Salsa Dancing

For the past couple of months now, I've been teaching salsa classes on Tuesdays at EF and we always have a blast. My knowledge of salsa, however, is quite limited, so I wanted to arrange a group lesson for my friends and students with my roommate June (Shanghai salsa class), who just opened her third dance studio.

After class ended at 7:30 tonight, I rallied the troops in the EF lobby, then 20 of us marched together to the dance studio. For an hour-and-a-half, we twirled-around in the studio, trying to transition from robotic dancers into genuine, hip-swiveling, Latin sensations...and we still have a long way to go.

"No Money, No Honey"

If a Chinese man wants to marry, a cultural prerequisite is buying an apartment--and they don't come cheap! I've learned recently through talking with friends that the parents of women very rarely allow their daughters to marry a man who does not own a home.

From a parents perspective, I can understand not wanting to let your only child, your baby girl marry someone who does not have financial security. After all, women are in a premium position here in Shanghai where there is an abundant supply of men and a relatively lower supply of women. This, however, highlights another fascinating aspect of Chinese culture: intrusive parents.

Parents have an extraordinary involvement with their kids lives--to the point of deciding marriages--and they typically live with their kids when they get older. As a result, I've noticed many women lack autonomy in making decisions, and this is compounded by the fact that many young women still live with their parents to keep costs down.

This is only the tip of the iceberg regarding parental involvement in children's lives, and it gives me an appreciation for the tremendous pressure Chinese men have to earn money so that they can buy a home, and then get married.

Karaoke

One of the things I enjoy about Chinese culture is Karaoke (a.k.a. KTV). Imagine walking into a place with 20-30 sound-proof rooms, in which there are U-shaped sofas that seat 15 people and people sing to each other for hours. Alcohol was drained, pistachios were eaten, and eardrums were broken because of my bad voice. On the other hand, the Chinese friends that I've sang with tend to have beautiful voices, probably because their language is tonal and they have tuned-in ears. 

Singing, I have found, is a beautiful form of self-expression. Some people dance, some people paint, and some people sing. And this highlights one of the fascinating things about living abroad in China, which is the opportunity to see how other express themselves. At times, to be honest, it's been frustrating because Chinese are generally more reserved, making it difficult to make meaningful connection with my friends. It takes more time, generally, to get close with my Chinese friends and to get them to open up. Yet, it's proven worthwhile because of the quality of friendships.

AIC Training, American Constitutional Law, Vivaldi Concert

The day began with AIC training. The AIC is responsible for approving and regulating all businesses in China, basically, and I decided to take on the job to coach them for an upcoming speech contest they have against 19 other offices in Shanghai.

Working with the XuHui office contestants has truly been fun. For two hours each meeting, we practice the co-written speech and how to deliver it persuasively. It is like directing an orchestra, at times. When we work on dissecting a particular paragraph, for example, we focus on the rhythm, pronunciation, and intonation to make the speech persuasive. Although I know nothing about music theory, I know that public speakers often use a musical rhythm to make their speeches effective, so we work on that kind of thing. There was one point today when the student's words were desert-dry and lacking any emotion, so I grabbed his hands and in a sympathetic tone, I recited the line from the speech so that he understood the necessary emotion. Needless to say, that made for an awkward, yet entertaining moment for the group.

Law Group. For the second week, I gathered some law students to meet at Starbucks to discuss American law. We are focusing on Constitutional at present 

Vivaldi Concert. One of the things that is very important to me is getting people together to have a good time. In the past, we've met for conversation at Starbucks, cut a rug Salsa dancing (tiao sha sha wu) or went for drinks at various entertainment districts. This week I wanted to get some culture, so I organized a group of 9 people to hear a strings concert in Pudong.

The orchestra played Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" concerto, which was nothing short of sensational. Each of the seasons had distinctive characteristics that summoned images of the seasons' respective weather and emotions. As the orchestra played, I could see people throughout the auditorium with their eyes closed and hands moving in-sync with the music like a director. You could see the sense of peace that they felt. To be honest, this was the first classical music (gu dian de yin yue) concert that I've attended, and I really enjoyed the change of pace.