Hey there! Writing a blog is a funny thing. Especially from China, as I have SO mUCH to say, but often refrain from making a lot of the real poignant comments because I don't want to 'red flag' myself and not be able to check my emails for a week for saying too much. Then there is also the people who read this ie you! I am so pleased that I can provide something like this to give a glimpse into this part of the world and very much appreciate those of you who have taken the time to write me personal messages back, sent cards and letters, etc. I really aim to please though and only like to write when I feel moved to and can do it all justice for you fine folk! That being said, sorry I've been lame and posting one about once a month, but I don't want to bore you guys with the insignificant minutia of my everyday life! So here tis the round up, best I can do! But hey! I just realized I left about a year ago (will be in 2 weeks)! Wow!
Where to begin? (I think all m blogs start like this, No?)
I don't think I ever got to tell you about Pangea Day. Pangea day was a project a female film-maker envisioned, got a grant from somewhere and executed about 2 months ago... THis was a 4 hour show broadcast over the internet and on some tv stations all over the world At The Same Time! The idea is that for those 4 hours the entire world could be connected. What they did was distribute cameras all over to some of the poorest places in the world and asked people to make a film. Kodak was the sponsor I believe. The result was some very touching, very funny, very innovative, and informative videos made by pros and amatuers from all over. Of course it concluded with a long film the organizer did. So here's the deal....
My friends got word about this, heard it was being broadcast virtually everywhere in the world EXCEPT CHina, and in every language Except Chinese! And so 2 of my close friends took on this massive undertaking of getting a private venue (No way the Chinese would be happy to show something thy can't see previously, especially if there is any chance of political commentary etc.) and organized this 12 hour film festival. The time Shanghai got because it was broadcast live from LA was 2am-6am! The Film Fest. here started at 6pm and featured local film-makers, Chinese and Foreign, who never get to show their movies here in China. There were some great films shown... One I especially loved was called 'State of Mind' (I believe) about North Korea's Mass Games.... Wow, I recommend it to anyone, I think it is out there. It followed 2 young girls her work year in and year out on these intricate gymnastic routines to perform for Kim Jong's birthday.... that year they did 20 performances in his honor, about 3000 people if not more, and Kim never showed up for any of them. The way these girls talk about him too is like he's a cross between Jesus and Elvis (go figure), and it gives a real glimpse into life there.... a constant radio stream from the political party that can not be turned off and goes 24/7, only one tv station that shows propaganda commercials and anti-America propaganda. Every night the lights automatically turn off at, I think, 8pm... and they all sit around and say 'Damn Yankees!"
Anyways.... So we were the only group of people in China to get to witness this event, and I'm so pissed that people in the US didn't know about this, or take it seriously enough to be a part of it because it was truly a spectacular and moving feeling to be a part of. Granted, our group was probably enjoying it the most because by 2am we were all a bit sauced, but felt really cool that we were getting to be a part of this! They even gave a shout out to Shanghai on the air! The whole format was a bit more 'American Idol'-ish than we had expected... At one point though they got everyone to share a good minute of laughter... Well it was very cool, you get the picture.
The Korean thing reminded me, slight side note here... I read an article about a secret 'Second Hand' clothes market here, and you know I was on my bike and out the door seconds later! Well the place they were talking about was (I was going to say shit, but let me define that precisely) just like any other Chinese clothes market, were the clothes are over done, unfitting, basically: cheap looking, and most importantly... There was nothing Old about them! Upset I began to leave when I spotted something across the street and decided to have a look... and there it was! Those cheeky editors had mislead on purpose so no one else would find the real one across the way! Nothing here is very vintage due to all those 'lost' years, the clothes started from some time in the 80's... But! I managed to pick up a windbreaker white jacket with red Korean writing on it that I am convinced is from the mass games, and also a pair of genuine white bell-bottoms that are actually from the 70's! I have a feeling I have the only 'Vintage Chinese' bell bottoms that exist today!
Moving on.... So a few weeks ago I had another exemplifying weekend! On Thursday night my girlfriend and I were paid dancers at a Mod party! We had great costumes (white short dresses, my Peter Burstin boots, big eyelashes, I had a beehive thing going on) and practiced all the moves from funny old gogo clips on youtube, and performed synchronized moves on stage... So much fun! I was really impressed with how many people came out, were dancing, and dressed! It felt like a relief to hear some good old classics that you could actually dance to rather than all the crap they frequently play in clubs these days. The next one is in a few weeks and I think this one will be bigger and better!
Then on Friday I danced on stage with one of the most popular bands in CHina! (Literally!) I had no idea how big these guys were until after I accepted the job and started asking around. They are called 'New Pants,' get played on MTV, have a huge following, any Chinese person I asked were super impressed, a few said 'Their songs were the first I learned to play on my guitar' etc! The event could've been a bit more organized, but all in all, went very well! I rocked out in 5 inch sequence boots, skirt, and Hulk Hogan T-shirt... The band were really fun and I had about 30 friends there to see!
Then Saturday morning Norman and I were paid to go to a press conference so they had 'foreign' faces in the audience! It was really funny... tons of photographers, kids getting awards, unveilings, speeches... I have no idea what it was about! I had to tell the people sitting behind me (also paid foreigners) and the douche-bag sitting next to me (ahem, take a guess) to be quiet and stop making stupid comments through out the whole thing. Seriously. It's an hour of our time, We are here representing foreigners, try not to be an asshole for an hour, yeah? Boys. Never grow up! So the finale was a fashion show! They had 3 tiers of Chinese models. One group was girls around my age who all looked like they had graduated one of those courses where you pay $1000 and now you are a model, and 2 groups of mature women. The mature women were Very interesting though! The way they modeled was So precise and So Chinese! If you have seen any of the old cigarette ads etc... it's like they hold their head at an angle just so which goes with your left hand here and your right hand here... really interesting! The best part for me was the final outfits they put these poor women in.... (I have to take a deep breath for this one!) So... They were all in variations of the same dress.... the long sleeves and slit in the long dress was black netting, the whole body of the dress was pineapple-bananna yellow sequence, and then in different places on each dress was a huge, gaudy, green leafy thing like the top of a palm tree, with pink coconut looking things... I mean Wow! Anywhere else in the world this would be a joke... A really Funny, expensive one too!
Still haven't quite recovered from that. Anyways... Business is happening SO good! We have gotten our initial investor who is a fabulous Danish multi-millionaire, has lived here 22 years, speaks flawless mandarin, has a common interest of jazz, and has come on to be our handler of all things Govt. He has been there done that in this country and has a team of people he is now loaning us to do all our licensing, agreements, etc. He is kind of the answer to our prayers so that is extremely good news! We also got lucky and got a very smart and talented business minded guy working with us full time. He is negotiating our deals with the liquor companies at the moment. One thing that is nice here is that they still do that! In NY it's illegal to accept sponsorship like they give here... the negotiating price starts at a 2 million rmb investment... and hopefully that's just a starting point, but it is really not bad at all! We are now inside the premises. I don't know if I've made it clear in the past, but we have gotten lucky big time on scoring this space! We have other friends who have been trying to secure an old govt owned building for 2 years now... we got ours in about 6 months. So it used to be a K-TV (karioke club aka house of prostitution), and it has a 30 foot high cement pyramid with the head of King Tut on it above a small, cut out stage! (Don't worry, we took lots of pics, but it is definitely coming down!) Then around there are huge cement Egyptians and the tables- get this- the base of the tables are bent over slaves with their arms tired up around their backs! Oh... interestingly enough... they ran the business there for all those years with No bathrooms!!!!! They used to bathrooms next door!!!!! Can you believe it? So, we will be installing bathrooms... so funny. And we also got friends of ours who operate the hottest restaurant in town to supply our "$100 hot dogs" !
On a personal note, I've been a little fed up with people lately. Not everyone, but a lot of people. Some of the humor I used to find in things like the archaic banking system here, where you can stand there for 30 minutes while they hand copy about 10 forms, stamp each one 6 times, and act like they have never done this before in their life, are beginning to lose it's charm! Sometimes I have to seriously resist the urge to push someone who is beeping there horn for No Reason right off their bike. Apparently the first thing they teach people in driving school here is to look both ways then blow your horn (seriously). Things like if my bike is 3 inches in the wrong direction parked outside, inside of politely moving it, I'll be summoned to go down and move it 3 inches so someone doesn't have a conniption fit! And then I went to this party the other night at the radio station my friend owns and there are all these snobby Russian models/prostitues who, no matter how sweet, open fun dancing, cool I was being wanted nothing to do with me. Norm says they were just jealous, but why? Come on people... get over yourselves, it's a lot more fun! It was like high school all over again! And then there are the people back home... one in particular won't stop giving me attitude, or giving it in the 'I'm not giving you attitude' attitude kind of way (which I thought I invented, haha!) ... I guess because I'm not in stinking America now? I'm really at a loss and getting really tired of being nice so they can just be passive aggressive. And there are also a few people who I considered close enough friends that I sent them a personal email about my marriage and they have yet to say a thing... I don't know, it was a pretty big deal, even people I don't know very well or like even at least had the courtesy to congratulate me!
Wow I feel better, how about you?!
So there is that side a bit at the moment... someone said to me the other day they have a bipolar love affair with Shanghai... I kind of understand what he means, but I'm lucky I got Norman and both of us keep each other looking on the bright side and laughing and happy most of the time! Married life has been terrifically rewarding. People keep asking if it has changed things... Funny, before I was saying 'No, just some people's perception of me, him, us" but now I can honestly say I have noticed changes... Like for me, it really raises the stakes about myself... Like I want to be as good as I can be for him and me, I am more interested in taking care of myself, less likely to get pissed off over a little thing, more likely to come right out and say 'This is my hormones at this time of the month not me" when I do get pissed about little things! I'm very happy.
This is turning out to be a long one, maybe I'll put it in chapters! So last weekend Norm, I and 8 of our friends went down and then up to Moganshan, a lovely retreat area in the mountains. You might remember we went there over New Years. Well it was just gorgeous! So much green, fresh air, waterfalls, lakes.... We stayed in a beautiful old home, Norm and I got the honeymoon suite... the house has two large balconies on each floor and a big front patio area over looking a lake and trees that go off into the distance. Getting there was a bit challenging, but we had a blast once there! Our friend owns a lodge up there and had a roast waiting for us, we went on hikes, played stupid high school drinking games, fought over whose ipod we would listen to, had a delightful outside authentic Chinese dinner.... the place we stayed at has 2 live-in Ayis who cooked for us, cleaned up after us, brought in stuff when it rained, etc, which is quite a luxury! I'll post some pics, but check in because I hope our pro photographer who was on hand, the famous Rodney Evans (who just shot Apple's next big campaign) will give me some pics from it shortly.... Norm had an impromptu photo shoot in a waterfall and I in a waterfall that happened on the balcony!
Been hanging with some great people out here. Just met our friend's daughter who they adopted from an orphanage here last year when she was four. The child is just a beautiful angel! Never stops smiling this huge contagious grin, very interested, performed songs for us, just as cute as pie! I'm back to learning Chinese again, but doing it on my own with ChinesePod... They just started Spanishpod, Italianpod etc. It all comes out of Shanghai, broadcast for free all over the world, has lessons step by step... I highly recommend it! Ok, I think this is long enough! I will post pics now on www.flickr.com/ameliakallman I know I've been a bit lame with it lately, so I'll probably put up a whole bunch! Thanks for listening to my rants and Raves! Lots of love and good fortune! Amelia
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