Exercising with old men

For the last year and a half I have noticed an old man exercising on the side of the road. His workout stations him are on my bus route. We do not see him each morning, but we have seen a variety of his exercises including:

1. Hitting a Tree
2. Doing the hula
3. Swinging his leg
4. modified push-ups
5. Doing the hula while hanging on to a bar

There was a period of 2 weeks that we did not see him and I got a little concerned about what had happened to him. Thankfully he returned and it was then that I decided I wanted to join him.

One Friday I went to the bus stop early and asked a friend to video me while the bus went by. Unfortunatelythat friend could not figure out how to video…. I had another friend video me. It was a short clip but fun none the less.

The following week was my break, so I decided that I would get someone to dedicate some time at oh…. 7am to video me doing all the exercises with the old man. My friend Carlos Fandango picked me with my hula hoop up in a cab and we went looking for the old man. We spotted him hitting a tree, but the time we got out of the cab he was gone. Why did the old man cross the road you might ask? To do the hula on the other side. I talked a little to the old man and showed him a couple of sentences in Chinese thanks to google translate “I like your exercises, can I do them with you?”. The old man is from the generation when a lot of people in China did not learn how to read so unfortunately we could not communicate, but we did get this video footage J

Here is the link to Old man footage

Two Drag Queens walk into a bar…

Warning Mom, do not show this post to Grandma

My last week in New York I got a recommendation from a friend to go to Drag Queen Bingo at the Bowery Poetry Club. He said that he has been multiple times and is a great cheap evening with bingo cards for $2 and happy hour drinks. We were advised to get there early and be careful during the Challenge Round as it normally involves the prize of two free drinks to the winners and the opportunity, or job of dancing or parading on stage naked with one prop.

It did not take much convincing to get my dear friend Erika to join me. I got there early and secured us front row seating so we could clearly see all the action. Erika arrived after the first act started, Taylor Mead. Taylor Mead is an 87-year-old icon in SoHo. He has been featured in work my Andy Warhol and the short film Coffee and Cigarettes. I was not sure what to expect when one of the bar tenders helped him on to the stage and gave him his tape deck. He had a bag with him with drawing that looked like a child’s interpretation of fairly tale characters. He described one of the characters as having tried to draw a horse it came out looking like a fox. So much of his act was a stream of things that started part way through and stopped some where before. That said it was an interesting performance to see. He read some poetry and used his tape deck/radio for effects. While reading he would pause to hold the tape deck near the microphone and move the tape deck in and out to create fades. It was a little comical that the tape deck was something that he seemingly used before but still was not sure how to start and stop the tape inside and often would turn down the volume and was thrilled when he found pause. The last poem was rather explicit. I am putting in the link to a performance of his as I think I can not fully describe how you feel when you hear an 87 year old man start a poem with the line “I wanted to lick his @$$____”.(this is a link to his performance... warning about the content)

Taylor Mead was escorted off stage and then Bingo got set up, complete with bingo hamster wheel for all the bingo balls and shinny pink tablecloth. Hosted by Drag Queen Linda Simpson and Murray Hill with a non-Drag Queen assistant that could do no right. Linda’s dry sense of humor and tone of voice was hysterical. She made giving away two fake boobies a ripe roar riot of a time. The prizes for each round were nothing that you buy with a straight face or sober but better than what I see sold on the streets of Shanghai that I think will only take up land fill space.

Prize 1: A monkey that lights ups while it’s arms propel it forward on the floor. During the demonstration of the prize the hosts tried to do a monkey call, and I must say failed miserably. Since I am a natural at monkey calls I chimed in, which was a hit. I was referred to monkey girl the rest of the evening… on another note I did not have a summer fling while in NYC, perhaps this type of behavior explains that a little more in retrospect.

Prize 2: Spider man bath mat. Need I say more?

Prize 3: The Friendship prize: plastic boobies. The rules for this round was that the winner had to give the prize to someone they did not know to promote friendships. Two girls tied that round and picked two males to receive the boobies (one boob each).

Prize 4: 3D holograms art of a duck and horses….

Prize 5: Challenge round, 2 drinks from the bar and a paper plate to cover your bits when walking around naked.

Prize 6: Place mats of an orange juicer with matching coasters

Final Round: Cash $169 the money from the bingo card purchases.

The only thing disappointing about the evening was that I found out about it all the last week I was in the city. Now I will be counting down the Mondays til I am back in NYC for some B-I-N-G-O!

Sporting events

I went to visit my parents in Seattle for a long weekend and see my brother’s band, The

Whisperlights, play one night. Before I arrived my friend Jen suggested that we go see the Roller Derby double header. I was definitely game as I had not seen a game yet and was super curious of the sport. I envisioned a bunch of angry women 30 somethings bashing into each other and yelling. This was not necessarily the case. We went to Key Arena and had a suite with some other people, a classy way to see the derby. When the players were introduced I knew that I found my new sport or spectator sport. The names are edgy clever plays on words and some alteration. I LOVE the names, the costumes and the creativity of the girls. The Rat City Girls were playing: Teams Grave Danger v. Throttle Rockets and Derby Liberation Front v. Sockit Wenches.

When being introduced the players’ sassy head shots were shown on the jumbo tron of each player. Some of my favorite names are:

From the Sockit Wenches

#17 Ima Handful

Grave Danger

#17 Muffstache

#12 Gauge: Carmen Getsome

DLF

Ann R. Kissed

# 20: Yoko Onoudi’nt,

Throttle Rockets

# 5 Eva Dead

The atmosphere was fantastic and the girls were giving other teams awards in the end and created a really positive environment. There were a lot of teenage girls celebrating their birthdays and I am sure figuring out what their roller derby name would be. Between the two matches there was a trapeze act that came on with only a small mat to catch them if they were to fall, making it more of a circus atmosphere.

When I got back to NYC I looked into the roller derby and saw that the Gotham Girls were going to play against Boston while some friends were visiting me. The teams were not as evenly matched… but still the environment was great. We saw families supporting their daughters, and friends there. I was amazed to see a grandma hike it up the stairs of a small college basketball court (the size of a High School gym) just to see her I am suspecting granddaughter play. The names were great and so were the costumes make up and of course the Jeer Leaders.

I got information on joining… possibly I will have to take classes in how to skate when I head back to NYC and become # 3.14 Risqué Roller.

Movie night

Well this summer has been amazing full stop. I have been using Time Out as my Bible of NYC. Doing everything from a comedy show where Demetri Martin and Aziz Ansari show up, to the seeing the Prime Minister of the Tibetan people in exile being interviewed at the Asian Society, to bite size Broadway in Bryant Park and the list goes continues.

Last night I headed to Bryant Park with a friend to see Cool Hand Luke with Randy Newman a young prison on a chain gang. Cool Hand Luke was released in 1967 and the movie is very telling of the times and restrictions lack there of and censorship. The story line includes a lot of dares and “I bet you can not” mentality among the prisoners. The wardens do little to intervene besides putting different inmates in “The box” and wearing aviator glasses, which the cameraman has an affinity of taking shots of the reflection. There is one screen when the chain gang see a pretty woman washing a car rather explicitly, but still in censorship guidelines of MPAA, before the rating system started. The scene was basically a woman hamming up washing a car while the prisoners watched while digging a ditch.

We showed up around 8:30 and were able to snag chairs at the back. I guess if you want to get on the lawn you have to show up around 5:00. Old episodes of Bugs Bunny were being showed before show time. While the sound is probably better on the lawn we were able to see the screen well and were able to keep up with the movie. We still had a great time people watching and looking up at the buildings that surround the park.

Next Monday they will be showing Airplane! I think I will be there… despite the fact that later that week I will be flying half way across the world.

Bryant Park

Can take the girl out of China, but can not keep China away from the girl

This week seems like it has been a massive pull toward China.
Monday I went to a comedy evening with a friend I know from Shanghai.
Tuesday: The Asia Society sponsored an interview with the Prime Minister of the Tibetan people in exile. I attended the interview, as I am planning on going to Tibet this October and want to understand more about the people and about China. Lobsang Sanyang was incredibly well spoken and his biography incredibly impressive. He talked about the hardships of Tibet and desiring a peaceful way forward.
Wednesday: I started by going to the Tex World trade show. There were hundreds of stalls there. As I was going through the rows of textiles, about 90% were vendors from China, 5% from USA and 5% from elsewhere. There were some from Shanghai and I looked at the addresses and knew where they were located or had been close to the location. I was handed business cards with two hands as they do in China, and heard Mandarin spoken. In some ways I want to be identified as having lived there and having some understanding. However, when I told vendors that I lived in Shanghai they assumed that I was with a factory or was doing manufacturing there, not that I was just in the US to volunteer for the cause of fashion.
Even though I am looking forward to returning to the US I still feel drawn to things from China while I am away only for a short while. I did not expect that when coming and wonder what will happen when I move back to the US full time. Perhaps I will have to take up Mandarin or frequent China town. Today I did get a whiff of a strong oder on the streets and thought, ‘wow it even smells like Shanghai today’.
With all this being said while planning a girls weekend in NYC in 2 weeks time, my only request has been “No DIM SUM”. I have to draw a line somewhere.

How we do it in China.

So I am absolutely loving NYC. That said I did have some culture shook last week. I was at a great event at a remodeled hotel off of 5th Avenue opposite the park, Pierre Hotels Two E Bar. All of a sudden I had an overwhelming feeling that I had to leave. I just was overwhelmed by the differences in how people interact here as well as the adjustments that I will have to make. I successfully have made friends in each country I have lived in but got a little nervous about starting over in my own country. Realizing that I will have to understand what my country men do and I can not blame it on cultural differences as it really is my culture that I do not always understand, nor know how to completely communicate in.
There have been a few things here that I find strange:
1. The metro lines in Shanghai communicate more than the metros in NYC (and there is a massive language and script barrier there). Shanghai metros tell you the next stop before you enter the train and this information is at each door way to the train. Also there is a board that states when the next train will arrive. In NYC you are lucky to know what train you are on, rarely do you know when the next train will come and the entertainment is watching the rats on the tracks below.
2. Actually that is about all I got. I miss the Shanghai metro. Other than that I will keep the roof top parties, the cruises on the Hudson and people holding doors for me and answering questions without me having to wave my arms around or sound like a 2 year old.

Amanda in Shanghai Goes to NYC for the summer

So I have not posted in AGES! I figure now is the time. I am in NYC for the summer staying with my lovely cousin in the Upper East Side. I am here to do two internships in the fashion industry. I am super excited as well as a little nervous about the learning curve I am in for.
I arrived yesterday afternoon and hit the ground running. I started out with a walk in central park then dinner and drinks in the city. Nicola works within spirits and has a fantastic network here. We went to a great punch bar where you can get a silver bowl of punch for table.

Dinner at a vegetarian diner consisted of heaping amounts of loud laughter with some of my cousin's talented bartender friends coming in from various areas of the country. After the dinner we continued to Amor y Amargo for some cocktails in a cozy place with an amazing bar top. Then to Death & Co. a speakeasy bar that has had the title best bar in NYC. The drinks were superb and the company was better.

Today I went shopping in SoHo with a dear friend Bobby. So many shops, so little time! I will definitely have to go back for more fashion research. Though all in all was a super productive day (glad I brought an empty bag).

I met up with my cousin for a rum cruise. We close to the Statue of LIberty and then back to South Street Sea Port. NY is amazing at sunset. The people on board were interesting and fun. There was a great mood as some people came from the Gay pride parade that celebrated the new law allowing gay marriage in NY.

I literally have had to pinch myself several times this weekend so far and i know that the summer is only beginning. The only downer was that some one stole my new month metro card, basically 100usd... it was a reminder that I lived in countries that are far safer than the country I come from. I think that will be the culture shock that I will go through while here and adjusting to being able to understand all the sign and the language but not always understand the behavior of my fellow country people.

That is it for tonight.

Calculated mistakes

One of the great things about living in China is that I can afford to do things that I could not back home. Cost of living here is lower, and labor is cheap (hence most everything is made here). I have never really been a messy person, but really have appreciated having a house cleaner. Last year my Ayi (house cleaner in Chinese, direct translation is Auntie) was fantastic, her name is Huang Qing. I absolutely loved her, she organized my clothes in ways I did not know was possible. She did cute things, like putting my eye covers over my stuffed animal's eyes, re-organized my books, re-organized my kitchen, my bathroom... ok so not all the things were cute in the traditional way, but they are if you love organization.
This past fall I moved into the French concession, and I love my neighborhood, unfortunately my Ayi did not want to make the commute. I felt so abandoned by her and lost. I got a replacement but I found that she did not get everything done that my other ayi was able to accomplish. She did not organize things for me, I had to re-organize and always felt like I was disorientated looking for my clothes. I felt a void that was left by Huang Qing. I stuck with the new ayi, despite the washing a leather skirt, throwing away pictures, and not doing the ironing. However this past weekend I had to let her go.
On Friday I came home and she was still mopping so I just popped in and went out, noticing that my math books were in a bag, but I had left them on the floor so did not think more of it and went to happy hour to meet a friend. When I came back she was gone. In the morning I wanted to get some work done before going to the literary festival. So I looked for my math books.... no where to be found... I looked in the hall in all my shelves, piles of things, and nothing. I had to have a friend call my ayi to see where they were. I was fearing that she took them or that she threw them away. While i am used to student wanting to deface math books, I am not used to my house cleaner feeling so strongly about taking my math books. It was not so much that it was math books, though that is a strange thing to take for a cleaner that does not speak English, but that she took anything.
It turns out she thought I did not want them and took them without asking. Who knew she was a Good Will Hunting in the works? Unfortunately I had to let her go as I did not feel comfortable with her taking my things, even if it is spreading math around. If she would have asked I would have gotten her proper books, not books on how to use the TI83 in an algebra 2 class.

F-U

Well over the last weeks I have been listening to NPR's year in review and have gotten addicted to Cee-Lo Greeen's song "Forget You (FU)". It is not just funny but it has such a great tune to it. Little did I know that it was popular in China, or at least that is the excuse that I am giving a dude I ran into in an Elevator door way. I was getting out on the elevator, and in China people have a different concept of personal space. Often in the metro you hardly have a chance to get off the metro before people start shoving themselves on. As I was getting out of the elevator there were two men, I went to the left and one of the men just stood there so I could not get past either way. I gave a look as if to say I need to get by, and his response was "F--k You" then I had to squeeze by him. I was shocked. I have not had a Chinese person be so verbally rude to me (well at least that I could clearly understand). I looked back and gave a dirty look, just to get a "F--k You too" back from him!

It was all too perplexing. Why, why the hostility, why the rudeness? WTF really. I am just hoping he had Cee-Lo Green in his head and was hoping I would catch the reference.

have not posted for a while

Well, it has been ages since I posted anything on here. Sorry about that. I am enjoying Asia and still having a fun time here. I will be here another 1.5 years and then plan to head back to the USA.
I was just home and it was great to see everyone and do my traditional AZ visit which includes going up A mountain, cookie baking day and a night at Casey Moores. I did not get any sewing done but hopefully next time.

Caution and Careful changed to Confused Curiosity

How people werer really helpful when I had a cast on then just confused and staring at the boot. I would catch people staring at me when walking around. When I got into cabs the drivers would point, laugh and start talking a lot. Once I was on my way into a pub and a guy from across the street yelled out "That is awesome!" My favorite reaction was a man that I walked past who stopped, then put his arms in the arm looking at my boot. It was like he was saying "Why why why did you do this to your self!"