The holidays are not the holidays here in China

There are a few things in China that i am having a hard time wrapping my mind around. One, that i am always 14hours ahead of who ever i talk to or email back in the States. Second, there are no stop signs here. There are traffic lights at the major intersections of town that indicate whether or not you can go, turn right or turn left, what ever your preference is, and that is usually what ever you feel like doing at the moment. Nothing stops for pedestrians, a California nightmare.The safest way to cross the street is enmass, I'm talking lots of folk at once that way if a bus or a truck happens to whack the front line or a stray ebike smacks into a group the rest of us can run for our lives to the other side of the street. In this world there is no turning around. There is fair warning though. Horns blare out a get the F@#$k out a the way like some cabbie in New York but only seconds before they snatch life from your very loins. The more practice I get the better I am of negotiating oncoming traffic. We are talking not just in the street but scooters and ebikes on the sidewalks and on the side streets as well. When the light turns everyone goes. It is the ultimate in the game of chicken. The elder women have it over everyone. They can stare down an eighteen wheeler with a glance. It is awesome to see. Which brings me to another observation. Just as traffic is a free for all so is the way Wuxi is tearing down and rebuilding itself. This is true nation building here. Construction is going on everywhere regardless whether or not there are people to occupy the building. Old being pushed out for the new. Little store fronts are almost smothered by high rise buildings. That too is awesome to see. It is almost surreal it is like Godzilla building is ready to swallow poor little struggling to stay in business restaurant or dry goods place. It doesn't matter, progress is the name of the game. Then there are those who refuse to change. In some ways China is the poster child for modernization and not. Old habits die hard here. Many things are still done the way they have been done for the last 50 years, and busses are still the major mode of transportation here.The public transportation here is excellent and very affordable for foreigners. 2 qui gets you anywhere you need to be. In USD that is a mere 30 cents. Not bad though you do have to battle the crowds once in a while to secure a place on the bus. When the bus is crowded people are packed cheek to jowl. No kidding. Several trips to downtown were standing room only. However if you catch the bus at the right time you can carry pretty much what ever you want without too much trouble. There is one thing though that worries me. China is in a hurry to westernize itself and I'm not so sure that is a good thing. What do you think?
This brings me to the last part of this entry. The holidays are upon those who celebrate but not for China. I have mixed feelings about the holidays like most people I know. It seems that for all the good intentions there are those moments in the holidays that we would all like to forget and being the Americans that we are we do. Here in China though there is nothing here that remotely indicates there is a celebration going on in other parts of the world except at the Louis Vittan store in downtown Wuxi. There they have erected small wreath shrines along the sidewalk that say Merry Christmas. Draped in red and green they disturb the serenity of masses of people moving past them. All they remind me of is the mass consumerism that has become the trademark of Christmas back home. They are like little red and green beacons beckoning people to stop in and spend money. Perhaps I am being a bit jaded about it. After all, there are somethings I will miss about the holidays, getting together with Kitty and family, Making dinner with Abby, Yakking with Libby and Sam, and spending precious time with friends. Yes there is that too and being here makes it that much more. So the three Americans will hold a thanksgiving tomorrow in honor of the day with a roasted duck, pork roast, and sweet potato dinner chinese style...and just like in the States the weather is supposed to turn and become rather unpleasant... a perfect thanksgiving if you ask me. Have a good one. See you on the flip side.

November 18th My sons birthday

It is the 18th and my son Seth Skyped me last night to tell me it was his birthday and did i forget. Truth be told I am still clueless as to the day or the time here. I don't carry a watch. I get up when i hear traffic outside my window. It is an odd feeling to think on terms of China time when everyone I talk to is either 7 or 14 hours behind me. So odd... The weather broke today and I was lucky enough to see sunlight for the first time in weeks. That lasted a whole ten minutes. Then the clouds shrouded the sun in an icy grey muck. It's comforting to know that somethings will not change. Which brings me to my latest musings. Old versus the new. Living in Albuquerque change is slow if it happens at all. Usually time is marked by some landmark getting a facelift. Or the freeway receiving new lanes. No where I have ever been though shows change more pronounced than here in China. There is an emerging middle class here but the change from feudal farming subsistence living to middle class disposable income is rapid and abrupt. I can see this when students meet townsfolk in the streets just outside my apartment. Or just take a walk downtown where there are highrises butting up against former enclaves of past history. No sooner is a building razed to the ground then a bright new building the new face of China emerges from the rubble. I am amazed at the pace in which transformation is taking place. Old to new. My ESL teaching assignment is teach business english. I can't think of a more boring, tedious and wasteful way to spend learning english. English is an amazing language. Learning terms like graph and slope and marketing analysis must be painful to most of these students, when these kids have embraced things like the NBA, World of War Craft and Hip Hop. My students flock to the internet cafes to engage in online death and destruction. Or they follow their latest Hip Hopster from the states trying to emulate their style. Where is there room for business english. I might as well don a frock and hassock and beat the children into learning. Amid my amazements and wonders I started to think about what makes my work tick. It's conflicting and causing me angst. There is the idea in any artist that you do what you do because of you. It's about letting go of the past and embracing the now. Taking what I know and pushing it to it's limits. So the angst is more about letting go and allowing it to be gone. It's about making those mistakes and learning from them. It's a change I am willing to embrace at this time. If China can do this I can.
One quick note about the weather... it's what makes China so tough... you don't just get through the winter you endure it...
These pictures are taken in the open market place just outside my apartment. This is the beginning of a series I call China Lost. Embracing the old. Celebrating the new.

Today is the 16th of November it is raining. The rain is freezing. The wind is blowing and I am huddled in my apartment wimping out. I have never seen weather like this ever! My body is not used to it. My mindset is definitely not accustom to it. I am in Wuxi now, have been for the last 8 or 9 days and I actually taught my first class in ESL english today. My first teaching assignment in 6 years... not too bad considering the room was a toasty 3 degrees. We all sat huddled in our coats and tried to pay attention... Ok the lighting is poor and the room resonates like a tunnel too.I used to complain about teaching in a 30 year old portable in NM. This beats it hands down! I had prepared a lesson for today and the environment threw me off... a bit... ESL... suffer for the art... or as we say... man up boy! Teaching is an art... it is like anything else. When you have been away from it for a while it takes a while to get your feet. Words are fascinating creatures. English must be the devil to the chinese. There is nothing in common with either language. Here in China, there is a big push to have it's people literate in english. There is even a contest on the government run english TV station here who is the best english speaking person. University kids vie for prizes by speaking english and the best english speaking person wins gobs of swag! Can you image that happening in the states? Prizes for the best chinese speaker? We take our language so for granted. Others can only dream of being able to deftly orchestrate english words into poetry, essays, or carry on an intelligent spirited conversation with someone else. These kids even with years of english behind them struggle to make sentences. So I was told by a fellow colleague to keep it simple and dumb it down... what fun is that? ditto sheets and pablum speak... I'm not sure I can do that. It's one of my pet peeves about public school is that we demand nothing of our children. I aways thought that a good challenge is stimulating conversation. Ok, so cut the kids some slack. I don't know chinese and having a devil of a time just getting the tones to sound right. Four tones in the entire language and I'm clueless but determined to speak chinese.
As for my personal work... not, though I feel the juices stirring. I see things I want to explore. But explore in this weather?Kitty reminds me how I hate cold weather... well... man up! it's got to be done. That's why I am here. To get out there and have an adventure! This is pretty much the last thing I shot before siberian winter descended upon me. People tell me that this is really nothing compared to what is happening up north...I am so relived. until next time... Adios! Dreaming of guacamole and enchiladas! Steve

ps I forgot... there are more pics saved for the next entry.. oops!

Plane trip /First night in China

I'm a little hesitant to write because I have been having the worst time getting onto my site because of the great firewall of China. Needless to say I am on and I will continue to write. Sarah says that she does not believe in sharing personal thoughts with anyone that she is not close to or chooses to do so. I can see her point which leads me to think about why am I doing this? I have been in China almost 10 days now and I know how are you thank you and almonds... not much of a vocabulary. I also did not have internet in my apartment so doing anything on the computer was a pain to say the least. I tried an internet cafe at one point and ended up not spending much time there... There are a couple of reasons I want to do this. One of which is I want to improve the way I write. I am a marginal writer to be sure but I can always improve that comes with practice, practice etc... the second is I am looking at the work that I have done and am searching for a fresh way to see the world. I thought going to China would help that. Kitty says it's not the work that's stale, it's my marketing... you think Kitty?
Well the last time I wrote I was still on the west side of the Pacific Ocean. That Tuesday I took a flight back down to LA with my visa in hand and about 500 bucks poorer for lack of organization. Yes the cost of not having a visa when I needed to have it was stiff. Plane ticket to SF around $200 usd round trip. Cost of the visa $160 for same day service. I could have waited but my cousins were preping their apartment for sale and they needed me to go. I also felt the need to move on. The cost of getting a new flight to Shanghai an extra $100... Plus if you account for the hotel bookings that I missed the taxi ride through Shanghai etc tack on another $100. Haste makes waste, and in this case expensive waste. If you end up going anywhere outside the US any more check to make sure about visas and when you need to have them. Try not to make the same mistake I did. Though seeing my cousins was a hoot to boot, it was not the way I wanted to do it.
Once on the plane I settled in to a long long long flight. The first pic shows how comfy it all was. Does this bring back any memories? The only thing memorable about the trip was nothing. Airline flight has become more of a hassle than a comfort. I lost a day getting into Shanghai and we arrived to coolish weather at about 8:30 at night. Before I got on the plane though I made reservations with The Green Tree Inn not knowing anything about it except that it was cheap and supposedly close to the airport. What I didn't know was that it sat almost underneath this huge cable stay bridge amidst all this construction. so much so that my taxi driver spent a half an hour getting to the area... another hour trying to find it. this is where I stayed my first night in China... you be the judge... the room was adequate enough and all I did the rest of the night was get horizontal and sleep... These are the first impressions I had of China... enjoy

A New Day

Ok... I must admit that the detour to San Fran was not so bad... The weather was fantastic for this time of year. The Chinese Consulate was quick and relatively easy. All that worry and fretting for naught. My cousins were fantastic and MY girlfriend is forever supportive and loving (R U Reading this) Any way here are the details.... Saturday left me with a lot of questions and a few doubts...
Ok so my diversion to san fransisco was not so bad after all. I got to stay with my cousins Michael and Carma, who took fantastic care of me. They put me up on a moments notice, had a car at my disposal, ate well what more could a wondering photog want or need. It seemed that even with all that happened that the cosmos was greeting me with open arms and telling me all is well… I will provide you with sunny skies, warm weather and good friends. Monday, Michael gave me his car and I made a bee line to the consulate. Easy to find on Geary and Laguna, the consulate is in this beautiful old vintage SF architecture of the 20s-30s. The visa office is one room with a hundred chairs 9 booths and about 1000 people of all persuasions looking to uptain the golden pass to the Middle Kingdom. I was number 84. They were on 42… I thought this is going to take a 1000 years! What a drama king! No more than an hour later my number was called I go to the booth, the lady looks at my application and looks at me and says, this is wrong. Here we go again I thought. No worries she hands me another form to fill out correctly. With her guidance, I completed the application a little nervous this wasn’t going to happen…yikes I worry way too much… I mean the forces of good were with me and wouldn’t let anything stop this… sometimes I am amazed that all this from the decision to go to now has been like it was meant to be. I decided to pay the extra $30 for same day delivery and later that afternoon I had one 6 month visa to the Peoples Republic of China in my hand… amazing… truly amazing… I get back to M and Cs apartment and it being such a wonderful day I walked the 2 blocks from the apt to the beach to take in on last look at this country…staring out at the ocean I thought tomorrow I will be on the other side of this immense body of agua…dude… I couldn’t waste the moment so I took the camera to record San Fransisco like I usually never see it …perfect as you can see, just another day on the beach…this ones for Liz who took The Chairman Meow in to her home…. Ain’t she cute!! A walk on the beach and a last look at the Beach Chalet a 30s WPA mural project that is now a kind of walk in museum… as you can see this is world class work. The artists studied with Mexican Muralist Diego Rivera. The scenes are from around the area. At one time the Richmond area was farms and beach. How things have changed ehhh … these are for Kitty. A better girlfriend and confidant I will never have. She’s doing a mural project with her kids so I thought I’d share some pics with her… stunning work…what an amazing day… oh did I tell you? I rearranged my flight back to LA and to Shanghai and yep it happened like it was meant to be…

Going going ...not quite

Where to begin. That always seems to be a problem with me. Do I start at the China Eastern Desk checking in to leave for Shanghai? Do I begin with my wild hair brained idea to go teach english overseas? Or do I start at my misunderstanding of who was going to get me a visa to China and how was that going to happen? I do know now... much to the contrary of everything I have heard before... you must have a visa to go to china. must... no ifs and or buts... but that is getting a little ahead of myself ... so let me tell you how I ended up in San Fransisco on my way to Los Angeles on my way to Shanghai. Some time in the middle of July I had decided I needed to get out of Albuquerque. I needed a change. My work was stale and uninteresting. Business was slow.... hmmm... Road Trip! Do something different... shake things up a bit. I thought, lets go teach english in a foreign country. I still have my teaching license, I am certified in English as a second language why not! I started researching sites on the web and putting my resume out and I started to receive invitations to apply... There are several tiers of people and companies interested in placing you from China to South America and all points around the globe. After several false starts, ESL China found my resume on Daves ESL Cafe and proceeded to find me a post at one of the colleges and universities across China. Initially we talked about a placement near Bejing but ended up at a college in Wuxi 130 some odd miles from Shanghai... At this point things get interesting. My contact at ESL China sent me a contract to look over I accepted and I sent it back to him signed. Now the plan was for me to get to China ASAP... In the meantime, in order to leave I needed to sell my car, find a home for the cat, rent out the house and empty the house of all my worldly belongings. Everything started happening like it was meant to happen. My expublisher heard about my adventure asked me what I was doing with the car and I said I'm selling it ... he said I'll buy it... done deal... I had to find a good home for Chairman Meow and two days after I posted my flyer, my girl friends best friend took him in. Awesome! Now I needed to rent my house out. Hours after I posted my ad on Craigslist bingo! A wonderful couple rented the house for the winter.... everything I mean everything was happening as if the cosmos was conspiring with my plans. In the mean time... Contract signed,letter of invitation received... plane ticket bought... I had everything lined up. All my worldly belongings went either to friends or neighbors. I am scheduled to begin this adventure halloween. I get on the plane in Albuquerque, I say adios to the land of sand, I get to Phoenix and connect to my flight, I land at LAX with plenty of time to catch my flight to Shanghai. After a long wait, I get to the ticket desk to check in and then the world stopped... Where is my visa? My visa? what visa? I didn't have a visa so I couldn't board the plane and I miss my flight. I could not believe what just happened. Visa? My understanding was that that was going to be taken care of when I got there. I was so very wrong. I must admit at that moment I felt foolish and stupid. I had totally misunderstood my Chinese counterparts and during my rush to get there failed to check up on it myself. Though the girlfriend claims "I tried to tell you" adding insult to injury. So with ego bruised my trip my adventure... the great walk about abruptly stops. It's Saturday now and the Chinese Consulate is closed until Monday. I'm in LA and could not remember nor did I have my friends Phone number to have him rescue me. Always carry phone numbers with you in case of emergency. My cousin Michael though lives in San Fransisco and there is a consulate there. Embarrassed... I devised a plan to fly up to SF and stay with my cousin for a few days. The cost of the one way to SF was prohibitive and I am realizing that the cost of not having the visa will be quite expensive. So now I am in SF with my cousins Michael and Carma. I spent last night listening to Zs band play italian music, eating and drinking my sorrows away knowing that all will be well. Yea maybe I kinda accelerated this process a bit... you forget small important details that way... like what is said to whom what that means etc. Messing up on the visa was my first ESL experience. Is what you say really what you mean? If I took to time to really listen would I have paid better attention to this? Lesson learned. Tomorrow, I will work on getting my visa. I'll keep you posted... Pictures of my time last night in SF Happy Halloween!