jvd213inBeijing2008

“Rock and roll doesn’t necessarily mean a band. It doesn’t mean a singer, and it doesn’t mean a lyric, really. It’s that question of trying to be immortal.”

January 12, 2008: 10:10 am

Chinese word of the day:
gulou – drum tower

I’ve always said that New York City is the “best city in the world”, and ignorantly so, because I haven’t been to that many of the world’s cities, have I? But, needless to say, I’m quickly changing my mind…

I did my first “mock” lesson yesterday and it went fairly well. It was a great experience and good to get some critical feedback. I’ve already realized that I’ve got to do a lot less talking, and a lot more “questioning”. My lesson was an “intermediate elective” about ecological preservation, and I went way overboard with the scientific explanations, so I realize now that I’m not actually teaching a friggin’ science class, but rather, I always need to focus on how theses lessons are actually teaching the language. The Director of Studies, who sat in and gave us critiques after we were done, was very pleased with my preparation (I started out with a slideshow I put together with images of the Amazon rainforest and the pink dolphins which inhabit a particular river in Columbia), and also commended my confidence, presentation, and “board work”, but she made it clear that I need to devote 80% of the class time to letting the students speak, while doing a better job of guiding them along with questions and making sure that all the vocabulary, etc., are understood before I move through the topic.

My first real-deal classes will begin on Sunday – better to throw us in there and figure things out for ourselves – and my schedule mainly consists of VIP (one-on-one) lessons with a couple of teenagers and young adults. I have one guy that is a Chinese Customs agent, a 20’s-something female biologist who specifically asked for a “handsome American male” teacher, and a couple of others who I’ve yet to find out the specifics about. I also have a few electives that I’ll be teaching, ranging from beginner to advanced levels, and I’m happy that I won’t be having any Core classes, as I’ll have more of an opportunity to have conversational lessons, instead of trying to teach grammar, syntax, etc., which I obviously have some problems with myself.

Last night was another incredible night out, and I’ve already found my “scene” over here, an awesome area by the Beijing Drum and Bell Tower, where lots of ex-pats congregate to hang out at the cool bars and clubs and such. Jasmine and Cherry (a 22-year-old Hong Kong born Australian) and I went out for dinner over in that area around 7 pm, and we had a huge shared meal at a restaurant that didn’t have any English on the menu. We ordered a big pot of steaming tea (with what looked like an ounce of marijuana floating in the kettle, don’t worry Mom – it wasn’t), and three big dishes of spicy beef, pork and peanuts, and rice with shrimp and fried eggs. It was to die for. After filling up, we headed over to the Drum Tower to meet a couple of other teachers, and walked down to an insanely awesome rock-and-roll bar called the “Mao Live House”. I’m definitely going to be a “local” at this place.

As soon as we got in (it was a 40 RMB cover at the door), I immediately noticed all the hot Chinese rocker chicks, and also the big ex-pat crowd. Marilyn Manson was playing at the bar up front, so after ordering up a Jim Bean and Coke and a couple of beers for myself and the girls, I knew I had found a place I was going to love. We quickly went in to the live music part of the venue, and were greeted by an incredible Chinese band that was rocking out like it was going out of style. The front girl was a female Chinese version of Mick Jagger and Sid Vicious (cool combination, huh?) and kept throwing the microphone around to swing around her neck. The band was really ripping ass, and I was disappointed that I only got to see them do a few songs before another band took over the stage. This second band, more of a pop-rock group called Shampoo (I couldn’t understand the Chinese, obviously, but a cute American girl explained some of what they were saying), was just as awesome as the first, and my Dad would’ve loved the guy playing bass, as he was playing that really fast slap method, sort of similar to Les Claypool. They did maybe 10-12 songs, including a couple songs with scattered English and an awesome cover of “Video Killed the Radio Star.” After the two Chinese bands, we got a couple of British bands and one (I think) that were either Australians or New Zealanders. They were pretty good as well, but not nearly as fun and energetic as the Chinese bands. There were some smoking hot Chinese girls dancing around up front, and since I was the only American bouncing around and rocking out myself, at some point (I had quite a few drinkypoos), they collected me into their bunch and danced with me until one of the British bands finished up. One of the coolest things about the Beijing people is that they genuinely get excited to meet an American, and I only wish I wasn’t so ignorant and stupid that I have no means of communicating past a few initial phrases (but hopefully that will come with time). I also met a Jersey girl who had been a teacher with World Link a couple of years ago, and still comes out to hang with the ex-pats, who knew about Pratt when I mentioned it, and has a sister that lives in Park Slope. We shared a laugh over the fact that we had probably seen each other at “The Garage” or “Lucky 13” in the time that we had frequented those particular hangouts.

We caught a cab back to the apartment around 2:00 am since Cherry (who can’t drink because she’s taking Malaria tablets from her trip to Thailand) was ready to go. Thankfully, my little Wilmington hottie, Marie Elena, guided us back to Baoxing Yuan, and I sent out a few emails before finally hitting the sack. This morning I got up around 9:30, completely hangover free (to my surprise), and in a couple of hours we’re going to go out to the Third Ring Road to do some shopping. I’m hoping we can figure out a way to take the bus, since that’s something I haven’t had the cojones for just quite yet, and I’m looking forward to getting a bit lost and trying to venture out beyond my comfort zone.

Tonight, since we couldn’t get tickets to the Peking Opera, the school organized a trip to the KTV, which is a big karaoke bar, close in proximity to the area where we were at last night. I’m looking forward to putting on a bit of a show, as this experience has really enabled me to lower my inhibitions a bit, and ignore some of the pride that has kept me from doing so many of things I should have been doing for the past 27 years (I’m sure you’ll all notice how much I try to say “I love you” now!!!). Most of you who know me well, also know that I’ve slowly been regaining my confidence over these last couple of years, and I’m finally in a place where I’m completely comfortable with who I am, where I’ve been, and where I’m going.

Anywhoo, time for some breakfast, and I need to get myself together before we head out (you know I’m not going anywhere without my hair styled perfectly!). Love you lots, and I’m really enjoying getting these posts up, so continue to shoot me lines if you’ve got any specific questions about this or that, as it’s literally impossible to include all that’s going on. Guess there’s some football games this weekend (which I haven’t even thought about this week), so I might try to get over to a bar called “Frank’s” to watch the Giants rip the Cowboys on Monday morning. OK, OK. I’ll shut up now. Zaijian!

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