Where was his mind?

Yesterday, I saw Frank Black play a small acoustic set in a graveyard. From what I can glean from his website, encores rub him the wrong way; they've been reduced to an forced intermission rather than what it was originally, an acknowledgment between audience and performer that something special was rewarded with more of the same. To counter this, he's been playing 'precores' on his European tour. He's been announcing a street location in each city and playing a few songs acoustically for anyone on the ball enough to know about it and show up.

Someone from Jason's work was, in fact, on the ball. I got a call about it around 2pm and by 4:30, you could find seven of us biking our way out to find the grave of Herman Brood.

It seems that Frank Black is a big Brood fan, and the grave seemed like an appropriate place to do the Amsterdam precore. He showed up on time, toasted a glass of Grand Marnier to Brood and then proceeded to play a lovely acoustic set. The audience was small; maybe only thirty people, the setting was beautiful and tranquil and it was touching.

With respect to Frank Black though, who played an absolutely beautiful set, was charming, personable and warm, the show was stolen by the uber-fan in the dad sweater. He managed to restrain himself through the most of the show, allowing the rest of us to focus on what we were there to see. By the last song though, I can only guess, but he must have been feeling the pull of Frank Black, and the crunch of time because he stepped out of the crowd, stood almost directly to Frank's left side, and then had his daughter (or what I certainly hope was his daughter) take several photos of him looking very much like he was a part of the show. Needless to say, what had been a quiet, respectful acoustic tribute became one of those moments where you concentrate very hard on not laughing out loud. Well done, dude. Well done.

Like a rolling stone

After a long, long, long hiatus, I've decided to start updating my blog again.

To catch up all of my 2 remaining readers....

-I left China in mid-December. We tried to make it work. We really did. We left on amicable terms, but ultimately, it wasn't meant to be.

-I spent a whirlwind month at home over the Christmas holidays catching up on all kinds of paperwork and not managing to see anyone that I was supposed to. If you are one of those people, I apologize.

-I arrived in Amsterdam in mid-January to join my partner, Jason. Unlike China, I think the Netherlands and I have a chance. My first hint was that there is cheese here. Lots of cheese. Everywhere.

-I have spent the last month acclimatizing, and have now settled into looking for jobs (Canadian jobs of the work from home, contract variety) and trying to teach myself Dutch).


Naturally, this means I'm at home, in front of the computer quite a bit. Keep an eye on this space, there'll be more of this heading the way of the interweb on a semi-regular basis.

Housekeeping

I'm not sure if anyone but me actually cares but I've managed to get my holiday pictures up onto Flickr. I took three memory cards (512 mb each), and managed to lose the first one, which is a bit heartbreaking. Anyway, should you be interested in seeing the a few pictures of Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, feel free to check them out here.

Oh, and I've added a few from Shenyang.

Decision making time, pt 1

My year in China is winding down a little bit, and it's time to start thinking about whether or not I want to return. Much like everything else here, my opinion sways moment to moment. The facts, of course, are a good place to start, and here is what I know.

I will be moving, again. This time to a city called Wuhan, roughly parallel to Shanghai. Known as one of the Four Furnaces of China, it's disgustingly hot in the summer and a bit chilly in the winter. However, it also got what looks to be a fairly decent ex-pat community. Having lived in Shenyang for a few months, I think I can speak on this topic. Certainly there are people who move to a foreign country and feel scared to experience any of it. Through the ex-pat community in Dalian, I've met people who are scared enough of crossing the street that they won't walk a few blocks; they'd rather take a taxi. People who live in hotels where every need is catered to and they are buffered from China at all times.

That said, immersion can be a trying, trying thing. Honestly, there are times when a girl just wants to eat a fajita at a table full of people who can discuss the Muppets. Even better is when that happens with a table of people who you don't see day in and day out. People you choose are always the best company, and for that to happen, there has to be a community of them to choose from.

I've discussed this several times now, so I won't go into detail, but going into a new culture is a priceless experience worth it's weight in gold. Losing almost all aspects of our own in the process can be incredibly disorienting and emotionally draining.

So, there's that. I like the heat, and I can get a few good meals. I can probably even buy bread there.

But, there are other factors to consider.

So true

While I didn't ask for this teaching gig, and I by no means think I'm cut out for it long term, I am slowly beginning to enjoy it. Well, a little bit, anyway. The kids can be absolutely hilarious. As people, they're wonderful, and as students of English, they're entertaining. As overly tired teenagers, however, they're monsters. Regardless, like any other situation in life, you get what you give and as I am teaching, I find that I am also learning. For example, I came across this nugget of wisdom today and thought it would be nice to share :

HELPFUL TIP: When you meet new world friends, try using expressions like "Oh really?", "How interesting!" or "No kidding!" in a genuine way to show you are interested in them.

Where is that line?

If you really used to like going to see live music and hadn't had exposure to any, except Chinese opera, for several months, would you be tempted by a band that describes itself as

"often embrac[ing] odd time signatures, or odd phrasing, and we enjoy abrupt changes. Most of the pieces are dominated by the bass & drums, with the guitars pulling textures and occasional melodies from the rhythms. You can think of us as a 'Progressive Chinese Country Math Rock' band...or you can think us as a schizophrenic farrago of sound. If you can appreciate new kinds of music, or you have an eclectic taste in music, then you just might like what we are doing."

They aren't playing until April 7th, so I have some time to think about it. I think, though, that the fact that they throw in an occasional melody is the clincher. They're just going to be too tempting to pass up.

Karma, part two

I've never been a great student. That's not to say that I've flunked out of anything (okay, except for Math. I'm math illiterate and always will be.) but I've never really cared either. Very early on, I learned to walk that line between doing 'okay' but not putting in any unnecessary effort. Since I see almost all effort as unnecessary, it didn't take me too long to perfect this.

Consequently, I didn't go to school too often. (How telling is it that I went to school before big brother instituted all types of mechanisms to ensure that kids are not able to leave campus without everyone being aware of that?) I learned to know the difference between what I could intuit and what I would need to study for, and I learned to cram really hard at the last minute. Highly ambitious, I was not.

Nowhere did my skip class and intuit my way through the assignments manifest more than in English class. I like writing, and, not too be too cocky, but I don't think I'm too bad at it. I figure that I've grown up speaking it. I've been listening to it all of my life. And I like to read. How hard can writing be with that type of exposure? I have the basics. I know where capitals go and what they do. Ditto with periods. And I kind of have a grasp of how different combinations of words and sentences create different effects. Heck. I even know what effect means and what affect means. The rest of it was filler for me. Dangling participles, prepositions, complex clauses, erm....?

These were functions of language that I saw as something to simply get through. Fake my way through an exam and forget them forever. Well. I sort of did forget them, and wow, is it coming back to haunt me.

As we have moved schools recently, we have lost space and we have also lost a few teachers. Consequently, all hands are pitching in and that means that I am now in charge, not only of the library but, the development of grammar, writing and listening skills of 23 Chinese students. Somehow, it feels like the fates are having a good laugh right now.