Look...Up in the sky!...It's a bird! No, it's a plane...

No, It's Super Akiva, Super Haga, and Super Jesse!



We went to visit Haga's friends (Miho, Cuni and their daughters Kazu -6 and Nana - 8) in Shanghai. They live in a gated, segregated (i.e. all foreigners and very few Asians...besides the maids) community in Pudong, near the botanical gardens. As you can see, we dressed as the Super-family. Haga put together the costumes and did a great job. There was a children's costume parade and then trick-or-treating. We were the best looking family. No one really went all out with the costumes or tried to be scary. I told the girls that any house that does not give candy gets eggs thrown at it.

Later we went back to Haga's friends house...really nice place. We had a big dinner and drank wine. I put Akiva to sleep at nine, then fell asleep next to him. Haga stayed up drinking until early morning. What a party girl!

In the morning, I made omelet and spicy potatoes for everyone, while Miho prepared some pancakes. After our hardy breakfast, we did a little shopping and then returned to Suzhou.



Akiva is going to become a musician.

Famous View in Shanghai

The short version; we went to Shanghai for the weekend with Erik, Heidi, and Kirsten. We all went out to alot of places and had a good time. Haga and I took just a few pictures. Here are some of the specifics:

On Friday, we went to the train station. All the trains were sold out, so we went to a guy in a wheel-chair around the corner and bought scalped tickets. We got to Shanghai around 17:00. Checked into a cheap hotel (hotel168 : http://www.motel168.com/ for more detailed review click here) Then we went to "M on the Bund". We met up with Heidi's friend Karen, who organizes big events for companies. The restaurant was too rich for my taste. I also had a bad stomach problem so I just had really expensive clam-sauce spaghetti there. The view, however, was fantastic.
View from the restaurant.

View from restaurant M on Bund in Puxi looking across the river. Akiva really liked the view too.

So that night, we tried to decide what we would do the next day. Erik couldn't make up his mind. Haga says that American's put so much emphasis on being good leaders that we often don't know how to be good followers. Anyway, we decided to meet the next day on the Pudong side of the river at a Starbucks. Erik told us that on the way home, their taxi driver fell asleep at the wheel and they were really freaked out. I take this story with a grain of salt.

Akiva liked this view too.

View from Starbucks in Pudong. I like the commie sail boat. I wish I was on it. On the other hand, there are a lot of barges on this river, and the water is fairly dirty.

On Saturday we went to XiangYang market. Erik went sort of crazy buying cheap stuff. He did OK though with his bargaining. We also took them to eat NorthEast food...and they really liked it. At night took them to XinJiang food. And late at night Jesse took Erik to every bar area in the city. Luckily, no pictures of this are available.

Lion Forest Garden

Erik, Heidi and Kirsten arrived in China from Japan and came to Suzhou. We went to a Lion Forest Garden and walked along canal in Ping Jiang Road and then stop by at tea house.
Lion Forest Garden is like a maze. To get to the main garden and pond, we need to go through caves and stairs formed by "grotesque stones" These stones are made from Taihu Lake , which is a white stone naturally created by waves of Taihu Lake over several thousand years. It was a trend to have the stone in garden around 11th century. Because Taihu Lake is here in Suzhou, grotesque stones are in every garden.First time I saw the stone at Yiheyuan Garden in Beijing in 1989. Since then I haven’t understood beauty of the stone. Anyway, if you have only one day in Suzhou, I would recommend to go to Lion Forest Garden and/or Master of the Nets Garden (a smaller garden located near ShiQuan road about 4 kilometers south of Lion Forest Garden) [Jesse says also see HuQiu Tiger Mountain]We took a nice canal path called Ping Jiang Road and got to a new tea house I have heard about on the net. It used to be owned by the richest family in Suzhou. Now it is a tea house in day time and bar at night. It is nice atmosphere but kind of pricy. When we were there two big groups of old Chinese people came in. It might be a trendy spot among rich old Chinese.

Vacation in Japan

We are back from vacation in Japan. It was a Chinese National Foundation Day. We had an extended five days weekend.

Akiva and I left Shanghai a week before the holiday to spend extra time with my Japanese family. Akiva was inspired by his cousins (2 & 5 years old girls). He sumo-wrestled with them. He went to see their sports festival and played in a sandbox his first time at their day care. Akiva also went to a spa “King’s Bath” four times with grand ma and great grand ma. He loved the temperature warm jacuzzi.

I was very worried about going out in Japan, because all I know was the Japanese corporate salary man culture and life - cold and tough. However in daytime and weekend, there is a lot of warmth and friendliness. Many strangers gave up their seats for us in the train. We had very kind supports at restaurant and other public areas.

Jesse and his best friend Erik from collage and his wife Heidi and baby Kirsten (2 years old) joined us at my parent’s house in Yokohama. We all went to Jesse's favourite a hand-made soba noodle restaurant “Nakamura-an” in Kamakura.We took a bullet train to Kyoto. We stayed a guest house per person JPY2,000 in Kyoto. It is impossibly cheap. My father predicted we would get only two tatami mats room. We actually had three tatamis. It was a very shabby chic place with too many mosquitoes. I constantly burned mosquito repellent and made everything including myself smelled like the repellent. We went to Ryoanji, Zen temple which is famous for its rock garden.We went to Kinkakuji (Golden Pavilion) and Ginkakuji (Silver Pavilion).
We took a Philosopher's path and went to Honenin which is Jesse and my favourite shrine.
Akiva did a great job. He is still small and can fit into our Baby Björn. However when I am with him outside, I am not fully myself. More than half of my attention and energy goes on him. I become sensitive about Akiva. On the other hand I become insensitive to other things. It was only yesterday I was in Kyoto, but I feel like the trip happened only in my dream. I am so happy to get back home and truly relaxed. I think going to a neighbourhood park is the best vacation for me and Akiva.

A fan letter

Just got back from vacation in Japan. More on that later. I'm checking my email and we just received a fan mail.

Sent: 2005年10月4日 13:52
To: jesse_covner@yahoo.com

Subject: Chinese: in need of hope

Hi Jesse,

My name is Jason and I was fortunate enough to stumble upon your blog about your adventure in China. Coincidentally, we're both Jewish, from San Diego, dated Japanese women, and enamored with China.

My reason for writing is to help me better understand my Mandarin potential. I am currently taking my first semester of Chinese at college, and although I enjoy the challenge and love the culture, it is slowly becoming an exercise in futility. Character/writing acquisition proves difficult, leaving little time for oral comprehension. Being that you, too, learned Chinese from scratch, is there hope for me? My fear is after studying Chinese and laboring for years, I will have only improved moderately. How long did it take you to learn Mandarin? Will this initial difficulty diminish? Ultimately, how much time (daily, yearly, etc) and to what extent of effort should I expect in order to gain considerable fluency (let's say, minor business proficiency)?

Thank you in advance for your time and help. Your advice is much appreciated.

Best,

Jason

HI Jason,

Not sure why you are enamored with China. China is not that great of a place coming from San Diego. San Diego is like heaven...beach...sun...parks... I like it here in China and I doen't at the same time. You like Chinese culture? Sometimes I do. And then there are always Chinese people bragging about their god damn 5000 years of history. To which I always say...yeah…5000 years. Great...…so what has that taught you about the situation and problems of today?

I just got back from a vacation in Japan. Love it there. Except everything is too expensive. Food gets boring. People are too polite so I can't yell at them (or hard bargain). Things are a little too clean. Can't cross the street against a red light. Etc. And companies require you to subsume your individuality to a greater degree than American companies. Which is really bad.


To Answer your questions:
I started studying in college for 2 years and didn't really learn anything much. Couldn't speak at all. My character writing was OK. Then I went to BeiDa for a year. At that time (1991), it was still too soon after 6/4. So it was an intense atmosphere. No Chinese students talked to me. And I was introverted / mal-adjusted anyway. So I drank and partied with Russians and Japanese students...that is the short story about how I met my wife Haga who was also studying there. I talked Chinese with the Russians and Japanese...but no Chinese people could understand us. I didn't study much. I'm not astudierudyier.

After graduation, I forgot how to write Chinese and I can now barely read. I find that for me to improve now, I need to re-learn those skills. I am learning to read by reading bad men's famagazineszinese (the equivalent of Details, or FHM)
At various times I dated Chinese girls and didn't get along with them. So we aa lotd alot...in Chinese. I worked for two Taiwcompaniespanese and didn't like my bosses...so we aa lotd alot...in Chinese. But I did not formally study Chinese at all after graduation from college (in 1992)

If you can and want to learn Chinese the same way I learned, my advice is thus: Pay attention to pronunciationiation. Learn to say things the right way first. Understand the tone pronunciationiation in your first semester...you don't have to master it but you do have to get the concept down cold. DO NOT focus on reading and writing, BUT do understand the concept of Chinese characters. Spend 1.5 hours a day your first two years. Then... listen to how Chinese people speak and repeat what they say. Not off a tape...but real conversations. Focus on expressing yourself and your sense of humor. Fantasize about talking to a pretty girl in Chinese and what would you say to her to impress her.

Then...
Go to China or Taiwan > find good friends / girlfriends > have a good time > always try to express yourself in Chinese > never give up.

One more thing...it never gets easier. Even when you get better at it, you think you are no good. There will always be a time when you feel that you suck because you could have expressed something better.

Good luck.