Better City, Better Life….blah blah blah blah

What do about a million touch screens, movies, short films, miles of text and long lines translate into? Well, showing the world how we can make a “Better city, Better life” of course! And I've got to admit, the pavilions I have been to have done incredible jobs of illustrating just this. Germany’s pavilion especially was impressive, with its models of whole communities that exist on solely solar power and their overwhelming urban garden culture. Germany had all the bells and whistles, the expensive technology, the radiant swinging tech ball of our future, a huge staff, snazzy uniforms. Everywhere I looked I was hit with a wave of information about how just on top of it Germany really is when it comes to all the latest power and world saving technology, they are the greenest of the green, truly reaching for that “Better city, Better Life.”
But yesterday I decided to go over and see my Namibian friends at their pavilion. Honestly, it’s not even really a pavilion; it’s just a booth in one big building called the African-Joint Pavilion. Through various random chance meetings on the bus and at the Expo, our friendship started and was helped along by their last Friday invitation to a cookout (with free organic Namibian steak!). They are some of the sweetest, most hospitable people I have ever met in my life. At their pavilion, my friend and I were led on a detailed tour by our Namibian friend about the different ethnicities and lifestyles that make up Namibia. I had done a bit of research before I came, and couldn’t help feel a little (ok, a lot) guilty to see that the country that had given me so much free steak and wine a couple nights before, was one of the poorest country’s in the world, with a 15% aids rate and approximately half of the population living underneath the international poverty line of $1.25 a day. Yet, this only made it…about 100 times more inspiring when Solly showed me their “Better City, Better life” efforts. Solly carefully explained to me that in Namibia they have many deserts and very little rainfall, and so sometimes trees are very hard to come by. So, to counter this, Namibians have started building houses literally out of sand: they make a wooden frame and fill it in with sand bags, then cover that with concrete, which gives the house great ventilation and insulation, and cuts down on timber use.
But what does this all mean? It means for the first time in their lives, people that have never had a home before… have a home. Wow. That was amazing to me. Just hearing Solly explaining in that soft, lilting voice that they all seem to have, “See? We have so much sand, we decided we had to find a way to use it, and so we created this kind of project. We haven’t been doing it for long, a few months, but it has been going so well, what do you thi…..?” Really, Germany’s pavilion is impressive, ok, Germany, you win. You’re the best at what you do, but the most inspiring? The one that left me with this warm feeling of, well yes, I think I might believe in this “better city, better life” junk after all. Sorry, that by far, goes to Namibia. Namibia, I love you.

Better City, Better Life….

Hillary Clinton

So, I finally got to do what I boasted about for months, meet Hillary Clinton. Of course, the word “meeting” needs to be used liberally in this case, since I “met” her right alongside 75 other student ambassadors who had been painstakingly organized into the perfect photo op ever, and then expressly forbade to not “ever move your feet!” So I really just sort of peered at her over a friends shoulder. Though she very kindly gave us all the opportunity to say our names and where we were from, which added a bit to the whole idea of actually “meeting” her (since I did at least give her my name). All in all, it was a pretty neat moment, worth all the standing and waiting and being told to mind our manners, and don’t talk unless spoken to, and hearing seven different directions from seven different bosses. What is it about America that everyone seems to be in charge? Anyways, I would just like to say right now, for the record, that Hillary Clinton looks damn good for her age. I don’t know what she’s taking, what she’s doing, but wow, impressive.
Time for nap, write me guys and tell me how you’re all doing! I would love to skype my homies sometime, so let’s do it! Love you all.

Brasil!

Woke up this morning early to go on a “official visit” with our Commissioner General Jose Villareal to the Brasil Pavilion. So much fun. A wonderful woman named…Vivian( I think?) led us on a tour around the whole pavilion and then afterwards took us to the VIP lounge. They gave us delicious Brazilian food and dessert and real Brazilian coffee, and now I officially am going to Brazil, because from what I got from the pavilion it’s all bright colors, and dancing, and soccer, and delicious food there, sooo count me in! The Brazil Pavilion director and Protocol director were such friendly, hospitable people. It was so great to see how excited they were about teaching us about their culture and seeing our reaction to the food, and they gave us presents! A green and yellow soccer jersey and black notebooks with a Brasil label. A very nice morning…and now time for my afternoon nap. Peace.

America's Best Dance Crew

Hey, how do you keep over a thousand people waiting outside in the hot sun from killing each other (or possibly trying to pick up a stanchion and swing it at another person who cut in line, in the process knocking numerous people in the head and stepping on one older woman’s foot….of course a totally made up story here…..), anyways, it’s easy. Start a United States Dance Crew! Buy a pair of speakers from Wal-Mart, make a playlist full of classics like Thriller, Baby by Justin Bieber, Soldier Boy, and Single Ladies, put together carefully constructed choreographed dances full of booty poppin’, twist, turn, shake it girrrrl fun, and BAM! You’ve got a thousand very happy Chinese people smiling and taking your picture, and for a few short minutes…..
You feel like a total rock star.
So yep, this is the latest USAP innovations, we might hit the big screen, we’ve been taking some calls, talking to managers, I quit my day job. Nah, but it certainly has been shaking up the queue line, man, my absolute favorite is when we get the kids in the crowd involved. Today there was the absolute quintessential adorable little Chinese girl, probably about 2, who could dance like I’ve never seen, and I haven’t even gotten to how well she could sing the ABC’s. What talent. We all joined around her in the middle and (ironically) danced to Baby: “Like baby, baby, baby, ooooh, thought you’d always be mine” This may have been one of my best moments yet at the Pavilion, the whole crowd clapping in unison, and this little radiant Chinese girl waving her tiny fists, with us in a circle around her singing and clapping and dancing, I wanted to take her and show her and the crowd to all our critics and say: “ See, see how we’re making them smile? The U.S pavilion really isn’t so bad after all, don’t you think?”
Anyways, I wish I could stay and write more, but my roommate Becca and I are working night and day on some new routines ( currently “Single Ladies”), and we have some major choreographing to do. Sooooo, Peace!

A Chinese newspaper tells my story

So, I just looked at a couple of Chinese newspapers, the China Daily and the Shanghai Daily. First of all, I was in the paper,(exciting!) secondly there was a main feature about the club Obama's opening night ( which I attended) and then a feature of several Expo Pavilions (all of which I'd been to). Lord, I felt like that paper had been written for me. I've been to latest hoppin club, work at the hottest spot in all of Shanghai ( not to mention the second most popular pavilion besides China, we're everywhere in the media, am I boasting too much now?), and live in my super fabulous apartment,...oh yeah, and me and the president are on a first name basis...ok, too far. Still, I'm not sure if I could possibly live life to the fullest an ounce more in Shanghai, I'm pretty much rocking it out.
Where am I going with this again except to sound like an ostentatious American...oh yeah. The fact is, I can't think of any place I'd rather be right now besides the mountains of South East America at LEAF, or with my family at our little farm cooking out on the back porch, and DON'T even get me started on how I would kill for a day at the lake. Yes, Shanghai is a fancy place, and it does feel very glamorous to be gracing the pages of top newspapers, and meeting important people, and sitting at my balcony looking at a city night lit up with a million colored lights...but that’s the thing about China, it's all about the flash; lots of variety, 15 different colored lights on one bridge, ktv, Obama clubs, girls with pink tights and yellow sneakers and purple hair, and yet, all of these things dissapear...in a flash. So much change, new rules every day, a club shuts down another opens, a new store popping up on every corner, construction everywhere. It's overwhelming. They can laugh at me as much as they want, but I do miss my simple farm. Because sometimes a day in the mountains is better than any Lady Gaga blaring, model littered, champagne sugar daddy drinking play boys Obama club. But, aside from that, here are a few pictures to show you my life here in Shanghai these last couple weeks.

SA in the News

Check it out!
http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTcwMjU0MDgw.html
and one more:
http://www.fotoglif.com/f/acz6mbc1t0i8

Now off to work!