Food Coma

I've just got to get it out there. I have no pics of Thanksgiving. We celebrated big time yesterday (china doesn't give off for thanksgiving duh). I had to work and me being really clear minded in the morning got up late and straight ran out the house to catch the bus. Yea I take the bus in Shanghai, and WHAT. I got it like that. So I left my camera at home and the bottle of wine I was planning to bring with me. The meal was fantastic. Just..so much glorious turkey, and ham, and sweet potatoes with almonds and string beans with fried onions and biscuits, and and, oh yea before all that there were carrots and hummus and cheese and crackers, oh manz, it was a good day for me yesterday. What else was there, ahh can't forget about the lasagna, yes lasagna, both meat and veggie, and of course all turkey was accompanied by gravy (uncle roy, you were not to be outdone) but it was mmmmm gooooooooooooooddd. I think I ate for seriously, like 2 hours straight. I'm not sure if people were trying to talk to me or what, but I went hard son, no lie. I don't eat a lot of sweets but I put those down too. M&M cookies and chocolate chip cookies and tall-house bars and cookies with shiny things on them and cake.  Oh yea, there were people at the party. Many of whom I've met before but lots of new people also. All great and nice and super intelligent. In total I'd say the party had at least 4o people there. It was really great. I have to say my last week was a little hard. I wasn't feeling well, I even had a physical for my job on the actual Thanksgiving where I got an ultra-sound and had blood taken and my eyes checked and all this stuff at like 8 in the morning. Way to celebrate Thanksgiving, in a freezing cold room getting examined by coughing chinese nurses. To top that off no one really speaks to you there, the nurse just looks at your paper and tells you a room number. Go room one zero 2. After you're done in there, the nurse in the hall says, go room one zero six. So on and so on. IT was great. I felt so comfortable there and welcome. SOoooooooo, To celebrate on Saturday was really great. I left feeling full and a little buzzed and slept great. I do work tomorrow but not until five in the evening so its all gravy. (you like how I did that? all gravy??) Yea, so I'm feeling good and getting recharged, and even learned today how to say I want noodles, rice and lamb. All three of which I ordered from my street moms out on the corner cooking all night. Got a smile and everything..yur boy Nate is feeling good and to top THAT off I'm about to go beast out a workout in the gym. Pics on the way..goodies of my students and even a child that I stole. Kidding.

Sneak attack Shanghai

A few bland pics before I put up Thanksgiving photos. I have some great ones of the city coming soon also. Trust.

Thanksgiving

Some pics from last years Thanksgiving. Being in China this year will be the first Thanksgiving I haven't been in NYC for. EVER.  I should have my fill of turkey and all that good stuff however. John and Debbie organized a huge feast which I am currently waiting breathlessly for. I thought I would take a time out from the shanghai pics and throw some family stuff up from last year. Time really does fly. I'm sure Liza and Scott can attest to that. Look how little Charlotte is in these pics!!

Harbin

My number one travel destination while I'm in China is:

Harbin.

Do yourself a favor and google it. All I can say is YES. Did anyone say ice sculpture festival?

Taxi

My taxi driver sped through Shanghai, flashing his brights. One block of darkness, then sudden illumination. Memories were evoked of dark back wood roads in New England lit by slivers of lightning, decorated with raindrops and delicate whispers from the wind. Such a strange parallel, now in China reminiscing of my youth. A time not far from the present, but seemingly lived in another lifetime. I know I am alive. I felt for the first time what I have never felt before. We weaved through what felt like empty streets, only littered with people who would soon be washed away to their homes in the rain.  Dim lights from cars, red lights from street signs and green lights from numbers on busses, blended, and blurred together. An oil painting that will never be duplicated. My mind's eye trying not to blink. Each click of my driver's light switch congruent with my mind's thoughts. Trying to see clearly, but mist and smut cluttered my vision. Each glimpse of light blacked out by prolonged periods of darkness only to have extreme clarity, if not only for a second. Never stopping, never quitting, always reaching my destination, no matter what the price.

Camera revitalization

I haven't been taking my camera out lately because I just want to soak in the city. Sometimes when I have my camera with me I feel like I'm out doing an art project. Always looking for angles and colors and attitudes that try to express my inner voice. HA! I kill myself sometimes. Regardless I have been trying to get my ground and figure out locations and see how things are relating to each other so I can feel like I'm more part of the city. I'm starting to get the energy of the city. With that said I'm going to make sure I pack my camera with me everyday this week. I regretted not having it in a few places. I could have gotten some incredible images but I guess they were meant for me to see. Shanghai is not a city that will let you down visually. There will be plenty left to see tomorrow and the next day. With my first day of work tomorrow and rain falling from the dark Shanghai night, I think I'm going to relax and read a little before I call it a night. 

Thanks for the subway stories KID - thinking of home always gives me sweet dreams as I fall asleep :)   

Ashy to classy

I'm back to being busy. From nothing to something. I'm living the....Chinese dream? So I have three jobs. Think I overdid it? Who knows? I'm sure I will in a week haha. I'm putting in 40 hours a week with scholastic teaching kids. Young, young kids. They should be from 4-7 years old. I'm working Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Wed. Then on Tuesday and Thursday I have two tutoring jobs. One is a business man who will be going to Ohio to work for some computer company, and then after that is the young boy Sean who you see in the picture below from a day ago. The scholastic job consists of only 25 teaching hours however. The other hours are meetings and collaborations and things like that. I'll be at Scholastic, but I won't be teaching during those times. There will never be more than 14 kids in the classroom and I will have an assistant there with me. She is very quiet so I don't know what she is really going to do. I observed some classes today and there are some really great assistant teachers. Too bad I didn't get one of those. The location of the center I'll be working at is actually really close to where I'm living right now which is a huge relief for me.  Scholastic will pay for the trip one way, so I'm not too worried about spending money. I think the trip by taxi might only cost me 2 American dollars. Maybe 2.50. I could be riding a cab to work everyday for the same price as the subway. How sweet is that? I opened up a bank account and am officially on the clock. I have a 6 month contract and will have the opportunity to resign if I feel like it when it is over. May 19th sounds like a nice date to return to NYC, with the summer just beginning and my birthday around the corner, so we'll see how that goes. I'm not quite sure where I'll be after my contract is over, but I'm looking at new locations I might want to travel to and work at. These are secret locations and will not be revealed...Russia? Denmark? I can't tell you, but you'll wish you were there.

Getting cold

It's starting to get cold here in Shanghai. It's officially jacket time. Hats and gloves can't be too far off..

This is Sean. He is an 8 year old boy that I'm currently tutoring 2 nights a week here. He's really smart and speaks English very well. He lives in a nice part of Shanghai and I look forward to tutoring him each week. I have a meeting with Scholastic tomorrow so I should know my schedule by the end of the day. The next post I put up will have all the details about my job.

View from my room

A friend of mine from College, Paris has been living and working in Shanghai for the last two years. It's good to hang out with him because we both went to school at Goucher and he knows a lot of the same people I do so we can talk about Bmore and I can get my mind off of China for a little while. Paris, myself and his friend Marie went out to dinner last night at a really nice Italian restaurant. I was impressed at the quality of the food. Anyway, here's a photo of Paris and myself from two nights ago as we just hung out on his corner and drank a brew from the deli. Ahh, just like home..

Dumplings delivered

The funky stuff here is funky don't get me wrong, but the American style Chinese food that I'm used to eating back home is a thousand times better here. My host mother made dumplings for breakfast today. Delicious pan friend dumplings. Nothing like starting your day with 8 beautiful dumplings and some vinegar sauce and a little warm sweetened milk to wash it down. I'm off to meet John and Debbie and I'm sure an onslaught of their friends at an American style eatery. Time to get my weight up! With Thanksgiving around the corner and what is sure to be a feast with John and Debbie I need to get my stomach back to the size it was in order to truly enjoy the holiday. Thinking of my friends and family today. I miss you guys!

Why do I need I.D. to get I.D? If I HAD I.D. I wouldn't NEED I.D...It's the questionss

The trip. I'm sure everyone wants to know more information about the trip. Why are you in China Nate? Do you speak Chinese? Do you want to marry a Chinese woman? Are you in love with Chinese culture? What is your purpose? Why Asia, why Nate? I didn't have an answer for a long time. To any of these questions. I wasn't sure. I'm still not a hundred percent sure, but I'm starting to find an answer. I'm starting to know why I came on this trip. Why I left New York. Why I left my friends and all my family and the streets I love. It hit me as I was riding the 37 bus today back to my home-stay from my interview with Scholastic. Man the bus was crowded. It was so dark outside I could hardly see anything. A few small lights lit alleys. All I could hear was the horns of motorbikes outside. Shanghai feels like a mixture of the wild west and the big city thrown together. Ahh the incessant rambling, we want the answers Nate! I realized I wanted to experience more of the human experience. (Ah Shiiiiittttt, Nate's lost it!) Just breathe with me here for a second, understand what I'm trying to convey. I was so comfortable in New York. Being a fucking New Yawka, diddy bopping and window shopping. I needed to see and understand what it was like to be totally out of my zone. I wanted to be so other that I lost myself in order to truly examine what I wanted. What I wanted from myself and what I wanted from others. I needed to come to a place where what I knew was no longer what made me who I was.  I didn't want to talk about how alphabet city has changed, and I didn't want to talk about white people in harlem, and I didn't want to talk about pretty spanish girls. I wanted to know why we fight. I wanted to know why people are so different from each other and why people are so resistant to embracing others. I wanted to know why we call people different and why we're always in such a rush to push people out of the way. As my home-stay father took his glasses off and put his forehead to mine when I said my head hurt, and then pointed to my room and mimed for me to sleep, something, I think that same something that started to creep into me on the 37 bus when a woman fell and everyone standing rushed to pick her up, started to come clear. What it is, I'll leave that for you to decide. 

Official Shanghai G

So today was a good day. I signed up for a gym not far from where I'm living. I got a two month deal for about 55 bucks. I also had my first workout in a gym in over a month. I am going to sleep well tonight. It was a much needed lift. I was looking too skinny! Hopefully I can put a little muscle back on now. So before I signed up for the gym, me and Rena were walking through the neighborhood. Rena is the daughter of the host family I am living with. She was taking me over to a gym that was very close to her house. They unfortunately don't offer such short term deals. She made a call, at the time I didn't know who she was speaking to but I guess it was her father. She hung up the phone and asked me if I knew how to ride a bike.

"(GULP) Yes Rena...I think I do..(GULP)

"Ok...we will ride to gym."

We met her father on the street who was standing next to a bike he wanted to throw out. Oh wait. That is his bike that he rides everyday. How foolish of me.  It had a little basket in the front, rusted everything, a front brake that almost worked and a little like, wired pad over the back tire. I wondered if they would send my body back to NYC to get buried. If you don't know, no one obeys traffic laws in Shanghai. No one. I mean people ride motorcycles on the sidewalk. Bikes Nate? NO, motorcycles.  Just because it is a red light does not mean a car is going to stop for the light. Busses? Don't get me started. You thought NYC busses were bad..I mean, I can't even describe the level of fear my first day in China while I crossed the street. 

"Let go" Rena said suddenly.

"NO! I won't Let go!!"  I screamed as if I were a child who knew he was about to be scolded.

"No no, let'S go." Rena corrected herself.

"oh, okay..." I said back and stopped the tape of my life that was playing in full view inside my forehead. 

I slowly peddled down the street and Rena, the old pro she is, neatly positioned herself on the hepatitis filled "seat" covering the back tire.  

The rest is history my friends! I peddled, and I steered and I sped up, and slowed down. I did all the things one might imagine you would do on a bicycle!! Oh but let's not forget the pleasantries I could smell! Human urine, MMM, my favorite, dead things, sewage and oh so much more! I always dreamed of cruising through the city with a lady on my side...Didn't think it would turn out like this however..busses flew by, motorcycles and mopeds. I passed lesser bike riders with ease farting on them as I rode past. Ahh glory at its finest! 

We made it to the gym and back. I'm officially a Shanghai gangster now.

Night pics

Evening Pics

Day pics

Holy Shit

I just got an email from saxon court, the people i was going to be working for in Tokyo:

Dear Nathan,

I hope your travels are going well.

I have been told by Tokyo that your start date is no longer January 3rd. An unforeseen number of teachers are renewing their contracts next year, meaning that you won't start now until March 23rd.

I realize that it will require you to completely re-think your plans and I apologize for the inconvenience. Please let me know your thoughts on this.

Kind regards,

---

There's a rumbling in my belly that is telling me a 6 month contract with scholastic might hit the spot...or it might be the strange noodles I had for dinner... Shanghai might be my calling...

Homestay

So I'm at my home-stay. Things are interesting. It's a modern apartment so thats all fine, but I'm not sure how much Chinese food I can eat. You might be thinking, Nate, you're crazy, I love Chinese food, I'd love to be in your situation. American Chinese food and Chinese, Chinese food, are very different. That's all I have to say for now. I really need to find something to do during the day, even if it is just walking around. The host family is very nice and they want to feed me, I just...I just don't know. I'm not the biggest germ-a-phobe there is, but China can bring it out of you. Chinese style family eating does not include plates. All you get is chopsticks and a spoon. When the dishes go down in front of you you just eat off of them. Everyone is eating off all the plates. Dipping sauces are a double dunkers dream, and well, it's just going to take some getting used to that's all. I hope I get used to it cause I'm a little hungry... I just like my food, as well, my food!! I hope this works out..haha...My host family is super nice, so that's not it, but those who know me, know I like my food! This blog has sort of rotated around what I've been eating and my spirits have been high so far..two months till I'm back in Tokyo..let's see how it goes...

The dark city

Maybe coming from Japan, makes me feel this way, but everything in Shanghai is dark. Even when there are lights on nothing is too bright. I always feel as if I need to screw the lightbulbs in tighter, or get new bulbs altogether.  Not seeing the sun during the day I think has also played a roll in the feel of the city.  Things are dusty, dirty, and under construction. I haven't been snapping photos off like I did in Tokyo, but here are a bunch from my first full week here in the city that flies. 

These pics don't signify any historic landmarks or anything like that, just some basic scenery not to far from Debbie and John's. Since I take so many pictures I usually filter the ones that I put on here. I choose the ones that are framed the best, or that I like the best, but since the blog has been starved of photos recently I'm just going to put up all the Shanghai flicks I have so far. ENJOY!