Sam's space

Well, it's been a while since I added an entry for you folks! A lot has happened in the past three months or so. Back in December (the 26th to be exact) Vivian and I, taken by her parents, drove to Nanjing through a foggy morning to get married.   It just involved the legal part and it took place at a government office. We're getting married Chinese style, which means we get married first and then have the celebration a bit later. The celebration will be complete with bai jiu, cigarettes, humiliating games in front of everyone, and gambeis. The officer who married us read a list of filial duties we had to obey as a married couple. "You will honor and support both your parents throughout your life. Can you make this?" He always ended each duty with the query, "Can you make this?" It was indeed a happy day and Vivian's parents were there as witness. The REAL celebration, however, is to take place May 26th in Changzhou. As Borat would say, "Happy times!"

I've quit my crappy job teaching to Shanghainese brats. Now, I'm going to teach much older brats. But the upshot is it is only at one location, not at a number of various locations all around the outskirts of this metropolis.

 

So, as a newlywed couple, I returned to Spokane for a visit with my new wife.  The surreal part of this trip for me was to go back home on a vacation for a set amount of time. When I left for China, I thought I would return in half a year after traveling and teaching in the Far East. Instead, I had returned after a year and a half in China, with my wife! It was great showing Vivian around my hometown. I think I was more excited about it than she was, although she had a great time too. I'd drag her to little parks and cafes, explaining banal accounts of my old routines back in the day. My parents live in a beautiful house out in the woods that overlook a valley, complete with barn and livestock grazing. The deer always venture around the property and we were even blessed with sights of the local wild turkey flock (gaggle?). We'd get up around 10 or 11, have a coffee, and go to the living room to enjoy the view. Then, maybe a soak in the hot tub outside, breathe in the fresh (unpolluted) air, before starting the day. Our parents took us to the cabin, where our lake was frozen solid. Walking across it was novel for Vivian, who had never really explored in deep snow before. After two weeks of relaxing, seeing friends, and driving around, the folks threw us a party. Everyone who was anyone attended. Our gifts from China included a bottle of top-quality bai jiu, (still gut wrenching to me) which my parents and their friends enjoyed surprisingly. I was too busy enjoying the wonderful tastes and effects of the lovely micro brews. Mmm, they will always represent the taste of the northwest to me. So the party was fun, the bai jiu (and normal wine) flowed, and the celebration grew lively and noisy. Joel (my little bro) informed people he could drink a lot, it was only after he mixed the different types of alcohol that he ever got in trouble. This was right before he commenced to drink a strong gin and tonic after maybe six beers. So the next day, a severely hungover Joel put off getting up until around 1pm. Then, he drove us to Seattle, which is a 5-hour trip on I-90. Vivian got to see the state of Washington in its entirety, from the central desert to the Cascade Mountains. In Seattle, we stayed with Spencer and had a mini-reunion of some of the teachers I worked with in Changzou, China last year. It was strange to see them in our own country, but it was fun had by all. After two days of exploring beautiful Seattle, we flew back to Shanghai.

 

The trip, I thought, would have ended there. But Vivian's parents picked us up and took us to Changzhou, her hometown. The next day we had a big, formal dinner with her whole family at a nice restaurant. We ate in a private room with three tables. Vivian and I handed out our gifts from the states and showed pictures. I was presented to the family members I hadn't met before. And the cousins tried to gambei me to test my drinking ability. Luckily it was red wine and not bai jiu, so it was no problem. My drinking ability greatly impressed my new family.   So that's my trip! I feel much refreshed reconnecting with everyone back home. Thanks to you all for your hospitality and company! We'll see ya'll soon enough and that's a threat, not a promise!

 

 

Shanghai Art Museum and Hyperdesign

 

       The Shanghai Art Museum is an old European building designed like a cathedral, complete with an old clock tower. It’s become a familiar landmark for me now, located next to People’s Square. Inside, it looks like a palace and there’s a beautiful marble staircase with blue clouds painted on the steps so that when you look straight at it, people appear to be climbing a painting of clouds up to the next floor.

       I went there with Vivian’s little cousin, Chao Chao (pronounced chow chow and it means “super super” in Chinese), whose an art student studying up in the Shandong province. She stayed with us for a week and she adhered to a strict schedule of exploring as many art museums as she could find in this giant metropolis. I was sad I didn’t go with her one day. She showed me pictures of the exhibits she had discovered. One featured piece was of the body of an actual goat blown up with air inside so as to look like a grotesque balloon! It was painted bright blue and its legs stuck out behind it like it was flying.

       Anyway, the show Chao Chao and I went to was entitled Hyperdesign. It was a show to celebrate the art of design and mixed media. The exhibits showed everything from stylish furniture to paintings and from outlandish projections to traditional sculptures. Most of the art was interactive with the people. For example, there was a room with a light shining from one wall that projected your shadow onto the other and suddenly artificial shadows would appear, walking to music, so that your silhouette was part of the image. There was a room that displayed glass Buddhas filled with pills, aptly named Buddhist Pharmacy. My favorite room was of an apartment with all the furniture placed on the wall and the other walls and floors were all mirrors, so you had a different perspective of everything at a glance. Another room had projections of Chinese characters meaning mother, father, and family squirming around the dark walls like little amoebae.

       Everything was situated tastefully so that each piece of art seemed to lead into the next one. When in the side spiral stairway, you could hear the light tinkling of bells playing a simple tune. When you finally reached it, it consisted of a string of bells strung up by electric wire, and ringing in concentric order, each bell playing a different note. One bell was missing and it was placed on a stool below it. This piece was called The Missing Note. When you continued to the very top floor, everything was in white and had a blank feeling to it. One room had a projection of a stark, white room with a plant in the center and a window off to the side. Slowly, the sunbeam would move up and down, giving the plant a different shadow against the floor. This was called Serenity. The other room was white with natural light pouring in from windows in the ceiling high above us. The paintings were all white with simple line designs. It felt like we were much higher than the fourth floor. It was as if we had reached the pinnacle of this creative show, where the light from the day and a few lines on the wall were enough to communicate beauty to its visitors. 

 

Hello everyone.

 

Well, the past month, I've been wandering around Shanghai, making appointments, going to interviews, and doing some general shopping and loafing. Vivian has been my partner in crime, diligently sending out my CV and helping me locate destinations in this gigantic metropolis. I sometimes envision her as a google program I can access via text on my cell phone. In a large shopping area (all the areas are large here), I panicked not knowing how to get to my interview. "Just look for an elevator or any way to get to the 14th floor," she'd texted. Oh, ok! It was this kind of advice, although it is common sense, that kept me focused on my task and I found the office. The area is called Xu Jia Hui and it is filled with many beautiful women, shopping around, seeing and being seen. They all look, dress, and walk like super models. As soon as I had emerged from my exit from the Metro, I popped out amidst them all in a palace of a shopping mall. I had to dodge around exotic Chinese shoppers in their big sunglasses and trendy, skimpy clothes. The interview went as well as the others did. In Shanghai, the market is definitely in the foreign teacher's favor to find a job. They asked for my preference in salary and I quickly remembered another text Vivian had sent. "Don't go under 150 kuai an hour." Sure enough, they had tried to negotiate me down to 130, but I informed them 150 was my minimum. "Ok," they had assented. Damn! I should have asked for more! Oh well, with experience, I'll have more power on asking for higher wages.

Apart from that, Vivian and I have been walking around in the evening, enjoying the sights around our apartment. We walk to Xintiandi, which is a trendy and pleasant strip filled with cafes and western restaurants. We stroll through a park that reaches as far as People's Square, only a twenty minute walk from where we live. And beyond People's Square is the Bund, one of the most world-famous sights, with the Pearl Tower shining over the river in its pink brilliance. I'm going to miss these lazy days when the school year starts!

 

Seeya!

 Here’s to the crazy foreigners who taught with me in the southern town of Chenzhou in the Hunan Province.

There’s me, Lucy, Donald, Erin, and Dominic. We had just enjoyed a blissful dip in a lake, with inner tubes, and we just floated around for a few hours. I was under the illusion that I had lost my digital camera somewhere. It was a bit of tragedy because I still had over 200 pics on there that I had foolishly not saved elsewhere. After our swim, Erin asked if she could put her swimsuit in my bag. Of course, I glared at her as if I were horribly put off, but assented resentfully. Donald annoyingly opened a pocket in my bag that I never use and he said, “Just put it in this one.” I was about to protest when he pulled out a strange, silver, shiny object from the mystery pocket. “Is this your camera?” “No,” I said, not believing my eyes. But it was! It was in my bag the whole time! Lucy, who had gone through the trouble of whipping her staff into scourging the campus for two days in search of my camera, began to hit and berate me. I was thoroughly embarrassed, but relieved and very happy. I couldn’t help but smile during the ensuing abuse. This picture was taken in celebration of Donald recovering my camera. So, to save face for all concerned, Lucy had me gambei three beers before we ate our dinner…yes, Donald, just glasses of beer, but tall glasses nonetheless!

Seeya!