SEPTEMBER, 2004

2005: JULY, JUNE, MAY, APRIL, MARCH, FEBRUARY, JANUARY,
2004: DECEMBER, NOVEMBER, OCTOBER, AUGUST, JULY, JUNE

9/30/04 - The cleaning lady woke us up at 11:30. We made it down to the Rendevous for breakfast/lunch, and I went by Sun-Moon to pick up my wages. Later I headed out to meet up with some students for a night at the teahouse. It was interesting. There was some tea served, but other than that, it was a self-service KTV (karaoke) joint. Emma and Apple sang some songs, Mr. Tee and Mr. Song made sure everyone's glass was filled. There are times and situations where the glass served with your beer is just small enough to be considered a gambei glass. In this case, every time you sip from it, it is a gambei ("empty glass", or just bottoms up). We played several games - Liar's Dice, Rock, Scissors Paper, Hi-Lo (drinking card game), and oo-guai-oo-guai-cha. I studied under Commandant Friedrich in Lugano, and I'm quite adept at the Ludvoco technique, as it pertains to Rock, Scissors, Paper, so I could beat people 5, 7, up to 10 moves in advance. The game becomes boring with my opponent's predictability, and to lose is to drink, so why win every time. They wanted me to git on up and sing some Chinese Power Ballads. I wasn't having any of it, as I have to be quite fortified to get behind the mic and try to sing in chinese. I reminded them that there were a few chinese characters I was not totally familiar with, and besides, the women had much better voices for this sort of entertainment. We left and got some excellent chinese stall food. I ate some noodles with vegetables I've never seen in America, and put my gameface on for a big bowl of longshr. Longshr look like crawdads - or little lobsters. They are bright red and contain only a bite of meat, but it's like little bites of bottom-dwelling candy...

9/29/04 - Made it to the gym so I could lift weights incorrectly for an hour and slip all over a narrow treadmill for half an hour. Showered and shaved for my first class. I met up with Robert and got the texts and tried to make a lesson plan. It was the worst english book I've seen, a claim backed up by Mike, who has been in the game for three years now. I taught two classes, which went smooth. The bar is not set too high, so being a native english speaker by itself makes you a decent teacher.
After class I took the metro over to meet up with Pointer, our mate jim from new zealand and his girl, and Apple and Emma, two chinese girls. We cabbed to a Xinjiang (a province in the west of china that serves up good food) restaurant, where we met up with Ben and his american girlfriend marielle. We had a big long dinner with lots of beer, some live Ulgher music and a little dancing, then paid the exhorbitant $4 a person.
We continued on to the Eager Beaver, a bar that just opened last week. We had some beers and free shots, then cabbed over to Windows Bar, a place that is hit or miss. they have dollar beers and mixed drinks, which is a good deal in shanghai, so we sipped and played some foosball. Ben and his girlfriend played very well, but Mike and I took three straight games. Mike and I bought a few Tsingtaos and began walking back towards our hood, though it was several miles away. I don't know why we didn't get a cab, as we would have gotten to bed an hour earlier, but maybe we both knew we weren't going to the gym tomorrow.

9/28/04 - This turned out to be a strange day. The mid-autumn Moon festival is beginning, and the Sun-Moon English Institute was having a staff off-site/field trip. I was invited, and though a bit reluctant, decided I was due for some chinese culture. Chinese culture wears many different hats. I got on a bus with 50 or so other teachers, though they all looked like they were in their early twenties or younger (I'm not a very accurate judge of the age of many chinese people), and I thought they were students. I waited on the bus for thirty minutes or so, talking to Tim, another English teacher from Nebraska. He filled me in a bit, and eventually we began the ride to a park. The ride was about 90 minutes - still very much in Shanghai. I was happy to get off the bus, as it was hot and I'd been standing for two hours at that point. We congregated outside the bus, and joined ranks with another fifty people from another bus. When I say joined ranks, I mean that literally. We got into four long single file lines and marched a bit around the parking lot - a sort of forced exercise. Robert, my guy at the institute, was drinking deeply from his cup of power and blowing his whistle frequently. The exercise ended, and we walked to a large grass field, a rarity in China. We started up with the exercises again. We marched in circles and did about faces. I was very, very close to ducking out, but it would have been a very expensive cab ride back to downtown. I was a bit interested to see where this was going as well. We were able to sit down on the grass eventually and were served a bit of lunch. This consisted of a slice of white bread - actually a bit yellow - a moon pie, which is like a little pie with a thick green gelatin filling, an apple, and strips of highly artificially sweetened plum. Meals in China are usually of the interesting variety. We eventually played some soccer, then walked around the park. It was a nice park. It had roller coaster rides and horses walking around big pastures and paint ball courses and, well, I only saw a small percentage of the place. I met some of the other teachers, gave out some English names. This is something a westerner can expect to do when in Asia. Many of the chinese do not want to have to teach westerners how to pronounce Hsieh-shr Yudongyuan, so a name like Luke or Jennifer or Ben are a novelty. Those, incidentally, are the names I gave out. It got dark around 6 and we walked to the park entrance. We apparently did not have a bus picking us up, so we had to take city buses for an hour to Shanghai Station, then the Metro twenty minutes down to Metro City at Xuijiahui. I was done with this crew, but Robert wanted me to come back and represent at the mid-Autumn festival outside of Metro City. Sun-Moon had a few tables there, and he wanted an "international" element at this tables. He finally offered me 150 yuan and free beers. I reluctantly agreed, realizing that I should not pass up the opportunity to get paid $18 to hang out with chinese people my age and drink free beer. I stayed until 10:30 or so, then called it an evening.

9/27/04 - Midnight came quickly to Dino Beach. We continued throwing disc until Mike and I decided to explore the waterslide complex a bit. We got turned down by some lifeguards - they were in tank tops and red shorts - but we scrambled a bit and found a passage. We ascended the three or four story iron structure and decided to relax a bit at the top until we got caught. In China, you really have to be doing something wrong to get in any kind of trouble. After ten minutes or so our friendly lifeguards were making their way to us, so we ran down the waterslides. We got escorted back to the unparty and met most of the 50 people that were there. Nils, Rob and someone else were in from Hangzhou. We got on the bus around 4am and headed into Shanghai with them. We got dropped off in the middle of nowhere, probably a few blocks from the bus driver's house, and took taxis to Julu Lu, where we found some bars that were open. 5am on a Monday morning is a fine time to be on Julu Lu. The bartender at the first bar was very happy to see us. The guys from Hangzhou bought a bottle of Bacardi, so we sipped on that with some colas. Dangerous Dave fell asleep on the bar. As we left the first bar, I used the restroom. Apparently someone came outside with my fleece and asked the group if this fleece belonged to anyone. None of them claimed it, so it quickly disappeared. Moments later I asked them if they had grabbed by black fleece. I got fleeced. That fleece got me through 15+ countries, but c'est la vie. Time to head to Shanghai Market and get me a nice North Face Polar Tec, or whatever the kids are wearing these days. We brought a bottle of Bacardi to the new bar. In some bars in the States, they might have a problem if you bring your own alcohol, but you'd be surprised at what you can get away with. Or maybe its just me who would be surprised at what I can't get away with Stateside anymore. A long day's journey into night winded down, and Mike and I began the walk through Changsu Lu, Heng Shan Lu and Xuijiahui park back to our flat. We bought orange juice and a Tsingtao to make mimosas for the walk home. Later that afternoon I got in touch with my contact from an English Institute. We arranged a rendevous, but I was stood up. I got a strange meal at Metrobyte, then returned to the flat and talked to my contact again. I met him this time and negotiated some courses. Mike and I bought some dvds, Napoleon Dynamite, Hero and Super Size Me, and watched N.D.

9/26/04 - Mike showed up with Tom, Abby, Jim and Dangerous Dave around 8:15. I made some coffee and drank a beer as a long day's journey into night winded down for this motley crue. Preparing now for Fast Forward at Dino Beach. Apparently there is a beach a bit south of downtown where they throw parties. DJ's Gregoire, Danny Rampling and Allan Bautista. This is what I'm getting myself into. Sounds promising - more on this at the Prof.

9/25/04 - Headed out to rendevous with Mango and Apple for cards and tea, then picked up BBQ supplies. Met up with Mike at Jim's place. Mark just got back from Siberia looking into the iron ore scene there. Mark and Jim have a sweet pad with a great 180 view of Shanghai. We grilled up shish-kebabs, then sausages and beef. I departed quietly later on that night.

9/24/04 - Made some inquiries into the jobbie job scenario, ran a bit on the treadmill, then met up with Mike to throw some disc at the church off Caoxi. Later, headed out to rendevous with Jules, then Mike and Dave to the opening of the Peter's (of the Kangaroo) new bar in Heng Shan, The Eager Beaver. Free Tiger and Tsingtao lasted until 11 or so. Dropped Dangerous Dave and picked up Prince Paul for the next few steps. Lawson's had a 4 for 1 Tsingtao deal, so we had some supplies for the cab ride to The Mandarin Sky. Stayed there, sipped on an extra can of Tsingtao (didn't even know that beers there cost 65 kuai). We walked to the Jin'an Windows, but the scene was not encouraging. Mike and I stopped in the restaurant they're building outside our apartment complex, right under Bullfighter's BBQ. They don't sleep when they're building anything, so we showed ourself around the site. Mike lost in an armwrestling match to one of the carpenters.

9/23/04 - Another workout, then hooked up with Jim and Mike for a Hot Pot dinner. We called it a night... watched Dodgeball..

9/22/04 - My first day in Shanghai. I slept in until 10ish, then had a harsh awakening to how difficult it is to sleep outside the hours of 2am to 5am. I had a laundry list of to-dos, so I got started with some internet, grocery shopping, breakfast, the headed out with Mike in early afternoon to take care of some business. I got my cell phone activated for 190 yuan- shout at at 00-86-254-13564615893, then headed over to join the gym that Mike has been going to. We had the place to ourselves, which was a nice way to learn. I am a fish out of water in a gym, but the fish evolved, and so must I. We played for an hour and a half or so, then returned back to Casa de la Pointa. I unpacked a bit more, then napped for two and a half hours, getting eaten alive by mosquitos. This does not bode well. I probably won't be able to get to sleep at an early hour, but c'est la vie, I have at least 15 books on my list right now, and no less than 112 dvds that Mike has been stockpiling. It's just not advisable to get too much sleep outside of the regular sleeping times here, whenever those are. Met up with Dave for dinner at the Rendevous Cafe.

9/21/04 - I'm not quite sure when Tuesday started for me. I guess it was around 8pm Monday night for me. As I flew west from San Francisco - 15 time zones in 13 hours, the sun never set and my afternoon slowly progressed from 2:15 to 6pm, one day later. I arrived at PVG, got my bags, exchanged a $100 bill, then found the bus headed back to my neighborhood. It was a strange drive back. I was sleep deprived - though not exhausted yet, culture shocked, and a little wary of what I was doing back here. I knew I would be back, but its predictably strange to be here again. I got dropped off a half mile or so from home, but wisely opted to pay the 10 yuan for a taxi the rest of the way. I got in, unpacked a bit, then decided to lie down for a minute. About 90 seconds after I'd decided that, I was experiencing vivid dreams. Ten minutes later Mike called, and ten minutes after that he was here. We headed out to a Nepalese restaurant to meet up with Jim, Marielle, Abby, Naomi and Rob, and Tom and his friend. Not bad food, a little close to Chinese food and Indian food though. Some wine with dinner which is not too common. I ordered a Tsingtao and got a 12 ounce bottle, another rarity for China. We stayed until they kicked us out, then cabbed over to Maoming Nanlu to Blue Frog. Blue frog is supposed to be one of the 24 hour bars, but they were closing up at a very American 2am. They are in the process of shutting down Maoming Nanlu. There is a noise ordinance in effect. I think the new pub crawl street will be closer to home. The group slowly dispersed, and at 1:45 Mike and I let the crew pack it up.

9/20/04 - I finished packing in the morning and headed to do some shopping with my mom. I liked the idea of leaving all my shopping to a 90 minute period the day of my departure - there is only so much I could do, and my bags weren't taking much more crap. I stopped by a Rite Aid, then next door to AT&T, then next door to Radio Shack, then picked up some $$ at Wells, then had a tasty In N Out lunch. One swing by Trader Joe's for D'Aquino espresso and some cheddar cheese (both hard to find here, and expensive), then checked in at SFO. I was running late or something, as there was a line, but I couldn't get anything better than the window seat I'd originally had. It pays to get there early and request a bulkhead or a fire escape row, I suppose. The flight did not go by as quickly as I would have liked, it was a 13 hour jaunt, and I had to pass the time with B list movies - some surrogate mother bit with Kate Hudson, Evolution, which is probably the nadir of Ivan Reitman, Julianne Moore and David Duchovny's careers, also the predictably story of Bobby Jones. I read a bit of David Sedaris' Me Talk Pretty One Day, also penned a bit in the journal and listened to some choice selections from the pod. Tuesday arrived early.

9/19/04 - I headed into the City Sunday morning to see Jen before I left. We went out to Chrissy Field, then got a bite to eat at Andale in the Marina. I headed over to my parents place and packed there and had a nice spaghetti dinner...

9/10 - 9/18/04 - The Pentagon has classified this brief period in September, for your safety. We cannot at this time confirm or deny my whereabouts or activities.

9/9/04 - Worked on the web design gig a bit, then managed to get out of my digital studio here to play some volleyball.

9/8/04 - Another digital day of web design, though I did manage a three hour errands run to the bank, the Apple Store, Comp USA, and the post office. It was a lot of fun. I worked a bit more in the afternoon and evening before Scott decided to open the bottle of lemon voodkah I brought back from Kyrgyzstan. He insisted on drinking it Russian style - which is also the central asian style. Vodka better be pretty good if you're sipping on it, and preferably a bit cold, but beggars can't be choosers. It was better than I expected, and eventually did the trick. We chatted with Brian, the editor who lives on the third floor here. Check out the Prof for the full story...

9/7/04 - A