Saturday, February 03, 2007

To all my kareoke "fans", "The Lion sleeps tonight" was not available.....






Greetings from the land where the pig reigns supreme,

Wow, is there a lot of show and tell to deliver on this post! I had a "team building" exercise with the engineering group at work beginning Friday afternoon and ending Saturday evening.

We caravan'd to a famous city 2 hours away from Shanghai that is renowned for their crab dinners. It also is home to a conference center that corporations send people to have a good time. It was outstanding for multiple reasons...

1. Some great comraderie grew out of the time. I now know some of my colleagues that I don't get to work with everyday and deepened relationships with those that I already have come to know.
2. I successfully defended the honor of Bowman ping pong in this land where expert ping pong players come right out of the womb. My expedition was scarred, though, by a young man that had one of the wickedest serves I've seen since my Papa Bowman. He beat me both times in 2 close matches that went to "deuce" 5 times in the first one. Needless to say, the "ping pong-ese" were impressed by the lanky one.
3. We did some awesome go-kart racing. It was super fun and a riot mainly because these were high-performance go carts and most of these folks have never driven cars before. A true recipe for hilarious fun. The driving felt a little like my old Honda Civic again.

Check out my first heat video footage here: http://www.videoegg.com/video/chpErM

4. If you were reading the blog in it's earliest days, you will remember the emphasis the Chinese put on eating "fresh" seafood, as in, if it was not still moving/breathing 8 minutes ago, it's too stale to eat. On Saturday, we went on an excursion to a large lake known for it's crabs. We completed the journey by boat, parking in front a small housebout that looked a little like "Bubba Gump's shrimp". We saw the live crabs pulled straight from the water, bound up, and served with all sorts of other seafood. Most of the food was great, some not so great, but all was part of the experience. Charlie, the tech manager at work, explained that he wanted me to see a part of rural China that most expats never get to see. He delivered!

5. Finally, I got the chance that we've all been waiting for. Karoeke! And, for all my "fans" out there in blogspace, I didn't stop at 1 song. I sang 3. My song choices were influenced by those I sang with. I did lead vocals with a backup singer in each. The first song was something by the Backstreet Boys. Later, it was "The Sound of Silence" by Simon & Garfunkle. Finally, it was "Let it Be" by the Beatles. And fortunately for you, I have the last song on video just for your viewing "pleasure". Train wrecks command your attention in the same sort of way.
Here's the link:

http://www.videoegg.com/video/chpWWV
Hey, and to all my fans out there, I did this for you. Just look for the spot where I point at you, personally......because I'm all about the fans.

In the spirt of our poll, I honestly did look for songs voted upon but I came up empty on each. They had 6 or so pages of songs to choose from but Vanilla Ice was no where to be found.

Remember, you must laugh with me and not at me!

I've also included some pictures of the weekend.
1. Some friends of mine.
2. The view from my hotel room.
3. The whole crew from the trip.
4. The whole crew from the trip after I told them they had to "pose" for the next pic.
5. The crab shack.
Until next time,

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Ryan,

Who knew?! When you get home you must arrange an audition for the worship team! Or is your singing limited only to other continents?

Love to Aimee and kids too!

:o) Gina

Phil and Beth said...

By clicking on the third picture down, it's obvious that this picture was taken after your performance on Chinese Idol. I can hear a resounding "Yessss!" being shouted.

I'm curious, what does "Don't quit your day job" sound like in Chinese?

pab

Anonymous said...

Bow,

One word came to mind as I listened to your "singing"... EARPLUGS!!!!

What a sport, you crazy American!

Allen

Anonymous said...

Ryan -

This totally made my Monday. You are beyond means a good sport, as I don't know if I could have done the same, let alone video tape it.

Glad to see you are embracing the culture. :). Take care!

Stacey

Anonymous said...

Hi Int'l Bowmans. Hope all is well! I found a couple of activities your family may be interested in.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tpCrusP6As
I'm sure they have lessons in this similar to how the US have Ballroom dancing lessons. A few weeks should bring you up to speed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bI-_-l9b6Zc
Definitely get Elijah enrolled immediately. By the time you return he'll be able to womp on his Uncle Phil.

I thought these might help fill up your time, so Ryan doesn't need to "entertain" Shangai with is vocal abilities. Yes Ryan, you and Nicholas are two of a kind.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klLcui60qho