When we got back from the Great Wall last week, we still had a few more days off for the National Holiday. It worked out nicely since we were able to be extras in a movie. My friend Ethan from NY lives here in Beijing and his girlfriend is directing a short movie about music. She needed some extras for the day on Wednesday. They had rented out an entire bar and had lights and expensive looking cameras all set up. It was definitely the real deal! It was fun to hang out on the set and meet some new people. We met a colleague of Ethan's girlfriend, who invited us to a an event next week hosted by the German Chamber of Commerce that we are excited to check out. It made Chris think about his friends back in LA who are working on a big movie right now with some legit Hollywood stars.
Wednesday night Chris also had his third television appearance on CCTV, this time discussing what is going on in Syria. Here is a link to the show:
http://english.cntv.cn/program/dialogue/20111006/105792.shtml
He found out this time that they ARE going to be paying him. Score! He also got another side job editing a foreign affairs journal that was translated from Chinese to English. He is staying very busy, to say the least.
This past weekend we had class, which was very strange. Classes from Thursday and Friday were moved to Saturday and Sunday. But I didn't know that when I was setting up my syllabus so I didn't have a topic planned for my economics classes. Instead of planning a topic, I just spent the time chatting informally with them and tried to find out a bit more about their lives here. They all love hearing about America so I explained to them some of the major differences I have already found in college life between there and here. The first thing I mentioned was sports teams and the whole concept of mascots. For me, this is a huge difference since where I went for undergrad was such a big sports school. Maybe other American students wouldn't point out the sports aspect as a major difference. I think about NYU... Does NYU even have a mascot? I could not tell you. Probably not. I tried to explain to the students how the whole idea of mascots has become such a business in itself -- anyone who has been to a school store at Miami or FSU or UF can back me up on that one. They have Sebastian the Ibis on EVERYTHING you could possibly imagine. I also tried to explain the excitement of College Gameday Saturdays. I explained tailgating but I don't think drinking around parked cars really expresses the idea -- you just have to experience it firsthand, I think, haha.
The other thing I tried to explain to them was the concept of fraternities and sororities. They followed the concept up until I mentioned you have to pay to be a member. Then they got confused. Rightly so, I think. I also failed to mention until the end of the explanation the philanthropic component, which goes to show you how relevant that aspect is compared with the drinking and partying aspect. I suggested they watch Animal House to really put it in perspective.
This week in my economics classes we are talking about the financial crisis of 2008 and what the potential causes were. I take every opportunity to share my own experience of being laid off at the beginning of the crisis since I think it really illustrates how many people were impacted by it if they can hear me talk about it firsthand. The newspapers here have been covering the recent Wall Street protests and they all want to know what I think about them. It's hard to get them talking or to have them give their opinions. I ask so many open ended questions to the group but normally I just hear crickets chirping. Then, someone will raise their hand and I will get excited and call on them to share their opinion. Instead of sharing their opinion, they will say, "What is your comment on that?" Or, "Can you explain a mortgage backed security?" They are always ready to ask questions of me, but they are less willing to share their own ideas. Chris calls on the students more without hesitation by just looking at the class roster of names and I think I am going to employ that method a bit more. I find when I do call on them, they will share their thoughts. They just don't want to volunteer. Which I understand.
They told me they all had to watch "The Inside Job" in one of their other classes, which was the Oscar-winning documentary about the banking crisis in the US. Chris and I had watched it in the theater in NYC earlier this year. I think it was very surprising they had watched a film like this since many documentaries here are banned. But after further thought, the film can be seen as somewhat anti-capitalism and anti-American so I guess it makes sense. The same can be said for the coverage the Wall Street protests are getting here.
A couple of pictures to leave you with:
This is a fish tank at a restaurant we went to with jellyfish and cool colorful lights
This one is for Aubry... See, they even love Justin Bieber here in China, too!
Laura, look! Charlie Brown Cafe!
Here were those pictures I promised when I went to Walmart. This is not Walmart but instead it's Carrefour, the French store. It was very similar to the Walmart here, especially the meat section =)
That is all to report for now. I will make another update soon!
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