I'm sad that this came out after I put out the Christmas Podcast because, well, because it is so awesome. The Hives & Cyndi Lauper? I mean The Hives will forever be everyone's "new favourite band" and in the words of the great Drew Salisbury "Cyndi Lauper.......fuck yeah." Put the two together and what do you get? One awesome christmas song. So although the stars did not align properly enough to get the song on that podcast, those of you who actually read this blog can enjoy the song on it's very own via the magic of youtube. So sit back with some Nog, put your feet up by the fire, and enjoy. (listener beware: explicit lyrics. earmuffs, children).
Friday, December 12, 2008
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
It's the holiday robot of funk
Merry Holidays to all, and to all see you latro.
-B
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
I have two great friends
Their names are Sarah Pumroy and Nichole Graf. Pictured above are the contents of the package I recieved from these two lovely ladies yesterday. As you can see, the box contained home made pumpkin bars, dead leaves from New York City (only about a quarter of the leaves are pictured), and a sick-ass drawing of a coulpe of 'pilgrimz' declaring deliciousness. Not pictured are the letters I recieved from each of them (because they're private mfers). This post will be short, the main point of it was to point out these two fantastic people and their thoughtful act (not to mention the chedder they spent on said package (shiz was expensive)). It's also to make the rest of you think "what have you done for me (ben) lately?" Nichole and Sarah sent me cookies. In China. This has catapaulted them to the top of my pile of friends, making them the collective queen of the mountain. Do you have what it takes to unseat them?
Second reason was to let y'all know that I have indeed finished another podcast. You can download it here:
Made in China Vol. 3
I've decided that the format for this and most podcasts is/will be music that I've been listening to. It's usually pretty eclectic (I like to change it up). This volume includes some Brazilian jams, Prince, Joy Division, Jake One, some funk/r&b revival, as well as nostalgiac and current indie rock. So check it out if you haven't already clicked on that link up yonder.
The third reason was to post this video from last nights episode of the Daily Show. I really didn't think that anything funny could come from the Mumbai attacks (which were really shitty to say the least). But I'll let John Oliver properly put it into perspective for the rest of us.
-B
Sunday, November 30, 2008
¡Fotografias!
I have finally loaded up all the pictures I've taken over the last 3 months. Don't get too excited, there aren't that many, but in case you forgot what I look like, here's a taste:
(I'm the one on the left)
(I'm the one on the left)
To view the rest of em, go here:
Happy late Thanksgiving to Y'all. I hope it was good'n. I was pretty bummed to miss it for the second year in a row. Last year I was (coincidentally) at two of the locations that got terrorized this week in Bombay on Thanksgiving. So I guess, given the choice between here and there, I'd rather be here. But even more so, I would've rather been at home. Thanksgiving has evolved into perhaps my favorite holiday since it represents being happy and eating food until you want to vomit. Even though I like receiving things, Thanksgiving represents (in my mind at least) every other holiday without all the bullspit. No presents, no religion, just family, friends and food (and booze if you're over 21, or have a cool family). So even though I got to spend it with new friends eating roast duck at a Chinese restaurant and topped it off with a few drinks after, I missed my fam. So I hope each and everyone of you who could took advantage of being closer to home.
Other than thanksgiving, there isn't much to speak of from last week. It was really nice to have a couple days off. I started my health students on a project to come up with their own anti-smoking advertisement and I'm anticipating some pretty awesome results. I spent most of the weekend reading No Country for Old Men (which is a fantastic book as well as a great movie), and bumming around town. My front wheel crapped out on me last weekend after the long ride and I ended up having to buy a new one, so I was bikeless for a week and I hope that never happens again.
Once I got my bike back, bumming around was much easier and I made to Sanlitun (the tourist shopping area). Notable notes from this:
I got stopped by a photographer who took my picture because he liked my street fashion and wanted to put it in a fashion webzine. I gave him my email address so you can expect a good chuckle coming at you soon when you check my fashion stance.
I went to the Beijing American Apparel store. This was and may remain perhaps the most bizarre experience of my whole stay here. It was completely empty and staffed by two female Chinese hipsters in training. Their english was quite good, but the retro-new wave-sparkly spandex-lack of hipsters/people vibe of the store was almost haunting. Plus a plain t shirt cost around 30 dollars. F that.
I had a Rogue Dead Guy Ale. It was so delicious. It cost 5 dollars. But it was so delicious.
I rode my bike somewhere around 40 miles yesterday. The middle 7-10 miles of that was a cyclocross race. I did much better this week than last week. Last week the race started while I was still pinning my number to my jersey. This meant that I had about 30 seconds to make up on the very last person so I spent most of my time passing people. This time around I started around the middle of the pack, but didn't start aggressively enough and lost a lot of time on the leaders. I was also riding in my clip in road shoes, and since you have to unclip-carry your bike-and clip back in at least 6 times on every lap I was not happy about that decision. I failed to unclip completely a number of times and almost fell, I had trouble clipping back in and lost a lot of time a number of times. That plus a couple of spills and a really loose stem (my handlebars could move freely without turning the wheel) gave me some trouble but in the end I think I made it into the top 10 in a field of around 40 or 50. Next week is the last race I hear and I want to shoot for top 5.
On a musical note, we're up into the double digits (11) for people who downloaded my last podcast! That's up almost 900 percent from the last podcast. Since we're seeing such a spike in podcast interest I'm working on a another one, as well as that victory themed podcast I talked about back around election time. Expect one or both in a couple days. I'm also going to look into figuring out how to set up an RSS feed so that you can put my podcast into iTunes and have it just download whenever I post a new one (thanks for the suggestion Tits).
I'm thankful for everyone who reads this blog. Unless your name is Brian Kehoe.
- Ben
*gabe herrick shout out*
Friday, November 21, 2008
What it DO do?
What it do do indeed. Hello sports fans and friends of your friend in China (that's me). I suppose I'm long overdue for an update. I'll let you know that I've THOUGHT about providing you all (y'all) with an update almost daily for the last few weeks, but lets face it, I'm one lazy hunk of awesome. I've also been slightly busy since last week marked the end of the first quarter so we had midterms and grades to submit. As you can imagine, I left plenty of my grading until the last second and, with my procrastination skillz, managed to put all that grading off until the very last second. So here's an update of some of the things I've done over the last month or so:
1. I participated in our schools' Sports Day, a day in which I played 2 soccer matches, 3 basketball games, played some tug of war, many-legged raced, and 100meter dashed. My basketball team won the Bball tournament, my soccer team got second in the Fball tournament, and I sprinted to a second place finish in the 100m dash. And to think, we only sent 2 kids to the hospital that whole day! Jacob only needed 23 stitches on his face! Take that concrete flag-pole-display! All in all, I'd say the day was a huge success for everyone (except Jacob).
2. I started Chinese lessons with an individual tutor. The Chinese is going much better now AND I have more free time. My feelings on this are: yay.
3. I stayed out way too late on halloween, but it was because I now have friends to hang out with. Also, I was dressed as Abe Lincoln, wearing a stove-pipe hat I crafted from a trashcan, a toilet seat cover, and a magic marker. Move over McGyver, there's a new mastercraftsman in town (McGyver lives in Beijing, right?)
4. Last weekend I rode my bike to the Badaling section of the Great Wall. It's about 50km (about 30 miles) away, and while the first 45km only took me about an hour and a half, the last 15 or so took roughly 2 hours with breaks because it climbs about 1,500ft in the last 15km. That's a lot more feet up than I've ever ridden on my bike before, and that shiz hurt. The plus side though was that the Great Wall was pretty neat and the ride back down the mountain was fun as heeeeyyyaaaall. To give you an idea, I CAUGHT UP to a bus, and then couldn't get around it because it was too windey. But (if you're too dense to pick up on it) that means I was going faster than the bus. Go me. In retrospect, tailing a bus in a bicycle seems fairly dangerous, but it was fun and I'm alive. So back off mom.
5. I saw DJ Shadow a couple weekends ago. Shit was dope. I really shouldn't have to say anything else. If you don't understand how cool it probably was, then i don't want to explain to you why it was (unless you're my mom, which only one of you is).
So those are the highlights. Here are a few things I'm doing this weekend:
1.I found a group of amateur cyclists here in Beijing and I'm going for about a 100km ride with them tomorrow. This will be my first ride with them, but they ride every saturday all winter and I plan on joining them every weekend.
2. I'm going to a birthday party tonight, in which I hope not to stay out too late so that I can make it to that ride tomorrow morning.
3. Tomorrow night I'm going to a tour of the Tsingtao Beer brewery with my roomate and another of our co-workers. Tsingtao is one of the 2 most popular beers in China. I'd say it's about on par with any mid level light beer in the states, but it should be fun. it's 50 Yuan (about 7 bucks) for all you can drink beer. So this saturday night in order to to understand my life here, buy a 6-pack of Tsingdao at your local liquor store and try speaking Chinese. I promise it'll be more fun than you expect.
4. The amateur riders have been putting on cyclocross races in conjunction with the Trek store here in Beijing and they invited me to come race this Sunday in their fourth cross race. I'm pretty excited since I've never done a cross race before.
That's about all I got planned for now. I've got more to say, but it isn't pertinent info, so I'll save it for a future post. For now, here's a new podcast (I'm not sure why I keep making these, since none of you seem to download them, but I guess they're a fun timewaster occasionally).
download it here:
Made in China Vol.2
Lastly, I found this video the other day. The song rocks pretty f-ing hard. Plus, the whole Adult-Freaks-&-Geeks theme makes for a very enjoyable video. Not for the faint of heart. Let the face melting commence.
Hugs & Kisses
1. I participated in our schools' Sports Day, a day in which I played 2 soccer matches, 3 basketball games, played some tug of war, many-legged raced, and 100meter dashed. My basketball team won the Bball tournament, my soccer team got second in the Fball tournament, and I sprinted to a second place finish in the 100m dash. And to think, we only sent 2 kids to the hospital that whole day! Jacob only needed 23 stitches on his face! Take that concrete flag-pole-display! All in all, I'd say the day was a huge success for everyone (except Jacob).
2. I started Chinese lessons with an individual tutor. The Chinese is going much better now AND I have more free time. My feelings on this are: yay.
3. I stayed out way too late on halloween, but it was because I now have friends to hang out with. Also, I was dressed as Abe Lincoln, wearing a stove-pipe hat I crafted from a trashcan, a toilet seat cover, and a magic marker. Move over McGyver, there's a new mastercraftsman in town (McGyver lives in Beijing, right?)
4. Last weekend I rode my bike to the Badaling section of the Great Wall. It's about 50km (about 30 miles) away, and while the first 45km only took me about an hour and a half, the last 15 or so took roughly 2 hours with breaks because it climbs about 1,500ft in the last 15km. That's a lot more feet up than I've ever ridden on my bike before, and that shiz hurt. The plus side though was that the Great Wall was pretty neat and the ride back down the mountain was fun as heeeeyyyaaaall. To give you an idea, I CAUGHT UP to a bus, and then couldn't get around it because it was too windey. But (if you're too dense to pick up on it) that means I was going faster than the bus. Go me. In retrospect, tailing a bus in a bicycle seems fairly dangerous, but it was fun and I'm alive. So back off mom.
5. I saw DJ Shadow a couple weekends ago. Shit was dope. I really shouldn't have to say anything else. If you don't understand how cool it probably was, then i don't want to explain to you why it was (unless you're my mom, which only one of you is).
So those are the highlights. Here are a few things I'm doing this weekend:
1.I found a group of amateur cyclists here in Beijing and I'm going for about a 100km ride with them tomorrow. This will be my first ride with them, but they ride every saturday all winter and I plan on joining them every weekend.
2. I'm going to a birthday party tonight, in which I hope not to stay out too late so that I can make it to that ride tomorrow morning.
3. Tomorrow night I'm going to a tour of the Tsingtao Beer brewery with my roomate and another of our co-workers. Tsingtao is one of the 2 most popular beers in China. I'd say it's about on par with any mid level light beer in the states, but it should be fun. it's 50 Yuan (about 7 bucks) for all you can drink beer. So this saturday night in order to to understand my life here, buy a 6-pack of Tsingdao at your local liquor store and try speaking Chinese. I promise it'll be more fun than you expect.
4. The amateur riders have been putting on cyclocross races in conjunction with the Trek store here in Beijing and they invited me to come race this Sunday in their fourth cross race. I'm pretty excited since I've never done a cross race before.
That's about all I got planned for now. I've got more to say, but it isn't pertinent info, so I'll save it for a future post. For now, here's a new podcast (I'm not sure why I keep making these, since none of you seem to download them, but I guess they're a fun timewaster occasionally).
download it here:
Made in China Vol.2
Lastly, I found this video the other day. The song rocks pretty f-ing hard. Plus, the whole Adult-Freaks-&-Geeks theme makes for a very enjoyable video. Not for the faint of heart. Let the face melting commence.
Hugs & Kisses
Monday, November 10, 2008
Dig and ye shall receive
Wow. P-Funk called it decades previous, but Dr. Funkenstein upped the ante in 93 with this video featuring Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and more. ONly 15 years ago this seemed like such a ridiculous premise. Looks like Obama got his hands on one of those Bop Guns. Watch out.
Bootsy Called It
Did no one else think of this song in the last week? P-Funk knew this day would come. Get up for the down stroke. I take my funk uncut.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Bill & Ted's hellacious halloween party
What happens when a 59 year old teacher drinks too much soda?
Enter: Abe Lincoln.
Enter: Abe Lincoln.
Electoin Smelection
Here's the real reason why the O to the B to the A-M-A is soon to be in the Oval Office: Dude's got skillz.
Seriously though, apparently there was actual expectation for me to post things about the election and my opinion, perhaps even provide some sort of anecdote about witnessing this historical event from half way around the world.
Really though, I don't have much. I paid about $20 USD top make sure my vote arrived on time in Ramsey County. It did (the UPS tracking site told me so, even though the address apparently changed and it didn't make it to the right place initially). It was kind of funny though trying to press the importance of this election on a bunch of Korean, Chinese, Mongolian, and Philipino kids. It was also really interesting to try to explain the electoral college to 5 different groups of students. In fact, I was quite taken aback when I used my brilliant powers of deduction to figure out that there must be about 540 votes in the electoral college if it took 270 to win. However as I announced this to my 3rd period health class, Parker Park (a Korean student (and yes that is his real name)) immediately corrected me by saying very matter-of-factly "Actually there are 538." Stunned, I turned around, narrowed my eyes and asked him how he knew that, to which he replied that he had learned it the class before from another teacher. "Thank goodness." I said. "I kind of hoped that some 16 year old Korean kid didn't know more about my own country than I do." Ok, there's your anecdote.
Also, rather than going out and drinking in celebration at lunch time with some of the university students I now know, I instead celebrated our newly elected Muslim president by eating at a Chinese Muslim restaurant for lunch. Victory tasted delicious.
My Mom forwarded me an email from my Dad in which he admitted that the morning after the election, while he was alone in the house, he put on Hey Ya by Outkast and danced around in celebration (sorry dad). My point in all this is that I'm sure you all celebrated in some way (unless you're a Republican, OOPS! However, if you are I'm not sure why you're reading my blog). For instance, I celebrated the next morning by playing the first two tracks off of the album Phantom Power by Super Furry Animals ( A Welsh band) which are titled "Hello Sunshine" and "Liberty Bell". Also, to give my dad credit (probably more than he deserves), my dad didn't just pick up on the Outkast phenom with Hey Ya. It's entirely possible/probable that my copy of Stankonia at home was in fact purchased by my father, not for me but for himself. He has also seen Outkast in concert before. So there, to give credit where it's due, my dad isn't some 40-something dad, dancing around in his living room to some upbeat sell out song, he was there years before. Anywho, there's yet one more anecdote.
I'm thinking about putting together an "Election Victory" Podcast. Expect the two super furry animal tracks, as well as "Changes" by Tupac, and any other blatantly hopeful/inspirational/obvious songs I can think off. Now as I leave you, I jab my fist in the air and give you a loud and hearty "Yes we can!" and I encourage you to do the same (seriously. do it now dammit). Now, if Minnesota could only elect a Senator....
-Ben
Seriously though, apparently there was actual expectation for me to post things about the election and my opinion, perhaps even provide some sort of anecdote about witnessing this historical event from half way around the world.
Really though, I don't have much. I paid about $20 USD top make sure my vote arrived on time in Ramsey County. It did (the UPS tracking site told me so, even though the address apparently changed and it didn't make it to the right place initially). It was kind of funny though trying to press the importance of this election on a bunch of Korean, Chinese, Mongolian, and Philipino kids. It was also really interesting to try to explain the electoral college to 5 different groups of students. In fact, I was quite taken aback when I used my brilliant powers of deduction to figure out that there must be about 540 votes in the electoral college if it took 270 to win. However as I announced this to my 3rd period health class, Parker Park (a Korean student (and yes that is his real name)) immediately corrected me by saying very matter-of-factly "Actually there are 538." Stunned, I turned around, narrowed my eyes and asked him how he knew that, to which he replied that he had learned it the class before from another teacher. "Thank goodness." I said. "I kind of hoped that some 16 year old Korean kid didn't know more about my own country than I do." Ok, there's your anecdote.
Also, rather than going out and drinking in celebration at lunch time with some of the university students I now know, I instead celebrated our newly elected Muslim president by eating at a Chinese Muslim restaurant for lunch. Victory tasted delicious.
My Mom forwarded me an email from my Dad in which he admitted that the morning after the election, while he was alone in the house, he put on Hey Ya by Outkast and danced around in celebration (sorry dad). My point in all this is that I'm sure you all celebrated in some way (unless you're a Republican, OOPS! However, if you are I'm not sure why you're reading my blog). For instance, I celebrated the next morning by playing the first two tracks off of the album Phantom Power by Super Furry Animals ( A Welsh band) which are titled "Hello Sunshine" and "Liberty Bell". Also, to give my dad credit (probably more than he deserves), my dad didn't just pick up on the Outkast phenom with Hey Ya. It's entirely possible/probable that my copy of Stankonia at home was in fact purchased by my father, not for me but for himself. He has also seen Outkast in concert before. So there, to give credit where it's due, my dad isn't some 40-something dad, dancing around in his living room to some upbeat sell out song, he was there years before. Anywho, there's yet one more anecdote.
I'm thinking about putting together an "Election Victory" Podcast. Expect the two super furry animal tracks, as well as "Changes" by Tupac, and any other blatantly hopeful/inspirational/obvious songs I can think off. Now as I leave you, I jab my fist in the air and give you a loud and hearty "Yes we can!" and I encourage you to do the same (seriously. do it now dammit). Now, if Minnesota could only elect a Senator....
-Ben
Monday, October 27, 2008
Don't be kind, don't be rude....
Just shake you're booty let it all get loose.
Oh Yeah.
My Goodness.
I remember when I was in either 4th or 5th grade, my dad bought this cd by this guy on the radio. My mom hated that guy because in his most popular song he sang the lyric: I'm a loser baby, so why don't you kill me? She thought this set a terrible example for a 4th or 5th grader (which ever one I was, she couldn't remember). Years later I'm still grateful to my dear old Paw for purchasing that second-hand cd titled "Mellow Gold" by this weird farm-hippie-rapper-grungerock-whateverthehellhewantstobe dude. His name was Beck. Ever heard of him? In case you haven't, or in case you hadn't then, please take a moment to watch a video from the mid ninties that defined my youth before I even knew it would.
Beercan by Beck
I Luv Beck. He is my Idol.
Friday, October 24, 2008
A day in the life
So many of you are bugging me to post things that are more relevant to my life and what I'm doing in China. Ask and ye shall receive.
For the last couple months (damn, I can't believe it's already been almost 2 months) I've been settling in; getting used to any sort of routine I could get into. Finally it seems as though I've figured it out. The weather was really nice until the beginning of this last week. All of a sudden it went from Summer to early winter in about 2 days. However, I haven't had winter in two years now, so I'm actually kind of excited that the weather is turning. Right now it's brisk. It's about 15 degrees Celsius and windy as heeelllllllll. honestly, the wind is unbelievable. I've never experienced wind like this before. It's making the biking more interesting.
Speaking of biking, the other night I was in Wu Dao Kou which is about 6 miles away or so and as my friends and I were leaving to head back to the school area (we all live right around the school), Me on my bike, them in a taxi, I said "I'll beat you home." Guess what? I did. I didn't even think I could pull it off since it was evening and there wasn't any traffic. But man was I cruising. They caught up to me about a mile and a half from home but had to drop someone off and I took full advantage of that, threw down and beat them back home. Take that automobiles. Also, in case you couldn't tell from that recollection, I'm loving the biking here. It's busy and a little crazy, and a lot of people here are morons when it comes to riding on the right side of the road or against traffic or in the middle of the street etc. but there are ample cars to race, buses to challenge and motorized scooters to draft off of. That said, I am wearing my helmet, surprisingly.
So I mentioned earlier that I can't believe how fast time is moving here, something I've been thinking about a lot here. I'm fairly certain it's because my time is really full now. I've finally developed some sort of routine and here it is:
6:30am - wake up, exercise a little, take a shower
7:30am - Get to the office, check email, eat breakfast, get ready for classes
8am - 12pm - Teach 4 classes in a row(health, music, health, music) followed by a 20 minute advisory period.
12:15pm - go get lunch somewhere close to school
Anywhere from 1 - 1:30pm - Get back to school.
1:30pm - 4:00pm - Grade work while watching a week old, downloaded episode of the Daily Show followed by the corresponding Colbert Report. Also, I plan work for the following days classes and waste time on the internet.
4:00pm - 6:00pm - Teach another class for the Chinese students to work on their English.
6:15pm - Walk back to my apartment, change, hop on my bike and head towards Wu Dao Kou by 6:30pm
Sometime around 7:00pm - Arrive in Wu Dao Kou and grab some sort of snack so I don't starve in my Chinese class.
7:15pm - 8:45pm - Learn Chinese
9:00pm - Eat Dinner
Sometime around 10:00pm - Bike home from WDK
Sometime around 11:00pm - Bed Time.
Repeat Every Week Day
This has made me appreciate the weekends much more. For instance, today I have done nothing except finish a book, eat lunch, watch a colbert report episode at the office and write this blog. Oh, I also sent my Absentee Ballot. Anyways, I'm still liking it here. I'm finding myself missing India a lot lately though, I'm pretty sure in part due to the many similarities between India and China. They're both fast-developing-nations, but one of the huge differences is that while China is very ready to abandon it's heritage and embrace new, faceless, americanized/international culture, India clings on to their heritage like it's their job, and I love that about that country. It was a little annoying sometimes, but it really makes that country incredibly unique, and I miss that a lot. On the opposite side of that, I love being in a city. I got a little bit of the cabin fever on that mountain last year, and there hasn't even been a hint of that here. I've been checking my buddy Neil's blog (kodaikaneil.blogspot.com) and that's been tugging at the old heartstrings when it comes to missing India. BUT, I'll stop the nostalgic rambling now and say peace out home slices. Keep it sleazy.
-B
For the last couple months (damn, I can't believe it's already been almost 2 months) I've been settling in; getting used to any sort of routine I could get into. Finally it seems as though I've figured it out. The weather was really nice until the beginning of this last week. All of a sudden it went from Summer to early winter in about 2 days. However, I haven't had winter in two years now, so I'm actually kind of excited that the weather is turning. Right now it's brisk. It's about 15 degrees Celsius and windy as heeelllllllll. honestly, the wind is unbelievable. I've never experienced wind like this before. It's making the biking more interesting.
Speaking of biking, the other night I was in Wu Dao Kou which is about 6 miles away or so and as my friends and I were leaving to head back to the school area (we all live right around the school), Me on my bike, them in a taxi, I said "I'll beat you home." Guess what? I did. I didn't even think I could pull it off since it was evening and there wasn't any traffic. But man was I cruising. They caught up to me about a mile and a half from home but had to drop someone off and I took full advantage of that, threw down and beat them back home. Take that automobiles. Also, in case you couldn't tell from that recollection, I'm loving the biking here. It's busy and a little crazy, and a lot of people here are morons when it comes to riding on the right side of the road or against traffic or in the middle of the street etc. but there are ample cars to race, buses to challenge and motorized scooters to draft off of. That said, I am wearing my helmet, surprisingly.
So I mentioned earlier that I can't believe how fast time is moving here, something I've been thinking about a lot here. I'm fairly certain it's because my time is really full now. I've finally developed some sort of routine and here it is:
6:30am - wake up, exercise a little, take a shower
7:30am - Get to the office, check email, eat breakfast, get ready for classes
8am - 12pm - Teach 4 classes in a row(health, music, health, music) followed by a 20 minute advisory period.
12:15pm - go get lunch somewhere close to school
Anywhere from 1 - 1:30pm - Get back to school.
1:30pm - 4:00pm - Grade work while watching a week old, downloaded episode of the Daily Show followed by the corresponding Colbert Report. Also, I plan work for the following days classes and waste time on the internet.
4:00pm - 6:00pm - Teach another class for the Chinese students to work on their English.
6:15pm - Walk back to my apartment, change, hop on my bike and head towards Wu Dao Kou by 6:30pm
Sometime around 7:00pm - Arrive in Wu Dao Kou and grab some sort of snack so I don't starve in my Chinese class.
7:15pm - 8:45pm - Learn Chinese
9:00pm - Eat Dinner
Sometime around 10:00pm - Bike home from WDK
Sometime around 11:00pm - Bed Time.
Repeat Every Week Day
This has made me appreciate the weekends much more. For instance, today I have done nothing except finish a book, eat lunch, watch a colbert report episode at the office and write this blog. Oh, I also sent my Absentee Ballot. Anyways, I'm still liking it here. I'm finding myself missing India a lot lately though, I'm pretty sure in part due to the many similarities between India and China. They're both fast-developing-nations, but one of the huge differences is that while China is very ready to abandon it's heritage and embrace new, faceless, americanized/international culture, India clings on to their heritage like it's their job, and I love that about that country. It was a little annoying sometimes, but it really makes that country incredibly unique, and I miss that a lot. On the opposite side of that, I love being in a city. I got a little bit of the cabin fever on that mountain last year, and there hasn't even been a hint of that here. I've been checking my buddy Neil's blog (kodaikaneil.blogspot.com) and that's been tugging at the old heartstrings when it comes to missing India. BUT, I'll stop the nostalgic rambling now and say peace out home slices. Keep it sleazy.
-B
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Bullspit
I've decided to post for you perhaps one of the best answers to a question, that is correct but proves that they have no idea what the answer is.
Question: What is "Mental Health"?
Answer: Mental Health is health that talks about Mentally Health.
Kudos to Sally for that answer.
Things are pretty much the same otherwise. I've started taking Chinese and it's a little overwhelming. Classes are still going. I still don't havce instruments, but should get them this week (I feel like I've said that every week so far). But seriously, this time they've actually been ordered. The weather here is still pretty nice, almost Ideal for biking. I'm thinking I'm gonna shoot for having my Great Wall Bicycle Adventure in a couple weeks. For now, I'm just sitting at my desk, grading papers and watching the 3rd debate. And reminding myself that I need to send in my absentee ballot. I also made another podcast, which is nearly the same one as before, but it got taken off due to copywrite violation. Check the new one here:
Made In China Vol. 1
Also, If you now search podcast for my blog, it should turn up both. If you seard Remix, you'll find the posts that have the 3 songs that I've remixed with my own music. Unfortunately, no one has downloaded the Joy Denalane one yet, which makes me sad because I think that one is the best so far. If you want to hear more specific things about my life, please send me a message or something and I'll either write about it here, or I might just send you an email back, but I make no promises since as many of you know, my communication skillz suck. A lot. Any who, later gators.
-B
Question: What is "Mental Health"?
Answer: Mental Health is health that talks about Mentally Health.
Kudos to Sally for that answer.
Things are pretty much the same otherwise. I've started taking Chinese and it's a little overwhelming. Classes are still going. I still don't havce instruments, but should get them this week (I feel like I've said that every week so far). But seriously, this time they've actually been ordered. The weather here is still pretty nice, almost Ideal for biking. I'm thinking I'm gonna shoot for having my Great Wall Bicycle Adventure in a couple weeks. For now, I'm just sitting at my desk, grading papers and watching the 3rd debate. And reminding myself that I need to send in my absentee ballot. I also made another podcast, which is nearly the same one as before, but it got taken off due to copywrite violation. Check the new one here:
Made In China Vol. 1
Also, If you now search podcast for my blog, it should turn up both. If you seard Remix, you'll find the posts that have the 3 songs that I've remixed with my own music. Unfortunately, no one has downloaded the Joy Denalane one yet, which makes me sad because I think that one is the best so far. If you want to hear more specific things about my life, please send me a message or something and I'll either write about it here, or I might just send you an email back, but I make no promises since as many of you know, my communication skillz suck. A lot. Any who, later gators.
-B
Friday, October 17, 2008
Questlove for prez
Bump all this Obama - McCain nonsense. Put my man (sport the fro like "what's happenin?") in the Oval Office.
Nuff Said
Thursday, October 16, 2008
T Pain + MF Doom production = Dope-tastic!
This mash up/remix is on the DOOMED mix I posted about last month, but I thought I'd share the individual track with all y'all people. This makes me actually kind of like T-Pain. I never thought I'd say that. so check the Jazzy remix of a song I would probably hate otherwise. Thanks again to MF Doom for being awesome and DJ Mike Waxx for combining the two to make a sweet beautiful baby. The track is "Can't Believe It feat Lil' Wayne by T-Pain (the Arrow Root Remix).
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Check Me Out (part deux)
Update time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My bike done broke but I fixed it. The new wheel that Mr Jeff Miracle Man Schiller built for me before I left the states got a lil outa wack but I got my hands on a spoke wrench and tightened that bad boy up. This may not seem like big news to you, but I've been on my bike once in the last 2 weeks because of this and now that it's fixed I'm a much happier camper.
I started taking Chinese lessons last night. My teacher doesn't speak english. The class consists of myself and one other dude from India (small world, huh? (that was a joke (kind of))). There are some instruments here, and I should be ordering more today or tomorrow, which means I should be teaching musical instruments by next week. yessssssssss.
I have a lot of pictures from my Golden Week vacation, but I don't have batteries and this means my camera won't turn on. So as soon as I remedy this problem I'll post some pics. I will also accompany pictures from Golden week with a post explaining what I did. It was kinda dope.
The food here is delicious.
I posted another podcast, but blogger.com took it down because it apparently violates copy write law (bump that). If you liked the last one, I think you'll enjoy this one as well. If you haven't downloaded the first one, check out the post below that starts in the Tamil language. There's a link to it there. If you would like the second podcast, send me an email (warehamentor@gmail.com) and I'll email you back the link sos you can download the biznas.
Lastly, but perhaps of the most important news I'll send home all year. Last week, at approximately 10:30pm Beijing time (9:30am in the twin cities) I accomplished something I may never accomplish again. A feat that is monumental, to say the least. You ready? I bowled a 245. I'll repeat that: 245. Swear to God. I threw 9 strikes and 3 spares. I did not leave one pin standing in 12 throws. 245. Don't believe me? Chew on this:
I must truly be a God among men. Also, I guess I'm now licensed to teach in the US. Sweet Sauce. Good thing I'm in China.
And I'm out,
-B
My bike done broke but I fixed it. The new wheel that Mr Jeff Miracle Man Schiller built for me before I left the states got a lil outa wack but I got my hands on a spoke wrench and tightened that bad boy up. This may not seem like big news to you, but I've been on my bike once in the last 2 weeks because of this and now that it's fixed I'm a much happier camper.
I started taking Chinese lessons last night. My teacher doesn't speak english. The class consists of myself and one other dude from India (small world, huh? (that was a joke (kind of))). There are some instruments here, and I should be ordering more today or tomorrow, which means I should be teaching musical instruments by next week. yessssssssss.
I have a lot of pictures from my Golden Week vacation, but I don't have batteries and this means my camera won't turn on. So as soon as I remedy this problem I'll post some pics. I will also accompany pictures from Golden week with a post explaining what I did. It was kinda dope.
The food here is delicious.
I posted another podcast, but blogger.com took it down because it apparently violates copy write law (bump that). If you liked the last one, I think you'll enjoy this one as well. If you haven't downloaded the first one, check out the post below that starts in the Tamil language. There's a link to it there. If you would like the second podcast, send me an email (warehamentor@gmail.com) and I'll email you back the link sos you can download the biznas.
Lastly, but perhaps of the most important news I'll send home all year. Last week, at approximately 10:30pm Beijing time (9:30am in the twin cities) I accomplished something I may never accomplish again. A feat that is monumental, to say the least. You ready? I bowled a 245. I'll repeat that: 245. Swear to God. I threw 9 strikes and 3 spares. I did not leave one pin standing in 12 throws. 245. Don't believe me? Chew on this:
I must truly be a God among men. Also, I guess I'm now licensed to teach in the US. Sweet Sauce. Good thing I'm in China.
And I'm out,
-B
Monday, October 13, 2008
Sunday, October 12, 2008
He's On Fire
Part Three of the Remix Series is my very own remix of the track "Let Go" by Joy Denalane. This is more of an R&B song, so if you're not the biggest hip hop fan and have been turned off by the last two, you might like this one. Check it out. I got #4 coming at you as soon as I can export it from pro tools which will be the another new, more laid back People Under The Stairs track called "The Wiz". For now, here's Joy Denalane's Let Go remixed by me.
Let Go (Destructo Remix) - Joy Denalane
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Heeeeee's heating up
I know you're all up on the NBA Jam tip. Here's the second in what I believe will be a series of remixes of other artists a capella's with my beats. This track is fresh off of People Under The Stairs' newest album (which may not even be in stores yet, thanks emusic) which if you're a hip hop fan, you should surely go out and get. The track is Step Bacc. Here's the remix.
http://www.zshare.net/download/2030922986ba7978/
Bang that shiz in your stere-ereo.
-Mr. D
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
REEEEEEEEEMIIIIIIIIX!!!!!!!
As some of you know, I like to mess around with samples and make hip hop beats. I decided yesterday that rather than wait for any of my friends to start writing rhymes for them, I'm gong to track down some a capellas from my favorite MC's and put my beats with them. Here's the first of what I hope will be many Mr. Destructo remixes.
My Favorite Ladies (Destructo Remix) by MF Doom:
http://www.zshare.net/download/2025403926657888/
My Favorite Ladies (Destructo Remix) by MF Doom:
http://www.zshare.net/download/2025403926657888/
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Enter the WU
As per me, I've been letting this here blog float away from me while I try to come up with things to write about that might actually interest all y'alls. For the time being, there isn't tooooooo much, but I suppose I should give an update so that the next one doesn't reach the "epic proportion" category as did my emails last year.
I still don't have instruments. this is what many would call a "mega-bummer". It turns out that my $1000 budget is not enough (something I stressed a while ago) to buy nearly enough instruments to start a band. So now Luke has to go back through the trenches and ask his boss for more money and give me an answer in a couple weeks or so. Classes are still going. I'm getting through them. We just finished a unit on the food pyramids, something that is really interesting to go over with non-american kids, especially when most of the food that is referenced on the latest pyramid is American and doesn't include regular Korean snack foods like Seaweed. Music class is about the same. I did have an interesting meeting with the head of recruiting here who wants me to start a drumline (which is a-ok by me) and even said he'll take money out of his budget to make that happen. F-ing sweet.
I'm already on my first break of the school year. This week is Golden Week, which as far as I understand it means China celebrates China. I went to Forbidden City and Tianamin Square yesterday and both were packed. But now I've done it and I won't have to do it again. I'm going on a trip with about half of the students to the Shaolin Temple where I will see the birthplace of Kung Fu. I plan to ask them their opinion of Chuck Norris and whether or not they think the fight between him and Bruce Lee at the Colosseum in Rome in Enter the Dragon was a fair representation of their Martial Art, and if they think Bruce Lee really should have won (spoiler Alert!) I was also under the impression that I was going to get to ride a hover craft, but Our trip was supposed to leave on Monday and it did not, so now we have to cut some stuff from the trip and I heard that the hover craft ride was one of those things.
Anyways, I'm not feeling in good blogging form today, and I need to go pack, and grade some tests and junk. So until next time, here's a picture of me pretending to be a tourist.
Tootles.
I still don't have instruments. this is what many would call a "mega-bummer". It turns out that my $1000 budget is not enough (something I stressed a while ago) to buy nearly enough instruments to start a band. So now Luke has to go back through the trenches and ask his boss for more money and give me an answer in a couple weeks or so. Classes are still going. I'm getting through them. We just finished a unit on the food pyramids, something that is really interesting to go over with non-american kids, especially when most of the food that is referenced on the latest pyramid is American and doesn't include regular Korean snack foods like Seaweed. Music class is about the same. I did have an interesting meeting with the head of recruiting here who wants me to start a drumline (which is a-ok by me) and even said he'll take money out of his budget to make that happen. F-ing sweet.
I'm already on my first break of the school year. This week is Golden Week, which as far as I understand it means China celebrates China. I went to Forbidden City and Tianamin Square yesterday and both were packed. But now I've done it and I won't have to do it again. I'm going on a trip with about half of the students to the Shaolin Temple where I will see the birthplace of Kung Fu. I plan to ask them their opinion of Chuck Norris and whether or not they think the fight between him and Bruce Lee at the Colosseum in Rome in Enter the Dragon was a fair representation of their Martial Art, and if they think Bruce Lee really should have won (spoiler Alert!) I was also under the impression that I was going to get to ride a hover craft, but Our trip was supposed to leave on Monday and it did not, so now we have to cut some stuff from the trip and I heard that the hover craft ride was one of those things.
Anyways, I'm not feeling in good blogging form today, and I need to go pack, and grade some tests and junk. So until next time, here's a picture of me pretending to be a tourist.
Tootles.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Hit me with the illest lyrics
School is continuing to mellow out and become more of a routine. My classroom should be all assembled and ready to use sometime next week. As for now, I'm still floating between other teachers' classrooms when they're on their pre hours. Right now I'm teaching the music kids how to count rhythms. We do a lot of rhythmic dictation and clapping during class. I've been finishing off class by showing them some of my favorite music videos and encouraging them to tell me some that they'd like to watch as a reward and a little bit of music appreciation. So far they've seen Blur's "Coffee & TV" (which is posted below somewhere) and The Pharcyde's "Drop". In health we've been learning about the food pyramid. I say "we" because I'm pretty much staying a day or two ahead of the kids on this. Who knew being healthy meant you had to know so much crap? Not this guy. I think I've convinced the principal to buy me a set of textbooks, because the Gary Eichten diet (lots of red meat and cigarettes)I had planned on teaching, while effective for high-level slow pitch softball performance, is not recommended for adolescents.
I'm pretty sure I'm going to go buy some instruments this weekend and I think that means I'll start learnin these kids some music starting next week, which I'm getting really excited about. Sure, classroom music and health are ok, but I need to teach some instruments. That's what I know and what makes me happy, and I really can't wait.
I'm starting a class tonight for the Chinese students here. If I haven't told you the run down, all the kids here have american school during the day, and then have a Chinese language class at night. This is problematic for the Chinese students who already speak their native language fluently (or so I assume). SO, I will have them for two hours a night and we're gonna listen to music. We'll go over the lyrics and learn the meanings. The whole point is to work on their english, which is not stellar. The principal proposed this idea to me because let's face it, a regular english class would be boring for them and a lot more work for me. I'm thinking I'll throw some Robert Zimmerman at them tonight, and then work in some Big Daddy Kane tomorrow. This is the part of the post that explains the title when I ask you to suggest songs with (appropriate) lyrics that I could teach these kids. Holleratme.
Lastly, I know I plugged it already, but it has been years since I've been genuinly excited about the release of a hip hop album. This is the real deal as far as I'm concerned, and it's happening in our very own backyard, and I'm not even there (shit). Not that it really matters, but check this promo, get excited, and then go get this when it comes out.
Hugs & Sloppy Kisses,
Ben
I'm pretty sure I'm going to go buy some instruments this weekend and I think that means I'll start learnin these kids some music starting next week, which I'm getting really excited about. Sure, classroom music and health are ok, but I need to teach some instruments. That's what I know and what makes me happy, and I really can't wait.
I'm starting a class tonight for the Chinese students here. If I haven't told you the run down, all the kids here have american school during the day, and then have a Chinese language class at night. This is problematic for the Chinese students who already speak their native language fluently (or so I assume). SO, I will have them for two hours a night and we're gonna listen to music. We'll go over the lyrics and learn the meanings. The whole point is to work on their english, which is not stellar. The principal proposed this idea to me because let's face it, a regular english class would be boring for them and a lot more work for me. I'm thinking I'll throw some Robert Zimmerman at them tonight, and then work in some Big Daddy Kane tomorrow. This is the part of the post that explains the title when I ask you to suggest songs with (appropriate) lyrics that I could teach these kids. Holleratme.
Lastly, I know I plugged it already, but it has been years since I've been genuinly excited about the release of a hip hop album. This is the real deal as far as I'm concerned, and it's happening in our very own backyard, and I'm not even there (shit). Not that it really matters, but check this promo, get excited, and then go get this when it comes out.
Hugs & Sloppy Kisses,
Ben
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
RIP
I don't usually get upset when I hear that a celebrity has died, but it really hit me when Isaac Hayes passed. Scientology aside, he was one stand up guy, funny enough to contribute his voice to south park from it's start and continued to for damn near a decade and was also (in my opinion) one of the most talented contemporary composers of the 20th century. If you've never heard both the Dionne Warwick version of "Walk On By" as well as Mr. Hayes' take on the same song do the deceased a favor and go listen to it. For the time being, here's a little video tribute paired with a remix of the theme from "truck turner" RIP Isaac Hayes.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Calling all hip hop heads....
I've been wasting plenty of time scouting a couple blogs and have come across a very promising upcoming release as well as a very promising new artist and a great mix by a seasoned veteran.
Jake One is a producer on the G-Unit label, but has done production for De La Soul, Common, and Gift of Gab among others. He's releasing his own album featuring his production and guest appearances by quite the arsenal of MC's including Brother Ali, MF Doom, Freeway, and Royce da 5'9. And oh yeah, it's being released on Minneapolis' very own Rhymesayers Entertainment record label. There are a few tracks available for download. Check em out and then don't sleep on the album.
http://www.rhymesayers.com/radio/get.php?web=The_Truth_feat._Freeway__Brother_Ali_1.mp3
http://www.zshare.net/audio/1879580455aa80d5/
Ra The MC = Dope. I don't know much about her, but I picked up on her from hypetrak.com whilst looking for free mixtapes that I could listen to at work. She's apparently relatively new and real good. Cop the mixtape here:
http://rapidshare.com/files/138395480/JUDAH_x_HYPEBEAST.COM_x_MICK_BOOGIE_Presents_RAtheMC-A_MIXTAPE_ABOUT_SOMETHING...zip
It's taken me a long time to warm up to MF Doom, but I've finally come around. There's still a lot of his stuff I can't stand, but since the great Dirt Mc'Girt is no longer with us I need to get my sloppy, stoned out hip hop fix from another source. Enter: Metal Fingers. He's got a mixtape out which features some of his own stuff (including his unreleased track off the aforementioned Jake One album), some friends and some remixes. This one gets the Mr. Ulysses nod of approval. You can get that one here:
http://illroots.com/waxx/doomed.zip
If you listened to music in the 90's, you should really check out this mixtape:
http://www.zshare.net/download/18038220d7aeb70d/
and finally, just for fun, here's a song that I listened to multiple times daily last week, and remains one of my favorite music videos of all time
Big ups to Hypetrak.com. I'm out.
USD
Jake One is a producer on the G-Unit label, but has done production for De La Soul, Common, and Gift of Gab among others. He's releasing his own album featuring his production and guest appearances by quite the arsenal of MC's including Brother Ali, MF Doom, Freeway, and Royce da 5'9. And oh yeah, it's being released on Minneapolis' very own Rhymesayers Entertainment record label. There are a few tracks available for download. Check em out and then don't sleep on the album.
http://www.rhymesayers.com/radio/get.php?web=The_Truth_feat._Freeway__Brother_Ali_1.mp3
http://www.zshare.net/audio/1879580455aa80d5/
Ra The MC = Dope. I don't know much about her, but I picked up on her from hypetrak.com whilst looking for free mixtapes that I could listen to at work. She's apparently relatively new and real good. Cop the mixtape here:
http://rapidshare.com/files/138395480/JUDAH_x_HYPEBEAST.COM_x_MICK_BOOGIE_Presents_RAtheMC-A_MIXTAPE_ABOUT_SOMETHING...zip
It's taken me a long time to warm up to MF Doom, but I've finally come around. There's still a lot of his stuff I can't stand, but since the great Dirt Mc'Girt is no longer with us I need to get my sloppy, stoned out hip hop fix from another source. Enter: Metal Fingers. He's got a mixtape out which features some of his own stuff (including his unreleased track off the aforementioned Jake One album), some friends and some remixes. This one gets the Mr. Ulysses nod of approval. You can get that one here:
http://illroots.com/waxx/doomed.zip
If you listened to music in the 90's, you should really check out this mixtape:
http://www.zshare.net/download/18038220d7aeb70d/
and finally, just for fun, here's a song that I listened to multiple times daily last week, and remains one of my favorite music videos of all time
Big ups to Hypetrak.com. I'm out.
USD
What it do my peoples
Hey hey! Mr. Destructo here bringin the funk straight to your eyeholes.
Things are still crazy to the max here, but I'm dealing pretty well. I'm teaching two sections of a "General" Music class, and two sections of Health. That's right, I'm a health teacher. Take a second and let your brain absorb that. I'll remind you once more, a health teacher. That sure as hell threw me for a loop. I'm still trying to figure out what my curriculum is going to be because, oh yeah, I don't have a book to teach out of. It's just me, deciding what to tell these kids about what's what on staying healthy. I couldn't think of a better person to do it, really.
For the last week I've been teaching out of the conference room instead of my own room for a number of reasons:
1) As of Friday, there were only chairs in my room. Before that, there was nothing.
2) On Wednesday (the day before classes started) at around 1pm, our partner school (who owns the building we inhabit) decided that it was not in our contract to have the 4th floor (the floor that houses my classroom). So on Wednesday and Thursday my class was homeless. The higher-ups negotiated only my room on the 4th floor back into our contract on Friday (yay), but because of the lack of teaching things, I remain in the conference room.
3) All of the other classrooms belong to other teachers, so I've been moving my class around occasionally into other classrooms with projectors in order to teach.
4) I'm a health teacher. That doesn't have anything to do with why I'm teaching in the conference room. I just thought I'd remind you.
My co-workers seem pretty cool. It's way different than Kodai last year. People are not nearly as kind and welcoming, which I've decided is because everyone is so stressed. Also, they aren't all Christians, and it's a different kind of expat who lives in China than India. I've made friends with the younger staff and they've been nice enough to take me out for a couple meals.
I finally came up with a plan for my brand-spankin-new music program today. I discovered that most kids that brought their own instruments brought guitars, with spattering of violins and flutes. Not exactly band fodder. So my plan is to teach lesson after school for the next nine weeks during their activity time. This may sound like a fairly simple "plan", but believe you me, with all of the fairly f-ed up scheduling at this school, that was a stroke of genius on my part.
I'm kind of out in the boonies as far as Beijing goes, but I don't mind it. The air quality is actually not that bad (it's apparently a LOT better for the Olympics). I went and walked around Olympic park last night with a few co-workers. The stadiums are pretty incredible up close. My camera still doesn't have batteries in it, but Klara took pictures and said she'd send them around. I think I'm gonna take a chinese class over in the international school area so I can a) learn chinese and b) hopefully make friends with some of the international crowd in Beijing (this was suggested by Luke, a co-worker). I'm planning on setting up my bike soon so I can tool around the city and not have to spend money on taxis all the time.
So far Beijing is pretty dope. I've had a few "what the hell am I doing here" moments of stress mostly due to the chaos that is dissipating around this new music program. But this weekend I got hit with that feeling since I moved here so I could conduct a band, and that seemed to be uncertain. But things are looking up. Also, no one speaks english outside of the school. This is getting to me more than I thought it would, which is another reason I want to learn chinese. I'll stop it there for now. I miss you guys more than I thought I would. Hit me with an email or something so I can read something in english. It would almost surely save my life.
Peace and Hair Grease,
Mr. D
Things are still crazy to the max here, but I'm dealing pretty well. I'm teaching two sections of a "General" Music class, and two sections of Health. That's right, I'm a health teacher. Take a second and let your brain absorb that. I'll remind you once more, a health teacher. That sure as hell threw me for a loop. I'm still trying to figure out what my curriculum is going to be because, oh yeah, I don't have a book to teach out of. It's just me, deciding what to tell these kids about what's what on staying healthy. I couldn't think of a better person to do it, really.
For the last week I've been teaching out of the conference room instead of my own room for a number of reasons:
1) As of Friday, there were only chairs in my room. Before that, there was nothing.
2) On Wednesday (the day before classes started) at around 1pm, our partner school (who owns the building we inhabit) decided that it was not in our contract to have the 4th floor (the floor that houses my classroom). So on Wednesday and Thursday my class was homeless. The higher-ups negotiated only my room on the 4th floor back into our contract on Friday (yay), but because of the lack of teaching things, I remain in the conference room.
3) All of the other classrooms belong to other teachers, so I've been moving my class around occasionally into other classrooms with projectors in order to teach.
4) I'm a health teacher. That doesn't have anything to do with why I'm teaching in the conference room. I just thought I'd remind you.
My co-workers seem pretty cool. It's way different than Kodai last year. People are not nearly as kind and welcoming, which I've decided is because everyone is so stressed. Also, they aren't all Christians, and it's a different kind of expat who lives in China than India. I've made friends with the younger staff and they've been nice enough to take me out for a couple meals.
I finally came up with a plan for my brand-spankin-new music program today. I discovered that most kids that brought their own instruments brought guitars, with spattering of violins and flutes. Not exactly band fodder. So my plan is to teach lesson after school for the next nine weeks during their activity time. This may sound like a fairly simple "plan", but believe you me, with all of the fairly f-ed up scheduling at this school, that was a stroke of genius on my part.
I'm kind of out in the boonies as far as Beijing goes, but I don't mind it. The air quality is actually not that bad (it's apparently a LOT better for the Olympics). I went and walked around Olympic park last night with a few co-workers. The stadiums are pretty incredible up close. My camera still doesn't have batteries in it, but Klara took pictures and said she'd send them around. I think I'm gonna take a chinese class over in the international school area so I can a) learn chinese and b) hopefully make friends with some of the international crowd in Beijing (this was suggested by Luke, a co-worker). I'm planning on setting up my bike soon so I can tool around the city and not have to spend money on taxis all the time.
So far Beijing is pretty dope. I've had a few "what the hell am I doing here" moments of stress mostly due to the chaos that is dissipating around this new music program. But this weekend I got hit with that feeling since I moved here so I could conduct a band, and that seemed to be uncertain. But things are looking up. Also, no one speaks english outside of the school. This is getting to me more than I thought it would, which is another reason I want to learn chinese. I'll stop it there for now. I miss you guys more than I thought I would. Hit me with an email or something so I can read something in english. It would almost surely save my life.
Peace and Hair Grease,
Mr. D
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Current residence: Beijing
I arrived here in one piece a few days ago. I'm pretty sure it's Wednesday today. No, I'm sure of it now since I just remembered that classes start tomorrow. Classes start tomorrow and I still don't know what I'm going to be teaching. Things are pretty chaotic here in the offices of Saint Paul American School since the official schedule still isn't complete and as soon as it is the students still need to be placed into classes. I've offered to help with that which will take my mind off of the fact that I have no clue what I'll be teaching tomorrow. I'm supposed to be starting a band, but as of now I don't know how many students brought their own instruments, I don't know what my budget is to buy anything, I don't have anything in my room, not even chairs, and I've been scheduled (tentatively) with the two highest level of english speakers which means I'll only have a handful of the musicians (if any). All of this, and I'm surprisingly calm right now.
According to one of the returning teachers, as chaotic as it seems, it's still unbelievably better than last semester. The principal is being very reassuring about being flexible and letting me know that I will have things to do and that it's ok that I don't know what they are yet.
I have an apartment and a roommate (which is going to save me a LOT of money). Plus, the apartment is huge and we each have our own bathrooms so it won't be crowded at all.
I'll try to take some pictures and post them soon, but I haven't had much time to relax since I've gotten here since I had to go to work my first day here. I'll also try and write a more comprehensive post soon. Later all.
According to one of the returning teachers, as chaotic as it seems, it's still unbelievably better than last semester. The principal is being very reassuring about being flexible and letting me know that I will have things to do and that it's ok that I don't know what they are yet.
I have an apartment and a roommate (which is going to save me a LOT of money). Plus, the apartment is huge and we each have our own bathrooms so it won't be crowded at all.
I'll try to take some pictures and post them soon, but I haven't had much time to relax since I've gotten here since I had to go to work my first day here. I'll also try and write a more comprehensive post soon. Later all.
Friday, September 5, 2008
Bon Voyage (isn't Chinese)
Hi. Welcome to my Web log, or "Blog" as I will now call it to save a syllable. As many of you know, I am moving to China tomorrow (or maybe today, or a few days ago, depending on when you are reading this). I'm going to be starting a music program at a small (150 students) international school in Beijing. Supposedly I will be filling out my time teaching to Phy Ed and a lil ESL. I think it sounds like a whole lotta fun. I'm sure I'll have way to much time on my hands, so keep an eye on this niche I've carved in the world wide web for what could actually turn out to be somewhat frequent updates.
I actually have plans to post pictures (or at least links to more pictures) here and even a possible podcast or two, since I have way too much music and I want to share it with the collective known to me as Y'all.
So either do or don't wish me luck, it's up to you (but seriously, do it). I return the great US of A on July 3rd, 2009. So someone should start planning the most bitchinest "Welcome back to the US/Happy Birthday America/Let's blow some shit up" Party. If you start now, it may be up to standard in 10 months. Maybe.
Aight homies. Hold it down in the Twin Cities (or wherever you may be). I'll see you in July.
-Ben
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