The Wandering Monkey

Went out for beers with some mates. One English guy and two Canadians. We were talking and someone asked if I knew all 50 states, so I drew a map and put each one on I could remember. I got 47. With their help I figured out the rest. What did I miss:
* Nebraska
* Wyoming
I can't remember the third one I forgot! Must not be important. There's just 49, right? No, the 50th is Canada. I remember.
But the Englishman could not name all of the counties in England, nor could the Canadians name all the provinces in their country, so I think I came out ahead.

Today was a bit strange. I had my dance class from 7-9pm which I teach at an English language school. It is held in a common room in which they put speakers and events. In the corner of that room are some common computers that students can use. Typically there are 10-20 people in the class plus maybe 5-6 in the corner, out of view.
Today after about 1 hour of the class, I heard people talking very loudly back in the computer area. To give them a hint, I turned up the dance music much louder, but it seemed to have no effect. So I went back there and there were two students, both adults, having some sort of heated argument. I approached them, as I was the only teacher present, and tried to communicate to them that there was a class going on and they had to be quiet.
I expected them to say something to the effect of OK sorry and take it outside, but that's not what happened. One guy looked at me with disdain and waved me off. Then they took back to arguing with each other again, about what I have no idea since the whole thing is in Chinese. Meanwhile, my students are waiting for me to return to class.
Suddenly one of the guys takes a swing at the other guy. Without thinking to much about it I do the typical American thing in such a case which is to try to separate the two. I'm quickly trying to assess what is going on, feeling like that if I don't do something about this then no one will.
This is a completely correct assumption, but it was actually even worse than I would have thought. About two or three seconds into it I am trying to keep the guys apart by physical force and they are not in the least disuaded. I notice that they are not directing any blows or moves against me, but they are going after each other. THEN, at least two other guys from the surrounding area actually JOIN IN and start hitting either one or the other of the guys. So now, six seconds into it I am trying to restrain not only the original two but also dealing with these two secondary guys who are not making it any easier. Still, I am observing that through all of this that no actions are being directed at me, so I am not worried about personal danger other than just incidental being knocked around.
So I decide I should go for the bigger of the two guys and try to get him to back off. I do so, and grab his arm and start pulling him away, and some smaller guy from the background makes a fist and begins beating the guy I am partially restraining over the head. The new attacker is not particularly strong nor is he throwing very dangerous punches, but this has really got to be annoying to the big guy who I am trying to hold back.
This goes on for at least ten more seconds, me trying to first identify the primary fighters and separate them. And the bystanders instead of helping either stand about mute or throw in small punches.
Finally I manage to get them mostly separated. I have the larger guy on the floor (he fell there during wresting with others) and I realize I should go after the smaller primary fighter, who is an older guy with a pot belly. So I leave the larger guy, move towards the pot belly guy and do the 'big arm corral' and talk to him in English, moving him back and keeping my tone of voice reasonable and unexcited.
It seems to work with a little very small pushing on my part. I get the guy moved into the hallway and headed out away from the teaching room. By this time 20 or 30 people are now watching, coming in from the adjacent teaching rooms to see the entire event.
Still, not one other faculty member has showed up. Finally, I see one of the guys who I have been training as a swing dancer. I tell him to take the pot belly guy of the the room and keep him separated. So I finally have some help.
It is more or less finished, with only the concern of the guys seeing each other and yelling at each other again and of course beginning the fight again. I am very conscious of the lack of any type of security in this building.
With this stupid stuff hopefully finished, I think it is best just to go back into the dancing class right where I left off. The girls in the class come up and look concerned. Are you Hurt? they ask. No I'm Fine, I say. There's blood on you, they say.
And so there is, on my shirt and my left elbow. I look at it. I don't think its Mine, I say. I go the washroom and wash it off, and then back to class and finish up. One girl who had observed the whole thing goes up to me and says, You are Wonderful, or something like that.
People seem to have forgotten about it in about five - ten minutes, which is what I wanted. But I am having trouble concentrating to get the class finished.
Before the end of the class some security or police enter the room. I just keep on teaching, not particularly wanting to get involved further or give a statement or be detained for fighting in China, but none of these things happen. They are talking to one of the smaller secondary guys in the fight. That guy has a scrape under his eye. The guards hang out for a minute, talk to the small guy, then leave.

There is a public pattern of behavior in China which I have heard about many times. Whenever there is an accident or problem, people do not step in to solve it. They simply gather around and watch it happen. I have heard horror stories of a girl who was hit by a car and broke her leg. The people surrounded her on the street and were watching, not interfering or doing anything. But they were so packed around it that the medical technicians could not enter the scene.
People generally don't call the 911-equivalent or do anything, they just watch.
Anyhow, all's well that ends well. I feel OK, and the fight was stopped. It was an interesting affair.

Now HERE'S and odd one.
I was walking down the street, leaving the office where I rent a computer, and I looked across the street. Who do I see but a person who looks very much like an old college fraternity buddy of mine. I did not recognize his face so much as his distinctive walk. Some people walk in a unique way and you could figure out who there were even if in a shadow.
So I call out his name, "Greg?" testing to see if it is him. It can't be. It is. He is equally surprised. "Jim?" I cross the street to greet him. "Wow, what is the chance of meeting YOU out here?"
We have not seen each other for almost ten years. We were both at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, same year I think. Back in college we lived in the same house of course knew each other. We got along well and I never remember a time when we were at odds.
Over the next minute, we both ask: "What are you doing out here?" "How long are you here for?" "Where are you living?"
We made plans to contact each other and have coffee or lunch. He went off to his meeting and I went to dinner.
This is a strange place here, Shanghai.

Nice. My first day off in a while. I've been trying to swing various deals (ha ha) around town. Priority now is to establish a legitimate business association so that we can grow properly. And blah blah blah.
My friend "Bloke" is going back to the UK soon. This sucks for me, as he is one of the people who keep me sane. He's a good guy. He comes from a rough spot in England. He's a no-nonsense type of guy but a sweetheart at the same time. He's in sincerely in love with his girlfriend and chases skirts all over China at the same time. I like having him around because he's non-judgemental and he thinks I actually have my own shit together.
So he hasn't been enjoying his stay out here completely because he lives with said girlfriend and they have not been having the best go of it here in China. She wants to get married, and there you go. I've been trying to convince him to move out of their apartment, find some shit job out here, and stay on. Then we could be friends and I don't have to go about finding a new person I can count on for beer nights and such. But it looks like he's going to leave no matter what at this point. I can see where he's coming from. No job, running out of money, and debts to settle back home. So he says he'll just be gone six months, make some money, then come on back. You know in Shanghai, when someone leaves you just say farewell. Maybe they come back and maybe the don't. Eventually we all leave here, it's just a matter of when.

First Dance Troupe Show
Last weekend we had our first dance troupe performance. It was a roller-coaster for me. We had seven people total including myself and our newest star member, Andrea, who is a champion dancer from Germany. Andrea's presence has been a godsend. She's very organized, motivated, kind, helpful, and in addition she's also very, very talented. I always enjoy spending time with her and working with her.
We had five other people, all our students (one was Andrea's boyfriend!) We were dressed in the Shanghai Swings team bowling shirts and the girls had blue poodle skirts and black shirts. We had two performances which we had been rehearsing for three weeks or so. And here's how the day went:
I arrived at about 6pm and previewed the location. We were sharing a dressing room with the only other 'rival' dance organization in the city. It was ironic. I had met with the organizer of that other dance company in my first month in Shanghai. And now for the first time we were both performing at the same show together.
I must admit I was very nervous, and intimidated. Their organization is much more organized! At 6pm their entire staff was there changing into their outfits. Their girls each had a makeup kit which looked like an unfolding fishing tackle box. They had little lit-up makeup mirrors and everyone was wearing the same clothes and they had custom leather bags with the team logo on them. Dang. And I was just sitting there alone in the room with them, waiting for my team to arrive. Eventually it was 7pm and only one person from my team had shown up. I started my typical internal panic. I began calling each person, and everyone gave a response back. Except for one. We could not get ahold of one our our leaders (males). He's normally very responsible, too. His phone just rang and rang.
We go downstairs for dinner, and every five minutes I am calling our missing lead. Then Andrea calls him, too, and our other dancers, too. Finally it is approaching 8pm and our show is at 9:30. It is beginning to cross my mind that he has been in a serious accident and is unable to answer his phone. Eventually Andrea actually begins to voice the same concern aloud.
I try to keep people from thinking about this and focus on a contingency plan should he not arrive. Jun Li will take over as a leader and we'll have to go through the steps with her in the time we have left. As we are just about to do this, our missing leader finally shows up, walking into dinner holding a martini glass.
"Hey, there are you guys! I was wondereeng where you all were! I am on my second martini already now..." (He's French).
Ai you. (Chinese way of saying roughly, "Oh my god.")
So we gather together and head up to the dressing room. Everyone prepares, and I was thrilled with the girls all on costume. Our outfits were all very simple, but they were charmingly so. Andrea helped me go to the fabric market and have the dresses tailored, and I had designed (or copied) the men's shirts myself.
The other dancers had already done their show. Now I'm going through my own head: What are you doing here? You are a compter programmer! You are leading a bunch of people into a charity ball attended by about 300. These are your students! We are not ready for this show! We should have practiced a few more weeks. We've never had a completely satisfactory run through!
Fortunately the rest of the troupe are not as prone to worry as I. They kept the mood light and I never betrayed my misgivings.
We did our first show, and I was a bit dissapointed. The crowd did not react much, and I didn't personally feel I had given my best performance. I felt fog-headed, moving slowly, not sharp. You just can't really dance unless you have electricity in your veins. We just did our little show and the response was, "Hmm. Oh... yes."
So I had a half hour again to stew in my insecurity before the next performance. Again I'm going nuts. I actually wished I could turn my emotions off, because they were not serving me and I could not seem to break out of them.
Finally the second performance came about. Dancing has always been a haven for me. No matter what negative or bad emotions I might be experiencing, I can always take that energy and turn it into a positive energy through dance. And fortunately I accomplished this the second time.
In the second performance I danced with Andrea, and she's the type of dancer that whatever you can imagine in your head, you can pull it off with her. It's marvellous. I just think about what I want to do and she's there following it even before I do my actual move. She's the type of girl you always hope to meet on the floor.
We finished our number with a choreographed ending involving six people moving crazily on the floor, then finishing with flamboyant dip placing the girls on the floor.
The crowd loved it, at least enough to bring me back into a positive frame of mind. We passed the test!
Now that the performance was over, we were free to mingle and enjoy the open bar, and we all did. We hung out together getting tanked until 4am. I took home an eight-foot pink Cadillac display that they had used for the show. Jun Li got a 5-foot tall jukebox display. They were just going to throw it all out!
So the Caddy is now parked at my house, and we all have our first dance troupe success.
Peace,
-J