Sooooo Long

Well it's been a long bit between posts, but I have been pretty busy. I played a Halloween festival here and added some pics from that. Their band is named Pumpkin and I wrote some lyrics for their song and played with them some. A lot of other bands played and were pretty good. It was called Halloween Rock Eve, but we just called it Pumpinfest. The TV tried to interview me but we ran off before they got around to me. It was really fun, and there were about 400 or so people there. I got sick for a bit but it seems to have cleared up. You can just buy antibiotics over the counter here. Not so great, but useful. We went to Hangzhou and had some adventures around West Lake, and we went to a Ningbo Conference and had lots of food and speakers. They invited me to play there but it was only 20 minutes of a tea break that they already had hired musicians for. Since I don't know any traditional Chinese music I sadly declined. I've been playing some with a band on Campus, but they are pretty terrible. Emily and I are thinking of trying to learn some traditional Chinese instrument and maybe get lessons. I went with Emily to see the new Harry Potter, didn't like it. We have been sneaking off to Starbucks for toffee nut lattes and chicken ceaser wraps. I am supposed to be judging a speech contest next month and Emily and I have both been assigned new classes to teach next week. I haven't been online much, and I have been practicing my guitar a lot. Emily and I are talking about all the stuff we want to do when we get home and we sure do miss everyone. Will try to put up some more later.

Another Week Gone!

Time seems to really fly here, and I think "How could I have crammed so much into so little time?"
But when I really think about it I realize I'm not doing THAT much. My classes are going well with the Thursday evening class being my favorite so far. The class is smaller so that may be it, but it just seems that the kids are more into it if you know what I mean!
My friend Luke, who is in a band named Pumpkin and has been instrumental (ha ha) in helping me find a music store/buying geetars, is having a music festival at his school. The band invited me to play and help them work on a song they were writing and I gladly accepted. The show is officially called Halloween Rock Eve, but Emily and I have dubbed it Pumpkinfest and that is what we will forever know it as! I was flattered that they asked and will do a 4 or 5 song solo set. I'm pretty nervous but also really excited to be doing something with music. I have been practicing pretty hard on my own, but it is really exciting to get together with them and finally have a chance to jam!
Emily has not felt well the past few days, we are hoping that it is just a little bug and nothing she will have to go to the hospital for. We have gone through a lot of television on DVD and streamed over the internet, but now we have just settled down to reading a bunch. I had never read much of Agatha Christie's work, but loved derivative fiction of her Hercule Poirot series. Emily got me that and some Steinbeck I was wanting and that has filled many pleasant rainy hours. It is the season for rain here in Ningbo, and we are biding our time, bustling out for groceries and hurrying back. Emily's sister is about to head out on a bunch of adventures soon, and we both wish her luck and good fortune with those. She writes about China in her own blog and is much funnier than me. I think she is one of the blogs I follow on the side bar.
If anyone has any reading suggestion for me than let me know as I am always happy to read a good book. I have a list on the side with what I have read the current year. I usually cap each year with a blog devoted to just the reading list so there are a few years cataloged here. To be completely honest, that's the only real reason that I have had this blog for so long. I used to enjoy venting on here from time to time, but now I just use it as a book list! Also, it is nice to have a place to put our news and sometimes a funny story or anecdote. I have REALLY tried to not be a "whiny" blog :)
I am off to bed now so I will see you next week at the latest!

Sittin' Around

So it is a lazy Sunday morning, and Emily is catching up on TV while I'm reading about guitars and jam bands. We have finally gotten what we think is going to be our final teaching schedule. I have classes on Monday, two on Tuesday and one class on both Wed. and Thur. It is nice to kind of have a more set schedule instead of just waiting around to see what we will teach (in suspense!). Emily went and watched a Chilean ballet last night, but I bowed out and stayed home to practice my geetar. My plan is to be good enough to play with my brother in law when I get home :)
One of my favorite things in China (that I honestly thought I was going to hate) is the drive to Cixi every Monday. It is really calming to just put on some music from the ipod and look out the window and see such a startling different view of China. We go past inner city, industrial centers, farms, shops, pretty much everything you can think of. It is really calming to see farmers in their fields working so early in the morning.
I've been reading a lot of Larry Niven recently. He has always been a fun author to read but I realized recently that he is definitely one of my favorites. I've also read a little Robert Bloch, and now I'm starting in on my Cormac McCarthy collection. The kindle is really a godsend, as there is very little English literature available here, especially in the amount that I read. And there is no way I could have brought that many books to China.
I really like the guitar store here but it is really far away. About an hour and fifteen minutes via bus. The owner is really nice and is looking into getting Emily a banjo. I hope she gets it so we can practice together and jam some. It is weird because we spend so much time together, but don't really do many of the same things (unless you count being on the internet as something).
We have had the chance to have a bunch of really good meals in China, but honestly the two that stick out most in my mind are Casa Maya, where we had some pretty good Mexican food, and McDonalds, where I had two cheeseburgers. I will never make fun of people that go to a foreign country and eat McDonalds again. I suppose it is silly, but we have definitely sampled the local cuisine by now. It was nice to have something so much like home. The only difference between McDonalds in China and in the US is that the servers are nice to you here.
That's all for now!

On and On

Wowsa. I have not updated this in forever. Soooo, long story short:
We went to a Shanghai Opera, hung out with people at markets, watched someone almost fall off their scooter, went to Lowaitan (and ate FOUR entrees of Mexican food; we were very excited), Emily started cross stitching, I read a lot of books, we watched some TV (Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother mostly), made friends with the security guards by running past them and whistling like a train trying to catch some girls who left a purse in the taxi we had grabbed, played some guitar (started working on scales), joined a technomad group (fun!), danced around the apartment, visited some temples (one of which was 1,700 years old!), read a lot of funny junk online, debated maybe doing more traveling when we are done here (almost surely vetoed in honor of the bunny, but still under discussion), taught classes (I taught 5, Em’s taught 2), are planning on going to get some bikes, shopped and 5 million and 1 “cute” stores with Em’s, worked on lesson plans, tried to join QQ (mostly failed at that one...), danced around, and ate cookies and Dove bars.

I’m not sure what we will do today, but there sure is a bunch here waiting for us! I will try to be on here more, keeping things updated and fleshing out the whole gap I just leapt in a single non-stop sentence, but I won’t make any promises! Lots of love!
JJ

Lots to Do

So I have had a few crazy busy days. Emily and I have spent a couple of nice days with her sister and had some delicious meals. We had hot pot, which is absolutely amazing and is nice and hot (as the name implies). Emily and I also went with Abby to Pizza Hut! It is a “classy” date restaurant here in China with all sorts of really funky foods on the menu that they think might be American-ish like spaghetti noodles with mushrooms and bean sauce. Ick. The pizza was pretty good, though the staff was scandalized that we didn’t want any traditional pizza toppings like whole unpeeled shrimp and hot dogs. I got a sweet watch and Emily FINALLY found some yarn. Today we went adventuring after a hearty meal of cabbage and pork, cucumbers in spicy sauce, fried potatoes with dipping sauce, fried peanuts, shredded pork and celery, and mi fan. We walked pretty far and got lots of funny stares. Emily found some cool stores with nifty stuff she liked and I was the backpack pack mule. Next week we may venture out to Tianyi all on our own and possibly go on an expedition with one of Abby’s friends, Jane. Jane is very nice and lives in Abby’s building. We have met many cool people through Abby. Yesterday was super fun. We took a cab all the way to NIT and met up with a pen pal of mine whose English name is Luke. He is in a cool band called Pumpkin. We met up with him and hung out in Pumpkin’s practice space. Most of the band showed up and we got to jam and hang out with them for a while. Then they took us into town to a little guitar shop that they go to. It seems like a really insular and small (but very nice) music community here. The shop owner is good friends with them and he gave me a great deal on an acoustic guitar that was in the shop. It is a weird brand called Tanglewood from the UK. It is in pretty rough shape (the bridge had come off and is pretty sloppily reglued back on); it sounded better than all but one of the other acoustics there, and the one that sounded better was 1400 yuan, while this one was only 1000. It translates into roughly $150 (more than I would have paid in the US, but not so bad for a decent sounding guitar here in China). After that we went above the shop and jammed for just a bit in the rehearsal space the owner had set up. It was really fun. Then we went out and ate with Abby and had a sing a long at her apartment. A few days ago we went and talked with Maggie’s class. It was really surreal. They wanted photos with us and asked us to sing a Christmas song (we sang Jingle Bells). We agreed to sing to them on the condition that they sing us a traditional Chinese song. They agreed and promptly nominated one girl in the class to be the singer. She sang Celine Dion. I didn’t think it was Chinese, but didn’t argue with them. Tomorrow we go to Cixi to visit the campus and meet some students. We don’t really know what we will officially be doing, but we ahve to catch the bus at 6:50 and won’t get back until 5:30ish that afternoon. I plan on bringing the ipod and kindle :)
So far I only know of classes on Monday and Tuesday, as they still haven’t figured out the schedule for either Emily and I. We feel a little like frauds since we are just hanging out, the lesson plans that we have already written are long done, and it feels like we don’t really have much of a job to do. I am in no way complaining about the work not being bad, but I am ready to start doing the job I came here for so I can see what everyday life is really going to look like once classes start. I am eager to see what the year holds!

Parade

Today is a day of celebration! Emily got her computer up and running with the help of a very nice IT guy and we are back to being a two computer household. It makes me very happy and Emily wont stop dancing around the house. We are relieved to get her computer up and running so she will be less fractious but also it is good to have it as a backup. My computer has had some troubling issues the past few days with overheating and just shutting down. I'm not sure what's going on but I hope it will last the year. It will definitely get more rest with just one person using it now! I'm off to have a cuppa coffee and then maybe Em's and I will have an early dinner. We figured out how to order all on our own (without any helpful semi-english speaking person to translate) from our favorite restaurant. We are going to try a different one tonight so we can have more practice. It looks like we read the schedule wrong and wont be teaching for yet another week so I should have plenty of time to have awesome lesson plans all laid out. I also heard from my Chinese friend Luke and I may have someone to play music with soon. So it is exciting all around. I added lots of pictures to my facebook so everyone can check them out there.

FOOOOOOD!

We had an amazing dinner out last night with Abby and one of our Chinese friends named Maggie. She took us to a restaurant that specializes in Northern Chinese cooking which is predominantly spicy. I have NEVER had food that spicy! We had tofu with peppers and bacon in chili oil, beef with peppers and onions in chili oil, frog in the hottest chili oil concoction I have ever tasted, and cauliflower with ham, green onions, and green peppers with chili oil. It was a spicy meal. I wish I had eaten ice cream after! Supposedly I really like Northern Chinese cooking because I like dumplings and I like spicy. Another of our friends named Nina took us out and said I had a "Northern soul." That may be because I ate two plates of dumplings. We also had delicious beef joints that you got to wear gloves to eat. You picked all the meat off and then sucked the marrow out with a straw! Yum!!! We also were brave and rode the bus and a taxi all by ourselves! Now I have to go with Emily to get a bike, but I will add more later.