Before leaving a wise friend left a parting warning, “The second year you are no longer on vacation.”

To combat this inevitable truth I decided to settle in for the long haul. The adventure is over and life is starting to settle into normal or China normal. One of the ways to keep the bordeom at bay is to get a hobby. I’ve never been one for hobbies but its never to late to start, right? I weighed my options and decided a non accumulating, inexpensive one would be the best choice. As I’ve always been intrigued by Yoga I figured I’d give it a shot.

My friend Tina had mentioned a Yoga Studio at the Tai Hua. She had 30 unused classes and was looking for a partner for motivation. Monday night we met up after work and headed to class. I must admit I was a little disheartened when we walked into the small studio. I was hoping for a large class with which I could at least pretend to melt into the crowd. With a class of six that was not going to happen and if I didn’t stick out enough the instructor stuck me right in front.

Bless her heart this tiny little Chinese girl tried to correct my stance over and over again but she could barely reach my hands. I don’t even want to think of the damage I’d do if I accidentally lost my balance with her standing next to me. She didn’t speak a lick of English but that didn’t stop her speaking a mile a min in Chinese. Luckily Yoga is a slower activity and it is easy to watch and follow, except when you are in some inverted pose and tune out the instructor. More than once she had to pull me out of a pose and I realized the class had all moved on. Whoops.

After the first class I decided I’d give it a shot. When I discovered it was only¥200 a month for unlimited classes I thought it was a bargain. According to Tina this is one of the more expensive Yoga Studio’s in town but also the cleanest. I worked out the price and must attend at least 10 times each month to justify the month pass. I still think unlimited classes for $30 a month is a real steal.  

Thursday I decided to attend the noon class by myself.I showed up and pantomimed my intentions. They are all extremely friendly. I don’t know if when they have a perspective student they take it easy or what but Thursday was nothing like Monday. I can’t even remember the last time I was dripping sweat when I work out. It wasn’t until this morning did my body demand payment for what I put it through. Yet somehow I was dumb enough to go back again today at lunch.

It makes for an invigorating lunch break. Tina joined me today and also agreed it was not the same class we previewed Monday. I just keep telling myself if I push through the soreness today it will be easier tomorrow. Although that still doesn’t make putting a shirt on any easier right now. I can barely get my arms above my head.

I’ve decided to leave the decision of whether to go or not tomorrow on the status of my sports bra. If it is dry by two o’clock tomorrow I will go if it is still damp, hallelujah I get a break.

Summer is here, therefore the oh so glorious, much sought after in the west, tanning rays of the sun. But to an impressionable young Chinese girl summer does not bring the hope of a splendid, hair hiding, leg lengthening tan but the never ending battle of Sun vs Parasol.

My students are always oh so horrified when they see me in shorts, cap sleeved shirts and sunglasses. I am most obviously missing the most essential summer accessory my Parasol! While I am trying desperately to get back my usual summer tan my students run from shade spot to shade spot precociously angling their parasols for the most shade coverage. Don’t get me started on the number of girls who where tights in this sweltering heat.

Beauty is relative to where you live. In America thin, tanned, well curved girls are the standards to which we strive while here in China it’s the anorex, white, flat as a board girls who get the attention. Humm how well do you think I’m fitting in.

I promise to add pictures of more Parasol sporting girls but for now the following will have to suffice.

While Katie, like myself, is trying to accomplish the western chore of a even natural glow Thomas has taken a more Chinese approach to his summer.

Oh Thomas...

At one time it was Katie’s yellow purse that I looked for in a crowd but now Thomas’s Purple Parasol, a good three feet above the rest, is so much easier to spot.

The Qingdao Beer Company had a three week mini festival outside of Jusco this month. Kelly and I finaly went to check out the festivities, come to find out, on the last night. Now I know and boy am I looking forward to next year, I’ll be there everynight! The BBQ is amazing and cheap!

The entire area in front of Jusco was taken up by a massive stage and surrounding stalls.

Kelly tried her hand at darts!

The stage - the tables were packed

There were a variety of performances, from the alto clarinet to very very bad karaoke.

At one point the MC turned into a auctioner, the scrolls were beautiful.

My new found past time of watching football does not seem to be sanctioned by the gods. Up until now the games have been played at 7:30pm, 10:00pm and 2:30am. One game during each time slot. Now there are two games at 10pm and 2 at 2:30am. Last night England played Slovenia and the USA played Algeria. So which game do you suppose they aired? England of course. I spent 30min online trying to find a live stream. I finally gave up and went to bed praying they would play the Germany vs Ghana game.

At 2:15 I woke up and headed to the living room. I settled in for the game and was thrilled when the German teamed lined up. I figured I’d get the game going then check the score for the American game. Just as they were about to kick off the TV shut off! I wanted to scream you’ve got to be kidding me!

I ran to the landing to be sure, yup sure enough our power had run out. Of all times! No game and I still was clueless as to the outcome of the US game.

 So utilities here in China are metered by cards. When you run out you recharge your box with a card. I knew where the water card was but had no clue for the electric! As much as I wanted to, I refrained from calling James at 2:30 am. So no game for me. Back to bed, I was fuming. At exactly 7:30 I texted James asking him to stop by on his way to work.

To my horror it turns out the electric card is in the same spot as the water! Oh well I got more sleep than expected last night, that was a plus. And both teams won! I still can’t believe the USA will advance to the next round.

I’ve never been a die hard sports fan, so in all honesty when I made the decision to wake up at 2:30 this morning to catch the US vs UK game I was a little shocked.

I don’t know what it is about living outside your native country but your national pride gets kicked into overdrive and your team spirit is ignited. So I decided to drag myself out of bed watch the game and then grab a few more hours of shut eye before heading to work this morning at 7:30. Sad truth is even though I was watching to support the US I was stunned when we actually tied the game. I learned my lesson in Argentina never to boast about your sports team, you can’t show your face in school for a week when you lose. Yes I’m still bitter Argentina beat the USA in the Gold medal match for Basketball in Athens. Yeah I seriously feigned sick for two days I was so mortified. This time I talked down the USA team and admitted we would most likely be creamed by England. But our boys did us proud and pulled off a tie. Go TEAM!

Overall, so worth it and I’m pumped to see the Germany vs Australia game tonight at 2:30. The best part of soccer is that its universal, the fact that announcers are all Chinese makes no differnce. Also I can grade papers while watching and wait for crowd reaction to look up. As Katie put it, soccer players are the world’s greatest sports actors and replay only makes it 10 times as much fun. The slow motion shots and replays from half a dozen angles allows for the only game you can watch 3 times while live!

Well I’m off to get a quick nap in so I can get up tonight.

For Beth’s Birthday we did the traditional dinner although we went upscale this time and went to the Mayflower. Quick story behind that, I was designated as the texter and sent out the invites when I got three different confirmations for various locations. I’d never been to the Mayflower so when I discovered there were four in town I was thrown into a confusing mess trying to arrange the location. But in the end it all work out for a delicious meal.

Weifang and Fangzi teachers

Duck wraps with plum sauce most definitely one of my favorites.

A meat bridge. Yes those are potato chips beneath.

Nothing beats a Chinese Birthday candle.

The list of favorite quotes just keeps growing but this last one just sums up China too perfectly.

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. 
           – Albert Einstein

A perfect example of this, I was lounging on my couch observing the neighbors across the way. It was warm and breezy and many people had hung out their bedding to air and dry. One such neighbor threw a sheet over the railing and then returned to her dorm. Within a min or two the breeze caught the sheet and deposited it on the ground, the positive side was it landed in the hallway and not over the railing three floors down. She returned to the sheet, threw it over the railing once more and returned to her dorm. Within mins once again the sheet fell. No joke this dance repeated itself thrice more. SERIOUSLY PEOPLE, if you do the SAME thing the SAME result will take place. The funniest part was the sheet next to this one was having NO problems as the owner had ingeniously used the rail to his advantage by looping the sheet around it not just over it.

Just some more favorites:

I do not want people to be agreeable, as it saves me the trouble of liking them. 

           – Jane Austen

Traditions are group efforts to keep the unexpected from happening.          

           – Barbara Tober

When I was born I was so surprised I didn’t talk for a year and a half.
           – Gracie Allen

He informed his school of his intention and got permission to use the school’s kitchen provided he bought all the food. He teaches at a non boarding elementary school which is deserted on the weekends. His original guest list included 30 odd people, why else would he need a cafeteria sized kitchen for preparation.

Come Party day, or rather the hour before the party was to start, his school was shocked to discover the number expected and refused to let him have that many people on the school grounds. Mind you this was after all the food was bought and prepared. After a rather heated discussion, the school agreed to pay for a restaurant close by. We got permission to bring the American food and set up the BBQ on the restaurant’s roof to grill the hamburgers.

After a million texts and rearrangments the group who had already arrived at the school headed to the restaurant sending instructions to the rest of the group. We were a lively bunch and trucking all the food up three flights of stairs was no small feat.

Real American BBQ food..delicious! The Birthday Boy! Hamburgers anyone?

Plenty of pasta salad

 The Chinese guests who came were not fond of the American food. Luckily for them the school purchased a round of Chinese dishes that they feasted on.

'all the fixin's

The ultimate Chinglish shirt

Firecrackers inside...where were the waiters to stop this?

Katie's student is on the far right. She was wonderful.

The Play as translated was “Mouse Falls in Love with Cat”. The synopsis, a famous writer gets caught up in a fraud investigation headed by the local police. He is a well known figure being biographed by a leading journalist, who finds his escapades unworthy of print. The whole while a confusing love triangle takes place between the journalist’s girlfriend who is a police woman, the writer and the writer’s sister. The theme is about following one’s ambitions to the end and not giving up on one’s dream.  (Or at least that is what I got of the play.)

Katie, Thomas and I sat in the front row. Two of Katie’s students sat in the row behind and quietly translated the play. Leaning forward all evening couldn’t have been comfortable. I was very impressed with their translation skills and am greatly looking forward to working with students of their caliber next year.

No imagination necessary, if the script says smoke, he will smoke.

The play was scheduled to start at 6:30pm but as the Officials were running late due to a meeting the play was postponed until their arrival. So the play got underway about 7pm. As we were unsure the total length of the play I decided I’d sneak out at intermission to make another appointment. By the time 9pm rolled around I gave up on an intermission and sneaked out during a scene change. Katie and Thomas stuck it out to the bitter end which ended up being after 10pm, and that was with no intermission.

The entire production from start to finish was produced by students which I found to be quite impressive. The simple sets were quite effective and truly Chinese. The students were cast in roles that resembled their personalities according to Katie. At the end of the play each and every participate was allowed to make a Thank you Speech.

I had a very enjoyable evening. I forget how much I enjoy live theater even if it is not in English. It is amazing how much body language can convey.

DDR - A universal hit.

Kelly, Katie & Me!

We stood in line and watched in amazement as the Chinese completely missed the point of Bumper Cars. Yes bumper – as into bump the other cars, we knew it wasn’t a miss translation as we had looked up the word to get tickets. Why then were they avoiding the other cars with strained deliberation? Katie burst out laughing when she heard some one apologize for BUMPING another car. Sure enough, we all strained to listen over the music, when someone actually did bump someone there was an audible apology and a greater attempt at avoidance.  

I don’t know what shocked us more the fact that they were being so curteous or their display of ligitamite driving skills. It was as if their daily driving was a giant game of bumper cars and this was their chance to unleash their mad driving skills.   

Oh just wait for the Americans to get in, there were going to be no apologies and excessive force resulting in whiplash. That is the whole point of bumper cars right!   

Nothing like neon strobe lights and blaring techno music to put you in the mood for reckless driving.

I've found my stress release!

Bumper Cars in China are only fun with other foreigners!

To be fair we all did try our best to ensure the safety of the cautious Chinese drivers. A few got into the true spirit of bumper cars once they saw the havoc the five of us were raining on each other. Needless to say Bumper Cars has now become a common time killer!