American in Shanghai

Students were preparing for a quiz on baroque music history today. An Egyptian boy asked a Korean boy, what sounded exactly like "Orfeo and Daphne are two of the hairiest what?" to which the Korean said "What do you mean, 'hairy'?" Egyptian boy says, "I did not say 'hairy' I said 'hearliest'" to which the Korean says "It sounded like you said 'hairiest!' and we all were laughing by then. Egyptian boy was trying his best to say "earliest." I really enjoy teaching music concepts to kids who have widely varying degrees of English language ability. In a way it levels the playing field -- everyone has to be smart enough to start with to stay afloat in a sea of foreign language inside a foreign culture, except for the small percentage of native English speakers.

Last night after a sumptuous 5-star seafood dinner with a friend I was listening to some very good funky-blues musicians in a cafe thinking this is a really spectacular global hot spot for musicians and other artists. This was no "American" buffet. It was all the healthy stuff like raw, steamed or stir-fried. It also included a fresh-pulled noodles bar, excellent salad bar and an amazing Swiss-ice cream bar. And a few specialties like steamed chicken feet and bitter melon. I feel lucky to have met several designers already, one of whom works for a major corporation in textile/garment productions all over the country. One designs bags and is from another province who came here looking for a boutique to sell his work. Also in my own place of employment, other teachers seem to be coming out of the woodwork who play violin and want to play at graduation. Right now from my room I hear soft Chinese folk music being sung along with a zheng, a stringed instrument that is plucke...

We have a lot of outdoor areas. The building is shaped like a blocky "W" so there are 2 inner coutryards with play areas and another play area outside of that, in addition to the track and field. We have no gym but we do have a basketball court and tennis court. My connections class is happily paddling away at ping pong, their favorite afternoon activity before the bell rings to take the buses home.

I really need to get cracking on looking at apartments. I know I won't find one if I don't get on it! Yesterday some colleagues who share a big flat nearby had a party, a barbecue in the rain as we got the tail end of a typhoon that hit further south. Nonetheless it was great to eat some grilled steak and have a few laughs over playing Dance Dance Revolution and Skattegories. These friends have a great view of the skyline as well as planes coming in and taking off from Hongqiao Airport. I felt right at home...I almost forgot. One of the funniest moments was after a friend had brought a few chicken feet along with wings for the grill, another American colleague attacked the chicken foot with vigor and seemed to be really getting into it! One of the oddities of being an expat is the lingo that arises in the new environment. A word that has arisen among my network of native English speakers, beyond mouthfulls of unpublishable expletives, is "chillax" although I have ...

Early this week I steeled my nerves and fearlessly entered a local hair salon for a trim. This shop was staffed by about 6 young men, I would guess around age 20, with varying degrees of puffy-hair styles. My stylist, Jiabo, said my 'foreigner' hair was much softer than Chinese hair. One country = one race in a big way; hair and skin types are pretty much the same with only a very small percentage difference among minorities, and even they are more similar than different. The boys wanted to know if I wanted color or a perm, and they tried really hard to get me to agree to an afro! One difference in having a salon experience here is that they begin to wash your hair while you are seated at the mirror by pouring shampoo and a stream of water into your hair, just enough to get it good and lathered. After a good washing and scalp massage, I was led to the wash basin for the rinse and conditioner. The actual cut was not bad. It was another good opportunity to practice speakin...

No day is quite ever complete without a serving of snacks/junk food. I don't think the average American would go for this one but I actually really like it: gelatinous rice balls. Inside is some kind of red bean paste. So I took a bite out 1 to show what it looks like. Stay tuned for images. For some reason I'm getting a corrupt or unknown file error at the moment. Now I just don't get this. Last Tuesday it rained. And it came down harder last Tuesday this exact same time of evening, when I was trying to get a cab and into a restaurant! The same thing is happening now, today, Tuesday again...How can this be? My colleague keeps reminding me of half-off teacher Tuesday night at an American style diner. And the place does a good vegetable omelet with real, fresh hashbrowns.

Does anyone else hear the sound through your speakers of sending photos from your phone to your computer? It weirds me out every time. So these are mystery fruits: dragon fruit, I think, is the one with the black dots in the white fruit meat. The pink fruit is what it looks like on the outside. There is a weird drink sold just about everywhere too with these seeds in it. It's a China thing to have a fruit juice with real pieces of the fruit inside, bigger than pulp. The other fruit, I am less sure of. Hawthorn? Crabapple? It's popular, whatever it is. It's often sold candied on a stick. And the yummy buns...I was buying some whole wheat bread and the service worker convinced me to try the yummy buns. I was skeptical, I have to admit, but there actually were raisins and bits of orange inside and it wasn't bad as an emergency snack. The doughnut - it speaks for itself. It came from the same store's bakery. This is from Lotus Superstore, where I only shop ...