Merry Christmas!

and Happy New Year! We've had a few fun events this week. The white elephant gift exchange at the foreign bar, christmas dinner hosted by the university, and christmas dinner/performance hosted by the local city govt.

ET's Email.....No Really, He calls himself that

"Hello Everyone, This is ET.  I just wanted to wish you all an early
Merry Christmas!  Also, please remember to send me an email for the
New Year Holiday in February.  I look forward to your replies.

ET

p.s. Please feel free to send me emails about what is going on in your
daily life.''

Taught My Students Graffiti

I gave my students a lesson on graffiti today, which was utterly awesome to say the least! And not the boneheaded gang-bullshit graffiti crap, real graffiti, real art, graffiti that exhibits a message and has real skill and beauty.  I find myself being able to do art forms I didn't even know I could do when I have to teach it to others. Now That's chyeah.

And as Doug would say, it's still 'cold as a witch's tit' in central china, damn you 'arctic air' as ethan would say. But monday it's supposed to be back up to 60 degrees in this piece....


....so what can you say.....sept:

China*

First Snow of the Winter

Last night as we embarked from chinese lessons, a light dusting of snow was befalling upon us. It was quite cold and this morning we woke up to about 3 inches of snow.  It got warmer during the day so most of it melted and the roadways are clear now.  The students had some fun in the snow, building snowmen with cigarettes in their mouth and putting my panda hat on one of them. I wanted to go sledding with some cafeteria trays, but there isn't really many hills around these parts, at least not ones covered in trees. It's supposed to be cold until March though so we'll get some more opportunities, although on Sunday and Monday it's supposed to be back up to 60 degrees.

Google Translate is so $!, Use It

It translates all my lesson plans into Chinese at the drop of a dime, and I didn't even know about it until two weeks ago (thanks Mike/chyeah.com!). Translate over 50 languages for your reading pleasure.

Epic Mural and Epic Trip, and my city changed it's name....heh?

I had the idea to paint a gigantic mural in my classroom and it's turning out to be nothing but epic.  I just decided to do it, no questions asked of the art department and it's turning out to be a beautiful humongous painting. I had the students write ideas on the board about what kind of a theme they wanted to do for a mural, and then we used the democratic process (something there not used to) to vote on which theme they liked the best. They chose scenery and found a good picture online that they tweaked to make their own by adding a river and mountains.  It has been really fun painting the mural with them and showing them knew forms of art. At the beginning of class I asked them what they wanted to paint and do this class, which none of them had any answers really except pots and fruit, because they always do the same old thing in all the classes. If you look around the art department all of the students in the classrooms are doing still life's.  So I'm mixing things up and incorporating surrealism, logo design, cartooning, abstract and expressionism, mural making, architectural, real-life environmental sketches, etc........
Pictures of the most epic mural known to asia to come.......

So I have a 6-week paid winter break coming up,....chyeah!!!!!!1 yessss!!!!! beat that advertising/media/boring/office/9-5 jobs!........

Taking the speed train to Wuhan Jan 1st.
Flying to Chongquing Jan 2nd to chill with Keegan and see the biggest buddha statue in the world.
Taking a 3-day cruise down the mighty yangtze river around the 10th to Wuhan.
Flying to Guangzhou the 15th, home of the 2010 asian games.
Speed train to Hong Kong the 16th or 17th.
Fly to Bangkok January 20th
Jan 21st 26th bday in Thailand, chyeah.com/swag
Then hit up thailand and angkor wat in cambodia for 10 days
Feb 2nd fly to Shanghai for Chinese New Year, so epic
Feb 5th fly to Fuzhou with Mike to chill with his friends in the south tropics
Ferry to Taiwan most likely between now and the 15th
Feb 15th, fly back to wuhan/train to xiangfan

Also, my city, Xiangfan, changed it's name back to Xiangyang last week....and no one bothered to tell us......uhhhh,,,,,,what? shenme? come again? one more time? you mean to tell me you just changed the name of the city? Xiangyang has lots of historical significance and is known by all the Chinese. If you ask anyone if they know where Xiangfan is outside of the city they will be like, 'whatchu talkin' bout willis?' So now they are changing it back just cuz......china* is quite subject to change, hence the asterisk, it was Xiangfan for about 50 years or so give or take a couple heh's. At any given moment things can change or be sprung on you around these parts like for instance.....your class schedule, an annual holiday, apparently a city's name, your local restaurant might move or just be gone completely (zaijian/so long chow mein guy!), the internet might take an absabatical for a few days...etc

.....China*

the views expressed in this blog are intended for personal purposes only and adhere to no copyright laws cuz it's china* and by no means conclude circumstancial evidence to hold crispy d in chinese prison with one ration tofu per day, two rice grains and one chopstick

Judging an English Contest, New Class, Turkey Day, and The Epic Trip

My friend Bruce asked three of us foreign teachers to judge an English speaking competition at a local school specialized in teaching English.  We judged two sessions of the competition in which there were some hilarious speeches.  Two common songs were....'hello, hello, hello, hello, HELLO!' and 'sing, sing, sing, sing, SING!'....also many would say, 'my mother is beautiful, my father is cool, and i am lovely.' most of them pretty much had the hand movements down too to go along with their words.  many gave speeches on the ugly duckling, snow white, and little red riding hood. all in all it was a cool experience. much of the world is trying to copy our culture with Disney characters, stories, and songs and learn English to compete with a global economy.

Started my new class today on watercolor and oil painting. it went very well and i am learning a lot about art as i teach it.  i'm gonna come up with some cool ideas of things to have my students paint such as shoe boxes, trash cans, clothes, etc.

Thanksgiving was good, all the foreign teachers went to Colombo bbq where they serve up meat samurai style on swords and shear off the meat with a rambo knife right onto your plate, accompanied by their in-house made brew which is definitely better than most of the chinese beers aka snow, chero, liberty, blue diamond, fake budweisere, etc, et al.

Just booked several flights for my paid 6-week winter vacation....gotta love teaching! I am going to guanzhou, shanghai, hong kong, wuhan, bangkok thailand, angkor wat in cambodia, fuzhou and xiamen in fujian province, most likely somewhere in taiwan, and possibly tibet....as well as what other cities life takes me on my journey....it's gonna be epic/fo sho/true/$/awesome/chyeah/word/daps/dope/loving life....

Successful Art Show

On Wednesday for the final day of class I had an art show/gallery/party for my students.  The show went very well with many friends and teachers in attendance. We played some games and listened to music and the students did a great job decorating and preparing for the event.  They had all of their drawings from class neatly displayed on easels located in a big u shape around the room.  It was a good ending to my third class. On Monday I start a new class on color theory.

One of my students knitted me a scarf, another gave me a chinese chess set, one gave me a traditional fan with Beijing opera characters on it, and I got many apples and nice notes from the students. I guess giving a teacher an apple is an international sign of respect.

www.danfenstermacher.net

new videos, bio info, and picsup

china pics to come....

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Dinner with the Big Wigs

tonight we gave a speech on western art teaching methods to some students and the big wigs of the art college here at xiangfan university.  it went quite swell, as they want to learn new teaching methods to teach their students in order to keep up with the modern world.  after presentations, they took us out to dinner at the fancy hotel on campus and it was all chyeah everything. this is the last week of my current class. On wednesday i'm having an art gallery/art show/party for my students.  I've told them all to invite whoever they want and bring food/drinks. It's gonna be awesome to introduce them to their first gallery experience and hopefully inspire them to work hard on their art.....chyeah

Chinese Movie Theater and other Random, Motley Assortment of Things/Stuff/Heh

So we went to see Avatar in theaters yesterday. Our Chinese teacher had free tickets and invited us so that was real nice of her but the place was pretty ghetto to be honest.  First off, they played the movie off of a computer onto a projector, second there were seeds all over the floor, thirdly the kids would not be quiet the whole movie, as I am coming to realize in class as well, the movie was dubbed in Chinese, and lastly they turned on the lights and everyone started leaving about 3 minutes before the film had ended.....China.....

Class is going ok, this class is more of a handful than the last.  I thought this was the last week of it but turns out there is one more week so I need to plan three more lessons this week.

This past weekend was pretty fun but the weather was crazy. Friday was like summer, Saturday was like fall or spring, and Sunday was definitely like winter, cold and lots of rain....last Thursday was singles day in China because it was 11/11/2010, tal the 1's meaning single so the girls apparently eat a type of food to help them get a boyfriend or something. That night we went out to the club which was packed but was a pretty normal night. I met this girl but she didn't speak a lik of English so that complicates things...oh well.....China.....

Got a few of those foot massages this past weekend, their pretty money but my neck is still crackin like a whip....maybe I need some tin-man oil or something, I dont know

My turtle Kobe passed away damnit.....I had just bought him a water heater too and got a new tank for free. I'm not sure what happened but probably a lot things. They weren't cared for well from the start, seeing as how we bought them off this pet seller dude on the street who had a cage full of chipmunks (i dont even know how to spell that), cages full or birds, squirrels, who knows what else....probably alligators and egyptian parrots or something. They probably had been sick from the beginning, there was something up with one of their eyes, the internet says can be related to stress from overcrowding. Oh well, I buried him proper and had to move on.

I had a dream I was teaching Kobe Bryant Chinese through a glass window and that I was playing for the Lakers I think....What? Then later on I had a dream that I was the father of a baby boy....double WHAT? I was sure glad when I woke up from that dream.......I be havin weird dreams all the time here, I don't whats the cause.....any ideas?

Tomorrow I'm supposed to go check out some 'motorcycle master' or so he says or something with the dude from the previous post. Should be interesting but you never know what your gonna get in......China.....

Motorcycles and What-Not

I've seen two motorcycle crashes the past three days. On Sunday this lady crashed her scooter on a busy road by losing balance or getting cut-off or something. She was shaken up but ok...I helped her pick up her scooter.  Then today, while doubling up on the back of this guys motorbike (and no it's not weird as western culture views it, it's the normal in China to see 3 or 4 people on a motorcycle) ironically enough I saw another accident, a bad one. A guy was laying limp on the ground and got stretchered off into an ambulance with his bike laying on the ground.  It was a pretty bad scene.  As I saw this I was thinking, maybe this is a sign I should get off the bike. He was whipping around campus pretty fast though in and out of students with headlights periodically switched on and off, also a norm in China. It was fun though and didn't get in an accident. Probably won't be doing that too much....

Weekend Rap-up

This was a good weekend of exploring.  On Friday we hit up a dvd store, and got a bootlegged copy of Avatar which is a visually amazing movie. On Friday night we helped our friend Bruce with an English corner and talked with the students and played some games and music.

Saturday we went to the weekend market and also the rock market.  For about a week this rock market came to town with all these intricately carved rocks, gems, and wooden sculptures.  The detail is extraordinary.  At the market I got a water heater for Kobe, he wasn't doing so well but seems to be doing better.  At the market there was an art auction if you will for painted scrolls/tapestries.  Bootlegged or not, they are amazing paintings. I picked up a painting of a Chinese waterfall with trees, cliffs, and traditional homes at the bottom. It looks good hanging up in my bedroom.

From there we went to get foot massages, a first for all of us.  They put your feet in hot water with tea bags and let your feet soak. Then they wash your feet and scrape off all the dead skin and cut your toe-nails. Then they give your whole feet and lower legs a massage and end with a back and neck massage. It's awesome, quite relaxing. They also have a sauna if you wish, Raf the English bloke turned up his sauna to 70 celsius which is like 150 degrees or something....yeah, they were not happy with him.

Today we hit up the World War 2 monument in town and the daoist temple overlooking Xiangfan and then went to get some Chinese bbq in the city, potatoes, garlic bread, chow mein, and mushrooms and chicken/pork on skewers.

My Blog stopped posting my entries so I am writing my posts as comments now

Xi'an

Rappin' in Front of 800 People

Up on Stage

So our friend Lucy invited us to a dance/talent/singing/performance-type-of-show. It was pretty epic.  They had some skits goin, an awesome Michael Jackson dancer do 'Billy Jean,' some good singers and choreographed dancers, etc. At one point they ask for volunteers and our co-teacher who speaks Chinese translated this to us and then my friends proceeded to urge me to run up there.......so I was like,, eh....why not and bolted up on stage. I tried to take my place at the end of the line of students, but as soon as they saw me the crowd started roaring and the mc's had me come stand next to them, and then proceeded to have me introduce myself to the whole auditorium.  It was a surprise and I wasn't sure what to say, but I pulled it somewhat smoothly I would say....and then when it was time for the game they were pretty much like....ummm, yeah......, you don't speak Chinese so you probably should go now....or that's what I got out of it....a kinda awkward, cross-cultural feel/vibe. But it was still epic because I gave the pretty announcer girl a hug and the Chinese pretty much like anything you do.....epic.com. And then later when someone sings on stage people randomly run up to them and give them gifts or junk that they have around them like chop sticks or balloons, and someone had given us banannas so I was like, eh....your gettin a bananna and ran up on stage again to another raucuos applaud.

Chinese Driving Rules

Rules from Mr. Mike Genau's blog.com......chyeah....thanks

Rule 1: There are No Rules

2 Ignore all road markings, especially the one in the center that is painted in yellow.


3 All signs are suggestions, including stop signs and traffic lights.


4 Drive with your lights on at night only if you can afford to compromise on your mileage.


5Do not use your turn signal. If you must use your turn signal, make sure not to turn it off until you have arrived at your destination.


6 Honk your horn under the following circumstances


You are about to pass someone


You are passing someone


You have just passed someone


Someone is about to pass you


Someone is passing you


Someone has just passed you


You are about to make a turn


You want someone to move out of your way


You are about to hit someone


Someone is about to hit you


You recognize someone you know


There is an ox in the road


You haven't honked your horn in over a minute.


7 All vehicles are allowed on the road regardless of size, shape, or mode of locomotion.


8 If you drive a scooter you should drive unpredictably, go the wrong way half of the time, and make sure to utilize pedestrian walkways and crosswalks whenever possible.


9 When making a left-hand turn across a busy street, slowly ease your way into oncoming traffic, lay on the horn, and hope for the best.

Class Over and Brazilian BBQ

So yesterday my Color Foundation and Two Dimensional Composition class finished.  I start a new class on monday.  In the art school they schedule classes in three-week blocks.
So I threw a party for the last day which I thought would just be food and music....but......that turned into a talent show.  First, two students left and came back dressed up as a karate guru and a witch...they were both males....hilarious.  So that turned into a photo shoot and they all wanted to take pics with me.  Then out of nowhere they started arranging their chairs in a circle.....and I was like....heh? So they pick this one girl to get up and she turns into the mc and does a pretty awesome rendition of a Chinese song.  The Chinese love to sing and perform I have realized. So after her we had about 6 other girls sing, one guy did Taichi, one guy played his guitar, the witch did a jig, a couple girls did a choreographed dance routine, and then they all looked at me and my friend Mike who came.....like, watchu gonna do? I was like.....dayum.  So Mike did a some breakin and I pulled out the three stooges floor spin, and then we did a sample of our Thriller dance were doing for the students on Wednesday.

My students are awesome! They gave me several presents.  For one, they gave me a wooden jar sort of thing for your pens with Chinese characters on it that say, 'work hard.'  Then they gave me a notebook that they all signed and wrote me a note in.  One student gave me a brewski....haha (automatic A+). I was like should I drink a beer in class.........?...that would be epic.....but nah, I'll chill on that. And lastly, that same student made me this amazing mask-like portrait of a famous/traditional Beijing opera character with a wood backing and made out of sand and finished with some sort of glue-like epoxy.  It is awesome! It looks like it could be sold at a fine arts store for a lot of money, it's not some thrown together piece of arts and crafts. I was blown away by their kindness and very appreciative.

And last night we went to a brazilian bbq place where you can eat all you want and drink all of the home-made brew for 39 quy, or roughly 6 bucks. They come around with all this wonderfully seasoned meat on sword like metal sticks and shear off the meat onto your plate write in front of you with a rambo knife! It's awesome to say the least....and yuppp.....I definitely tried the chicken heart and pig tongue....seriously! What!? Quite scrumptious.....

NEW PICS UP!!!

Check 'em out and I'm interested to hear which ones are your favorite.

Thanks,

Dan

I saw a dog carrying a big whole chicken in it's mouth today......that is all

Basketball, the Pagoda and Tabaggan, Thriller Dance, and Norway Girls

So were doing an English Corner at the end of the month and the theme is Halloween. English Corner's are a just a social gathering with us and students where we hang out and they can practice their English.  Our Resource Guide is a drama and theater enthusiast so he came up with the idea for all of the foreign teachers to do Mike Jackson's famous Thriller dance.  We've been learning all the choreographed steps and are going to dress up like zombies.  Were also gonna have a few guys play For Whom the Bell Tolls by Metallica, a guy sing the Ghost Buster song, do pumpkin carving with them, and introduce them to Halloween.

Yesterday a student invited me to play basketball, and I thought we were just going to be playing a simple pick-up game.  Turns out, we played a full fledged game vs some guys with uniforms, subs, a ref, and 4 10-minute quarters.  We are team louw-wy, or the foreigners.  We got off to a rough start going down 8-nothing, but made a shot to stop the bleeding and were okay from there.  We ended up winning 68 to 52 with only one sub. It was fun to compete against the Chinese.

Today we hiked up to the Pagoda again, and rode the Tabaggan this time.  Yes, a tabaggan in the middle of China on top of a mountain.  Once again, another thing I didn't expect Xiangfan to offer.  Somehow the plans to build a metal tabaggan on the hillside passed through somebody, and a long metal track twists and bends throughout the countryside.  You sit on a sled-looking thing with wheels on the bottom and a lever to control your speed and go whisking down the mountain.  It was cool.  Also, I discovered many old buildings that were amazing, like for real, it felt like a miniature Machu-Pichu type place with flower gardens, lakes, temples, shrines, old art and architecture, museums, training temples and academies, etc....I got some great pictures.

There is six Norway girls here doing a two month social service project as part of their major back home in Oslo.  Shout out to Kim Norhoeway....We went out with them last night to a Western restaurant and a few of the foreign bars here.  They were already missing the indulgences of European culture after a 10 days or so, and it was sure nice to hang out with some white girls who spoke english for a change.

Class is going well.  I've taught my class still-life drawings, portraiture, collages, 1 and 2 point perspective, and architectural drawing so far.  This week I'm gonna do some lessons on Surrealism, Abstract art, and logo design.

youku.com, tudou.com, and veetle.com and Chinese Classes

Youku and Tudou are two great Chinese sites that let you watch thousands of movies and TV shows streaming off the web for free and you don't have to download anything. The Chinese don't have copyright laws, you can tell by the thousands of knock-off brands here that imitate other brands, so I've been able to keep up with western movies.  Use Google Chrome as a browser as it is the fastest available and will translate Chinese to English for you in a matter of seconds.
Veetle let's you watch live broadcasts over the internet so I can keep up with the NFL and Lebron and Kobe from anywhere in the world. Check 'em out.

We had our first Chinese class last night. We are going to be taking two 1.5 hour lessons a week for about $15 a month.  It sure isn't easy.  They have 4 tones and lots of noises to make with your tongue and mouth being warped into different positions.

The weather is starting to turn sour, I've been reminded I sure don't like rain and overcast weather and missing the LA sunshine....so I've been playing badmitton inside. It's actually really fun and the Chinese are excellent at it, something we in the west haven't yet taken to very much.

Students and Drawing

Yesterday I taught my students the 5 basic shapes of art that you can use to make any picture, hand sketches, western drawing theory, and had them do a still life sketch project.  So today I had my students do portraiture.  I was going to have them draw a partner for 45 minutes and then switch, but they wanted to draw me instead.

So I was like....alright.

And had 33 students drawing me sitting around me in a semi-circle as I sat in the middle.  It was pretty cool though and we'll be fun to grade.

The students are already excellent artists as freshman so some of the pics were very realistic with the shading and detail they put into their portraits.

Soccer and New Classes Starting

Today I played soccer with the students.  It felt good to get on the pitch again and I still got my feel for the game and passing to set up plays.  It was good exercise and I am going to start playing with them weekly.

Tomorrow I start my new block of classes and will be teaching four classes each day. The course is titled, Two Dimensional Composition and Color Foundation.  It should be a fun course and I have a cool circular room with lots of windows and a good view to teach in this time.

Wu Dang Shan

So we went to Wu Dang Shan for four nights, considered by most as the birthplace of martial arts and Tai Chi.  We stayed at the Wu Dang Kung Fu Academy.  The place is pretty interesting and very old.  At the place we were staying, they trained body guards to protect the leaders of China and the head master is considered one of the world's ten best and is famous.  The world championships are in Wu Dang in two weeks with 60 some countries competing. The school has several court yards, a castle-like wall, a moat with a structure in the middle, several weapon shelves, and a cool dog with 8 2-week-old puppies.  There were only about 12 students there.  One guy named Mateo from Italy came several months ago and is going to stay for at least three years.  The training is very strict and regimented like the military.  The students get up at 5 every day and go running.  Then they have breakfast at 730.  At 830 they train until lunch at 1230.  Then they have a nap and start again at 230 until 530 for dinner and a break and then train after that until about 9 and it's lights out at 1030.  They do this six days a week, and if they screw up they get punished with a smack on the forehead, and Mateo said the masters break bamboo sticks on the kids' backs sometimes.  One kid stole 200 Yuan last month and apparently got the worst beating for over an hour that he'd seen. But the monks are good people and the kids are lucky, it's just a different culture and a different way of life. Going to train there and study Daoist Philosophy is considered higher education and the kids are held to a higher standard.  The Daoist Philosophy is to give up all vices and rid yourself of worldly desire, and to do that is pretty amazing.

Some of the moves the masters and students can do is amazing.  Front and back flips (off tables) are a norm, and the monks move with the fluidity and grace of any top athlete. They are extremely flexible and precise in their movements.  One of the guys can jump over Mateo who is about 6 feet tall.  One of the monks can lightly push a person and they will go stumbling back.  They can master the energy levels in their bodies and then push that out with one movement. We studied the basics of Tai Chi and meditation for two days. We would walk extremely slow going about 20 feet in 5 minutes, or stand with our arms in front of us with knees and elbows bent for 10 minutes, and do a lot of stretching and basic movements.  One technique is to plant your feet on the ground and keep the rest of your body loose like a noodle.  That way your body moves like a tree in the wind when pushed so that the energy just brushes past you and your feet stay rooted in the ground.

I got my neck massaged by our teacher, a daoist monk.  He did some crazy techniques like putting a lot of weight on pressure points, moving his hands real fast like he was making a fire on my neck to make it hot, pulling up on it to realign it as I breathed in and out, and using his strong fingers ( he can cross his legs and raise his whole body on six fingers) to massage certain points. After words it felt pretty well, but it's still not healed. He said to find someone at a hospital who could do something similar.

The last day we hiked to the top of Wu Dang's main peak.  There is about 70 some peaks there and they are considered one of 7 sacred mountains in China. There were thousands of people on the mountain because it's a holiday, which was kind of a let-down but it was amazing.  To get to the top is a hell-of-a-hike. Literally, I kept saying that as we went up.  We probably climbed 10,000 steps....At some points there is staircases that go up for about 100 yards or more without a break, several hundred steps, and they go straight up, no gradual inclines here. I joked that I could open a t-shirt shop at the top with one shirt that said **** Stairs! and be a Chinese millionaire by the end of the year.
But the top is worth it.

At the top are daoist temples and kung fu academys that are like 7,000 years old. We saw the Purple Temple of Heaven which was amazing.  At the very top you can see the peaks for miles all around you. about 6000 feet plus, at some times in the year you are in the clouds. There is a statue of Buddha which everyone bows and prays to.  Lots of people buy a heart shaped lock and attach it to the cement wall with a prayer or wish.  There's a garden, lots of different buildings for training, altars, and housing.  This mountain has been the site for many Kung Fu movies like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and the latest Karate Kid.

At the bottom we went to a small forest on the river where monkeys reside.  There were lots of monkeys all around, and the come right up next to you and get all the apples, bread, peanuts, and plums you can muster.  The babies are really funny, as they practice jumping from tree to tree.  They are extremely acrobatic, kind of like the daoist monks.

It was a good trip...

Going to Wudang Shan Tomorrow for 3 Nights, the Birthplace of Tai Chi

Mann....China has a lot of people. Today was National Day, and downtown was crowded with people everywhere.  The scene kind of reminded me of a lot of ants walking around.

And not to turtle owners: Don't leave 'em on the kitchen table unattended. They will try to fly.....

First Class Complete and Photos Up

Today I finished teaching my first class, Drawing and Sketching.  Because I am working in the Art Department, I teach blocks of classes for two to three weeks at a time instead of an entire semester. The class went really well.  I only had five classes with the students, but we covered some good material such as: Portraiture, 1 and 2 Point Perspective, (3-Dimensional Drawing) Composition, the 5 Shapes of Art, Shading, Front, Side, and Top View Drawings, Still-Life's, Thumbnail and Hand Sketches, etc...
I finished grading the class tonight.  Most students are excellent artists and have a lot of talent.  I am looking forward to the next classes, which will be all new freshman and in a bigger circular room which is perfect for art classes.
I posted some photos yesterday, hope you enjoyed them.

Teaching, Talent Show, and Breakdancing

Ayo, so teaching went quite well.  The students are excellent artists.  We showed them some techniques on shading, composition, and perspective.  We also had them draw a partner, portrait style which went well.  I like teaching so far and am pretty good at it. It's much better wasting time and rotting away in a cubicle for some white collar BS job doing something we don't wanna do so we can buy things we don't need (yeah, i watched Fight Club last night).
Last night there was a talent show, which was cool.  Ancient Chinese clothing was on display, as well as the students singing, modeling, and dancing ability.
Next door was a group of military officers singing in unison, and next door to that was a break-dancing class/party/get-together.  As soon as we walked in, and I mean as soon as I put a foot in the door-frame this Chinese girl started hounding me about dancing.  I was like, neh, and they kept insisted and of course my friends did.  Finally she just grabbed me and pulled me so I had no choice.  The threw on some Kurupt song and I grabbed two Chinese dudes who were pretty good and we got a circle going, and then two more of the foreign teachers and a couple Chinese dudes joined in.  It was pretty fun and glad I got pushed into going up, and I also got a free train ticket to Wudong, the home of Tai Chi, as one of my friends said he would buy my ticket if I got up there.  Chyeah!

First Day of Teaching

So yesterday was the first day of teaching.  It went pretty well.  A few hickups, third world countries are still very unorganized and backwards in many ways.  There will be things like the college not telling you you have class when you do, or the students saying the material you prepared off the course description is not what they want to learn, etc...but it's very fun to teach and not waste away in a cubicle.  In a way I am my own boss.  Yesterday we had the students do some still life drawing and taught them shading techniques and the basic shapes of art.  Today I have prepared a good presentation for them on composition in a drawing/picture.  We are also going to have them start their still life projects, draw their hands, and draw without looking at the paper.

Tea Tasting, Moon Cake Day, and Photography

The other day we went to a tea shop where they had all kinds.  The lady would boil hot water and then poor it in a tea pot with tea leaves, and then poor the water into another pot without the leaves, and then poor each of us little cups of tea.  I must have had at least 114 cups, everytime you finished a cup she would refill it, and then she would poor the rest on some frog sculptures for good luck.  That night, they had a huge firework display on the river in-between the city.  It was pretty awesome, and in honor of Mid-Autumn Festival or Moon Day.  They eat a ton of moon cakes or mini pastries on that day.  I guess two guys were tight-rope walking across the river six stories up as well, but I didn't see that.

Yesterday I went around downtown and photographed with a fellow Chinese teacher.  We ran into four couples doing some wedding photos, happy kids playing in the park, old men playing chinese chess and betting on the streets, Xiangfan museum exhibiting thousands of years old artwork, dogs the size of rats, and man other cool sites.

Lighting Lanterns

The Freshman finished their military training this week.  For celebration, there was a big event last night with games, a band, different clubs presenting, and tons of lanterns.  We could hardly finished talking to one person before the next person was asking us questions.  All the foreign teachers had about 7 people crowded around them for most of the time and then a new group would come over and ask you questions.  The all ask, where are you from?, do you speak chinese? how long have you been here and how long will you be here?, and a lot of the say, 'this is my first time talking to a foreigner.'  It was pretty interesting, and they said you would feel like a celebrity here and that was definitely something of the sort.  At the event, the students were lighting off tons of lanters, kind of like miniature hot air balloons into the sky.  It is really beautiful and peaceful to look up and see a bunch of lanterns floating up into the night sky.  They are about 3 feet high and 2 feet wide and come in a variety of bright colors.  At the bottom is something that looks like soap that you light and it stays lit for a long time.  One of the ones we lit when into a tree and got stuck under a branch, which was hilarious, and then it came back down and an older Chinese man put lighter fluid on it and re-lit it and off it went.  It was cool.

A Homecooked Chinese Dinner, the Foreigner Bar, ATV's, and Kobe

On Saturday night we were treated to a homecooked Chinese meal by our friends Yuchen's parents.  It was awesome.  It was very interesting to be invited into a real Chinese home, and see his mother's artwork (she knits amazing tapestries) and get a real feel for a Chinese family.  Yuchen is a single child, partly because of the one-child policy in effect, and his parents were extremely nice, but spoke little English. We started off with some Chinese green tea and appetizers such as Moon Cake, apples, pumpkin seeds, etc.  Then we went to dinner and had a humongous meal.  His parents definitely worked very hard to prepare all of the food for us.  There were about 2 dishes to each person, more food than we could eat so we had leftovers.  They made cajun tasting shrimp, a chicken soup, dumplings, vegetables pork, peking duck, lamb, humbows, sweet potatoes, egg rolls, and many others, not to mention they had some great Chinese red wine. We were very appreciative and plan to cook them an American meal.
After dinner we went out to the Foreigner bar that we had heard about.  It's a small bar tucked away in a park and when you walk in it's just like the states.  Couches, bookshelves, and there are beers from all over the world, including some of England, Germany and Belgium's finest such as Chimay, Leffe, and Newcastle.  They make fresh pizza, steak, tiramusu, and serve margraitas and espresso like starbucks.  A Chinese man owns it. He is real laid back. He let me throw on my ipod and play the jams for the evening.  It's a great little respite from foreign lands when you need one.  There were people there from the states, Ghana, Columbia, and I guess some French guys go there too.
Today we went to a different park and were going to do some paddle-boating but believe we were being charge the louway or whitie or foreigner price so we skipped that and kept walking and found some ATV's and a track.  It was about a dollar for four laps and definitely worth it. It was quite random.  I didn't expect to ride a camel or an ATV in China.
After that we went to Gulo, where we had the idea to pick up some turtles. We had seen them around before at different establishments, and the idea of having one turned into reality.  I picked up a chill mini-turtle who I have since dubbed 'Kobe.'  He's cool, he likes to chill on the couch and watch some bball. My friend JT also got one, dubbed 'Michelangelo.' There real cheap and easy to take care of. When I leave I will just give him to a friend or release him into the school pond.
Another good weekend....oh and by the way....I start teaching tomorrow, even though we weren't supposed to start for another week. We found out tonight, so it's gonna be an interesting week but I am looking forward to it.

A Chinese Birthday

Last night we went to our Friend Allen's birthday.  The Chinese love to do karaoke on their birthday, so we went to a KTV (karaoke TV).  There was about 40 people, and lots of good times.  They keep the food and drinks coming, and everyone is very friendly.  I met a lot of new people and they are more than happy to help you with your Chinese or your chopstick skills.

A Buddhist Temple

Today we went and checked out a Buddhist temple near campus.  It was very interesting and intriguing.  There were many statues and altars devoted to Buddha and humongous sticks of incense that look like giant fireworks.  In the back there is a giant stone temple.  We had tea with a monk there and had a good conversation with him.  Afterwards he showed us some of his Tai Chi.  Then we went and explored downtown and took a Mamu back from the bus stop, which is like a motorcycle transformed into a mini bus with a flat platform, and two small benches in the back with a rooftop.

Vice Presidential Dinner, a Clean Fade, Acupuncture, and a Camel....

Yesterday we signed our official teacher's contracts with the university who in turn submits them to the provincial government.  Also, yesterday was Teachers Day in China so in honor of both events they threw a huge welcoming dinner at a posh hotel on campus with the Vice President of the university and several other big wigs. The dinner was quite elaborate, with huge circular tables and a motley assortment of various dishes.  When one dish is finished another replaces it, and the dishes keep circling around the table.  And boy, the Chinese big wigs sure love to drink, and drink they do.....a lot. They drink this stuff called Byjo which is a cheap clear liquor that people drink everywhere in China. It doesn't taste good, but it doesn't taste as bad as some liquors.  The Vice President would go around and have a mini shot with everyone at the table, about 12 people, and then the next guy would go around and have a mini shot with everyone at the table. And if your the last one you have to take a double shot.  They even got my coteacher Andrew to drink some and he has never drank, and man...he had the funniest bitter beer face ever after his shot, it was priceless. I wish I had my camera and took a snapshot of that.  And to wash that down, you drink Peijo, which is Chinese for beer, of which they have a lot of light crisp beers. So by the end of the night, I had the English bloke Raf to my left forehead to the bartop, and to my right an American dude Dax forehead to the bar top, and when he was woken up and stood up, he almost toppled over like a giant redwood.
Today was quite the day.  I started off with a haircut. I have now gotten a haircut in South America, Africa, and Asia.  And Asia was definitely the most pleasant.  In Africa I got a haircut with a straight up razor blade.  Here, they shampoo and wash your hair and give you a head massage, diligently cut your hair, and then wash it again.  All for 10 yuan or about a dollar and some change.  I gave my barber a Kevin Garnett trading card for his service which he liked.
Then we proceeded to head downtown where we got an awesome lunch, and then checked out some sights.  Apparently Xiangfan has a soccer team and basketball team, and we saw there stadiums today.  We walked into the basketball stadium which is an amazing architectural sight by the way, kind of like a big sloping roof in the middle, it kind of looks like a turtle shell.  So we walk in, and people are just shooting hoops, so I joined in and got to play inside the stadium. It was pretty money.
Then we headed over to a music shop, and was chillin there checking out the instruments when all of a sudden I see this giant camel walk by outside. I was like, what? So of course checked it out and took a ride and got a picture with him.  It was quite the odd sight to see a camel walking around downtown in a busy Chinese city.
It gets better. So after that we are walking around and our Chinese friend shows us a massage an acupuncture place, which is right up my alley with the bad car accident I was in this year on my birthday.  My neck has been cracking like crazy ever since I got to China.  So I was like, let's do this!  For only 20 yuan or maybe 3 bucks, I got the full acupuncture treatment and it was awesome. In the US that would cost probably 200 bucks or so.  First he cracks your neck chiropractor style, and then come the needles.  I felt a sharp prick in my neck and with my face down on the table, I was like...'Mike, is there a needle in my neck? and he was like, 'Yeah,' and then I felt a few more sharp pricks and I was like, 'Mike, is there lots of needles in my neck? and he was like, 'Yeah' and I was like, 'dammmmmn.' So then they hook up the electrical current to the needles and buzz the heck out of your neck like an electric massage which feels crazy at first but pretty relaxing after a while.  And bear in mind, the tiny needles go about 2 inches deep.  So after that, I feel this clamp sort of feeling, about six of 'em.  And I was like, 'Mike, whaaaaat was that? and he was like, "heated up cups that create a vacuum.' So they put these cups on you that sucks out all of the poison and toxins in your blood which feels great afterwards when they take the suction cups off.  He said I have a lot of buildup or something like that in Chinese so they put me on this machine that has a neck strap for you jaw and the back of your head. Then they crank it up so it stretches out your neck like the longneck tribes in Africa and that lets the blood circulate and flow better and reduces pain.  When it was all said and done, I felt much better and will be going back often, and now I have several perfectly circular purple bruises on the back of my neck.

Badminton and Tae Kwon Do

The Chinese love Badminton, and when it's raining we can't play basketball so we bought a badminton set for roughly 3 bucks and decided to play. It's a pretty fun sport once you get the hang of it. While we were playing, our friend Bruce (Lee) walked by and said he was off to his Tae Kwon Do class, and I said, 'let's do this!', and before I knew it I was taking kicking instructions (aka roundhouse judo-chops) from the proclaimed Hubei Province Champion, tumbling about the gym, and stretching something fierce.

No classes yet....Still Jammin

So the two art teachers including myself don't start until the fourth week of school because we are teaching the Freshman and they all have three weeks of mandatory military training.  It is funny seeing all of them walking around in their military blues, marching, and doing drills. Then we walk by and say ni hao and all the girls start laughing and giggling.
So I have a lot of chillin time for now.  Today we went downtown and got some good street food and took some pictures.  It's cool when a Chinese person asks you if they can take a picture with you as if you were a celeb, such as two dudes in a DJ/music shop did today.
I'm startin to get the lay of the land around here and know where to go for what, what buses to take, when a cabbie is ripping you off or not, etc.  We've met some cool cats named Bruce and Allen who like to show us around and they have pretty good English.  There's also a big white fluffy dog that's always chillin around our apartments that I have appropriately dubbed 'Panda' and if you saw him you would know why.
So with part of my free time we have made our way over to the music building, and there we have met Mr. 1 and Mr. 2, two chinese students who play the drums chillin on the 1's and 2's.  Everyone is pretty cool there and showed us some instruments from the old dynasty's that sound beautiful.  So tonight we jammed with Mr. 1.  My friend JT and Mr. 1 split the drumming, Mike jammed on the guitar with the amp hooked up, and I spit some flows on the mic. It was fun, and we'll be something good to do during the frigid winter months when it is supposedly going to be freezing.....damn, where's my LA sunshine

Presentations and Basketball

I gave a presentation today on photography to my foreign co-teachers.  It went pretty well. As part of our training we all gave powerpoint presentations to each other as if we were speaking to a Chinese class.
Then after a long day in the classroom we headed over to the basketball courts which are always full of Chinese students. It's their favorite sport over ping pong. In fact, I haven't seen one Chinese person playing ping pong yet, but me and friend Mike play often.  The Chinese play a little differently, they don't check the ball before play begins, they don't give you 'change' when you make a shot, and if a player gets fouled or the ball galls out of bounds they imbound the ball from that spot instead of restarting play at the top of the key.

Zip lining and the Pagoda....

Today we hiked up into the mountain that lies next to our campus.  After a good hike we arrived at an area that is hard to describe but spectacular nonetheless.  There were lakes, old architecture, statues, and lots of cool things to see.  We bought some fish food to feed to the multitude of coys swimming underneath us, and then walked past the lake where we noticed a zip line that went from the trees out over the lake to the other side.  For a little over a dollar, we rode the zip line and then walked the rope bridge back across the lake.
After that, we walked up a grueling set of old cobble-stone stairs, probably over a thousand steps through the woods to the top of the mountain where a beautifully designed 6-story pagoda sits perched atop the countryside looking out over campus, the Han river, and downtown Xiangfan.
After the long hike, I'm going to get some sweet and sour chyeah chicken

First Few Days in China....

I am loving my time in China so far.  After a long day of three flights, several trams, busses, and car rides we arrived at Xiangfan University.  There is about 10 American guys and one English bloke here, so there is a cool group of people to hang out with.  The first night we picked keys randomly to select our apartments, and I got lucky.  I have a huge pad with black leather couches, a flatscreen tv, king size bed, office, laundry, kitchen, a junk room (what? nobody has a junk room), dart board, water jug machine, but at the same time, China is still third world so the place is not the ritz but it is pretty sweet.  The first few days we got cell phones, necessary goods at Wal Mart, and toured the city. Xiangfan has an amazing wall and old part of the city which is very old.
Our first meal was McDonald's, and it's the same crap here as in the states, although Pizza Hut here is 5 star quality and considered a nice restaurant.  Every meal since then has been excellent Chinese food.  The Chinese love hot spices, and sharing tons of dishes.  The last two meals we ate with the group seemingly dish after dish comes to the table, which is pretty amazing, not to mention puppys and other animals walking around the restaurant.  We've tried lots of different stuff from duck to tofu to things I don't know what they were, ordering by sight off street vendors.  Sometimes you order food by just pointing to something and going with the flow of what you get.
The traffic here is the craziest I've seen, crazier than Ghana, Ecudador, and Mexico.  Scooters, pedestrians, busses, etc, oh and more scooters cover the roadways going in all lanes, against traffic, on the sidewalk it doesn't matter.  My leader definitely almost got nailed by a quiet electric scooter the first day, and cabbies definitely dont stop for you in a crosswalk, you have to play frogger and dodge everything.
We went out on the town the second night, and had fun drinkin with locals who love to take pics with us and talk to us about anything. The clubs have locals performing american pop tunes and dancing. We met a local dude whose dad is a govt. official so he has money, and he took us to a late night bbq place and treated us and drove us home in his nice Buick drivin like Michael Schumacher.
Today we got back from Wuhan, China's largest inland port on the mighty Yangtze river.  The city is a bustlin mess of construction, skyscrapers, people, food everywhere, demolition from buildings turned down, etc.  There are tons of lights everywhere you look and lots of people out at night in the markets and restaurants and bars.  The craziest thing I have seen is all the infants have holes in their knickers so they can just go to the bathroom wherever, and they do, their moms just hold them up and they do their business on the street in front of everyone.
Tomorrow we start orientation.  I am going to be teaching fine arts which sounds like everything from logo design to oil painting. I am picking up bits of the language, but it sure is tough. It will be interesting to teach students. We met some cool students tonight in the music building who played for us and we talked about Kobe and the NBA.
More to come.....Dan

At the Airport, Waiting to Take-off

Well I'm at Seatac now, waiting for my departure and not even nervous surprisingly. I am excited and feel good about this and know it's gonna be a great experience that will be beneficial for a lifetime. Looking forward to learning a new culture, undertaking a new job and teaching students, meeting new friends, trying new foods and learning first-hand about other religions, and traveling to many different destinations. I wish all my friends and family the best of luck and a great year while I am gone. Take care and come visit in China! Just do it! Later for now.

First Post...Leaving Tomorrow

Hello everyone! Time has been flying and I leave tomorrow on my 10-month (for now) trip to China to teach Fine Arts at Xiangfan University.  I will be posting on this blog weekly so please check back often for updates, as well as check out my website danfenstermacher.net, facebook, and flickr, flickr.com/photos/dmacher.  Also, please add me as a skype friend. My skype name is danfenstermacher.  Wish me luck and see you soon!

Dan