Title: A new level of bizarre


Today capped off a wonderful week of teaching. We have a b. study everyday at lunch and this Sunday is one of our teammates 40th anniversary. We surprised him with two cakes. One "chocolate" and the other some kind of fruity sponge cake. In general, my experience has been that the Chinese have wonderful foods, but that we have very different ideas about what constitutes dessert. The cakes however, were a nice delight. They were tasty and light, covered with fruit and tomatoes. I guess a tomato is a fruit, but I don't really put it in the same category as cantaloupe and pineapple. But never the less, they find their way atop many Chinese cakes.

We all found a western restaurant for dinner and we ordered pizza. I figured 3 times a charm. It was alright, the best we've had here, but no Zio's! (Brian-that is our first stop on the way home from the airport!) The funny thing was that this place did a pretty decent job of having a bistro atmosphere. They had painted brick walls, a bookshelf crammed with English titles, American/European pictures, and the added charm of being able to sign your name on the ceiling. We were still the only westerners in the place but there was proof all over the ceiling that others had been there before. In fact, I looked up and saw "Bruce from Omaha, NE was here" CRAZY!! I know there wasn't a "Bruce" with the Omaha team that was here last week, so yet another Omahaan had made the track to Jiangmen. We had to put our name right next to his.

So where did we go from there? Let's just say we traveled deep into the pop culture of China. Mom and I accepted an invitation from my new friend, Suzy, to go sing Karaoke. I knew it was a popular past time and I had visions of what we know of as Karaoke with maybe a big bar type establishment and a lot of people watching or singing along. That would have been bad enough, but "When in Rome" right? Well, this was so beyond what I had in my head. Whoever is hosting the night, reserves a private room. You have a couple couches and a coffee table and a big screen TV on the wall with a little computer in the corner. There are two microphones and the whole night is centered on showcasing whoever wants (or is forced) to sing the next song. Suzy had invited a few of her friends and they brought a friend from Austria. I began to surmise that we might be on Chinese Candid Camera and this was "Bring a foreign friend night". So there was a total of 8 of us and before I could even get my bearings and acclimate to my surreal environment, I was handed a microphone and told to sing. My new friend kind of pushed me out of my seat to a standing position and told me to read off the TV screen. It was one of the few English songs they had in their repertoire. They were astonished that I had never heard this song. I can't even tell you what it was or who the artist was. I'm guessing it might have come from Britain in the 80's. It is apparently one of their favorites. I hated to disappoint them so I followed the lyrics and did my best to stay on key. It was a pathetic showing. So I had to redeem myself. Just my luck! They also had "My heart will go on and on" by Celine Dion and "Hit me Baby" by Britney Spears. Those were the songs they selected for me. At least I knew them.

Mom had the privilege of belting out "House of the Rising Sun", and "Sweet Home Alabama" and "Are you Sleeping, Brother John?" (seriously-that was in the line-up!) . We were then educated by a government journalist friend of someone that came that "These songs are very famous in America". Hmm, really. I didn't know that. Smile. Nod. Play along.

Then it was time for lights out and strobe lights on. Two songs of dancing (yes-still in our little room), then it was time to go.

Really, I'm confident that there was a hidden camera in that room somewhere and that someone is getting a good laugh today.

Saturday is full with the Twins in the morning and Rolly, Judy, and Fly in the afternoon.

Pictures for today: Paper doll-family cut outs, Mom on the scooter with Susan, Lee's Cakes,our restaurant graffiti, and of course Karaoke night. I put a little clip of the two Suzy's singing Celine.