The Wandering Monkey

It's New Years in Shanghai. I'm about to head out with a whole bunch of folks.
Happy New Years to You!!!

Howsa howsa-
It is cold and there is no sun in Shanghai during the winter. I have to admit it has been a little difficult lately. I taked with another ex-pat friend of mine, and we both were going through the same thing. Not exactly sure what we are doing here, not exactly sure how long we will stay, and so forth. In the mornings it is so cold you just don't want to get out of bed. The buildings are poorly insulated, so your bedroom may be warm but the rest of your house is so cold you don't want to get up and walk around.
My swing dance students have been pitching in lately. They are helping me post to Chinese language web sites. This is good. We are getting a few new dancers now. But we are still not sure where we will have our regular social night. Our current bar is too small and the dance floor is made out of metal. Slippery, and potentially dangerous if you fall on it.
I met some really cool dudes at the Cotton Club, a jazz bar out here. They are Greg and Matt, musicians with a lot of soul. We danced a little there tonight and they were really enthusiastic and want us to come out more often.
So, I'm hanging in there.
-J

Since the day before Christmas, I have been playing host to a new friend. He comes from the San Francisco Bay Area. His name is Ivan, and he is a swing dancer too. He found us from an Internet search. Thank goodness Kellian put a few listings on shanghaiexpat.com, because that's where he found us.
He's a good dancer, and ironically, he is a member of the same dance group as my ex-gf. We have been hanging out for five days and we just realized this. So ironic! Small world, the Lindy World.
It seems that the best way to attract new students to the class is to have current students refer them. We get a lot of people who say they will come, and mean it, but just don't make it out on Sunday night. Perhaps our location is bad, perhaps the day is bad, I don't know.
In another area, we simply have too many female students! Normally a guy would have to be insane to say this, but it really is true! We have a new promotion: refer a male student and you get a free class. Some of our students are so good at this that I don't think they will ever pay for classes.
FYI I am still struggling with getting my credit and ATM cards mailed out here. Never, ever lose your wallet in a foreign country. It's a big pain normally, but here is has been just exasperating. Also, FYI, the best way to send things to China that I know is through EMS (Emergency Mail Service, or something like that), available through the standard old U.S. Post Office.
I am dating now. Nothing serious. I don't think I want anything serious. I'm still too much up in the air for that. I think I would prefer just to be dating. Too much pressure comes from a serious relationship.
Many friends have contacted me during the Christmas/New Year time. I appreciate everyone. I really do. I could not be back in the U.S. during this time, but I am happy to say that I was happy this year during Christmas. I have spent a few Christmas'es away from friends and family, and some of them have been very bad. But this year I was not sad, in fact I was happy and pleased to be around. Good for Jimbo! Yeah, yeah, yeah!
Happy Holidays to all,
-J

And so, and so, and so....
Today I had hoped we would get a bunch of new students for our dance class. Made some extra preparations, and I anticipated some sign-ups from the 1920's ball. However, as fate would have it we had just our loyal repeat students. No new students. I must confess I was a bit downtrodden by this. The 'business' of running a swing dancing effort is very different than other types of business I have done. In some ways, it is harder, because I am trying to sell and deal with the general public, rather than a specific person in a corporation. We do have the advantage that we are the only ones doing swing, but most people don't know what it is yet.
Kellian is back in the U.S. with her family, so I am also running things on my own for the next three and a half weeks. That means two more dance sessions. It's a bit harder without her. We don't always agree on everything, but this is good in business. She comes up with things I don't think about, and she finds work and students on her own, too. I'll be OK in the meanwhile, but it would be good to have her back. She believes in what we are doing, too. There is another dancer out her who is very good, but Kellian has the same comittment and belief in swing dancing that I do. We are both doing in for the good of the, uhh, country? For the good of people in general. Something like that.
Meanwhile I am going to have to get a day job. I suppose it's not the worst thing in the world! Fortunately I should probably be able to get into some new field. I am good with business presentations and I would like to focus on that field. I think I would be a good representative for a company which wants to sell things or present things to other foreigners.
I am spending the holidays here in China. I did not want to go back so soon after coming, for a few reasons. First I thought it was too soon after arrival, and I would lose my momentum and will to stay here. Second, it's expensive. And third, I felt like we need to keep swing dancing going. I think we would lose people and opportunities if both of us left at the same time.
All for now. Happy Holidays to all and I hope it's warmer where you are!
-J

Tonight, we had what could be considered the first Shanghai Lindy Exchange. Tonight was the night of the Roaring 20's Christmas Ball at the Shanghai Paramount Ballroom. And, as fate would have it, Shanghai Swings were the featured dancers of the evening. Like so many things out here, it began with a beer at a night club a few months ago. These Australian blokes were holding a big ball at the Paramount. And, since it was retro, I said hey why don't we do a little swing dancing there, eh mate?

So it was first starting out as a typical performance. We'd go on about 5-10 minutes, get some applause (which is great), and go out. As the event went, we were the featured dancers of the evening. We began at 8:30 and danced virtually non-stop until midnight.

The most remarkable thing of the evening is that the two dancers from Beijing came down. They are doing the same type of thing -- teaching swing dancing. They all came down, and our students met them. And the public met them. And they are such great people!

We had a great show. 200-300 people. Very nice.

Peace. Out.
Jimbo

Over the last few days, we have lost our favorite venue for swing dancing. It was a real nice club, made out of old wood construction. Three floors, with a live band. The band area could be viewed from the round balconies on the upper two floors. They let us dance, they gave our students a discount, and they played our music. We were on very good terms with the band, and they played music which worked for us. On two occasions, I even got behind the drums and played with the band. That was a lot of fun.
The place wasn't getting much business, and on a given night we brought in 30 people. And yet, for reasons we do not completely understand, the owner asked us not to come back. We met with the manager, and he said the owner was adamant on this, and she would not meet with us directly. Something about attracting the wrong clientelle. Like they had any clientelle! They were doing no business!
So, again, we needed to change venues. We found a quick replacement and it will do OK for now.
Kellian is going back to the U.S. for three weeks. I'll be on my own for a while, but I have many good students to dance with and one other American Lindy Hopper who I can do performance shows with. I'm pretty confident I'll manage OK.

Yesterday we went to a College of the Arts in Shanghai. They were doing a ballroom dancing exhibition. Damn, those guys were good! They were fully dressed in their ballroom gowns, and there were salsa dancers dressed, in... well... very little (and this even coming from me!)

We really enjoyed the performance. Afterwards, they asked us to talk to their dancers. First of all, we said they are better than we are! Then we talked about Lindy Hop and that we want to bring the dance and the community to Shanghai. I'd love to get a couple of those dancers! They are really good! We have been working thus far with people who are just normal folks. They have not necessarily done any dancing before. We are just teaching them beginning steps. But these guys are a different class. I would so like to get to teach them.

As for Kellian and myself, we are hurting for want of an instructor of our own. I am fairly well experienced but not as good as many of the people back in the Bay Area. Kellian has not had as much experience as me, plus out Lindy styles are different (Savoy style vs. Hollywood style). So it has been a struggle to get it going. Back in SF, if we were dancing there we'd pick up a lot more moves and get a lot further. As it is now, there's just a few other Lindy Hoppers we have met to exchange moves. We've got to focus working with them to get our own learning up to speed.

Last night I had a date with a reasonably nice girl. I don't think it's going anywhere but she is very good at teaching Mandarin. I hope she would be interested in a friendship and exchange of languages. Probably I think!