up to an hour for a cab in the rain before...not fun. I got out onto the street and a motorbike taxi stops. I said no because I do not like taking them do to the craziness of driving around here. He had a helmet and a poncho and I did not see a free cab and the line up on the street was long. Plus I was rather cold from getting rained on during practice. I thought that we agreed on a price for the trip. I said "Ba" and did the hand signal for 8 and then we were off.
At first I was amazed that I took one, another day of firsts. The ride home I was thinking over all the things that I have grown accustomed to since living in Shanghai, what is normal and things that I feel comfortable doing: Eating street food, crossing the crazy streets, riding in cars that drive against traffic and not motorbike taxis.... The motorbike-taxi was a safe driver and sang along to the sound of the engine.
I was able to direct him to my building. I got off and was going to give him 8 RMB (about 1.20 USD) and he started asking for 30 RMB. That I knew was a ripe off, a taxi would have cost about 17rmb in traffic... so I said no and we started arguing. I spoke English, now and again throwing in a "Taiguole" meaning too expensive. He just went off in Chinese and I started walking away. I said I would give 13. One of the guards that I greet saw that I was in an argument and came over to help. I am not sure what was said. I ended up paying 15 rmb, which still upset me. As the guy drove away I said "boooo" to him. I figured he could understand that much. After the motorbike taxi was away, the guard proceeded to give me advice and a small lecture. It was all in Chinese, but I think he was telling me how easy it is for them to charge more and what I need to be aware of. I thanked him and gave a few "You are right" looks and nods.
Amazing how much you really can communicate without completely understanding. Tomorrow I have my Chinese lessons, I think I will start out with, "I will only pay_____".

Daily Chores

2010-02-07T03:28:00.000-08:00

A commonality I see of countries are chores, no matter where in the world people keep their houses in some type of order, though the definition of order might be different depending on the person and culture. The ways about keeping the order, the chores are different. In Norway I cleaned the floors with a squidgy, in Ghana the dirt in front of the huts had to be sweep each morning with twigs, in Germany the hard wood floors had to be waxed on a regular basis and in China… I have an Aiyi, a house cleaner ☺. I feel spoiled knowing that twice a week someone will put my stuff away, fold my clothes and clean the flat. Though it is common to have a house cleaner there are still chores that have to be done.
Yesterday, as I was entering my building there was a resident lining up fireworks on the window seal of the entryway. There have been few days since I have been in Shanghai that I have not seen or heard fireworks in my neighborhood. Since gunpowder was invented in China and the first fireworks were done with bamboo the tradition has stuck. There are many occasions for fireworks, weddings, sporting events, celebrations and the coming Chinese New Year. This particular evening I greeted my neighbor and I commented on his fireworks. He responded in English, saying that he had to set them off, he was not sure why but his wife told him that he must set these fireworks off and that was his chore. I am not sure how that chore compares for taking out the trash, cleaning the bathroom or doing the laundry but it was his task for the evening. As I was putting away my shopping I could hear and see his obedience rather close to the building as usual.

Ni Hao

2010-02-06T05:46:00.001-08:00

“Ni Hao, Ni Hao” a phrase that connects me to people. There is a small room/box where the guards for my complex sit. Each day I greet them with a perky “Ni Hao, Ni Hao” and sometimes a “zài jiàn” as I walk away. There are about 5 different guards, all of them will say hello to me, however, there is one smiley guard and if he sees me coming, he starts giggling anticipating my “Ni Hao”, and says it along with me matching my tone. I am taking Chinese lessons each week but still figure I communicate more and share more with the guards through my “Ni Hao” and their welcoming giggles.

A weekend in Shanghai

2009-12-06T02:38:00.000-08:00

Friday evening I went with a friend to a discount brand mall and felt whisked away to suburbia USA. We got out of the cab and into the courtyard and just looked at one another as if we entered the twilight zone. All southwest styled shopping center with courtyards, topped off with a Starbuck.

In my first weeks in Shanghai we went to see a face changer, and I truly think that the face changer embodies the feel and heart of Shanghai. Always changing in a cheesy way. Shanghai has an amazing ability to suddenly alter itself into a different city, a different country in a matter of blocks or meters. After the suburbs on Friday, I went to rugby practice then to a German Christmas market in the French Concession where “Danke” was more widely used than “XieXie”.

Today I wanted to have more of a Chinese day so went for a walk to find out where the metro was by foot from my flat. I stopped to watch the noodle makers, the auto-repair men, visit the street with only towels and bowls. There were small parks packed with elderly people sitting and kids playing, bikes and mopeds running red lights and amazingly dancing through the on coming traffic. I got lost and asked for directions to Decathlon and was told it was really far to walk. I still walked then got in a cab with a Chinese couple that was going to the same place. I asked them for directions then they both go on their phones for 5 minutes decided we should get a cab since it was so far…. It ended up being 4 blocks away. I got my things found the metro then went to buy a dress form on the street that only sells dress forms and mannequins, a rather creepy place.

All in all it was in interesting weekend learning more about what Shanghai. While it does not have a strong sense of identity or consistency I am learning where to go to make it the city I want it to be for me.

Hong Kong for Thanksgiving weekend

2009-12-02T03:40:00.001-08:00

I escaped Shanghai and mainland China to Hong Kong last weekend to meet up with friends from Bonn. Hong Kong is an amazing city, the organization and clarity of the British fused with beautiful tropical scenery, as massive amount of people, great shopping and easy escapes from the city. We went up the Peak to see the city and I ran into a girl I met in Shanghai while trying to catch a cab in a city of 18 million only to run into her in the most densely populated city on the planet. The probability the probability!
HK was so refreshing to see hills, trees and not just concrete and not be worried of being hit by a bike, motor bike, bus or massive trike when walking on the street or on the side walk.
With all that said, you all are welcome to visit : ) me and then we can go down to HK. hehe

Touch Rugby

2009-10-10T12:10:00.000-07:00

Trying new things….. Well I started playing touch rugby in Seoul a couple of weekends ago. I went to get the feel for a tournament and ended up playing. It was great, we played 3 games then I fractured my ankle… but still wonderful weekend with a great group of people. It is the activity that helps me get through the week. Here are some pics of the team and me playing... and some of my "what the heck do I do now" face!

Surprise returns

2009-10-10T12:04:00.001-07:00

Waking up at 0230 in Bonn, Germany is vastly different than waking up in Shanghai. The first night of my surprise mission I was woken by the fresh air Germany. The missing sounds of traffic, smells of stagnate water, and visions of yellow neon lights from the hotel across the road, made me question my location. I realized I was not in my new home but in my old one. So much of the environment was familiar that made it feel like the last 4 months of chaos of moving did not happen.

Moving more and more and developing friendships with people from a variety of places makes my “home” more of a relative place to the location of my family and friends. While I miss the fall colors, the river Rhine, the rocks in the bed of the Salt river, the fjords the Vikings sailed, the castles in the distance, the cylinder Kolsh filled glasses, monsoon season in summer, I miss the people that make those places special to me more.

It was incredibly refreshing to be outside of the busy city of Shanghai and relax in Bonn. I now need to go back to the city to rest and be refreshed from catching up with people and faced with the reality that I do not live there and will not have the same collective experiences with them, but hope to continue meaningful connections.

I guess the more I live away from those places and those people I realize the importance of the ties that have bound us. The experiences that we have shared in these places can be greater than the distance between us. China will provide me with fantastic opportunities but the countdowns to rendezvous with people will continue to be my benchmarks. Thanks to my friends in Bonn, for making my first benchmark so fabulous. Much love to you and hope to see you in Asia or somewhere else in the world.

Supplies

2009-09-17T05:35:00.000-07:00

This is a quick and simple story that in some ways sums up much of the communication that occurs at work between the Chinese staff and the Western Staff, confusion, misunderstanding mixed with large jumps. This week one of the Chinese women that works in the office was asking my boss about supplies and ordering. Part of the conversation was the following:

Chinese woman: I wanted to check on the ordering, you do need any ass paper?
Boss: What?
Chinese woman: Do you need any ass paper, are you out? Do you need?
Boss: Ass paper? Do you mean A4 paper?
Chinese woman: Yes, ass paper

When I first heard this I thought she was asking him if he needed toilet paper, or that there was something going on that I was not picking up on. To be able to understand how in the world he figured out that she was asking if he need the A4 size of paper, you have to be a little familiar with Mandarin. The number 4 is just s, so she was reading the order in half English and half Chinese, which came out "ass". And who said that ordering stationary was an ordinary uneventful task?

Traffic

2009-09-11T19:15:00.001-07:00

Getting to work consists of a bus that picks us up on the corner of our street and after various turns we stop to pick up others that work at the school. The trip takes about 40 minutes in total. Traffic in Shanghai is pretty much constant. I have gotten in traffic jams at 11pm on a Friday and some traffic last until 1 am. On the bus our driver maneuvers around bikes, massive tricycles with a bed that is filled with cardboard, plastic, fruit, wardrobes or a variety of anything you could imagine you would want or not want to haul on a bike. The freeway is normally packed and we are above the streets and level with people’s laundry hanging from their windows to get drip dried in the smog and smells of the day. Construction is another constant in Shanghai, after bussing to work for the last month and passing the same construction sites we have seen projects finish in the month. New freeways are being added and there is a crew of people that only work on scaffolding here. Each day we see men in workers’ clothes standing on polls 20 meters above the ground on steel piping they use to construct cubes patterned scaffolding. No hard hats, no safely lines. They never seem to be working but just hanging out on the piping waiting for more supplies or just for the traffic to die down.
Once we are off the freeway that is when more of the adventure happens. To quote myself “We are driving on the wrong side of the road again, he does that a lot”. Our driver (now mom don’t freak out there are actually not a lot of accidents here) plays chicken with the on coming traffic so that they will go into the shoulder lane. Once in a while he will get back into the proper land by cutting of someone else, but always giving the polite Shanghai honk that continually fills the air.

Suzhou

2009-08-31T05:38:00.000-07:00

On Sunday myself and a colleague decided to brave the Chinese rail system and take a day trip to Suzhou about a 40 minute train ride. The train stations in China are massive and packed much like every where else. There are various waiting rooms for trains and line ups in the waiting rooms to go to the platform.
We got on the train and got off in Suzhou no problem. Once leaving the train station hall, a group of people come around me, since I stand out a bit, asking things in Chinese/English mostly involving taxis. We end up going to a stand that promises a day trip around the city to 2 gardens, a boat ride and ending in the historic downtown, and it is all in English. We sign up and get in an old van. The garden was pretty and had a good look out, then we went to the canals, the city is call the Venice of the East, due to all the canals through the city. It was a nice ride and there was a guide that told us all about the area, the history, the architecture, the people and the local economy.... well at least that is what I am guessing, because it was all in Chinese!
I normally would not be annoyed but that was the major selling point for us. So by this time we are wondering if we are still on the correct tour since we were switching buses so often. We went to a temple for some music, and then everyone got up and left, then went to a silk museum where someone spoke very softly to us in English, while another tour guide yelled into an micro phone. It was all too funny. I think it was a crash course in Suzhou as well as Chinese.
We made another stop and had to sit through what I think was an info-mercial on pearl powder, which is some form of lotion since she put it on all of us.
We managed to find a place to eat, though the meat choices were far from what we were used to (Chicken feet, Pigs feet, Claw, shark fin, fish heads... the list goes on). I went vegetarian for the evening. Overall it was a great day, a lot of laughs. I will post pictures of my favorite signs soon.

Down the street

2009-08-23T15:40:00.000-07:00

The first week I arrived I discovered something very dangerous for me down the street, "Pearl City". It is a building with three floors, the first floor is filled with aggressive shop keepers and cheap knock-offs, the third floor with toys and tailors, however the second floor is jammed packed with jewelry! Pearls of every color and shape, gem stones of a large assortment and people that are willing to make whatever you wish. I have already been there a few times and have found a shopping buddy for the place. We go walk around and already know many of the shop keepers. I am going to have to find a way to limit myself to this fabulous and dangerous place.

2009-08-13T15:36:00.000-07:00

Waving and Wondering

I had my internet set up at my flat. The company sent a technician who arrived on time. He did not speak English and my Mandarin is limited to “Right”, “left”, “please stop here”, “I do not know”. First we had to find the socket in the flat for the ethernet. We ended up moving all the furniture in the flat and then found it in the bedroom. After that task was complete he asked me something, which I asked him to repeat it (not really sure why but perhaps I could gain some clues from his gestures), I did not understand him the second time oddly enough. So he started to outline a rectangle box with his hands. I figured we were looking for a rectangle on the wall. Again, we moved all the furniture and searched the rooms, I was the winner and found the rectangle in the storage closest. We rejoiced by giving a little cheer and then he went about his work.

The technician then needed to see my computer, he was not familiar with Mac’s but tried anyway. He connected everything, however, we could not get my computer to accept the passwords. This is when the questions started. He would ask long questions while looking for things on the computer. I would stare at him trying to come up with context clues and give and answer to the question I thought he asked, which normally came in the form of a question. He would stare at me, then we would just laugh, harder and harder with each question and misunderstanding. I showed him what I thought he was asking for then would point at words on the screen hoping that he had some key words for his trade like I had for the taxi. No such luck. He started navigating and we ended up in iTunes. It was his turn to point at Chinese characters and then would slowly write them out for me to ease me into understanding. I tried but well designed boxes with lines do not translate into words for me yet. He did ask in English if I had a Chinese friend. So we called an HR person from the school. I did not get to talk to the HR person the first time, so that really did not help with translation.
Since we could not figure out the ethernet I decided to ask if he could set up my wireless. I said “wireless” while waving my arms in the air to signify the internet going through the air to my computer. He just stared. I tried again pointing to the cord out of the wall then following up with my internet gesture. Another stare, this time with a questioning expression topped off by saying something in Chinese. Then I brought out my router and modem to him. He helped with that, but I did not remember the passwords and I did not expect him to figure out what the German password to a router would be.
The whole experience ended in laughter and a phone call to the HR person and a visit to the iStore at the end of my block.

Transportation, Touch, Translation, Transactions

2009-08-10T06:56:00.000-07:00

August 9, 2009 day 2 in Shanghai. I arrived on the evening on Friday and Saturday consisted of going to the school I will be working at, meeting up with another teacher and trying to purchase some basis. I live on a street called Hong Mei Road in the suburb HongMei Lu. There are a lot of people in the streets so it does not feel like a suburb but is a lot quieter after being into the center in Shanghai. I still do not have hot water, it is not soo bad to deal with since it is 30 degrees C and 75% humidity.
This morning I decided that I would go to Carrefour, a french chain store with house hold things and many shops in it. I went down the street to the right instead of the left. I walked to an area with only Chinese signs (on my street most of the signs have some english as well) and most people were staring at me on the street.
did not find the store so went back and met a woman from school to explore Shanghai center. She is a French woman who is moving from Australia so it makes her accent rather interesting. She wanted to try to get to the center using public transportation. We just got on a bus as we were not sure which one and tried to ride it until we got to a metro stop. We got off too early and had to get a cab to the station. Luckily the driver had a phrase book and that is how we finally communicated with him. Then we got on the metro to People’s square at the top of the main pedestrian shopping street, Nanjing. We walked through the streets and I definitely stuck out so much that an elderly man came up to me grabbed me on the arm and said “nee how” which means ‘Hello” then gave me a huge smile and a thumbs up. About 40 minutes later on a different street a woman in her 60’s came up to me, touched my arm and started laughing and saying “Nee how”, big smile and a thumbs up. Then asked my colleague if she was my mother and touched my arm giggled then rubbed her head on my arm., perhaps for good luck I am not sure. Either way I gave her a good laugh, I guess being blonde and 5’9’’ prompts that reaction, never worked in Norway.
We continued to wander, found the Bund with a lot of construction and strange/foul smells. We were trying to head to the French concession and it ended up being further by foot than we thought so caught a little scooter there. Basically is it tricycle with a bench that you sit on backwards. We saw some 4 Chinese girls pile out of one. I was super nervous about this and hung on as the guy speeded between traffic, over pot holes, over construction areas. We were going backwards which is probably better so we could not see what was in front of us. We got some funny looks and one woman in a car was laughing hard at my nervous face, and waved. I waited for the thumbs up but did not get it. After about 15 minutes in this things we got to the Fuxing Park in the French Concession. There were so many people sitting around (even in the main street people were just sitting around) playing cars, board games, kids catching fish and women standing around and singing. After walking around the park and lunch we headed back to Hong Me Lu to get some supplies.
At the store there were people in every aisle to help with your selections. I went to find laundry detergent and one of the ladies went on and on about it in Mandarin I am sure explaining how great it was. She kept pointing and to the Chinese Characters as if that would convince me to purchase this product. The only English on the whole thing was “Mite Laundry detergent”. I was unsure if that was against Mites? If I need to be concerned about these bugs so much that I need to wash my clothes with this detergent? Or if the translator really meant ‘This detergent MIGHT work”. I did not take it, so she grabs another bottle that has NO English on it and again points to the Chinese Characters and goes off in Mandarin. I guess to younger people I do not prompt the touch-thumps-up approach.