The Wandering Monkey

Today I met with the guys who set up the Paramount Christmas Ball. It seems like an ideal place to rent out for the Shanghai Lindy Exchange. The guys who organized it are very much on the ball and they seem like they could handle the task. There's a lot to consider on this one. This is a really big project. At the moment we are in the investigation phase. Trying to find out how much things will cost, what is needed, who is interested, and how much people would be willing to pay for the whole package. We want to make the whole thing affordable.

It is very cold in Shanghai. I'm ready for the winter to end. This city has a lot of good things, but the weather is not one of them. Winter hovers around freezing just about all of the time.

I have met a great number of people out here. Pretty much every night you go out you can count on getting to know three or four new people at least. I'm having trouble remembering everybody, especially names. I think it would be a good idea to take some sort of notes or try a memory technique.

The swing dance class is going well. My dance partner and I are splitting up teaching now, and really it's working better than it ever has before. It's a lot of fun, too. We used to have a lot of problems with advanced and beginning students in the same lesson. The more experienced dancers were getting bored, and sometimes the new students were learning things that were just too complicated. So now my partner takes the new students with East Coast Swing and I take our older students with Lindy Hop. Then, we all get together at the end of class and have a 'show-and-tell' of sorts when anyone in the class can show a new move or offer tips and such. Finally, at the end we all dance the Shim Sham, which is a 'swing-culture line dance.' The students are really loving it, and it's a lot more fun, too.

I have still not landed a teaching job yet. I need to get one for some amount of cash flow and for visa status. I guess I'm really not looking forward to it because I think it will distract my attention from the dancing. But I really don't have much choice in the matter. I need to get some sort of job and this one is probably the best for the time being.

My ayi (maid) is working out very well. My house is clean and there are always groceries in the fridge.

All for now.
-J