Videos, Tooling Around Ganzhou, and Thailand

Ok folks, back again with a little update on the goings-on here in China.

I don’t even really know how to express it, but everyday I am pretty much awed at the incredibly deep network of cosmic/metaphysical/otherworldy concepts that Chinese people can hook into at any moment.
For example, when I asked my class of hip hop t-shirt wearing, MP3 player listening students whether or not they believe in ghosts, they all let out a collective “OHHHHH!!!” and looked at the ground, as if to say, “They’re here now, please don’t aggravate them.”

Not only did all my classes unanimously say they believed in ghosts, but they all consistently described them as having super-long teeth, pale skin, and never ending hair (and being eternally hungry for money).

Many of my students went home for the holiday last week, no not veterans day or anything like that…Tomb-sweeping Day! The day to pay respect to one’s ancestors by maintaning their graves and by burning paper money, paper houses, paper Mp3 players, paper cars, and paper credit cards, because as one of my students said “How else are they supposed to buy things?

I’m started to realize that the Chinese lust for super-heavy, super-cheesy love ballads is actually thousands of years of cosmic tradition manifesting itself in pop music. This sense of heavy emotion also shows itself in the way students translate from Chinese to English. If a student is unable to attend class, I’ll usually get a note along the lines of

“Dear Michael, I’m sorry not to attend class today. I am truly ashamed and beg your forgiveness. This void of missing your class leaves me charged with raw emotion.

Forever yours,

Lyle.”

If I ever ask the students anything about Chinese culture, for example “is there a Chinese version of Valentine’s day?” I usually get a response which involves several queens of the heavens, planets colliding, and poor farmer boys.

I’ve also been getting a huge kick out of Chinese translations of English words. They make perfect sense and at the same time are like poetry. For example, ‘computer’ is literally “electric brain,” ‘caterpillar’ is ‘hairy worm,’ ‘owl’ is ‘cat-headed eagle,’ ‘French fries’ are “oil explode the potato.” To my surprise even most American movie stars and athletes have completely different Chinese names. For example, few people have heard of Kobe Bryant, but most have heard of “Xiao Fei Xia” literally “Little Flying Hero,” Kobe’s Chinese name, which I’m sure he has no knowledge of.

The term for foreigners is ‘Wai Guo’ or ‘Foreign Ghost’ because of the foreigner’s pale skin and because they tend to only stay for a short while. To get a laugh I’ll occasionally announce “I am a Wai Guo” in Mandarin.

There are moments when I have to force myself not to laugh. For example in one exercise I had the students create sentences from key words on the board. On student stood up and said “Harry is inviting all his friends over this weekend to taste his big sweet chocolate.” Thanks but no thanks, Harry.

This very same student sent me and email that began as follows:

Dear Micheal, nice to write to you! So first, welcome to our country! You have left behind a strong impression to us . Turgidly speaking, some guys of our class said," I should woo Micheal, if i were a lady or a gay….

I’m not sure if I’m thrown off more about the “lady or a gay” comment, or the use of “Turgidly.”
In other news, one of Chris’ students who took me to the hospital when my bowels were going nuts wants me to play some of my music with his band. One of the videos is the practice session (don’t worry Michael Luk, as you can see this drummer isn’t replacing you anytime soon). Apparently, he wants us to play in a battle of the bands at the university, so if you don’t hear from me for a while, then my Chinese pop career is blowing up.

That’s pretty much all for now, enjoy the videos. I promise I’ll be more serious next time and let you all in on Tibet, the Olympics and the rest of it.

Went to Bangkok for a long weekend to meet up with Zara (it was pretty much like going to Vegas from Los Angeles). Unbeknownst to us it was the Thai new year. I really can’t say much about Thailand, except that having been there a second time, I can now say with confidence that it is absolutely the funnest place on earth. Thai people have corned that market on fun and the rest of the world is in need. The videos speak for themselves; the ancient Thai calendar is celebrated by wild drunkenness, waterfights, supersoaker water guns, and by spreading a mysterious white paste on everyone’s faces.

Much Love to Everyone

Michael

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