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I love a new word. You knew I would find some new things to say eventually. In Wu Han Hua, the local language with some differences from Mandarin (Pu Tong Hua), I learned how to call someone crazy. This phrase, “Feng Liao” in Wuhan or “Feng Le” in Mandarin is the way to call someone crazy. It only works for people, not clothes as I attempted to use it in a store to describe some jeans with a sideways zipper.

Example:
Er Bai Wu: “Wo Xi Huan Wang Li Hong.”
Bu Er Bai Wu: “Ni Feng Liao.”

Translation:
Idiot: “I like Lee Hong.”
Not Idiot: “You’re crazy.”

Found in , china, words 1 Comment »

The week of March 28th:
children that I made cry: 2.5¹
buses I took to get to Wuchang: 2
birthdays of people I know: 2
jeans I bought for no reason: 3
times I sat down during class: 2
needn’ts I received: 2²

1: a boy was red in the face and near tears from yelling “Let me try” for about 15 minutes while I refused to call on him
2: needn’ts originally came from Rebecca, however, our tenure together has come to and end and I now must pine for them (needn’ts) from Lily and I don’t expect it to happen too often.

Found in , china, lists No Comments »

So many of my friends are of journeying in foreign lands, but few have the grasp of english or foreign language as well as I do. Until now.

My good friend Amanda Jones publishes a blog called Peacing Out of Gringolandia. I met her while on Semester At Sea, sort of; we were part of a crew of 700 students and we has some mutual friends. I really got to know her during my brief stint in DC when she thought I was someone else named Jumpy. Later she realized, I merely looked like Jumpy and we became superfriends. She recently moved to Nicaragua for the next 18 months to aid the community at large, see beauty, and perfect her Spanish (she often discusses this problem)

So please give her a nice look over at: Peacing Out of Gringolandia.

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I know I usually report on my life in Wuhan using hilarious anecdotes and drawing from my ever-growing Chinese vocabulary to enlighten you. Today, I wanted to take a moment to mention the music I have been loving for a few days.

Many of you know I like mash-uppers like Girl Talk so recently while I was trying to find the release of his next album, I came upon an article on E-603, a similar DJ. I went to check it out and was amazed.

Read the rest of this entry »

Found in , entertainment No Comments »

Hangzhou is a city to the near west of Shanghai with a population around 4 million. While it is smaller, it is definitely more modern than Wuhan with its Hooters, 500 Starbucks, and cleanesque air. Hangzhou is home to the famous West Lake, Xi Hu, and many cool towers that look beautiful during the day and also the night.

The title may lead you astray, but it shows something important. I went to Hangzhou this weekend to find they had a Hooters on a normal street. This was a weird thing for me to see in China because I always felt that China was against sexually-suggestive-restaurant ventures. However, I didn’t have a chance to go there; we just drove by many times. It was weird.

Also, it is home to the worst silk museum ever, even though it may be the only silk museum in the world. It was called a museum, but I am not sure if it qualified. It was a bunch of different sales pitch rooms filled with fake silk that could be easily set ablaze causing massive holes and structural damage. In contrast, real silk maintains its beauty and structure after a fire; it just ends up smelling like burnt hair. So I guess you could say I learned a lot, but you can’t say I bought a lot because it was expensive.

Found in , china, Other cities No Comments »

For this installment of my favorite words and phrases, I felt like I’d keep it short and super-sweet. But then I thought, NO WAY! I should drag this one out like crazy. And that exactly is the phrase that I am presenting to you. It is “mei men” and it works like no way in that passage above. The literal translation is “no doors” and if you consider it very deeply, it makes some sense. Because it also means “impossible” as in there are no doors that will lead you to that.

Some awesome examples:
Rebecca: “Can you teach an extra class?”
Me: “Mei men.”

Steven: “Do you want to go to the gym?”
Me: “Mei men.”

Me: “Do you want to go on a date?”
Chinese girls: “Mei men.”

Found in , china, words, wuhan 4 Comments »

Just when I thought that no one in Wuhan or China could dance, my girlfriend told me about her friend who was in fact a competition champion at breaking. This dude, coming in a few inches shorter than me runs a small hip-hop dance studio with a bunch of talented dancers. They tried to teach me and John, John taking advantage of a free lesson and me, being shy in the back corner.

They had a formal lesson, which included the 4-step to handstand stall (I’m not sure what the 2nd move was called), but it was really dope. I forgot to bring my camera, but I will get ahold of the pictures taken on other people’s cameras and post them up on here. Me and John are going to start a rival studio in our school, auditions start tomorrow.

Later that night, in hip hop tradition, we had a freestyle showdown. With Dave as our beatbox, - he was impressive in his beats and boxes - we were able to go off for about 10 minutes of the whitest rapping ever to take place. It was intriguing to say the least. This will become a weekly thing, I hope.

Everybody, everybody
Let’s play a game
Let’s play a game
Everybody, everybody
Let’s say a chant
Let’s say a chant
Everybody, everybody
Let’s sing and dance
Let’s sing and dance
Everybody, Everybody
Let’s have fun
Let’s have fun

Found in , china, stories, wuhan 2 Comments »

So to be honest, the title suggests that my rhymes are an attack on something or someone. However, that is pretty far from the truth. I’d describe this rap as an explanation of my weekend that includes some of my best friends and favorite places. So please enjoy.

Five flowers rolling deep in a paddle boat
I’ve taught lessons on cock, cod, and goat
By 5pm, I’m booked for the weekend
Chinese and American, I’ve got so many friend

We roll down the river on the 721
Stopping by York just to have some fun
Sugar is crazy, he says “F***ing American”
He’s got an ugly dog and kid under 21

11pm marks the move to Soho
Dance on stage for free some mojo
I don’t think mojo means booze
However, it does when I choose Read the rest of this entry »

Found in , entertainment, teaching 1 Comment »