Blogs from Guangdong, China, Asia - page 143

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Asia » China » Guangdong » Guangzhou August 30th 2006

Hello! Since I last wrote I've had my last class with the kids. Summer school finished off with a show on Saturday, now almost two weeks ago. Every class did one performance, my kids being reporters - reporting from countries all over the world about the weather and conditions in the country. Winning second prize for best performance! Afterwards some of the parents came up to me, thanking for teaching their kid and taking our picture :) Real nice, and kinda sad to leave them after four weeks together. Haha, didn’t think I’d ever say that after I had had my first day of class… Will see some of the kids again this coming Saturday, when we’re throwing a get-back-together party at the school. And some will continue to study even during the fall semester. So ... read more
My living room
George reporting from Stockholm
After the show

Asia » China » Guangdong » Shenzhen August 29th 2006

Our official - well maybe not so official in the sense of meaningful, in the sense of fun - welcoming party was held last night at Ibiza bar, where one of the second year teachers works. The theme was a classic one, especially since in the 3 weeks our group has been together, their have been, oh let some, some pairing off.....if you will. So in an effort to make all the new couples or oops! a little uncomfortable, Andrew, our fearless leader in the party planning department instituted that our first party be a STOPLIGHT party. For those of you who are not familiar, the premise is fairly simple. Were red if you are unavailable or uninterested, where yellow if you could be available or interested and wear green if you are roaring to go, ... read more
DJ James
getting the party started
Andrew, our fearless Party Planner

Asia » China » Guangdong » Shenzhen August 29th 2006

I can't say that I am a celebrity, because I don't know what that really means, but if it includes someone taking your picture with their camera phone while just walking down the street, then maybe yes I might qualify. But if that isn't celebrity proof enough how about, when you walk past a group of your soon to be students and one of them realizes "who you are" and then they all start to yell "Helloo!" "Helloo", one after another kinda like the wave at a sports stadium. Or maybe I would make it on the cover of Asia Weekly in one of those sections "Stars just like you!" Only the Asia Weekly version would say, "Americans just like you" - and there would be a picture of me with my shopping cart and a ... read more

Asia » China » Guangdong » Shenzhen August 27th 2006

I guess that leaving your home in search of another one deserves at least some sort of explanation as to what the hell i am doing. After 3 years plus 2 months in Chicago, I guess I was at a point where I had enough (in a good way). I don't know if I am here by accident, I was really looking for something to do for a summer when I realized that I was applying too late and the only programs I had a chance of getting accepted for where at least year long programs. I guess the thought of spending another summer searching for things to fill my time, I justified picking this program as a new way to fill my time. The program is called The Center for Teaching and Learning in China(www.chinaprogram.org) ... read more
Temple hopping
Shopping in China

Asia » China » Guangdong » Shenzhen August 27th 2006

Being an ocean away as proven to have its disadvantages. Hearing about the death of you grandma through email is my reality (thank you sara for keeping me informed). It's as if I could delete the email and she would be alive again, maybe just enough for enough time that I could say goodbye. I'm not very sentimental when it comes to death and when its so far away it is very easy to push the reality of a situation to the back of one's mind. I just wish I could be there to help.....to stand next to my mom as she buries her mom, to squeeze her hand when she is starting to feel to weak, to be the first to relive the story of when you first saw naked grandma naked, to laugh, and ... read more

Asia » China » Guangdong » Shenzhen August 25th 2006

Go Shenzhen. Go. What do I write about this place? First off, a hair cut is never just a hair cut. This place is all about nuance. Go. Go get a hair cut. This is capitalism. Oh my god! Just go. Shenzhen, City of Angels. End of all quarrels. Go. ... read more

Asia » China » Guangdong » Guangzhou August 23rd 2006

Today is our last day in GZ. We have one interview scheduled at Vitamin Creative Space with Xu Tan, a controversial filmmaker and photographer who had some difficulties with the Gov't because his films focus on outsiders and the disenfranchised in China. His verite films feature sex workers, drug addicts and one, deemed most inappropriate by Party members, featured several explicit acts from GZ's underground gay scene. I watched several clips from his recent film MADE IN CHINA at Vitamin, and the magic is in his clever editing. He cuts back and forth from a gender-bending sex worker doing exercises on some sort of contraption, to a scene of the Guangzhou skyline, back to the exercise gizmo, than to the dark evening streets, and so forth, all the while lounge-like music pulses in the background. He ... read more

Asia » China » Guangdong August 23rd 2006

it’s been six weeks give or take a week or so since our last blog entry and plenty has happened upon and around us. but for the most part this should be about the children. to begin with we posted some information about our project plans in the town and along with it a kind of registration day date, and sat back and waited. we expected maybe forty or so kids to attend. we decided to give them a form they could give to their parents and return if they were interested. two days before the big day we already had one hundred and thirty two applicants. word travels fast among the children of nanling. so we divided the children into four groups: red, green, blue and yellow and began to run around sorting art supplies, ... read more
Twig Action
Up in Arms
The Don't Litter! dance

Asia » China » Guangdong » Guangzhou August 23rd 2006

We are wrapping things up in GZ as we've done with every city we've visited, and that means inviting all those that we've met in GZ up to our rooms for drinks and then for some time out on the town. Guangzhou is a chaotic urban center with 14 million people, and yesterday we had our driver take us through these back alley streets that are about 20 feet wide with makeshift shops lining both sides. As we crept through the alley with the van's sidedoor open, we got some amazing footage. Bikers and mopeds with three passengers, people crossing this way and that, forming a symphony of sights and sounds. It was a magical moment. People were slashing by in all directions, doing a dance that swept by wave after wave. I've never seen anything ... read more

Asia » China » Guangdong » Guangzhou August 21st 2006

Today, Monday, August 21st, we flew south from Shanghai to Guang Zhou to what is called the wild, wild south. During the five days in Shanghai, we interviewed two important figures in the Shanghai art scene: Victoria Lu of Shanghai MOCA and Larenz Helbling of ShanghArt Gallery. Both were excited that an American documentary filmmaker was in China to record the next wave of Chinese artists that are beginning to make a name for themselves on the international stage. There's an art explosion happening here, and I having the time of my life doing what I'm doing. Shanghai has some exceptionally inventive photographers and video artists, many of whom work in both formats. Larenz Helbling provided me with discs with the video work and photos of Xu Zhen, Song Tao, and Yang Zhenzhong and has agreed ... read more




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