American in Shanghai

Today I took the bike out for an hour's ride. Cruising street after street, for some reason I passed dozens of pet shops. Dogs, especially samoyeds, grooming places, animal recovery hospital, aquariums. And in a grassy area along a pedestrian/bike street, several people were parading their large well-brushed and cared for canines. Walking my bike along one block, a distinguished hound sat on his haunches looking like he knew his place and he was a member of the community, and why was I looking at him? I saw a lone cat for just a moment, then it was gone.

Feb 23 08 Now that's what I call China. My landlord invited me to have a meal with him and his family during the spring festival, but I didn't want to intrude on their holiday. Finally he convinced me that I should come over today, since I was free this weekend. They live in a nice complex not too far from me. Each of them has their own room, one for mom, dad and son. Mom made a day out of cooking for us...11 dishes plus a soup. These were fantastic! This was some of the best cooking I have had in China. She said she taught herself how to cook. We discussed each dish and I told them that you really cannot get these dishes nor their ingredients in the states unless you go to a Chinatown and get lucky. 1. cold ham slices with Spanish peanuts in the middle 2. cold cucumber in garlic sesame vinegar sauce 3. fragrant mushrooms with pickled vegetable 4. marinated fungus 5. sauteed shrimp with corn and peas in a sweet sauce 6. seaweed shreds 7. hongxiao rousi: tiny pork piece...

Feb 22 08 I bet there will be many weddings tonight, as the date is 2008-2-22 and twos are lucky for couples, and 8 is also considered lucky. A colleague is having a going away party as he is getting ready to head to his home country. I bought a new pink bike with two locks this time. One lock is a heavier cable lock that I can hook through the bike so either the thief would have to carry the bike away or cut through the frame of the bike or the cable. It also has a round sliding key lock on the frame and back tire. Those are the ones I wonder about being able to cut through. I know if someone is determined enough it will be stolen again. It's a pain, but knowing that I spent on that first bike what I would spend on a full tank of gas in the states puts things in perspective. Thinking on more positive moments, yesterday the lanterns were wonderful at Yu Yuan. You had to pay an entrance fee of RMB 50, but that included coupons for RMB 10 off of snacks. So I finally got the c...

The frying world's largest Jesus statue above is in Rio de Janeiro. If I need to spend some money on fashions, I can always head over to Crackstep, next to an internet place called Kooknet. Or, there is a chain of clothes stores called Hot Wind. I now know what it is like for my very tall friends. I find myself too tall for my kitchen, which was made for someone about 6 inches shorter. I bump my head on the vent over the gas burners. I have to bend my knees to wash dishes in the sink. Kiddos were naughty again today, though not to my room. Someone lit a poster on fire on the 3rd floor, so the whole school got scolded, warned and now no student can go out of a classroom during class for any reason. Although, this could have a net effect of increased smoking in bathrooms between classes. I suppose they could actually take away the doors to the stalls like regular Chinese bathrooms, then they couldn't hide the smoking. But the sun is still shining and I'm listening to N...

I am sometimes blown away by this job and how enjoyable it can be. In the years I have been a teacher in the past, I have never had a teaching assistant, let alone one who is a college degreed opera singer! It is a real privilege and joy to have her for many of my classes. Sometimes I have a professional dancer as my assistant. And the work day--imagine having enough time to do your planning and keep up with grading, coordinating with other teachers and actually laughing over things at lunch. Did I step into a dream or is this for real? OK, the conditions are not what I had before, like the brand new school, antiseptic cleaning, adequate heat and hot water. And I will not deny that those things are all good creature comforts that I wish we had here now. But now I have to ask myself how relevant those things really were to an education. OK so we are leasing a former Chinese high school, with no hot water in the bathrooms, the service people never use detergent or cl...

Yay, no smashed up machines on my watch today! It was a good day. An uneventful day, though another kid appeared, in yellow long sleeved polo, jeans and matching yellow converse high tops, enthusiastically telling me he would like to learn violin. We had his first lesson, mostly learning how to hold the bow. The naughty computer smashers have been permanently expelled. The air seems lighter at work somehow. After work I set out for the tailor across the street to do a repair, then to order a side dish for dinner at the Sichuan restaurant on the corner, and then to buy some yinliao, or soft drinks, to have on hand. I was nearly out of drinks. In a country where you can't just grab a glass of water from the tap, having sealed beverages on hand takes on new meaning. I should just keep some cold water in the fridge. I just dread lugging the 15 gallon jug of purified water back by myself because I can really only manage it if I fill it about 75% full. The tailor was a little shop...