Mike In China

Ok, so I am not currently being as diligent with updating my blog as some people have requested. SORRY. However, I also know for a fact that many people aren't being very diligent with reading my blog so I don't want to overwhelm them (plus I'm a working man now and I'm busy). I am currently looking for another part time job to earn some more money so I can live it up and travel while I'm here. This past weekend was fun, we were much more successful finding a place where there were actually people. We went to a bar named Windows to meet some of our fellow teachers and it was decent. They played hip hop music and it was a mix of locals and foreigners. The initial plan was to go to a club that had a 70 kuai cover charge and then drinks were a max of 3 kuai. Pablo and I decided to go check that out with a guy Craig from Canada (fellow teacher). We went and it was down these stairs on an empty street and if there wasn't another cab of foreigners getting out in front of us we probably would have gone back to Windows. It ended up being a really cool place. Same thing with a mix of foreigners and locals but the place seemed much more "classy." It is hard to describe the difference between the two but I liked the second place much more. While sipping on a beer we suddenly found ourselves in the middle of an MC BATTLE?! It was some special night with two MC's that started battling on stage in English. I'm talking mother fuckin' 8 Mile style! It was definitely not what I expected to be doing on a Saturday night in Shanghai. The place was pretty cool and I hope we go back. My weeks are pretty much the same but I will share some funny stories and post some funny pictures. So, everyday in my 1st Grade class I start by saying, my name is Michael, what is your name? And the students look like they are having spaz attacks raising their hands for me to call on them. I called on one of the boys who always is SUPER excited about getting to say, my name is, and then his name and waited to hear his normal correct response. However, in their other English class they must have learned the words "I like" that day and the poor boy confused "my name is" with "I like." Because I knew the boys name I knew where this was going.... The young boy yelled out, with a big shit grin on his face while jumping up and down "I LIKE DICK." I had to pause class for awhile to laugh by myself. Another story, my cab driver today found out I was American and made me change to the front seat so I could have a Chinese lesson. It was a lot of fun and he did a great job teaching me some very useful Chinese words to use while in a cab. He didn't speak English very well but got his point across. While trying to come up with different words he knew in English he got very excited that he could say to me "big breasts" and while driving did made the motions with his hands on his chest imitating "big breasts." Good for you Chinaman, go get an American woman with your vast knowledge of the language. Announcement: Although these trends my not be making a resurgence in the US, China is doing its best to bring them back; the fannypack, little boys with rat tails, and anything NSYNC or Backstreet Boys from the late 90's. Finally I will leave you with some funny signs.

Last weekend was a lot of fun. On Thursday night we went to Barbarosa which is a huka bar in the middle of People's Park (in the middle of downtown Shanghai). We went because the DJ told us Thursdays are ladies night. It was a lot of fun. The place is amazing. Four levels with balconies and decks overlooking the park and skyline of the city. Drinks are a little spendy so we would have the girls go get free drinks and give the to us. We got there early but the place got pretty packed after awhile. Mostly expats but it was funny because there were a lot of male expats in their 40s or 50s in groups followed by groups of female Chinese girls in their 20s and 30s. I wonder what those girls are in it for... Friday we stayed in and hung out to save some money, plus Pablo and I teach on Saturdays. Saturday night we went out to eat with Phoebe's dad because he was in town. He took us to M on the Bund and the food was very very good. We ate outside on the roof and there was an incredible view of the river and the skyline of Pudong on the other side. The food selection was basically everything except Chinese so it was nice to eat something other than noodles for once. After dinner we went to the Jin Mao tower to try and have a drink at the Cloud 9 bar on the top floor (the tallest building in China). It was too full so we had drinks at the piano bar on the 53rd floor instead. The view was still amazing. After that we called it a night. On Sunday we went to some breakfast for a group Phoebe joined that helps find homes for abandoned animals. It was ok. Of course though on our way there, we had our usual time with Phoebe being in charge, we got lost. Then we went to go check out the Yu Gardens and Bazaar. There was a charge to go into the gardens so we just walked around the bazaar. Hello, hello! Watch? DVD? Shoes? Ridiculous. Chinese lesson: Bu yao = I don't want, a very important phrase to have down if you ever come to China. Then we took a cab to go to Century Park which is the biggest park in Shanghai and is located close to us in Pudong. You have to pay to get in?! It's a fricken park?! We didn't go in because it was getting late and instead went to go check out Carrefour to see if they had American foods if we ever have the craving. We got dinner at the Moon Light Diner which is the first place we have been to that has actually gotten American food right. I had a blue cheese burger and that made my weekend. Things are still going well with teaching, I will have to take some pictures of my kids soon to post. Right now we are looking into taking a big vacation during our winter break. I won't say where yet because I don't want to jinx things. Either way I need more money! Special announcement: I will be in a car accident before I leave China. It is absolutely inevitable. My taxi ride home during rush hour. Insane. Cabs, busses, cars, people, bikes, mopeds everywhere and almost no rules for right of way. Lanes, optional. Side of street to drive on, optional. Ridiculous.

By the way, I think I fixed it so that anyone can post a comment so feel free to comment and ask me questions about stuff.

Things are going pretty well in Shanghai. I have spent the time trying to get a schedule down for teaching, sleeping, eating and having free time. Teaching is going really well. We all keep getting weird calls "recommending" us to go observe other teachers and we couldn't tell for a long time if it was required, or it was a hint that we were doing a bad job. We finally asked someone that wasn't our boss (who never gives a straight up answer, apparently that is how things are done in China) and found out that they usually have people observe so its not just us. In fact, I had the head Chinese lady in the office of our company come observe me today and said that I had an excellent lesson and she even thanked me for working so hard! I was really pumped because everyone else has been getting really weird sketchy compliments/criticism so I was excited that I got a straight up answer that I am doing a good job. Most of my kids are absolutely adorable. I'm talking I wish I could adopt them and bring them back to the states with me. They get soo excited about everything and during breaks they just attack me to play with them in the hallway. Its great. It just sucks that I don't speak their language and they speak very very little of mine! There has been some sketchy things going on with our company with changing schedules and whether or not we are all actually full time teachers. Either way we are all going to be paid full time but we might not be teaching enough hours to receive the end of the year bonus. Its sketchy and I intend to ask more at the meeting on Friday. No matter what, I am looking for another part time teaching or tutoring job so I can have some more money to travel and live it up in Shanghai. Speaking of, last Saturday we tried to go out in Shanghai. Phoebe had some magazine with clubs listed in it so we let her take charge. Complete wild goose chase. We would get dropped off at these clubs (yes we tried multiple) in the middle of nowhere that sounded hopping only to walk in, buy a drink and see that literally we were the only people there. WHERE IN THE HELL WAS EVERYONE?! It was a Saturday night in the second biggest city on the planet and we saw NO ONE ANYWHERE. We obviously went to the wrong spots, but still. Hopefully the quest will go better this weekend.

I'm alive! Don't worry I didn't get killed, I just haven't had the internet. I did write though and have posted the three letters I wrote while I didn't have any internet. This is the most recent one so I reccommend starting down two posts. Enjoy.

It’s Monday night in Shanghai. I’m sitting on my balcony on the 27^th floor overlooking Time Square and most of the skyline of Pudong. I would be sitting in the nook in Pablo’s room that looks at the two famous towers of Shanghai but he has crap there because he hasn’t finished unpacking yet. Everyone else went to go get dinner from street vendors but I did that earlier today. So far Shanghai is pretty sweet. I was slightly worried about living downtown and having it not feel like China but there are still plenty of side streets, alleys, street vendors and people you need to talk to that only speak Chinese. The funny part is that I’m trying to learn Chinese and starting out with basics at restaurants and shopping but the people that work here get really exited to see an American so the can practice their English and speak to you in broken English the whole time?! Bastards. I took the smallest room in the apartment so I could pay less, I’ve never really cared about how big my room is as long as I have a bed and a place to put my clothes. I don’t really need a desk because I just have my laptop and in all honesty I prefer typing out on the balcony. Hopefully tomorrow we can get internet so I can actually send some of these emails. Pablo didn’t work this morning and was supposed to take care of it but didn’t so now myself and Phoebe are going to go tomorrow with the “girlfriend” of one of the high up guys in the company. She is super nice and is the one that helped us out finding the apartment, which we got for a steal. I’m paying $250 U.S. a month in rent. Absolutely ridiculous how cheap living here is. Today was my first day of teaching. Phoebe and I teach at the same school on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings so its nice to have a friend to ride the train and take cabs with. I teach four 40 minute English classes to 2^nd Graders, have a lunch break and then teach one class of 3^rd graders. Next week I will start having two more classes of 1^st graders at a different school on Monday through Thursday. That’s right, no Fridays. However, we have lame ass staff meetings Friday afternoons so its not even a full day off. Then, because we are contracted to work five days a week I have to teach a 3 hour block in the afternoon on Saturdays. Apparently it is more of a students sign up and pay for it separately thing so hopefully no one will sign up and I will only work 4 days a week. The training for this company sucked. They didn’t really tell us a whole lot about what they wanted. Basically they told us that they wanted us to be clowns and give out a lot of candy to the kids. I think it’s going to take me a week or two to get used to that teaching method and I’m supposed to go watch one of my fellow teachers who has been here for awhile to get a better feeling for things. I do enjoy teaching. I liked the 2^nd graders more than the 3^rd graders because they were better behaved. The kids are at the stage where they love their teachers and since I’m foreign that makes me even cooler. I’m still waiting for a real bed to come. Right now I have a jenky ass futon that we are going to try to keep somewhere for guests (hint hint). I really just want to finish moving in. It’s crazy when I think that I’ve already been here for more than a month. Then it’s even crazier to think I will be here for another ten maybe more. We had to sign a lease for 12 months so we don’t know what we are going to do with the extra time but I know I’m not staying here until next September. Did you know this is going to be the longest held job I have ever had? Kind of scary. It sucks right now too because we have to slum it for awhile because we had to pay a month advanced rent and a two month security deposit. I had to borrow money from my parents for that one and I still don’t have that much to live off of this month. I will just have to make it work. Stay in touch.

Today was ridiculous. Absolutely a nightmare. We spent the day looking at apartments. Last night we looked at all the cheaper places further down the subway, and they were a ton nicer than what we expected and what we lived in in Zhuhai. Then Phoebe convinced us to look at more places today on a further up subway stop just to look. Ridiculous. These places were amazing, very western, super pimp and deece views. Funniest part was that we had multiple real estate agents following us around all day trying to show off their own apartments in different complexes. We had a fuckin Asian Team of people finding us apartments. So we found one that we wanted that was a price that we could afford with pretty sweet views. Will was still hesitant about paying so much and he wanted the places we found before so there was some discussion, but we decided to go for it. The discussions started with the real estate agent and somehow something came up about not having the right papers… SKETHCY. We said that’s not ok, we are not doing anything that might be slightly illegal blah blah blah fake papers are not ok, we heard stories about Americans being put in jail for that shit, we are not signing contracts with out the right papers. Then Phoebe mentions, oh by the way, the apartment on the 27 floor of the building that you guys fell in love with and was your first choice but didn’t want to pay that high of a price for, oh they offered it to me for your price. SO NOW, we have the mother fucking penthouse for the price of the place without papers. 6,500 RMB per month = $812 USD per month aka $270 per person per month for our own bedroom downtown with views of the buildings you see on postcards. Any friend I have ever had that doesn’t come visit should kill themselves. And can I quickly mention the fact that everyone here smokes like chimneys. It’s disgusting. I have had to wear my glasses these past two days because my eyes hurt. And I have so much more to tell about how teaching is going to be. Not to mention I start teaching on Monday morning, five classes of 2^nd grade students. I plan to take a video tour or the apt and posting it, so let me know what you think. After everything we went back to the all you can eat sushi and all you can drink beer and sake place. Still absolutely amazing.

So I officially made it to Shanghai. The train ride was actually really cool. Our “top of the line soft sleeper was more like a closet and definitely not intended for people with baggage so we got really close” during the train ride. We tried to take a lot of video with our cameras to explain the situation so I will have to try and post that somehow, but either way it ended up being a lot of fun. The scenery was the absolute best just at sunset and I got some amazing pictures of the sun setting over lakes with mountains in the background that were along the train tracks. We got to Shanghai, have a hotel for two nights and still don'’t have an apartment. We have to wake up and have training for teaching tomorrow starting at 8:30 am and then tour apartments in the afternoon and evening. Supposedly we start teaching on Monday. The big story though is that tonight was the “staff party” for the company. Our boss rented out a bar where it was all you could drink from 7 to 11. Of course he rents out the sketchy prostitute bar he took us to the night we came up to Shanghai to interview. We go there and started drinking and it took a while to have enough of a buzz to be social but it happened eventually. After awhile I go to get another drink and low and behold, one of our co-worker girls comes up to me and starts talking to me at the bar. Mind you, earlier will and Pablo were “calling” girls and Will called this girl earlier and then proceeded to fall on his face tripping over something on his way to the bathroom and then took back his previous claim. Anyway, myself and this girl (who'’s name I do not know because she is somewhat of a soft talker and is originally from Columbia and has a little bit of an accent) talk for quite awhile at the bar. We make “plans” of her showing me local restaurants and making a deal to go to Tibet sometime and then go play darts with Pablo (worst dart game of my life). Short end to a long story, she was cool, I planted the seed and then let it breathe. Sad thing is that as the night went on, the atmosphere turned from work party to more and more "“working girls" being there. I couldn't take it. It is the most depressing thing in the word having a very attractive girl come up to you, say all the right things, seem very interested, be a hell of a flirt in her non-native language and the whole goddamn time you know that she is working you for cash. Ridiculous. I couldn'’t take it. I had to leave. Luckily Phoebe wanted to go so we left. We got back and got some amazing street vendor food for very cheap, rolled back to the hotel and ate it all. Now I'm sitting here writing this "post"” (because I don'’t have any internet) purely because I need to share my experiences.