2005-05-17 - 8:42 p.m.

I have absolutely nothing exciting to report. No one has spit on me lately and we haven’t gone anywhere fun. My TV show aired last week, which was exciting I suppose. The translator called to tell me it would be on, and then told me the wrong channel to watch. We missed my fabulous tap dance. We found the right channeld eventually and saw the rest though. I was so embarrassed that I hid behind Mike on the couch, as if the 40 million Chinese people who watch the show could actually see me in real life and point and laugh at me. They made me look like I was a little bit goofy. All I ever said was “NO PROBLEM!” with a really big grin on my face. The thing they didn’t show were the directors coaching me through this- they told me what to say (no problem) and kept making me say it over and over again and kept making me smile bigger and bigger. It started out as a tiny little “no problem” without any emotion really, and progressed up to a loud, obnoxious, very contrived “NO PROBLEM!” accompanied by a toothy, downright scary grin. Think Cheshire cat. So, after all the editing, those are really the only words you hear come out of my mouth. Nice. At least they edited the Chinese dance scene very well, and I looked talented! I will now move to Beijing and join the Opera…obviously I am kidding. Oh, and I hooked the show up with another dancer from my studio, and she did a Chinese circus challenge. Guess what she won? A honkin’ cell phone! (the phone doesn’t actually honk; it’s just a word Mike’s co-worker Joe uses that I think is funny. Slang lesson- “That was a honkin’ long movie!” Do you get it? I’d never heard that word used in that way before, and I fell over laughing when I heard it) I got a cooler on wheels with crumbs in it-she gets a phone. I asked them if I was actually a bad contestant, and they said, no, it’s just the sponsor they had for that week. LIES. I want a phone.
I am very happy these days. I can see the light at the end of the dark, dark tunnel that has been my hectic days in Shanghai. Don’t get me wrong, I like tunnels, but sheesh, I haven’t had time to breath since I moved here! June 14th, I leave for Europe to see Mike rock out all over the place and after that I am headed to the States. I am going to Chicago to a really cool tap teacher training program for a week, and then I am headed to Arkansas to visit my family. I can’t wait. I realize that this has got to be the most un-interesting journal entry I have ever added. It could have been worse. I’ve seen some on-line journals/blogs that are mind-numbing. “Today I ate some fruit. It was good. I almost choked, but I pulled through.” Or they get really deep and personal…. . “…life without love is like a creek without water. My life is an endless, waterless creek…” (not my life, the imaginary profound on-line diary writer’s life…I’ve got so much love it’s bubblin over! And that love/creek analogy is a literal translation from an Arabic song. I worked at a deli in Berkeley once, and the owner always listened to this song in Arabic and sang it really loud. I loved the song, and asked him what it meant. I thought the translation was funny-in a good way- and I laughed, and he got mad. Then on my next evaluation, he told me I made bad coffee. ) I apologize for the rambling- this entry officially falls into the “mind-numbingly boring” category. Hopefully this week Mike and I will get into some crazy shenanigans and have our trusty camera with us to capture the moment. Until then, I will be rowing my “boat” down my overflowing creek of love… ha. Xoxo, Julie

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