Jes Winter

So here I am living 2 almost 3 weeks into the Chinese lifestyle. The past week or so has been a time of observation for me. Elijah and I have had a bit more time apart to do our own things. It's harder to observe my surroundings when he is around because I drift into lala land so easily with him. no complaints. 

First things first, I have to swallow my pride and tell you how I came to this valuable time to write this new blog entry. It is currently 8:12pm Wednesday night. I taught my 4:00 class and then went to the market. When I got home I tried to unlock the front door. And to my not so pleasant surprise... The door wouldn't unlock. Sooo, here I am waiting in the dark of my cold apartment complex with the lights flickering on and off above me. Vission the begining of a scary movie! I have a bag of groceries so I've been munching and now writing. I hope Elijah gets here soon. Lets just say God has taught me patients. It's quite pleasant to be powerless and understand patients. You HAVE to learn patients in this culture. Things never work according to plan and the plans always seem to change. The only problem is, I really have to pee. Not sure where the lesson in that is hidden. :) 

One thing I have observed is the amount of men walking around with their sons.  It's very surprising. All times of the day I see dads walking with their sons. Usually the age of the son is around 5-10 years old. If I can, I try to listen into their conversations. Children speak such clear mandarin! When I'm in inspector gadget mode and try to translate what they are saying. The one thing I can make out very clear is their love for one another. They share so much laughter back and forth. I have also seen a few times the two of them playing a tag game where the dad will hit the son and hide behind a tree. I have seen it more than once. It is interesting to me how common it is for a father to be "hangin out" with his son in the middle of the day. It's beautiful to me. I'm not sure if it's cultural or not, but it sure is a quality of life that I pray my children and Elijah will have. Observing all of this sure makes me think of my dad. Even though I grew up in a divorced family and of course went though ups and downs like all families do, I have so much love and respect for my dad. So much of the free spirt within me is from my dad. Thanks dad!

I have so much to write about. I suppose that means I should be blogging more frequently. I don't want to give it to you all at once because then things get missed. I will have to write again soon in the next couple of days. P.S it's 8:34 and Im still locked out. I may just pee my pants. 

I never thought I would be one of those people. Sheets for curtains, empty bush light beer cans, half eaten 2 week old pizza falling out of its soggy Dominos box and of course so many dirty stacks of bundled up clothes that you almost wonder if that's a person lying there or just 2 sweaters, a pair of jeans, and ash stained swiss cheese looking socks in a ball. Well, I assure you my apartment doesn't look like that, but I do have the sheets for curtains. Ahhh, so tacky. Why do I have such a "ick" feeling about that? It's always been a pet peeve of mine. Going against that clear loud voice screaming "No, No, NO sheets in the window!" I disobey and cave into my desire for a dark bedroom instead. 

Elijah and I went to the 5 story market looking for curtains and fell short of luck. The only thing we could find were sheets. We looked everywhere! So we settled on this neat looking blue and yellow blanket that I folded up and hung in the window. I may be exaggerating a bit on the tackiness. It doesn't look that bad, but then again, denial can come in handy sometimes;)
Life has settled into its crazy place. I have always been a person of routine. Don't get me wrong, I am an adventurous soul, but I like to have balance of routine as well. I like having a morning regimen, a pretty steady work schedule and a nightly regimen. It's almost as if I use my routines to plan for my adventures. Either way, I have always lived like that. Now, facing a direction I have never faced before and living a lifestyle I have never lived has gotten me on a high I can't begin to articulate. 

I wake up when my mind and eyes are ready which is usually about 7am. I eat, get ready and somewhere in between then Mr. Wang will call me and tell me when I work. " uh, hello, Jes? Can you come here at 10am? You have student, girl. She is very smart 6 year old. Ok Jes? Ok, see you then, have good morning. See you soon. Ok? Bye bye Jes." Only if I'm lucky, am I able able to fit in a whole "Yes, ok Mr. Wang, I'll see you then". Usually I just get in a "yes". Mr. Wang is one of those people that every time you go to talk you end up talking at the same time as them because there is never a "silent" moment. Anyway, after the phone chat I continue on with my morning. Ring ring!! "Hello?" its Mr Wang again. "uh, hello, Jes? Hi Jes, no more class at 10am, she cancelled. You have new student now at 10:30am. Uh, also Jes, you have another student at 1pm to 2pm and 3 students at 5pm to 6pm. Is that okay Jes? Also, you and Whaley (Elijah, they call him Whaley) come over for supper tonight? Ok Jes, see you soon, bye bye!"  

This is a daily routine. If it even deserves the description "routine". I get a schedule of 2 to 3 classes a day and by the end of the day 1/2 have canceled and more classes added. In other words my life is all but organized with a comfortable routine. I love it!!!! It has forced me to live in the "now" and I love the "now". Elijah and I do what we want when we want it and still manage to be more productive then if we were to have a strategic plan. I believe this is the way life is to be lived. I still manage to fit in my nightly routine which I won't budge. Other than that, I eat when I'm hungry, read when I have down time, cook when Elijah is busy doing his stuff, play guitar when I'm bored, work when Mr. Wang calls and drink lots of tea. I have grown to love Mr. Wangs phone calls. It's like having a secretary personally tell you what your doing for only a few hours a day and getting paid $20 an hour cash. He is such a sweet man too. 

Cooking has actually taken over and has become a big part of my "entertainment". I am having a blast learning how to cook Asian food. I actually only eat mostly veggies, fruit, nuts and grains anyway so I haven't had to change much of my cooking. I don't mean to sound cocky, but I have come into my own style of cooking and dang, it is good! Elijah is my validation. I always know when I cook something good because he says, "oh man Jes, tilts his head back just a tad, closes his eyes ever so slowly and chews with a nice deep steady hum." By the end of the meal he will say, "Man, you deserve a massage!" and he gives me one! Now, you see my motivation to cook amazing food:) It is pure satisfaction to please Elijah AND get a back rub!!!

Next week, I plan to go to one of the venues about 20 min away from my apt and book some shows. It's called the Ant's. It's a really neat place. Most of the bars, coffee shops and nice restaurants are on the second floor of buildings so it's such a fun entrance. Oh how I love that mysterious walk up the stairs and the anticipation towards the first glimpse to where I am actually going.
I'm looking forward to playing shows. I have been so stimulated that I haven't had much time to play. I'm starting to get the itch! 

China here I come!!!

As you know, the love of my life has been living in China the past 5 months. Outside of that being a huge inspiration for my music writing, it has also opened up doors for my music career. With in seconds of arriving in China, Elijah met Mr. Wang, a retired director of a University in China. Since then he has developed a great friendship with him and his family. Mr. Wang currently is the director of an English teaching program. He hooks up Chinese natives with English speakers to learn Western cultures, and language. Mr. Wang also has many contacts in the music world out in China. He heard my CD "Bloom" and loved it. Right away he asked if I would perform at a string of Universities.He would set up the shows and also put together a backup band for me.We are currently in the process of putting those shows together. All more to back up the saying that "music" is the international language! In order to fully absorb this experinace, I decided to just pack-it-up and go. Its the best of both worlds. I get to live coser to Elijah (2hrs away), perform my music, and also teach English to children. I am open ears to any creative ways to teach English. If you have any ideas please feel free to email me at jeswintermusic@gmail.com. Please stay posted to my blog and send me a comment on any questions etc. Looking forward to the adventure. Departure date is January 17th :)