(Well, sorta… because the production was not the spectacular “glow in the dark” one I was hoping for, however, close enough……)
I just got in from Kanye’s concert here at the Shanghai Grand Stage, and the man had the whole stadium on their feet, rockin’ out!!! I haven’t had THAT much fun at a concert in a LONGGGGGGG TIME! Now granted, it’s also been a longgggg time since I’ve seen a “real” live act, and not to mention, options here are slim, so my standards have lowered incredibly….. so all these variables must be taken into consideration, ….. but seriously, Mr. West did it up for me big time tonight!! I NEEDED this concert as it made me feel very much back in my element; and the crowd was alive in song and dance, all the way through!!
Not nearly sold out (comprised of both local and expat attendees) and I found that “no merchandising” was odd, but I guess that’s how it floats over here. Shrug.
The stage set-up itself was typical stage middle, jumbo screens to left/right. Performance lasted a full hour with just about every song you can think of. In the beginning, I found he sped up tempo… probably in order to include as many songs as he did in his set. At this very moment, I wouldn’t be able to recall every single track, however, my personal highlights were: “Homecoming,” “Flashing Lights,” sentimental “Hey Mama,” “Good Life,” “Touch the Sky” and the Interlude sung by a back-up singer, a rendition of: “Don’t Stop Believin’” by Journey. Oh! and he also did up Estelle’s “American Boy” - a real big hit in tha clubs ’round this town!
And it was a bit surreal that I was going nuts whenever he shouted and/or incorporated “Shanghai” in lyrics…… Wow! I’m really here! Exhibit A Video:
I go for mine, I got to shine
Now throw your hands up Shanghai!!!!!
Ahhhhhh I’m feelin’ SKY HIGH right now….Much love to Chi-town from Hai-town!!!
Sooooo for school, we’ve got this annual Halloween Activity thing for all students in the International Program.
How It Works:
6 Foreign Teachers are to each conceptualize a Halloween Activity.
All students of the International Division are divided into 6 groups (their House League groups).
Day of Celebrations: Students and teachers alike are encouraged to wear a costume, and each House League group of students rotate from one room to the next, per Foreign Teacher/Halloween Activity room.
The final rooms consisted of: (1) “Face Painting” led by a Pirate, (2) “Drawing on Pumpkins” led by Dora the Explorer, (3) “Finger Puppets” led by a Nerd and Scary Little Red Riding Hood, (4) “Scary Stories” led by a Robot, (5) “Gooey Food Concoctions” led by a Mad Scientist, and (6)………………… “Michael Jackson’s Thriller Room” (music video and dance) led by ……who else, but yours truly, as a Boombox!
First off, I have to say, this had to be the MOST stressful and time-crunched week! On top of my already insane 26 lesson-week, we had to create our midterm exams that are to be administered next week……and I had soooo many friggin tech problems with just getting the downloaded music video to play on the prompter in the classroom. (But that is an ENTIRELY SEPARATE story in itself.)
Anyway, at the very last minute, I was saved when I popped into a cd store, the night before showday, and was able to very luckily, find a cd/dvd combo pack of good ol’ MJ that included the Thriller video. But I was not done yet!… I had NO COSTUME!! And if you think getting a costume in the States is stressful, try doing it in China!! I literally MADE MY COSTUME ON THE MORNING OF the day of celebrations. I worked on the thing in between my classes and skipped lunch for it. Oh, and inspiration came as duh…… I’m playing the music video and going to teach the kids the Thriller Dance…. I couldn’t find a box to fit me as an ipod….so I went old school on the kids, and turned myself into a boombox! What can I say? I was on a Creative Crunch!!!!! But it turned out superb!!
So, ya’ll better enjoy this!!
Introducing: Boombox
Starring: Me
If you look closely, you can see I pulled a plug from a real radio, and made a little home for it in the back of my costume. Thennnn, on the side, I made 3 insertion holes for “Line, Mic and Stereo”. I borrowed a co-workers’ big set of headphones and wore it on the day of, with the wire plugged into “Line.” Knobs, buttons… the whole sha-bang!…. Plus! A real cassette, taped on the front!! It’s kinda nifty to think what you can do with just a plain ol’ box, colored construction paper and some foil!!
The cd that saved my Halloween Activity Concept!!
Welcome to The Thriller Room…..<insert Evil Laugh>
The kids watch and and get a little skurred…
And now onto The Thriller Dance! I had two dancer-students from the 9th grade help me with choreographing the little ones….
My favorite costumes…. Woody from Toy Story (my little Johnny in 1st grade, sooooooo adorable!!) and The Incredibles Boy (George from 2nd grade, who I taught over the summer…. cutie!)
And now the best part….. is a little video clip of the little monsters dancing to Thriller! aka Organized Chaos! LOL! Enjoy!
I had wanted to check this flick before leaving the States, but never got around to it… But just saw it last week and give it a two thumbs up!!
Based on the novel by Afghan author Khaled Hosseini, Kite Runner is a wonderful tale of unconditional love, the meaning of true friendship, freedom and forgiveness! Put it in your Netflix queue and be sure to watch the writer/producers’ commentary thereafter!!
Q. What does one do when thrown in a culture so beyond foreign to them?
A. One becomes open and appreciative of all, especially the most simplest of things. In this case, it is the English language.
Last Friday, this fabulous photo was taken of some cool ass, worldly folks, who clicked immediately and became quick BFF’s over the weekend, drawn to each other by the English language. Yeah, we look like a United Colors of Benetton ad, but what did you expect? Ya’ll know how I roll… Meet (from L-R), Germany Max, Boston/New York Moi, Zimbabwe/London/Houston Ralph, and Austria/London Eugen - all here in different lines of work.
Now that we’ve met the players, here’s the play by play. I first met up with Ralph and Eugen for some sushi in their hood in the Lujiazui area of Pudong. This is where the Oriental Pearl TV Tower, Jin Mao, Shanghai World Financial Center (looks like a bottle opener) and plenty of other incredible works of architecture stand tall.
After which, Eugen announced that his boss had asked him to hand deliver some “important” powerpoint document to him at the Rendezvous Merry Time Hotel in downtown. Let’s stop. The name of the hotel alone got us all kinda in the “uhhhhhh where is your boss??” but we didn’t dwell on it all too long. We picked up Max and hopped in a cab and were headed to to Merry Time for some KTV. (It wasn’t until we wayyyy later learned KTV can sometimes mean karaoke with “entertaining women.”) It was all really bizarre, but we figured this would be mightily interesting to see what Eugene’s boss was up to late on a Friday night at a hotel that had the words “rendezvous” and “merry time” in it.
The moment we arrived, we headed for the elevators where a bunch of older business were exiting. Pretty immediately, we were stopped by the elevator guards and were given the X-crossed arms and were told, “Fullah! Fullah!” (translates to Full! Full!) Eugen phoned his boss and his boss gave him the room number. Upon hearing the room number, the same jackass elevator guards smiled and opened the elevator doors and led us in. We got up to the floor and was greeted to the Diamond Club.The r-o-c-k was really in the building, see below:
Eugen stepped in, not really knowing what to expect. Max, Ralph and I were tip-toe, two-stepping out in the hall, unsure with what to do, meanwhile lady hostesses were waving for us to enter. So we said “F it! When in Shanghai!” Onward we stepped, and we were stared at by the handful of businessmen and probably 3 times as many women. HA! I personally felt the evil eye. HA! (makes me laugh just thinking about it) We weren’t too quite sure what we were gonna do there, but the folks seemed somewhat welcoming and encouraged us to karaoke along with fill our glasses with some really weak liquid. (Overall, by the way, alcohol content in bars/clubs is weak on the initial serving, but you can always return and request for another hit, is what I’ve learned. I was told they measure via shot glass.) Anyway, after about 30min of some awkwardness, and having listened to songs ala Mariah Carey’s “Hero” — slowed version — Funny, I pointed out to the fellas how the songs sounded slower than usual, and Ralph noted that they were probably slowed down in order for them to pronounce and keep up with the lyrics. HAAA!! We eventually made the dip out. It was then that attention was brought to me: the men to women ratio was somewhere around 1:3 or 1:4 in the room. However, when we walked into the spot, our own ratio was 3:1. No wonder, we were being stared at! HAA!
Ok, then next stop was a bar/club spot along The Bund, called Attica. The club part was lame. Stupid neon lights and smoke machines. Crowd was wiggity. We completely skipped it and went upstairs to a decent rooftop deck where you can see a beautiful view of the Pudong skyline. Again, for a spot that was walled top to bottom with Absolut Vodka signage, the drinky drink was rather watered. (Sorry, that’s my events-programmed brain at work.) Chilled there for lil bit then opted to roam around for another spot. By now, we were approaching 1am and found ourselves at the House of Blues & Jazz. Not too bad of a spot. Restaurant/venue with black-white photos of jazzists outlining its decor, etc. We walked in and of course just my luck, the lead singer was roaming around the floor, and snatched me up on stage for a dance. Quite unnecessary especially since we had literally just stepped foot in the spot, but was venue was decent nonetheless. We had arrived so late, the band was closing up their set. We’ll check them out again I’m sure - The Charlton Wilson Band I believe… Here’s a shot of the stage set-up:
We stayed till beyond closing time. Lights were turned on for a while before we finally gave into the staff’s evil stares, and called it a good first night out!
Saturday came at the blink of an eye (literally) and I met up with the E & R, and we headed into Puxi for an authentic Sichuan style meal. Eugen took lead as he had dined there before with his pops. With multiple disclaimers on how we’ll probably not know how to read the menu, but instead will just look at the pretty pics and point - that’s we did. We went ahead and ordered all sorts of dishes, all covered in red hot chili peppers of course because Sichuan cuisine in renowned for being spicy, spicy! Nevertheless, I/We were all game: pork something, of course dumplings, some crazy fish that we couldn’t figure out type, general tso chicken (of all things), some other crazy spicy chopped up chicken dish with red bell peppers, grilled crawfish, crab in a sizzling pot, really good and spicy fried rice…. and we were their last customers for the afternoon… so the workers all passed out at the surrounding tables and chairs!! HA!!
After our delicious almost food-coma meal, we opted to be adventurous and find our way to one of the black markets because Eugen is all about the bargaining game. We befriended a family of 3 who helped us to the nearest metro station and got the fellas a transportation card. (You put money onto these magnetic-credit card size cards and they are good to pay off bus, metro and taxi rides. I already purchased one with Thomas when he first led me into Puxi.) Here we are at the booth and in the underground station of People’s Square. (Btw, the Shanghai trains and stations are super shiny here and very efficient. Too bad the metro stops running at at like 11pm or something like that.)
Some random shots along our way to the black market:
Eugen ended up buying about 25 dvd’s for 120 rmb = $18.. which comes to around 70 cents each! Now of course quality is at risk, and we later learned this when we popped in the discs to play. The first flick, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, was a clear bootleg in that we saw hands/fingers covering the camera, heard the audience giggling, then…… in mid sentence, dialogue would stop and/or change from English to Russian to German etc. Probably ended with a 1 good out of 5 deal. Stop-Loss is a pretty decent flick. Oh, but these dealers will exchange or take back the dvds if it’s a bad copy. Just good luck to you for remembering which dealer it was! I personally, have a good one (according to Thomas) on the corner of my street. I’ll check her stash more in depth at some point, but we’re already on a first name basis; her name is Jane. I gotta check that new Pixar film, Wall-E ; I’ve been hearing good things!
Ok back to it! Yeah so anyway, the black markets here are pretty much like Canal Street in NYC, only 3 floors full. However, they are equally annoying. Ralph and I went along with it while Eugen was having a field day.
This one back room even paid homage to The C’s!!
Needless to say, we were exhausted by evening. How to remedy? Well, we popped into the lobby bar of the fellas’ homebase, and met up with Max before his flight back to Germany. Consider it a “see you in 3 weeks” toast.
And now nooooo it doesn’t end there kids! I met up with another new bud, Jonathan (by way of introduction by Nick in NYC! Thanks Nick!) Jonathan aka JJ took us to this super discreet - behind a budget hotel, down a narrow alley, up the stairs to a very delicious Thai spot called, Thai House. Unfortunately, I wasn’t in the camera mode.. so no pics this time.. but we JJ invited us to his crib nearby and introduced us to his other Canadian, now Shanghai resident friend Steve, as well as this potent Shanghai concoction called something like “Bai Jo.”
Thennnnnnnn, we met up with a chic named Summer, an extended friend of Ralph’s who had just arrived for studies in the ‘Hai. We met at a very cool spot right in the heart of The People’s Square, adjacent to the Shanghai Art Museuem, called Barbarossa. Upon entrance, I had a good feeling about the spot. You walk into the park and through a sort’ve zig zag boardwalk atop of a mini pond into the bar/restaurant/lounge/roofdeck spot. Decor and ambience was lush and fed off a Mediterranean vibe; hookahs and glasses crowded the tables of patrons.
Music was to my ears’ liking as we passed by the DJ booth and upwards towards the roofdeck. Sounds of bossanova forced me to return to the booth to chat up the DJ. Turns out, he not only is familiar with one of my previous employers, Giant Step, but also had worked with one of my former colleagues. SMALL WORLD! Obviously, we hit it off and I was all smiles to be talking to someone who a) spoke English and b) wasn’t playing Lil Jon. So far, this is the #1 spot on my list.
Next up, we followed the college kids to a hip hop club, called Richy. Getting out of the cab and walking up, I knew this place was a bad idea. Neon lights and stupid people lingering outside got me shaking my head. But hey, I gotta take it all - the good and the bad. Walked in and I was certain this was a bad idea.
Flashing neon, smoke, tacky floor design and just overly jampacked with passed-out folks in the “VIP” booths. E and I opted to grab a seat at the front of the club like old folks and let the kids play on the dance floor, while watching sloppy drunks slip and fall all over the place.
We then made our way towards the exit and this is when it started to get much more entertaining. My words to describe does NOT do any justice to what we actually witnessed. E has PHENOMENAL footage of a chic-fight from start to finish (well till he was chased away from being up close with filming it. HA!), but I gotta wait for him to upload and send it my way, so I can share with you lovely people. Anyway, so OK let me try to explain: At first, we were all mesmerized by the many drunken falls among us:
But that was nothing compared to what happened next. We turned and saw 3 chics stumble down the steps and get into an all out b-slap fest!! The chic on the right basically slapped the living daylights out of the chic on the ground, being helped by bouncer:
After the bouncer got the girl to stand, that’s when slapping and pushing ensued for quite some time. A car drove by and hit the girl. The girl stood up and was dragged across the street to a park bench. And well here’s some footage that I took, which isn’t really the best because it is dark and only captured the tail end of the whole fight. I almost don’t even want to share it because Eugen’s footage is way better. But I can’t help it, so …. You can hear this Parisian dude in the background, who we later chatted up with - but obviously LOVED what he was seeing. You can even see how close Eugen got to the girls on the right side of the screen (white shirt). OK, here it is: “Ultimate Fighting Shanghai”
Here’s us being stupid westerners re-watching the video footage. I gotta also add, throughout all of this - no bouncers nor any bystanders interrupted nor leant a helping hand to the chic who was obviously need of some assistance. And it didn’t end there either. We turned and saw this other chic being carried out by 4 bounchers - one limb per bouncer - carried out of the club, down the steps, crossed the street and dropped her somewhere in the park. Then…. and as folks were exiting, we saw a dude with NO PANTS come out of the club. Didn’t I say this place was gonna be bad as soon as we had arrived??
We FINALLY called it a night.
Sunday came and Eugen and I decided to head into Puxi for some good ol dim sum in the Xintiandi district. This area has been renovated majorly to mirror European pedestrian friendly walkways and piazzas, lined heavily with chic shops and restaurants.
Here we are at Crystal Jade Restaurant:
Then an afternoon cocktail at Stonegrill Dining in Xintiandi….
Then off to the famous Fabric Market - when men and women can get suits, shirts, coats, pretty much anything you want tailor made for cheapo.
The Fabric Market works similar to the Black Market where it’s several floors of the same thing, and you bargain with each tailor for the best price and material etc. Tailors will take measurement, call you back for a fitting, and you’re off. And/or dissatisfied, they will mend till you’re happy. Some tailors will even come to your place for measurements, fitting and delivery!
Now, what is crazy about Shanghai is its rapid growth. You can walk down a district such as Xintiandi and think you are in Europe, then turn the corner and realize you are -insert 3rd world country-. Take a look at these shots and again, the crazy juxtaposition of high rises only a few blocks away… These were real houses and outhouses… as well sales of grasshoppers! We bought a couple watermelons and mangos to go…
And all of this happened in just my first full weekend!!
I’ve just completed my first official week here in the ‘Hai and I gotta say… thankfully, it is getting a little better by the day because, I learn something new each day. Shanghai is absolutely massive, dizzying and everything in between. In the initial days, it is simply overwhelming… and in many ways, it still is. I felt (and still feel to an extent) quite like an observer to all of which Shanghai/China is all about. It is difficult to fully explain, but never have I ever been this challenged in a new setting. The language barrier is HUGE. Forget all the people who tell you “Everyone in Shanghai speaks English…” That’s BS!! I live in what is considered the “International Community” called Jin Tao International Community – a rather prominent expat area. I walk out and see mixed family of all sorts; lots of Europeans, too bad they are mostly families; (snooty) mom, dad, child. (And these kids are SPOILED. Ie. A family of 4: mother, father, son and daughter were all getting massages at this massage parlor last week..and the mother asked the young son - probably about 9 years old… “How was your massage? Do you think you are ready to have a 2-hour massage instead of just an hour for the next time?”) I am not lying!! Anyway, back at the matter at hand — even in the “international community,” vendors don’t understand a lick of English. Ie. I dipped into a nearby Papa John’s last week because I had not much time before my evening class for a bite, and ordering a pizza had never been so trivial as it was for me last week. An older German gentleman (who was here on business) was trying to do the same, and it all became a charades-fest. I’m not saying that they should be fluent in English, because well I’m in China and gotta respect their culture/language, but jeeezus it is difficult getting by!
Umm quick review from last weekend… So I at last woke up at 2pm on Saturday and met up with Thomas (American colleague) to show me around. Here are some shots of Carrefour (French chain ala Walmart). They have practically EVERYTHING there - It’s similar to a Super Walmart/Super Target with groceries section. Their motto is “Thank you for shopping at Carrefour. See you tomorrow.” And you know what, that is exactly right! Last week alone, I was there at least 5 times throughout the week. Three of which times, I had to go back to purchase more clothes hangers. I didn’t realize how much of my clothes needed hangers nor how much clothes I had brought. (Also, random thought — I am glad I brought the amount of clothes that I brought over because just as I had imagined, I can not see myself succumbing to the fashions here. And to be honest, right now, I wish I had brought more.)
Then the next day, Sunday, (which was my first real full day) Thomas and I met up, and showed me the ropes of bus-catching, metro-catching etc, to head into the “heart of Shanghai”…. People’s Square on the Puxi side. If you recall my previous post when I broke down the make of Shanghai - the city of has undergone (and still is) major renovations in the last couple of decades. It is one thing to read about it, but it’s a whole other amazing reveal to actually SEE and BE IN areas so developed and modernized, knowing that just a little over a decade ago, it was all simply farmland.
To refresh, Shanghai is basically split by the Huang Pu River. West of the River is Puxi (city centre, traditional/old Shanghai, where all the action is) and East of the River is Pudong (new, shiny, westernized, calmer Shanghai). Back when I was researching schools to teach at, I was convinced that I wanted to be on the Puxi side because I wanted “authentic living, where all the action is” but of course that changed when I received an offer from the Shanghai Pinghe School in Pudong. Simply, Pudong was nothing 20 years ago. All farm, all the time. Today, it stands as the modern staple of this burgeoning city.
However, after exploring a bit more of Puxi, I am kind of kicking myself that I am not situated in Puxi, but that is a whole other topic for now. (Basically, I’ve been a spoiled Manhattan’ite.)
Anyway, Thomas showed me the essentials of People’s Square (think Times Square x Asians to the Infinity Power), Nanjing Road (a strip of shopping), The Bund (famous riverfront/boardwalk sort’ve full of bars and such at night, and amazing view of “new Shanghai skyline” of Pudong), then walked down to an area enclosed as “Old Town” — where they are preserving as much as they can of traditional Shanghai architecture.
Here are some flicks..
Oh, mind you, it is incredibly humid and disgusting here right now, and it is only going to get worst in humidity (so says the locals). I didn’t know what to expect in terms of the conditions out in Puxi, so I suffered in jeans and kicks. I was heating up profusely, and I guess not “altogether” with my jet-lagged self either, so the photos are so-so. (Sorry for the TMI, but I needed to explain for my hot-mess’ness in the pics… literally.
These buildings are crazy incredible to see in real life… The 468 metre Oriental Pearl Tower (highest tower in Asia and the third tallest in the world) and the 420.5 metre Jin Mao Building (housing the Grand Hyatt, highest hotel in the world).. They are situated in the Pudong/new side.. but more on these buildings in separate post to come… OK, flicks..
Get used to that little blue Gumby-looking guy. It is the mascot for the 2010 World Expo that is to be held right here in Shanghai. The mascot, named Haibao, literally means “treasure of the world”. The blue smiling cartoon figure has curly hair and is in the shape of Chinese character REN, or human beings. The expo, which runs from May 1 to October 31, 2010, is expected to draw 70 million visitors, or an average of 400,000 daily. What is crazy to note in that picture is the old and new Shanghai all in one pic. — Get used to that as well, the constant juxtapositions are all over the place. You turn down one road and it’ll look very European, then just around the corner will turn into residents of the extremely poor. Shanghai is undergoing major gentrification by the day…and Starbucks and even Coldstone is everywhere!
This here is a long line that twists and turns for its famously delicious and inexpensive Shanghai dumplings. Apparently, the wait in line is at least/average of 30min long no matter what time of day and night. I plan on hitting that up at some point and giving it my own review.
And now for some school/classroom shots:
And a row of pong tables on the 1st floor.. (and no, I have not played…)
For the very first day of the summer program, we had ourselves a little welcoming ceremony. And well just watch this video to get a sense of what my daily life has become to sound like…It’s all like the “Wah wah wah in cartoons, I just tune out…” (Funny, she kinda sorta reminded me of myself when I was a little.. but just not as.. well you’ll see.. LOL…)
And some photos of students in the auditorium.
Classroom shots…
My 1st graders
My 2nd graders (though 1/2 of the class is missing on this day bc they all had swimming class.)
My other 2nd graders — My BEST, MOST WELL-BEHAVED, SMART class. These kids actually TAKE NOTES… and this one kid uses a ruler to make charts for his notes. Only 2nd grade!! We took two pics.. a “good” and “crazy” pic..
Look at the notes! and a dedicated drawing on the blackboard for their teacher.
My 5th graders… BTW, little William is the boy at the front of the class with the peace sign…
I don’t have pics of my to-be 9th graders because they would be too-cool-for-school for a picture pose anyway, and plus there are only 6 of them. But just think Dead Poets Society and that’s how I conduct that conversation class.
And finally here are some shots in my neighborhood in Pudong. Wide, tree lined streets, condos/apartments, tall buildings etc..
This is actually the Radisson in Pudong…
The street signs are pretty cool in that it shows you what is coming up next and thereafter, left and right…
Stay tuned for the next blog when I recap my fabulous 1st full wknd!!…
(That’s Scarlett Johannson, for those who aren’t in the know.)… Because Lost in Translation has a new leading lady, that’d be yours truly! Remember how I said perhaps my Cantonese *might help me get by… well we can officially throw that, now outrageous idea out the window and bury it in rice patties 5000 meters deep. This Mandarin and Shanghainese business is way beyond, over my head. I might as well have gone to Tokyo, or Zimbabwe for that matter.
I will first have to say, I’ve only been here 4 days but it feels like well over a week. So much has occurred, with most of all being totally overwhelmed and confused. As another expat who landed just about the same time I did, recently said to me, “Still walking around with that dazed look of confusion on my face and wondering why there are so many Chinese around!!” - HA!! But seriously, I touche’d his comment. I’ve never felt so ignorant in my life. I mean at least during studies in Italy, and throughout all my travels, I have been able to read what was in front of me. Chinese characters, not so much. So here I am trying to understand based on sound., and I’ve concluded I learn visually, so if I can’t “see” the words spelled out, I turn quite pathetic. For a quick exercise, try saying: “Shirley Swanson surely should of sold sea shells at the sea shore” 10 times, and that’s kinda what Shanghainese/Mandarin sounds like! Good Luck!
But in any case, much to tell but I had to share just my first case of ignorance….(This was my “Welcome to Shanghai” moment…)
While on my last leg of flight from Hong Kong to Shanghai, I had the pleasure of sitting next to this older gentleman (probably in his 50s) who was traveling with his wife and teenage daughter. The man was fanatical about the window seat so he opted and asked to sit next to me, instead with his fam in the middle seats. At that hour, after having waited for an additional 4 hours on top of my already 3 hour layover due to heavy rainstorms in ‘Hai, I didn’t care, and really… what could I have said when all the man understood was Mandarin anyway. Plus, he was kind enough to help a tired girl (me) place her carry-on suitcase in the compartments up top before I took my seat. We had a little bit of cordial small talk - ahem smiling and nodding - during takeoff as since I mentioned before, the man was a big fan of the window seat for take-off/landing reasons. He was a giddy old fella, shouting over to his wife and daughter as the plane rose up to the clouds. After the take-off episode, I slapped on my ipod and passed out for the majority of the flight, and the man (very smartly) took care of me when food was coming around with a wake-up nudge.
Fast forward to us having to circle around for an additional 30min due to the weather, and we’re at the official Lost in Translation: Act 1. Somehow real conversation was struck between the man and I, which involved him speaking in straight Mandarin, me straining to pull some words to relate to Cantonese in addition to replying in Cantonese, him saying something or could’ve been asking me a question, me asking him to repeat, him repeating, me apologizing for not understanding and explaining that I can only understand Cantonese, he giving me the “ah, ok.” And this basically repeats itself for several times, however we did establish that I was from the US and from NY and that it was my first time in Shanghai and China at that and that I’d be teaching English (I let him look at my little cheat sheet card I had made of my school’s address in both Chinese and English). He seemed to be impressed and excited for my stay here for one year and told me Shanghai was massive and is the #1 city in all of China. ….Not bad for not a charades convo, eh?
So we land and he tells his wife and daughter of my scenario and by the expressions of their face, I saw that they were impressed. With what? I’m not quite too sure. Perhaps I was an American or from New York, or spoke Cantonese or will be teaching English. All shrug. (I think shrugs will come in handy for me this year, so get used to them.) Anyway, I instantly became a celebrity to these folks! The daughter was very excited to strike up conversation with me with her struggling English. She was apologetic with her level of English speech but I gave her the reassurance that it was more than fine. (To be honest, I was ecstatic that she spoke/understood English at all!) She told me she has always wanted to visit NY, but it was so expensive yada yada. The entire family became my guards for the immigration, baggage claim and picking up a taxi episodes. To be honest, their behavior was very of “typical” overly-welcoming hosts from a “typical” asian family. I could tell by the speech and tone of voice from parents to daughter etc to help me out in any way they could – from lifting my suitcases to making sure that I get a taxi.
As we are making our way out of the airport, I learned that the daughter is in college and I gave her the same cheat-sheet card with my school info. Her eyes grew wide opened and asked if she could keep the card. I apologized and told her that unfortunately that was to be my saving grace for how I was to get to the school from the taxi, but she was more than welcome to take down my info. That she did, and also gave me her mobile number and encouraged me to call her when I was settled with a mobile.
Now we’re walking out towards the taxi stand that had an uber-long line. I was approached by a Mandarin speaking lady who offered me to skip the line and get into one of the “unlicensed cabs.” I knew of course, no deal, but I asked just for fun, how much would she charge me. She said 200rmb without having even asked me where I was going. (I was advised that my cab ride should cost much less than that from my Dean.) Anyway, I told her 120rmb and she acted surprised and said not possible. During this time, the family was observing me since the lady was also trying to encourage the family to convince me get into her chain of “unlicensed cars.” I finally shook my head and responded, No, and pointed towards the long line. The daughter comes up to me and says… “Wow, you are very clear.” I smiled and advised her, “when/if you get to New York, you do the same thing.” But what I wanted to say was…. “Sweetie, I don’t F around.”
And, not for nothing, but I’ve been pretty impressed with myself with my Cantonese; too bad it has absolutely no value here.
I woke up this morning, still revved up with what my boys had done last night! They had trailed by as many as 24 points, looking REALLY dicey in the first half (yeah, I was cussin’ n cursin’), but the Celtics staged an epic rally - in the greatest comeback in NBA Finals history - to win Game 4, 97-91…. now on the brink of their 17th NBA Championship as they lead the NBA Finals 3-1!!
Andddd now I think it is appropriate to include some throwback clips from Spike Lee’s 1998 film, He Got Game, starring Ray Allen and another guy named Denzel Washington, Enjoy!!!
He Got Game - Movie Trailer
He Got Game - Title track by Public Enemy music video:
“He Got Game” by Public Enemy from soundtrack, He Got Game (04.28.98)
While scanning through channels before the start of Game 3 (NBA Finals) last night, I came across a news alert on the upcoming Smurfs Movie!
Best known in the United States for the long-running Hanna-Barbera cartoon, the Smurfs were created in 1958 by Belgian cartoonist Pierre Culliford, known throughout the world as Peyo. The Smurfs, originally called “Les Schtroumpfs” in French, were created for a Belgian series of comic books, first as minor characters. The villagers, known for their blue skin and small statures, spawned a line of statuettes, games, toys, theme parks and a hit TV series, which ran as part of NBC’s Saturday-morning lineup from 1981-90.
Before…. Before Sunrise/Sunset, Zoolander, There’s Something About Mary, Girl Interrupted, Autumn in New York… there was a little story of Gen X reality starring Ethan Hawke, Ben Stiller and Winona Ryder released in 1994 called, Reality Bites - a flick I had seen upon release over a decade ago, yet revisited this past weekend; such a well-written, affectionate, timeless piece!
I am presuming ya’ll have seen this flick before, so enjoy the following clip! (and if you haven’t… well, you may or may not want to check the clip as it’s the ending…)
“When You Come Back To Me” by World Party from soundtrack, Reality Bites (02.01.94)
According to movie insiders, John Cusack of American Film classics fame, ie. High Fidelity, Say Anything and Being John Malkovich was spotted last weekend in a Shanghai nightclub, MAO, after a long day’s shoot for the upcoming flick, creatively entitled, Shanghai.
About the Film: An American man returns to a corrupt, Japanese-occupied Shanghai in 1941, four months before Pearl Harbor and discovers that his friend has been killed. While investigating the murder, he falls for the Gong Li character and uncovers a secret that his own government is hiding.
Knobs, buttons… the whole sha-bang!…. Plus! A real cassette, taped on the front!! It’s kinda nifty to think what you can do with just a plain ol’ box, colored construction paper and some foil!!
Old Town
“When You Come Back To Me” by World Party from soundtrack, Reality Bites (02.01.94)
