Check It Off The List

Mmmmmmmm, that sounds tasty

thesanders — Tue, 4 Dec 2007 16:21:00 GMT

Translation can be a tricky game. I am reminded every morning as I walk into the bathroom and see the “Mind act upon Mind” toilet paper wrapper in the trash can. Who knew that toilet paper was capable of the old Jedi mind trick of mind control? When Jenn and I were in Beijing we made a choice between two restaurants; one that’s name was translated to English and one that was written in Chinese alone. We chose the Chinese place because “Seafood and Fungus” wasn’t too appealing. After some famous Beijing Roasted Duck on a separate dining occasion, we opted to steer clear of “Yellow Pea Cake.” I’m sure yellow pea cake is delightful for some but I’m not mature enough to try it or get past the possibility that the translation is correct but the spell check didn’t catch an error.

Our friend Ray once told us that he couldn’t always look at a menu in Chinese and tell us what the dish would include. Restaurants get creative with their names so that even the Chinese are sometimes thrown for a loop and have to ask just what exactly the dish includes. 10 restaurants will have the same dish and all 10 of them will call it something different. Just the other night we went to my favorite neighborhood restaurant and found the English translations for some of the dishes. Here they are;

“Cow cooks a mushroom”

“Explode to fry a sheep waist”

“Romantic feeling hand grasps meat.”

“Imperial concubine keeps a thick soup”

Which one would you choose? If you can’t decide, consult your toilet paper and it will guide you to the correct decision.

Bill Murray Moment

thesanders — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 19:00:00 GMT

I had a funny Lost in Translation moment the other day. For those of you that haven’t seen that movie, it’s a good way to make two hours feel like five or a five hour flight feel like an eternity. Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson make for an strange duo in a strange land. It hits a little closer to home now that we are little farther from home.

Anyway, I walked onto an elevator in a shopping mall and settled in the rear of the car and stood facing the back of the elevator. It was one of those elevators on the exterior of the building with windows to the outside world. When the doors closed and I had my fill of the outdoors I wheeled around and was caught off guard by the reflection in the mirrored door. Here I was standing amongst 10 other human beings of all ages and not one man, woman or child was as tall as my shoulders. Here I was staring blankly at a goofy unobstructed figure in the mirror as if no one else was in the elevator.

When I reached the subway, I looked down to my left and could see down four or five car lengths without anything or anyone lurking about the masses. I looked to my right and three cars down I met eyes with a giant of a man looking over the crowd just as I was. He kind of gave me a crooked smile as he realized that we were probably thinking the same thing, “Damn, I’m a Giant.”

After I walked off the subway with my chest puffed out thinking about how massive of a beast that I was in this land of tiny people I realized that the man I saw was walking toward me. As he passed me I took a mental picture of a man that was about six inches shorter than me. And his chest was puffed up much further than mine.

JOB INTERVIEW

thesanders — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 12:46:00 GMT

This is a quick account of something that happened a few weeks ago. This was the email I sent to my family and I thought some of you might get a kick out of it. I was thinking that with a little more free time on this side of the world it would be a good time for me to get some things out of the way that would be difficult if I was at home coaching football right now. Here is the story.

I had an interview today at one of Shanghai's well known fitness clubs for a personal trainer position. It might have been the funniest interview in the history of job searching. If you were a fly on the wall, you would have been dumbfounded. If you were in my position now looking back, you are dumbfounded also. I can only give you a quick rendition now but will blog on it someday. (yeah right, I'm soooo good at updating blogs)

They kept asking me why I thought I could be a personal trainer. I guess they couldn't understand that 90% of my resume is teaching and 45% of that is through coaching and athletics. I tried to explain that I met with over 200 athletes to work out on a daily basis but my English may not translate to Chinese very well. After about an hour and a half of conversation with the manager and one of the female trainers turned translator, I think I had her convinced that I could handle the job but we will find out for sure on Tuesday when she calls me back. Remember that all of this came through an interpreter. So that adds a level of humor right there.

A few quotes from the Gym Manager that manages all of the gyms in Shanghai. Keep in mind that this lady is 5 foot nothing(which means she's got the primary qualification to marry a Sanders, Ben?) and weighs less than my shoes.

Direct quotes.

"Do you even lift weights?"

"You are kind of slight."

Then after I reassured her that I had lost some weight because her culture doesn't eat large quantities of meat and my full time job wasn't in a gym she asked if I would be comfortable "Lifting weights, so we can see your technique." Sure, can I empty my jean pockets of keys, money, sunglasses, cell phone, passport, and wallet first?

She sent me and my new best friend/female trainer/interpreter down to the 2nd floor where only one client was working and 5 personal trainers were looking at themselves in the mirror to meet with "Bruce." Now Bruce definitely looked like he worked at a gym full time. He asked me through the interpreter to show them how to do a bench press. I asked if they wanted me to put weight on the bar.

"No, you do it by yourself. Not too much weight."

Ok, so I put on 135 pounds (I'm working on the kilo thing). Interpreter says, "Are you sure you can do that? That is a lot of weight." I rattled off 12. Talking about form and all the technique while these two just stared down at me like I was crazy. I got up with my chest puffed out trying to look bigger.

They ran me through a couple scenarios. What would you do if a client wanted to work on their upper chest kind of stuff. After I explained every exercise that I could think of, they pointed at the bar and said, "What do call them...chinups? Do them." So I did pullups, explained that not everyone can do pullups and I would be make sure that a client was capable by starting with lat pulls. Showed them some grips that they thought were foreign and then followed by doing the same thing with butterflys and lunges.

Then came my favorite questions. "What would you do if a person passed out while working out with you?" I turned and acted like I would run away. I got a giggle. Even from the big guy. "I would make sure that the client was safely out of the way of danger and call for help. Then make sure they are breathing and that there pulse is still strong. If not, I would ..." "No, what would you do if a person turned white from low blood sugar and passed out." I didn't have the heart to tell them that the "client" was passed out and didn't tell me before hand that they were going to pass out from low blood sugar so I couldn't properly diagnose the cause of the fainting or the solution to the problem. Wait a minute...are we at a hospital or a gym? I tried, "Make sure they are comfortable. Give them some water and a snack." "A snack?" was the response that I got. My mind slowed from low blood sugar and I caved. "What would Bruce do?" "I would move them to the side and get them some sugar water." "Oops. Well that sounds good too. That is what I will do also. Where do ya'll keep the sugar water?"

Next question.

"What would you do if a really fat woman wanted to run?"

"Huh?" I was caught a little off guard.

"Fat woman, wants to run."

I wanted to say "Get out of her way" but I contained myself enough to fumble through some nonsense about using the elliptical or stationary bike. I was told that it was "Safety First, Strength Second" at this gym and that fat people had bad knees because they could not support all of the weight. They should never run... I wanted to say, "Call a foreign woman fat one time and I bet she will show how she can run..."

I'm sure that they are all chilling in the gym right now giggling about the slight, moppy haired foreigner that works out in jeans and thinks that any coach can be a personal trainer. Oh well. I can't wait to find out whether or not I've got them all fooled.

Hopefully the guy at the Ritz-Carlton was as interested as he sounded about me working "Free lance" for him instead of the Chinese run fitness center. I always wanted to be a free lance something, writer, reporter, contract killer...personal trainer will work.

Before entering China…

thesanders — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 02:36:00 GMT

For those of you that are contemplating a trip to China, here is some simple advice to help you to acclimate quickly. This is the first(maybe last) installment of these easy to learn lessons.

Lesson #1-Chopsticks

Learn to use them. Sounds obvious but it can be a challenging ordeal. Start with one of the favorite appetizers on this side of the world, spicy peanuts. If you have never tried shoveling peanuts into your starving mouth with a glorified pair of toothpicks, you should give it a try. Here’s how to practice the Chinese way though, buy the peanuts. Pour them onto a plate. Put oil on them and warm them up. Proceed to eat with chopsticks one by one. As speed and accuracy improves you will begin to feel strong and confident and ready to move to the next step. Try a hard boiled egg. Then a fish without bones. Then a fish with bones. Work up to full size pork chops or legs of mutton while still on the bone. We haven’t eaten a full sized animal yet but we haven’t been here that long.

Lesson#2-Conversational Bubble

Instead of talking to someone from three feet away gradually decrease the distance until you can feel them talking. Watch as they move away and then continue to maintain the close distance by following them around. For effectiveness back them into a corner. Imagine yourself in their shoes.

Lesson#3-Public Transportation Bubble

Pop it. Here’s how. Start with 6 friends and try to fit everyone standing shoulder to shoulder in the bathtub or at work into a tiny cubicle. Proceed to move from one end of the bathtub to the other without anyone falling out of the tub. After mastering this technique, find 6 strangers and repeat. You learn very quickly how to shield yourself from wayward elbows, shoulders, purses, shopping bags and/or babies.

Lesson#4-Street Walking

Collect as many friends, family, children, grandparents, neighbors, coworkers, bystanders and animals that you can find. Line up this assortment of humanity into 2 teams positioned into rows of 8 across and 5 deep. Play a game of Red Rover. Yes, the same game you played as a kid. For the true Chinese feel, play on a standard sidewalk. On the side of a freeway.

After conquering those lessons you are prepared for a Saturday afternoon in Shanghai with the Sanders. Come on over, we’ll meet you at the airport.

Pictures Updated

thesanders — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 22:44:00 GMT

Finally, with the help of the Sanders family technical guru, we have uploaded pictures from our trip to Beijing on Picture Trails. Here is the directlink if you want to take a look.

http://www.picturetrail.com/thesanders

Looking back, the decision to blog was short sighted. We have been so busy that we are less than adequate at updating this site regularly. I have a legal pad full of notes that just need to be typed and uploaded, I will try to get to it shortly. We will also attempt to post more pictures because we have got plenty to share. This past weekend we traveled with our two friends to Xi Tang River Town, as seen in Mission Impossible 3 and have got some cool photos of that excursion. This upcoming weekend we will be joined by our first American Guest as Jenn's dad drops by for an extended weekend holiday. We are extremely excited to hang out with him and for our first attempt at traveling to the airport via the Maglev Train to pick him up. Until next time...

New Picture Site

thesanders — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 00:50:00 GMT

Instead of the using flicker we have decided to move photos over to Picture Trails. Flicker did not show the uploaded pictures on our end and that led to countless frustration. That being said, we are not completely up and running on Picture Trails either but I will do my best to remedy that situation before the weekend is past.

The site is http://www.picturetrail.com/thesanders

Talk to you soon.

Beijing #2

thesanders — Sat, 6 Oct 2007 02:57:00 GMT

Donkey says-

Lonely Planet=Doesn’t Exist on this Planet

For the last few days Dog and I have been navigating our way through China’s capital city. We have seen the historical sites in and around Beijing, negotiated and bargained our way into an interesting array of souvenirs and wandered the streets searching for more adventures. We rented a little one room apartment in downtown Beijing for the whopping amount of $25 USD a night and sit one block from the subway, a 10 minute walk to the Temple of Heaven and a 20 minute walk to Tiananmen Square.

With this week surrounding National Day (October 1^st) the majority of the Chinese are on holiday with us. Many of our colleagues said that Beijing would be a zoo (and thus went South to beaches and quieter locales) this week but I don’t think it has been unbelievably crowded. Maybe I have been in China too long and crowds don’t faze me as much anymore. Of course I say that and tomorrow while waiting in line at the airline counter, I’m sure I will be bumped several times between my shoulder and knees by flailing limbs and before I am cut in line by several Chinese women and their mothers. The phrase “cut in line” doesn’t translate to Chinese I’m told. If you stand back and wait your turn in the grocery store, in the restroom or on the subway you could be pushed aside and left waiting for quite sometime.

We decided on Beijing in October because we have heard that Beijing in February, when our next extended holiday occurs, is flat out cold. Dog is scared of the cold and would much rather head south for the winter and I tend to agree that will be a welcomed venture out of my first real winter.

Tuesday morning we ventured over to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City and found that we weren’t the only ones that had thought of that plan. The next day the local English edition newspaper said the police department received thousands of missing persons calls from Tiananmen that day. Luckily Dog stuck out enough that I could find her whenever I wanted to. It was extremely interesting to walk through both the square and the no longer Forbidden City and witness the different approaches people take to celebrating historical relics and demonstrating patriotism. As an outsider, you may not understand the whole obsession with maintaining and showcasing Mao’s remainders but you better not get in anyone’s way from having there photo with his statue or painting. His photo is everywhere, his book is everywhere, his actions seemed to have been forgotten by quite a few though. He has quite a little cult like following usually consisting of people that didn’t pay attention in history class last week because they aren’t quite old enough to have lived through it. I was a little disappointed that his mausoleum was closed because it is said that they have the body stored in a fridge underneath the floor and they raise and lower it daily to prevent the body from decomposing anymore. Between that and the formaldehyde, they say he is pretty pickled. There is also a rumor that Ho Chi Minh’s body is kept in much the same way, when we head to Vietnam I’ll get the details for you.

Side note: During teacher training we were adamantly told that we could not discuss three things with our students because we are technically government employees;

1. Taiwan- Is it a country? It thinks so, most of the world thinks so but one group is pretty darn clear that Taiwan is not an independent country. Can you guess who that is?

2. Tibet- Same type of thing, different underlying issues. Ask the Dalai Lama the next time he is in America hanging out with Richard Gere, he’ll explain it to you.

3. Tiananmen Square- What about it? It’s a public square that many people frequently visit.

One of the coolest things we saw in the Forbidden City is this huge stone carving that sits in between two flights of stairs leading up to one of the temples. It’s dimensions rival the width a basketball lane and probably twice as long. Workers drug the stone in one piece through the streets of Beijing in the middle of winter. Showing that the Emperor didn’t have all the brains (despite having all the balls), they poured water on the streets so that it froze and made their job a little bit easier. Oh the things they did to satisfy the emperor.

I’m thinking that life as an Emperor wouldn’t be too bad. You get a huge palace in the city to yourself or you can share it with your wife, many concubines, advisors, freeloaders and servants (eunuchs). To enter the palace, you are the only one that gets to walk in through the center gate, the only one to walk down the center path made of white stone and occasionally marble and when you get hot during the Beijing summer you can just make your way to the summer “cottage” on nearby Kunming Lake. Tough life. Oh yeah, did I mention that you can spend all of your countries money on anything you want, including or excluding your people in the process, and only have to worry about an attempted hostile takeovers every few years. Are there any countries that still have this position? Are they hiring? Do I need to send in a cover letter or do they just need a resume?

Wednesday was a trip to the Great Wall and I gotta say, it is a pretty impressive feat of engineering. Now did it effectively serve its purpose through history? Not really but it looks cool from space I hear. By the way we waved at space just in case anyone was watching. The Great Wall sits along the ridge of some mountains that should have provided a substantial natural boundary by themselves but once again it must have been cool to be the emperor. What else are you going to do with millions of unemployed people waiting to work? Dog and I hiked up the mountain, a pretty solid workout mind you and walked along the wall and marveled at the way it was all put together, the distance it spans (beyond what we could see) and contemplated the fact that all of that stone had to be lugged up the mountain from somewhere. Kind of like the beer that I saw two foreigners enjoying at the top. Except heavier.

I really could go on and on about the Wall but could not do it justice so I am going to share the true entertainment of the day with you. After exiting the toboggan chute (that's right, toboggan chute) and walking into the only street that leads up and down the mountain, we were assaulted by the street vendors that are very interested in you buying goods from them. As we walked down the street we heard some interesting tidbits of English from people that apparently knew we were coming, “HEY LADY!!! I waiting for you! Look! Look!” These vendors would try to catch your eye and if they did you were in for a ride. If you showed any interest in a trinket, piece of art, or even a piece of crap they caught you and and I mean they catch you. These people will scream, grab and pull until you give them your undivided attention. The Chinese method of sales can only be explained by the one lady that told Jenn as she tried to walk away, “No, no. I say, You say.” Some people call it bargaining, others call it haggling, I call it obnoxiously and painfully funny. The vendors throw out a price roughly 3000% higher than the value of the good and write it on a tiny pad of paper. The customer (or the assault victim) then shakes their head and says “No.” The pad of paper is thrust into the customers face and they jot down a number about 3000% less than what the vendor threw out and the vendor acts like that number is preposterous. Then the flexing begins. After a few rounds of pen jabbing the vendor concedes when the customer throws the ultimate uppercut when she (it’s usually the she) turns to walk away. At that point the vendor admits defeat by grabbing the arm of customer and yanks her back into the discussion and gives her the item in question for the low price. Congratulations you are the winner of a plastic statue of the Great Wall. Then you are allowed to repeat the process once for every two steps that you take down the street.

There are certain gender differences that are brought to the forefront by this process. Not being a big shopper to begin with, I find this to be an extremely unnecessary and excruciating process to the point that I usually lose interest in the item that I asked the price of in the first place. After all of the hassle, it dawns on me that I don’t really need that gold crusted fire breathing dragon statue anyway. Jenn, on the other hand is flat out undefeated in the ring of negotiations. She thrives on the competition. She has a hunger for the great deals and will continue doing whatever it takes to ensure that she gets the lowest price possible. It definitely brings out the dog in her. The only lady she didn’t talk down was the lady that didn’t scream to get our attention at the dried fruit table. When I asked her why not, her reply was “Because she was sweet.” I really think it was because the lady next to that one was screaming at us really loud and Jenn just wanted to tick her off. That’s my dog.

Next we head back to Shanghai and back to work. I think we are both in agreement that Beijing has some cool stuff to offer as far as attractions and sites but Shanghai is a much cooler city. Beijing is steeped in history and the center of government but Shanghai has a much more laid back feel to it and a little less of a power complex. Maybe that means that we really are starting to feel like Shanghai is home.

Beijing, check it off the list.

LOST due to Lonely Planet - By DOG

thesanders — Sat, 6 Oct 2007 01:19:00 GMT

It’s about 10:25 pm and Donkey and I are about to go to bed. This night concludes our travels and adventures in Beijing, China. We have spent the last four days seeing as many sites as we can cram into a day and eating as many McDonald’s ice cream cones as our stomach can handle. Here are the highlights:

1) The Summer Palace in Beijing has the feel of an amusement park minus the rides and Mickey Mouse running around signing autographs.

2) You know Lonely Planet should be buried or burned when it takes 2.5 hours to find the restaurant (which is never actually found) and only 30 minutes to eat at an alternative restaurant.

3) Beijing is NOT READY for the onslaught of tourists that will be needing transportation during the Olympics. They cannot even handle the demands of their own people during a national holiday.

4) I am convinced there are more shopping malls in Beijing than there are people.

5) I think the “shop vendor girls” in the Beijing Silk Market should be doing the negotiations between countries in rifts or companies making huge economic deals because they are the most persuasive, relentless people on the face of the planet. Their talents far exceed that of anyone trained in litigation from Harvard Law or and MBA from UT.

6) Donkey and I went for a walk in the back streets of Beijing and caught snippets of the true lives of the locals. Why are old men sitting on crates playing Chinese chess in the back streets such a wonderful sight?

7) Shanghai is better.

8) The Great Wall far exceeded my wildest dreams. It truly is incredible as was the 5 minute long toboggan ride down the mountain from the top. Schlitterbaum has some competition.

9) Dragon Eyes and Phoenix Wings was the name of the tea Donkey and I had at a traditional Chinese tea house. The cups are so small but the pot never ends. It was wonderful. We paired it with dainty almond cookies. Look out Queen Elizabeth your high tea has some competition!

10)Yesterday I saw three elderly Chinese women sitting on the side of the road laughing and chatting. I made eye contact with one of them. In the moment we connected, I was humbled by the life this women led. I don’t know her name. I don’t know her story. But I know she has a great story tucked under her delicate wrinkles and grey hair. A story rich in persecution, hard persuasion, endurance, and change. She lived through a unique time in Chinese history. I hope her story is recorded… somewhere.

11) The painting of Mao at Tiananmen Square is really huge…not kidding it is just plain big. The irony of him continually overlooking that square is just creepy.

So tomorrow Donkey and I am heading home. I think Shanghai will feel like a home even more now, since we are coming back to it after being in a place even more unfamiliar. I’m out. Much love!

September 25, 2007

thesanders — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 22:34:00 GMT

Well, it has taken us a month in Shanghai to get acclimated, find secure footing with our new surroundings, new jobs and new marriage in order to get to the point where we will start an account of our experiences. Fortunately, due to the technological advances of the 21^st century our loved ones do not seem quite so far away. Communicating from Shanghai with many is much like communicating across town or across a few hours of terrain rather than across a few miles of ocean and continents. It can be comforting to know that with a few keystrokes and mouse clicks at the correct time we can connect with the right people to get much needed family updates, Longhorn or Austin High football updates, the moment to moment accounts of a Saturday night in Austin, calming words of reassurance or advice, or all of the witty and necessary banter to remind us (one of us at least) that trash talk is definitely hard to do with people that don’t speak your language.

This blogging thing can be difficult for even the most skillful writers, so we will see how the two novices can handle it. Our goal is not to flood the world with Jenn and Matt but to share the experiences in this part of the world with those that are interested. After a few weeks of email updates we often times can’t keep track of who heard what so this page provides us a place to tell all at one time. This first entry will be a tad long in length but we will try not to let it all pile up again.

First off, we can only hope that you all enjoyed the wedding as much as we did. What a beautiful, exciting and spectacular evening. All I can say is that the Marshalls sure know how to throw a party!!! Thank you to all that were involved for sharing that evening with us. It wouldn’t have been the same without you. (Side note, upon further review the Naked Diving Board sealed the deal, Jeffrey Dietz retains his Wedding Title!)

On to the nomad part of this edition. After leaving Austin, dropping off Smokey in Houston and saying too many goodbyes, we boarded a flight to beautiful Maui. We stayed in an awesome little cottage far from the beaten track but extremely close to a 350 foot cliff. We spent much our time in Maui cruising along the beaches and jagged mountains in our Dukes of Hazzard Orange Ford Mustang Convertible. It was a nice relaxing week after a whirlwind summer, taking in the beautiful terrain and tasty restaurants.

Once we arrived in Shanghai we were treated to the late night world of Chinese driving. It is hard to put into words how these people drive but I will do my best. Chinese drivers are INSANE!!! Think of someone, achieving top speed as if trying to win a drag race, honking to warn everyone that they are on the road at all possible moments, then swerving to avoid the 16.5 million pedestrians, cyclists and moped drivers that are crossing the street not entirely confident that they will live to experience the sweet taste of success by reaching the curb. Now stop picturing this driver in a hatchback, I’m talking about bus drivers. Just last night we witnessed a near decapitation of a poor waiting for a bus as the driver swerved at top speed to beat the next rush of those in the cycle lane and barely avoiding cranial dislocation with his rearview mirror. We’ve only been here a month, I would bet my salary that we will eventually see something really dicey before we are all said and done.

We arrived on Day 3 of a 5-day teacher orientation at Shanghai High School’s International Division and trust me if we would have been there two days earlier life might have been unbearable. Needless to say but teacher orientation does not change in entertainment value or lack of redundancy as you change time zones…or hemispheres. After we received our schedules there was a tad bit of interest increase in the following;

Teacher #1 Teacher #2

Non-Native Geography 5^th Grade Non-Native History 8^th Grade

Native English Geography 7^th Grade ESL 7^th Grade

Native English Geography 8^th Grade PE (7^th, 9^th, 11^th)

ESL 8^th Grade

Art and Music Elective Course

Can you guess which schedule belongs to the certified, experienced teacher? That’s right, the schedule with one tough course (ESL), one that meets twice a week and has covered two sections of one chapter in one month (read that again for emphasis), and four sections of a suntan or all the smog that I can handle depending on which way the wind is blowing. Granted PE sucks just as bad in China as it does in the States but I’m not allowed to complain for obvious reasons. I have promised Jennifer that this work load will never be balanced this way again but after initial feelings of shock and overload she has done a spectacular job of planning, organizing and teaching her courses. I also told her that she can keep half my salary to whatever she wants with. Luckily she is choosing to put it into savings rather than taking frustration out on the billions of shops with cute dresses.

We teach a large group of students with a large array of origins but with a common socioeconomic status. Many hail from Taiwan, Korea, Japan, China and Indonesia but there are some from as far off as India, Belgium or Austin. One little guy(many are little guys) asked me about my Capital 10K shirt recognizing the event from when he lived there while his parents finished their doctoral work.(Shocking I know, an Asian at UT?) These students (actually their parents) are attracted to this school because of its strong focus on both Chinese and English and the fact that it is a Chinese “international” school run by Chinese.

The kids can be fun; their English expressions can be entertaining. One kid told me today that “Fridays are delicious.” Another told me during PE one day that after a few raindrops we should head inside because “Rain in Shanghai is not clean. It make hair fall out.” Couldn’t have asked for a better quote. Their social development often times does not match their age, squirrelly middle schoolers act like they are seven year olds and snicker when you ask them to partner up with a classmate of the opposite sex. High schoolers, although they have picked up the English methods of cursing very quickly, giggle like school girls when the crazy foreigner makes a joke or trips on his on feet.

The Chinese are basketball crazy but remember just because one enjoys something does not necessarily mean they are skilled. American basketball is looked upon on high regard. During pick up games, laughter and appreciation is common, keeping score or intensity is not. One foreign PE teacher (out of one) gets a kick out of all of the oohs and aahs that accompany an eight foot jump shot. That same foreigner is coaching the 11^th grade boys team this season and in two practices is extremely curious as to what methods of teaching the game are in place. These kids are 17 years old, probably log about 15 hours a week on the court and can’t shoot, pass or dribble with their off hand. We’ll keep you posted on whether or not things improve.

Life in China is extremely interesting. Culture shock exists but outside of the language barrier is definitely not too overwhelming. I think that the major adjustments revolve around living in such a large city where a simple trip to the store can sometimes morph into a venture of epic proportions through all public transportation systems and across six or seven neighborhoods. We usually stay fairly local during the week and exit the friendly confines to explore and experience on weekends. There is a wealth of shops and restaurants on the street where the school is located and we have figured out which ones are interested in communicating with the Gringos. There is also a DVD shop right next to the gate of the school where many of you have heard that a DVD cost about a dollar. Kind of painful in realizing how much money I could have save on my library if I would have moved here five years ago. Jenn and I have purchased Season 3 of Lost and will eventually be caught up to the rest of the world that caught in on ABC last spring. (I think release date in the states is December 11, priced at $38.99 on Amazon, purchased for $3.72 here.)

The architecture of the buildings in Shanghai is awesome. Skyscrapers fill every view in Shanghai and give the city a very modern feel. Of course, in between skyscrapers are buildings that could date back thousands of years or thousands of seconds. Bamboo scaffolding often accompanies the construction on smaller buildings (4-8 floors) and bamboo is used for many other jobs as well. Craftsmen and workers on the streets have a wide array of tasks as well as technology at their disposal. The trash men load up their bicycles and whisk their collections off to God knows where and it’s not uncommon to find street sweepers using brooms made up of small tree branches and twigs. Delivery drivers are often times delivery bikers and will travel miles and miles to deliver the smallest packages of food, beverages, or goods. (For no tip, tipping is not expected or practiced.)

Dining options in Shanghai are endless and we spend a lot of time planning weekends around restaurant locations. We have found suitable establishments in many cuisines, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Mongolian, Nepalese (Matt’s new favorite) and Texas style BBQ (run by an Austinite). Café’s and outdoor relaxing accompanied by people watching are enjoyable now; we may have to find a suitable replacement through the winter though. We have traversed through temples, malls, shopping districts, found a few international bookstores and began to plan all of our holidays for the next year. Our first starts next week. National holiday runs from October 1 through October 7^th and we will spend our week with a few million other travelers in Beijing visiting the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, the Summer Palace and the Great Wall.

After a month, we have already started compiling lists of things we miss (definitely including family and friends) and are learning to find suitable replacements (not including family and friends). For example to combat the Asian preoccupation with billiards and the Yankees on ESPN, I have read every book in the house. Luckily my favorite mother in law sent us a great care package loaded with Sports Illustrated and other magazines that are in our language. Instead of organizing extravaganzas Jenn has begun training for a half marathon that we will run in November. She also has been tracking down local and international non-profits to find one that she can get involved with.

After that long winded intro, we leave you with the promise that next time won’t be so long. After monthly exams this week, we will head to Beijing and have another update for you after that.

Love to all.