The same week that I came back, my friend Vicki invited me to a BBoy competition. I started to going to competitions with her back during my freshman summer or perhaps it was the senior summer of high school? It definitely felt cool to be going to competitions even if I did not dance or know what was going on. Just being at a competition made me feel like I was part of something that few people knew about and even fewer attended.
Fast forward, a couple of years and I have been bugging Vicki to take me to another competition because I have not been to one since my freshman year. Sadly, even though I had been hearing so much about Vicki's competition successes, I was not going to be able to see it because she was not competing this tournament. Nonetheless it was good to break out of the usual and go see a bunch of talented bboys and girls.
This is mostly a picture post:
Vicki's friend Ian who was really good. Baffling that he did not make it past the first elimination round.
My friend Vicki who did not compete but still entered the cyphers, which are informal exhibition performances where anyone can go into the circle do a few moves, jump back out and someone else takes their place.
There is a huge attitude and taunting culture to bboying. Sometimes tensions will run high and fights will break out but most of the time it is just playful teasing.
Part of the taunting is trying to get as close to the opponent as possible without touching them. However, as you can see that does not always work out.
Just a cool picture
These two teams were in my opinion the most impressive in the competition. Vicki tells me that the guy on the floor competes internationally.
I left Shanghai on a Wednesday morning and arrived on Wednesday morning, the benefit of traveling through time zones. It is quite odd that nothing has changed in San Jose after a year and there is some comfort in that. However, people seem to be moving on, as there are few friends left at home with the majority of them either interning or attending summer school.
Home
Some things of note after being back for two days:
My sister has really grown up, make up, short skirt and foul language to go with it. I flinch every time she curses because that is just not how I remember her. She swears as much as me, though far less creatively. Now it takes her an hour to get ready to leave the house because she has to put on her make-up, I do not remember that when I left. San Jose may not have changed much but she definitely did. Also, in the span of less than six months she has significantly scratched my car twice. I hope she outgrows this terrible driving stage soon.
My car...
...and the nice scratch my sister made
Driving is easy, I cannot believe I was ever worried about forgetting how to drive. After a few minutes of driving, I was back to expertly cutting people off like I did back in LA. I even drove my sister all the way to the SF airport, a one hour drive! Even my sense of direction has come back and I am remembering where everything is. It feels great to be behind the wheel again, crazy to think that just two days ago I was riding the metro everywhere.
Open roads and...
...white picket fences as American as it gets
What I wanted most was not to stay in Shanghai, it was time to go, but rather to take all my friends from Shanghai to the US with me. It definitely feels good to be back in the US, I missed the blue skies, sunshine and crystal clear air. Just wish I had all my friends to enjoy it with.
People talk to me and I understand them completely! That is quite the feeling, also strangers talk to me without hesitation, some even joke. It is a completely different feeling from Shanghai where I could go about sleep walking through my day and not talk to anybody even when they talked to me. I would just feel rude if I did that hear.
Adjusting back to English is actually tripping me up. When you have spent a year saying everyday phrases like “Sorry” and “Thank You” in Chinese, it is hard to get out of the habit. While deplaning in SFO I ran into an old lady, probably as a result of routinely pushing my through Shanghai, and I immediately thought to apologize by saying “bu hao yi si.” I stopped myself from saying it after remembering that I was no longer in China, but by the time I remembered to say sorry, the moment had passed.
I have a lot of cool stuff in my room which I totally forgot about. Boxing gloves, Knives and Bullets
