Update Xtravaganza

You all know how much it pleases me to hear American music abroad, especially really bad/strange American music. Well, I had barely heard any Western music at all since arriving in China last week (actually, I don't think I had heard any) until last night at this Western-style pizza buffet. I had been craving some American food (so had my stomach; I made it through my first week just fine, though my stomach is another story), and while the food at this place isn't particularly good, the fabulous selection of American music supplementing the meal more than made up for it. The biggest surprise of the night was definitely "Jingle Bells", and hearing Seal, Bryan Adams (yes!), Backstreet Boys, and Madonna just warmed the cockles of my heart right up.

You may also know that I love funny English names, and I had been pretty disappointed with my classes thus far, as no one had chosen the name "chair" or anything of the like. Luckily, things have improved substantially, though I remain the slightest bit disappointed. Here are some of my current favorites: Pest, Nana, Habey (the student thought the spelling of "Happy" was too dull, though she wanted to keep the pronunciation; thus, "Habey"), Raydy (the student likes Tracy McGrady of the Houston Rockets, so he decided to take the last four letters, "Rady", add an extra "y", and voila, "Raydy"), Wisa, Imy, Fenny, Pallas, Apple (inspired by Gwyneth Paltrow perhaps?!?), Windows (inspired by the operating system?), Nike, Peach, Eleven (memories of Seinfeld's "Seven" episode come to mind), Honey, Sunshine, and Sissi.

Pictures coming soon!