"Enjoy your English. Enjoy your Day" is the signoff that sadly replaced "You stay classy, Jinan!"

I was asked back to the TV station to do another show today, which I figure was for one of two reasons. Either they liked me or they liked what they had to pay me. Nothin.
Either way I have fun doing it, so I went back for more. Today Bonnie and I taught a local Jinan man how to give directions to a lost and confused foreigner. “Turn right at the second intersection.”, “The No. 1 Bus will take you to the city center.”

The whole process is very casual. From what I have learned so far about conducting business in China, you don’t get much information up front. And in my experience, what information you are given doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. This is a pretty good setup for someone who is comfortable making their own rules, but for those who don’t work well without specific directions, it can be a real headache. I’ve become pretty comfortable with this and enjoyed the chance to interpret each job on my own. And heck, if it’s not what they had in mind, someone will let me know. Or not. Whatever.

This afternoon I applied a heavy coat of makeup, and rode my bike forty-five minutes across town to the TV station. By the time I arrived, my made up face was buried under a thick layer of dust, exhaust, and assorted particulate matter.

After freshening up, I edited the “script” to make it sound native. Next, we moved lights and extension cords downstairs to a little auditorium. A few minutes later, the cameras were rolling. Bonnie, the Chinese host, says to me, “just teach us this” and points to the page of sentences I’d edited. No problem. Except maybe just one small one today; it felt and sounded as though a helicopter was landing on the roof. Right when we were in the groove, right when we were “enjoying our English and enjoying our day”, we had to stop all of the above and wait for the building to finish vibrating.
Despite that obnoxious interruption, we managed to shoot seven short episodes in two and half hours. I was feeling pretty pleased with my smooth performance up until the last task. The cameraman asked Bonnie and I to look at each other and nod for several moments so they could edit that into the show if necessary. I was useless…completely incapable of looking and nodding without laughing at the awkwardness of it all.
It took me right back to seventh grade Spanish oral presentations when I could barely speak through my fits of nervous laughter.

By 4:30, I was pedaling home and gathering another layer of pollution.



This is the crew. From left to right: local Jinan man, director, cameraman, station owner, Bonnie, Betsy.