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Published: October 19th 2006
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Mary Jane!
I realize this was dark but it's the only close-up one I have right now. And I only do these blogs when it is dark out. Last weekend we (Jonathon, Jeremia, Tyler, and I) worked together on making a movie for the talent show. We spent a large part of Saturday with a sweet girl named Chanel, who took us on a long long journey to find the only costume place in Dalian.
Besides getting that done, I was also an MC (Master of Ceremony) for this important, new student welcoming event. My schedule was not very organized and it was hard to decide which was more important - attending MC practices, going to work at teaching english to a class of 7-8 year olds, attending a going-away-to-america party for one of my best friends, or attending school. It all ended Tuesday night though with the talent show. It went surprisingly well. It was a very large crowd of students, teachers, and visiting school officials.
It is very hard to get anything done with the Chinese. I'm going to come right out and say that. Because it's true. I like what Jonathon said one day in Language class that summed up what I was thinking. Helen was teaching us the Chinese words for "tomorrow", "day after tomorrow", and "the day after the day after tomorrow". They
Talent Show
Jin's Korean Band
They were really good.
(Photo courtesy of Chuck Eastman.) have a specific word for each one. Jonathan said, "What I don't understand is how the Chinese can have a specific word for each day, yet be so lucid with their time."
When I did show up for the MC practices, it was really a waste of time because I never knew exactly what I was doing. We'd start to get somewhere, and I would have an idea of what they were expecting, then the plans would change completely. So anyways, I supposed the whole thing would be improvised. The night of the show I threw together an introductory speech and found out which acts I would be introducing. There were two English MCs (Michael Goodwin and I), two Chinese MCs, and one Korean MC. When the show began, all the MC's gathered to the front to give their speeches. Michael began with how LNU is improving relations with the US and so on. Then Catherine (Chinese), then Chris (Chinese), then me (English). Here was my speech:
"Thank you Chris. Good evening everyone. My name is Tracey and I am a second-year student from West Plains, Missouri, United States of America. I was told to tell a little bit
Talent Show
Chinese Rappers (and their dancers)
(Photo courtesy of Chuck Eastman.) about myself so, my favorite color is green and if I could choose to be any animal, it would be a dog. It is a pleasure to be here and I hope everyone has a wonderful night. And now let's hear from Jin!"
It was a very "my favorite date would be....April 26th...because it's not too hot, not too cold, all you need is a light jacket!" kind of answer.
Right after our speeches, the talent show began. Michael introduced the odd number acts and I introduced the even number acts. We had to have a comment to close the last act and open the beginning. So I tried to make the comments as lame as possible.
Tracey- "Wow Chris, that band rocked my world."
Chris- "It sure did. Say, have you ever heard Chinese rap?"
Tracey- "Well, no, I can't say I have Chris. I'd sure like to share in that experience though."
Chris- "Well maybe I can help you there."
Then we would introduce the next act.
One time it was just Mike and I introducing the next act. It happened to be belly dancing.
Tracey- "Mike, I
know you're going to like this next act."
Talent Show
Some of the faculty in their act singing "When I'm 64" by the Beatles. Left to Right - Jack Garrett, Kay Garrett, a really cool guy named Mike that has the best accent
Photo courtesy of Chuck Eastman. Mike- (an exaggerated ) "Shen-ma???"
Tracey- then I got to say in Chinese "xia yi ge jie mu shi - belly dancing-wu dao (and a little action to emphasize)"
The audience always gets a kick out of it when we speak Chinese.
So it really was a fun evening. Especially since it felt like a final to all the hard work we had put in over the weekend.
HOWEVER; the last act was the greatest final. Before the last act, I talked to the audience about how Jonathon, Jeremia, Tyler and I had put together a movie. I said that Jeremia and Tyler were great actors but that Jonathon was a very talented director. I informed the audience that he has several videos shown on youtube.com that he has done an incredible job on and that everyone should go and check them out. That I was sure Jonathan would appreciate it if he recieved a five-star rating. It was really fun seeing Jonathon beaming in the audience. I enjoyed my power.
So the movie played- Spiderman 3- the trailor. It was so hilarious! Everyone was laughing, but Mike and I were rolling backstage. This is definitely a
Talent Show
Photo courtesy of Chuck Eastman. video worth checking out. I'm very very very impressed by Jonathan's work. I had to wipe off my tears right after the video and give a closing speech about all the hard work the students and staff put in to make the show a success..and blah blah blah....Here's the link!
I was in such a good mood after that performance. It's a good feeling when everything is done and I know I can sleep in in the morning. After the show, several of us celebrated at a secluded cafe that I had came across in my travels. It was a great night - drinking coffee, eating grape waffles, and
still laughing about the movie.
By the way, that morning when I woke up, I called Joy School and quit the job of teaching English to a class of 7-8 year olds. 1) I felt like a horrible person for drilling those poor kids with boring vocabulary. 2) It was impossible to make vocabulary lessons fun. 3) I felt old. 4) The pay is only 90 kuai an hour- and only when teaching. I had to make office hours and it would waste 3-4 hours of
Talent Show
Photo courtesy of Chuck Eastman. my time just to teach one class.
Oh and by the way by the way, is anyone worried that I might come back deformed from nuclear radiation? Or infect America with radiation disease? I'm just trying to see if anyone worries about my influence on the safety of America.
I hate to keep adding these footnotes but I forgot I never mentioned anything about dying my hair. This is a big deal. I am no longer blonde! I like it.
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Department of Defense
non-member comment
The Department of Defence needs your help
To ease your mind about radiation poisoning from radio active bombs just keep a large supply of Iodine pill with you at all times. Also if you see anything suspicious (like a nuclear war head for example) coming out of North Korea please send a letter to Scruff McGruff Chicago Il. 65802. You may remember him from when you were a kid, but due to the lack of business in the kids being private eye detectives sector, he has come to work with us gathering intel. He has been a key player in the operation “Sanction the hell out of North Korea through the UN because due to our lack of a larger military we can’t just go in and take over.” You may not believe it but, no shit he can take one hell of a bite out of crime. Sincerely, Your friend at the DoD