Shanghai Dreaming

This interview happened awhile ago, but I had to post it. Jenny Zhu is one of my favorite people at Chinesepod. I was lucky enough to briefly meet her last year during my visit to Shanghai last year when Joyce got married. She is a fascinating woman and I love all the work she has done with Chinesepod & on her blog, Jennyzhu.com



Yesterday Joyce called me and we got a chance to briefly talk. Just hearing her voice made me miss her so much. Then after watching this interview with Jenny, my longing for Shanghai is increasing.

I had started to give up on the dream of moving back to China recently, but now I'm not so certain. I still can't really afford it as my debt is still great & savings minimal. Hopefully my upcoming trip to Ireland won't set me back too much.

I really want to work for Chinesepod. I've been a loyal listener to the podcast since 2006 (though sadly have never been active that much on the site). Even if I couldn't get a job there, I do want to live in Shanghai. I miss Joyce terribly. I want to live in the same city as her again. To be part of her life more than a few times a year. Gods, I feel so uncertain about how to make these dreams come true.

"Sign" of the Times

This dude simply rocks. Thanks to NPR's Planet Money podcast & blog for posting this. I highly recommend both the blog & the podcast to help understand everything that has been happening with the economic crisis. I would also recommend This American Life's shows #363: Enforcers (Act two mostly), #365: Another Frightening Show about the Economy, and #366: A Better Mousetrap (Act two).

For my fellow sinophiles, the beauty ladies of ChinesePod, Jenny Zhu & Amber Scorah, did one of their Chinese Soundbites podcasts about the economic crisis.

This & the election are my two biggest obsession with the news. Gods I really hope Obama wins because I shudder at the thought of another 4 years of republican economic policy. At least Obama's lead in the polls only seems to increase with all the news about the economy.

[Update: at lease one "sector" of the economy is still strong, prostitution.]

Chinese Soundbites

The Shanghaiist & Chinesepod have teamed up create a weekly podcast called Chinese Soundbites. Hosting this show are two of my favorite ladies of Chinesepod, Jenny Zhu & Amber Scorah. Amber is the host of the Dear Amber, Chinesepod's cultural show where podies ask questions about life in Shanghai or chinese culture in general.

So if you're a fellow sinophile or just moderately interested in China, check it out.

Update: Got an email from Amber thanking me for mentioning this on my blog. Pardon me while I have a geeky blogosphere moment. [does a little happy dance]

Jenny's China: Olympic Edition

Queen of the Podwaves

Jenny Zhu, one of my favorite people from Chinesepod and the blogosphere, was the cover story for the July edition of That’s Shanghai. You can read her interview here.

I highly recommend her blog, its full of cultural insights about China from a 上海 人 Shanghainese perspective. During my recent trip to Shanghai, I was oddly ran into her at a Japanese restaurant. It was one of the more bizarre moments of serendipity in my life. You can read my previous post about it here.

Nationalism Chinese Style

This Chinese guy stuck 2008 pins in his head to celebrate the Olympics. Have to give this guy some degree of respect, but holy fuck can you imagine how long that must have taken?


And then I saw this on the BBC: parents are naming their kids 奥运 Aòyùn, thats chinese for the Olympics. Yesterday on Jenny Zhu's blog (of Chinespod), she posted about how the game officials have released an official Olympic four part cheer for Chinese spectators to use. "This doesn’t mean spectators’ can’t cheer in their own ways, but the authorities hope to rally a uniform, powerful and 文明/wen2 ming2/’civilised’ audience to showcase China’s image to the world."



I find all of this surge of Chinese nationalism in the news fascinating. Perhaps it my own lack of nationalism that makes me find it so perplexing, because I honestly do not understand having such pride in one's country. When I was in Fuzhou they had a mini parade one day for all the international students. They wanted us to walk around this stadium, holding a mini flag of our country. I stole a French flag because I didn't want to hold an American one. I did feel a little silly for this at the time. However, I do not feel proud to be an American at all. I feel pride for Oregon and Portland, but not for this country.

Serendipity

I have many stories to tell about my recent trip to Shanghai, but I'm going to break them up into individual posts. So here is the first of many.

I swear every time I go to China, I have a strange chance encounter. When I was first flying to Fuzhou, while I was waiting for a connecting flight in the Taipei airport, I ran into someone who knew my mother in high school. Then later while living in Fuzhou, when I went to have dinner at a classmate's house with her husband, turns out he used to be my neighbor when I was a kid. I didn't know he was my old neighbor until last summer when he happened to run into my dad and told him about meeting me (he didn't tell me he was my old neighbor because he didn't want to weird me out, all he said was that he was from Beaverton and knew people in Forest Grove).

This last trip only provided yet another chance encounter. I spent the entire week with Joyce and her family, and one night we went to a Japanese restaurant. Since we were a large party, we were seated in a room with another large party. As I walked in I noted that most of the people at this table were foreigners. A thought instantly crossed my mind that it could be the folks from ChinesePod, however I quickly dismissed it. At one point Patrick's father was talking to the other table in Spanish (him & Evelyn bounded over his spanish speaking ability), and someone said something to the extend of "oh you must be using SpanishPod". After having such great success with Chinesepod, they expanded into spanish with SpanishPod. Praxis Language was created as a sort of parent company and I believe there are plans to expand into other languages.

When I heard them say SpanishPod, my heart skipped a beat. I then looked over the crowd again and got that feeling again that it was them. While I still couldn't believe my luck, I knew I had to ask them if they were in fact the folks from ChinesePod. So I stopped by on my way back from the bathroom and after I apologized for interrupting their meal, asked them if they knew of ChinesePod. "We are ChinesePod!" someone exclaimed. I was then introduced to John Pasden, one of the hosts and Jenny Zhu, one of the co-founders (I could be wrong about this, but I know she's been there from the start). I must have blushed like a star-struck school girl and in a way thats exactly how I felt. For over a year I had been listening to this woman's voice on a daily basis. Meeting her was like meeting a celebrity. She was very sweet and even let me take a photo of her.

I told her how I wanted to move to Shanghai and work for ChinesePod. She encouraged me to send an email as they are always looking for people. Part of me still can't believe my luck. Shanghai is a big city and of all the Japanese restaurants, I happened to end up that the same one as them. The rest of that night, I keep repeating the word, "serendipity" in my head. Now my heart is all a flutter with dreams of me living in Shanghai, working for ChinesePod, hanging out with Joyce & Patrick.

Realistically, I know I can't move until sometime in 2009. I need to save more money and I really want to be here for the holidays for when Ry & Alletta return to Portland. Aside from all the other wonderful reasons I'm glad I took this trip, this encounter makes me especially glad. Now that I've met Jenny, I have a more direct connection than just being a subscriber. This dream of mine has taken on a whole new angle, and seems slightly more real. Gods I hope so. I fell in love with Shanghai all over again during this trip and could feel my brain begin to switch into Chinese mode during the 2 days. If I had stayed longer, I'm sure I would have been to improve my Chinese.