The Pizza Deliver Guy

Bikes are one of the most common ways of getting around. In fact, I've already owned and sold one. Most road s have separate bike lanes, which each have their own left-turn signals. If you are brave enough to venture out in this 2-wheeled river, the lights are not something you want to get mixed up. There are times when things are coming into the intersection from all directions. One of our classmates has already been hit by a car and knocked off her bike. She was ok, but did hit the pavement pretty hard.

Anyhow, a couple weeks back, we found a pizza place that actually resembles pizza, called, "Hello Pizza." The delivery vehicle was parked outside.

Return Flight... Cancelled

OK, so one more step toward a sense of Shanghai finality... my visa was renewed, which allowed me to cancel my return flight, which was originally scheduled for 9/27/08.

At that moment, thoughts and questions flood through the brain ... what will I do in the next 30 days - (the length of the visa renewal) ... where will I be living ... (somewhere in Shanghai) ... where will I be working.

Alternate Universe...

Music is a drug.

OK, I am still wondering if I'm stating the obvious here, but if that were the case, then why was I so surprised at the extent to which I felt transformed...

The short of the story is that you can chose to put yourself in a different place, emotionally and mentally, by way of your own brand of music therapy. Your choice of music will obviously play a role in the place to which you decide to go.

A couple days back I was walking to a class, and something worth writing about happened. I was listening to some of my favorite US tunes while walking to class.... I was amazed at the way that it transformed my mood, and my outlook. It affected the way I taught my course, how I felt, the way I saw people as I walked down the street. Some fundamental piece of inner energy, mojo, vibe, groove, or whatever you want to call it, was altered based on the music.

In my case, just a few days ago, I had no expectations, and was not necessarily in a bad mood. But perhaps some of this reaction was nostalgic, having been away for a few weeks, and it neing music that is necessarily associated with things from my past in some way shape or form.

I am even still surprised that I was surprised... perhaps evidence that this is not all just a dream... or some alternate universe... though some days I wonder. :)

The music over here is way more diverse than the US. They have US tunes, but so far, I've heard more Chinese lyrics than US, by far.

There is also a Chinese version of myspace or facebook. I've seen a couple profiles. Pretty cool - the main thing is sharing photos and hearing the music that everyone thinks is cool. So, it's a good way to discover new stuff.

Classes, Interviews, Apartments

Our TEFL work will be completed at the end of September, at which time most of us are expecting to begin work. There is a Chinese holiday during the first week of OCtober, so most will start our new jobs around the 2-3 weeks of October. So, it's probably a good chance to do a few sight-seeing trips during that time, though I've heard the prices are elevated during that week since it is holiday. I have been interviewing and doing demos at several different places, and trying to get a feel for different employers, and their expectations. It seems to be going well. I have a couple more this week, and should decide on a job by the end of the month. As for lodging, it depends somewhat on the employment. Some offer housing as part of the package. On the other hand, some people living here at the hostel have been in China for years, and have actually moved into the hostel since it is such a social and livable place. They claim that living in an apartment can get lonely, so the hostel is a good way to keep from puting yourself alone in your apartment every day after work. Very interesting.

Endless, Shiny Shopping Universe

This place is 2 stops down on the metro from our hostel. Unbelievable. I'm not a big shopper, but this place is ridiculous!! 8 floors or endless places to wander into, with everything a credit card company could ever want you to purchase!! Quite an eyeful... a spectacle in it's own right.

TEFLer's Unwind

Tsingtao is the budweiser of China... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsingtao_Brewery the typical size is 600ml bottles, which is about 24oz(?) They are BIG bottles, either way. We buy ours around the corner from the hostel, which are 1/2 price, or 5 kwai, which translates to about .75 cents USD per 24oz beer. Very nice way to unwind a bit, compare stories, and meet new people a couple times a week! This is a picture of Seth and Melinda giving a demonstration in the background of a Tsingtao 24 ouncer. :))

What IS that?!

Can you guess the product? ... tea, detergent, soap, toothpaste, and sugarsmack snack bars....

My new pantry... a quick story, I was in the local supermarket, looking for some laundry detergent. If it weren't for spotting a couple pictures of bugs on the container, I would have ended up washing my laundry in roach killer! The locals must get a kick out of watching expats navigate the local stores. Definitely part of the adventure!!

City Images

It's hard to NOT find amazing scenes in this huge city. The pulse of the volume of people is unlike I've ever experienced. It can not be captured with a picture. See short video of some people, bike and car traffic below. It's pretty wild. These are mostly scenes along the commute to our classes.



There is a large soccer stadium where the olympic soccer was held... it happens to be the metro station we use to get to our class.






Daytime....
















Nighttime!!

My First Class

Everyone in our TEFL class has had several chances to teach live classes - some filling in for the "regulars" who have taken some time off, etc. We use this time to meet the requirements for our TEFL certificates. So far it's been going well. Here are a couple pictures of the group in my first series of classes. They thought Yvonne's camera was the COOLEST thing. :) thnx von von.

Retired Chinese Philosopher from Switzerland

OK, queue breakfast muzak, pour some cereal, find place to sit. None of the students from my class were present, so I asked to sit with an older gentleman, who appeared to be Chinese. He graciously agreed, and started the conversation - "where are you from?" He originally guessed I was from Britain, since a few of my new friends are British, and he had overheard their accents.

It turns out that he is a native Shanghainese, but has lived in Switzerland for 40 years. He is a retired Philosopher, who had studied under a Nobel Peace Prize winner. I can't think of his name, but I'll find it and update later.

His relationship with his former professor reminded me of a similar relationship that I was fortunate enough to rekindle just last year, with a former professor of mine, from Vanderbilt University. My professor had turned me on to a couple authors such as Cormac McCarthy, (The Road) and Jacques Ellul, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Ellul a French philosopher, sociologist and author that my professor has studied for most of his adult life. I mentioned this to my new friend, which seemed to take our conversation to a new level.

We had a great discussion about world issues. He asked me to wait while he went to his room to fetch a 13 page essay he wrote last year about his views. I took about 20 minutes to read his writings, done in English... his sencond language. What a gift. It was a strange and powerful connection, like something from another lifetime. (Ask Heidi) But we seemed to have an instant understanding. Isn't it odd the way that we come across these people? If my other friends were there that day, I would have never met this man.

He had to leave for morning service (Sunday), but I asked him if I could have a copy of his writing. I'd like to make it available for any interested readers... maybe I'll find the time to type it into my blog if my new friend is ok with that.

180 Degrees - Back to NC

In a surprise move, Denisa has returned to the US. Yep, not quite sure what it's all about, but it has all her friends back at DD Dragon wondering what is behind the move. She gave a few reasons the morning she left (Fri 9/12) but I suspect the real reasons are more complex. Either way, we hope she had a good trip back and is feeling better. Keep us posted Georgey.

Breakfast Music

The Hostel serves an all-u-can-eat breakfast every morning. It includes some western-style cereal, milk, both hot and cold, chinese dumplings and relish, grits-type broth, and toast with strawberry jam. They offer a nice cold fruit juice as well. It is tastey, and fulfilling.

Travellers who come through typically seem amazed with how good it is, comparatively speaking. After 2 weeks, it gets old, but it is still a great deal, a comfortable place, relatively clean, and hospitable.

One day, we may look back and joke about the "breakfast" and the accompanying morning music that they play without fail, every single morning. They open the doors, and some "MUSAK" type elevator music chimes out, a bit louder than most would prefer, but in it's own way, I suppose it's somewhat charming. Just the other day, I brought them some mp3s for variety's sake.... but they haven't played it yet. They haven't caught the Jack Johnson craze just yet I suppose.

The music, like most things, seem to improve as the day progresses. The best time to get things done seems to be between 10-2pm when not many are around, and the music volume is kept to a minimum. They turn it up after dinner, and show free movies at 8pm and 10pm.

Upgraded to Better Room

The hostel decided to put Denisa and I in a double, for the same price. So, we now have a room to just the two of us, rather than shared by four people. For about $8 / night, that is about as cheap as you can get in such an incredible city. So, we are quite happy about that. Though we still need to be sure to lock up our important stuff at all times.

One of our student colleagues was robbed in her apartment, so we are all being extra cautious about our belongings. I bought a new cell phone last week, and it dissappeared. I am pretty sure it was pick-pocketed when I was out at a club the other night. I've had a cell phone for about 10 years, and never lost one. So, that one would just vanish out of my front pocket seems unlikely. At least they only cost about $20. I got a new one today. If I could find a phone leash, I'd use it!

TEFL School Begins

The TEFL affiliate through which we will be certified is the DD Dragon school. They primarily teach private English lessons to children between 3 and 12 years. My legs don't really fit under the table, but the school is legit, and we are all making progress. We have all taught several full classes in a live setting. The requirement is 20 practical hours, and 10 hours of live teaching. We are more than half way through, and things are going well. Will upload some pictures soon.

Ben teaching one of his classes at the Hong Kou location.

Ben demonstrating the flying stuffed animal strategy for teaching ... as Seth, Melinda and Denisa observe intently to pick up the finer points of this method. :p

Metro, People's Square, Tea Scam

We were so excited to be venturing out for the first time, I forgot to put on shoes.

Waiting on the metro.

The Chinese Tea Scam

Our first stop of the metro, and we met these 4 Chinese students who were brilliant in execution of the famous Chinese tea fesitval scam. We all got taken for about 40-50 bucks. They basically tricked us into an environment where they started giving us stuff that we didn't think we had to pay for, but when they laid the bill on us, it was about 5x the amount it should have been.

It's the kind of thing where you wouldn't believe it could happen to you, but then it does, and you are at a complete loss for words... almost like a great magician. They were very very skillful.

I laugh Of, course, part of me is ticked off for being scammed. But I have to laugh when I see these pictures of these people, because they were so damn good!

And finally, many buildings are wrapped in this scaffolding, made out of bamboo... it's common to see 50+ floors of this stuff...

Jing 'an Temple - Seeing some sights...

In the midst of variety of 20-21st century high rises, this temple is quite an amazing sight. You can see a million more photos of this temple - just google "jing an temple" to see some amazing pics. Here are a few from our trip... we got to hear some chanting, pretty interesting.

Shanghai City Central Youth Hostel

In the north western part of the city, right next to a metro station, in the Putuo District... No. 300 Wuning Road, Putuo District, Shanghai, China http://www.chinayha.com/

The front lobby ...

Before our arrival, we'd heard that this hostel is one of the best in the world... from my experience (limited) I would have to say that is true. For about 70 kwai ($10usd) per night, we get to stay in one of the coolest cities on earth, with an amazing lounge area, free wireless internet, and an all u can eat buffet each morning. Quite accomodating. The only drawbacks are the limited space in each room. So far, we're dealing. They even have western style toilets... as opposed to the common Chinese "squat pots."

Took this picture with the camera in the corner of the room. Quite a tight spot for 4 people... though we only have 2 in there currently. We could upgrade to a larger room, but this works for now... need to stay on top of laundry in these tight quarters! (Which I'm doing currently, hanging out most items to dry, as there is one small dryer for 80 residents. :-0)

Arrived

Jenny from the DD Dragon training school picked up Denisa and I, and 2 other students from the airport, to take us back to our hostel. We first took a bus through the city to an interchange, where we couldn't get on the next bus because we had too many bags! So Jenny put our bags on this cart, and we walked for about 1/2 mile through the city to one of the apartments. It was tiring to say the least... I was carrying my backpack and laptop, in my travel clothes, after a 16 hour flight. Sweaty, messy, crazy, but we made it.

More Trip Pics

Here are some shots of the trip... we had the middle three seats...

Denisa wore shorts and a tank top on the flight. She found some creative ways of getting cozy... for part of the flight, I sat next to the grim reaper. :o