Months ago, I reported that I would be tutoring two girls–an 8 y/o and her 14-y/o syster. At the time, I was getting all worked up about it, because well… because kids make me nervous. They’re so unpredictable and uncontrollable. Needless to say, my anxiety was about three months premature. Their mother said the family would be on travel but that she’d call when they were ready to start. Several weeks later, I called but no answer. I texted her, but no reply. Now, months later, I get a call to start Monday. In the last week, I’ve realized that I get way too stressed out about my jobs. I’m going to prepare as best I can but just chill out afterwards. No reason to give myself ulcers (I know, I’m retarded that way).

I’m still trying to make some inroads with NGOs here. But I’ve determined that my best bet is to contact US NGOs with interests here. So I’ve contacted Family Health International (FHI) and hope to break the ice with Winrock International, Bridge to Asia, ICRW, etc. Networking is so much work!

John is doing well. He’s loving his new bike. A Lawson’s (a Taiwanese convenience chain store) opened right at the main entrance of our complex, so now we have another quickie-mart option. Since we pay our utility bills at Lawsons, this new store is an added bonus for me (otherwise, i’m always on the search for one to pay the bills).

My new friend Helen is going to a speed dating even next week. She’s nearing 30 and is growing increasingly anxious about not having found someone. It actually seems quite normal… I know plenty of fabulous women around our age who are unattached. But understandably, she gets a lot of crap from her somewhat overbearing, very traditional Chinese mother so the pressure is really on. Anyway, her spoken English is really excellent so she’s going to participate in the English-speaking speed-dating event. 20 dates, 5 minutes each. I would never have the confidence to pull something like that off. I mean, it sounds fascinating, but 5 minutes to come off cool is just not enough time. I’m not that socially adept. Anyway, the coincidental thing about this event is that the money raised goes to charity– Habitat for Humanity, of all places. So I am thrilled to discover HFH over here. I’ve already contacted the organizer and hope to get involved soon.

In other news, so many of my friends have relocated yet again for school. My friends are such nerds. Grace begins here OB/GYN residency program at Albert Einstein in NYC. Matt starts B-school at NYU. Nathalie enters her final year of vet school at NC State. So everyone is moving about.

The weather here is miserable–extremely hot and humid. The locals call this time of the year “huang mei tian,” or yellow mold days. Somehow mosquitos are making it all the way up to our 17th floor apartment and they are eating me alive. I may have to get a net to tent over the bed (our windows dont’ have screens). I can’t stand bug bites; I scratch my itches raw. Where is eucalyptus soap when I need it?

Last week was a slow work week, but a busy one otherwise. A 2×2′ bubbling in our living/dining room floor had grown to about 3×8′. Obviously, the installation had not been done properly (and that’s not the only problem in our apartment), so with expansion caused by the warmer weather, the floor was a good inch off the concrete base. Fortunately, Wu Ayi’s hubby used to do remodeling work. On Saturday, he and his friend repaired it all. They did great work, but now it’s a little weird for John and me, not having to deal with the puffing.

On Thursday, I attended the 2004 US-China Conference on Women and Leadership, an event cosponsored by Global Interactions of Arizona. It was a good meeting in that I made a lot of contacts with people from the US. I even met Korva Coleman of NPR! A total celeb in my book and she was rockin’ cool. Session-wise, I was a little disappointed, especially with the Chinese presenters. I mean, with statistics like “98% of SH women are very satisfied with their marriages,” it was tough not to realize the propagandist agenda. On top of that, since December I had been trying to get involved with the event’s local host– the SH Women’s Federation. I had emailed and called but to no avail. I finally met the recipient of my emails, and all she could say was, “No, our organization is for local women. We don’t collaborate with foreigners.” Uh, first of all, this is a US-China conference… purportedly, you want to work with American counterparts. Second, I am living in SH, and I am Chinese. I was so irritated and pissed off. But after sitting in on their presentations, I realized anyway that they aren’t even that feminist. They’re just into publicity and self-congratulation. Surprisingly, after some of their higher ups discovered I taught English, there was renewed interest in me– or my teaching at least. We’ll see how that goes.

Friday night there was a conference gala at the Yong Foo Elite. I know, sounds like a car model but it was a really jazzed up restaurant–used to be a private citizen’s home and then was formerly the British Embassy. Ironically, the event was sponsored by Elle Fashions, and there was a fashion show in the middle of dinner. Sure, feminists want to look good too, but I just thought it was a tad weird. Maybe if the models looked like healthy women, I could be a little more forgiving, but they were straight off the Asian runways. And the fashion industry/media is certainly responsible in many ways for driving women into this lifelong obsession with image and “beauty.” Anyway, I was still glad I attended. Meeting Korva Coleman was just too cool.

Yesterday, John and I had dinner with Bill and Helen at Shanghai Uncle in XuJiaHui. Bill’s been to the place five times already. Really good food but so pricey. Everything is pricey now that we have the Wu (ayi). She’s been hooking us up with all sorts of great eats. We don’t even have to leave the house anymore. 🙂 But SH Uncle was a good time. Afterwards, Helen came to our place to see the dogs. She was quite frightened of them but I think it’ll get better. Helen is a cool woman. She’s gonna try to hook me up with some more teaching work through her sister’s company and such. Meanwhile, Bill is kicking butt here in SH. He and some friends formed a company doing interior design/remodeling work.

After enduring years of anxiety caused by exams, it’s now my turn to hand out these loathesome beasts. Of course outside of academia, midterms and evaluations are much less stressful so really, I don’t feel that guilty. My student Cissy didn’t even study for her midterm last week.

I welcomed getting back to classes this week. Whenever I have too much time off (during Golden Week), I become unhealthily obsessed with class prep, so it was nice to break the cycle. Admittedly, I really get into my writing course: I get all excited looking into the differences between someday and some day or may and might. Yeah, like I said, unhealthy… but still fun.

In other news, John got a new bike. Yeah, as excited as we were initially for his first bike, it just wasn’t holding up. $20 USD was just too cheap. His brakes were failing, his seat was coming off… so John made a big splurge and got himself a really nice bike–comparable to Giant. Good, hearty brakes and a frame fit for a king. John’s gaining all kinds of independence now with his new, reliable mode of transport and his improved Mandarin. He purchased his bike on his own, went to the post office, bargained for a new digital camera (Panasonic D-SNAP), etc. Knowledge is truly empowering.

Golden Week came and went. John and I had a productive holiday: mostly, we worked (and got a shitload done!), read, and ate. On the days with sunshine, we rode our bikes (as you probably guessed!) in search of our next meal (or the ones after). We recently hit the sandwich craving. Went to Carrefour and purchased a sandwich maker– yeah the kind that makes grilled pocket sandwiches. It’s no games around here. Move outta the way, we’ve got a mass production going on! Ham and cheese, grilled cheese, pbj… all heated to perfection.

John is making really great progress with his Chinese. The weekly tutor is working out beautifully. Chinese is now officially part of his well-known “First things first” routine. He has even coined a Chinese translation “Di Yi Ge Dong Xi Xian Zuo.” Yeah, it’s nerds galore over here. For sure. Anyway, I’m thrilled about John’s excitement, but I have to admit, I’m getting really sick and tired of him trying to impose his FTF program on me. By now, it’s really a broken record. Nonetheless, his enthusiasm is obvious. He eagerly goes to the produce market on his own to practice with the vendors. I can now send him off to get most any grocery item, including veggies, fruit, drinks, and breads.

John’s also making friends at all the area stationery stores. Armed now with Chinese, he’s totally free to talk Staedler pens, high-brightness papers, notebooks, and markers! Did you know John hoardes stationery supplies in his desk? One day I was searching for binder clips and when I opened his drawers, it become clear to me that his trip back to the USA in March was really a bigtime Staples run. He nearly bought the place out!

The warmer weather is quietly bringing about a revolution in the Gou-Eshleman household. The banana yoghurt smoothie, once a staple morning drink, has now been replaced with freshly-made watermelon juice. So sweet and cooling. We’ve got a stockpile of it in the fridge. 🙂

The second change is the service of an ayi (housekeeper). One of my students, Helen, recommended her ayi to me. I told Helen we were searching for someone to clean and show us cooking. Wu Ayi is amazing! I never knew my apartment could be THIS clean. Yeah, a real eye opener. Guess I was a total shit slacker ayi. 🙁 Anyway, the lady is so sweet and nice. Tomorrow she’s demo-ing cao nian gao. I must say, if anything, Wu Ayi is forcing our asses out of bed– early. She comes around 8, so we’re up notably before then. Fits well with Bubbey’s FTF system. We’ll show you, Steve Ni!

May 1 marks the start of a weeklong national respite called the Labor Holiday. The government only recently mandated the weeklong closure of most businesses, in hopes that people would spend their time and money at the malls and restaurants. Unfortunately for those working in the service sector, Golden Week is more like shit week. Those miserable souls get to watch and serve all the people lounging around. My attendent at the salon said she didn’t get off for the holiday. However, “I get off one day for every six days worked.” Yeah, some consolation. Poor girl.

So what do John and I plan to do over the break? Nothing. Stay holed up at home. It seems that most locals do the same: they say the malls, parks, restaurants, and hotels are simply mobbed and there’s no point. At least in your home, you have some space and privacy. If you venture out during Golden Week, your family vacation becomes a national vacation. Forget about family pictures. Half the town will appear in every frame.

John and I rode our bikes on some of the warmer days last weekend. We didn’t notice much difference–crowd-wise. However, I heard on the news that all trains to Beijing, Hangzhou, Suzhou, and Nanjing (all popular destinations) were booked. And we haven’t gone to popular places like Carrefour or the malls. We’re gonna hold out for as long as we can!

In other news, I’ve lost probably 20 years off my life trying to get my parents broadband internet service. I should have known better: after all, wasn’t Adelphia the company that made big news a couple years ago because it’s CEO diverted company funds for his personal use? I guess I just got too excited about high-speed arriving at Meadowbrooke. Needless to say, since April 21, my poor parents have endured three unsuccessful service visits. The poorly trained techs go through their protocol of motions and when the connection doesn’t work, they blame it on hardware. I’m still trying to get this mess straightened out. You have no idea how much time I have spent on the phone and on their chat help desk. The process is turning me into a total witch. We’ll see what comes of my demands.