Known as Patu, Pantu, Patrick, Pat or Patula, this German student of many names has a lot of interesting stories to tell. After being a freelance Unix system administrator and programmer for websites in Germany, as well as practicing wushu, yoga and parkour, Patu has decided to come to Shanghai to experience the life and culture here. Anna caught up with him for a bit of insight into the life of Patu.
Anna: What are you studying here in Shanghai?
Patu: I’m studying Computer Science and Chinese at Jiaotong University. I started to study computer science back in Germany.
Did you have a lot of countries to choose from, or just China?
Yes, almost every country in the world was available, but for me it was always either Shanghai or Tokyo. Tokyo was unfortunately not available and would have been too expensive, so I came to Shanghai. I always wanted to go to China. Before I came to Shanghai, I thought that Shanghai was like Tokyo, where everyone is crazy and so on.
Why have you always been interested in China?
Back in Germany I started to practice wushu and I loved it. I love all the Jackie Chan and Jet Li movies. I even tried to teach myself Chinese back in Germany, but that didnt work out very well. China has always been like a mystery to me.
So how’s your Chinese now?
It’s getting better. Now I can communicate most things I want to say. As I live here in the outback, nobody speaks English. So I am quite confident at the restaurant, but the hairdresser is always a surprise, as I don’t know the terms. Yoga terms are also a myth to me, but at least the teachers have very relaxing voices. I also write characters for one to two hours almost every day. My teacher once gave me a Chinese short story, and it took me a couple of hours to read the first page, so I have a long way to go!
Outback? Where are you living?
I live in Minhang, 24 minutes south of Xinzhuang station. I arranged the apartment from Germany, and I didn’t have a clue how big Shanghai was.
Do you have many Chinese friends here?
Hmm, I don’t know if I can consider them as friends, but I often hang out in a Chinese restaurant and a Chinese photo studio, and I also talk to my yoga teachers. Also at another restaurant, there was this really cool laoban. We always called him “Japanese guy” because he behaved like one of those Japanese anime characters. He was always really happy to see us and it was so much fun. But unfortunately, he closed his restaurant and sold it. So it was pretty sad there the first time without him, and now there is a different owner. Not as good, but okay. We call him the French. » continue
How long have you been doing yoga?
I did two semesters of power yoga in Germany and when I came here I couldn’t find a nearby wushu school, so I went to a yoga school next to my home. I do hot yoga, which is not about the hot girls, but rather that the room is 40 degrees.
What is the purpose of hot yoga?
Hmm, I dont remember. I once looked it up on the internet, but now I don’t really know. But I think if the body is totally hot, then the danger of accidents while stretching is much less, and I never got aching muscles.
Parkour was like complementary training to wushu training. I did it in order to improve the height of wushu jumps.
So you can’t practice wushu here?
I found one school, but it had only two lessons per week, and it was too far away and very expensive!
What do you do besides yoga and wushu?
I also used to practice parkour. I did wushu for four to five years and parkour sometimes during the summers in Germany. Parkour was like complementary training to wushu training. I did it in order to improve the height of wushu jumps, because when you jump down from something it is the best training for the leg muscles. They have to work so hard in order to land, so you cannot achieve this only by jumping up. I don’t know about the laws in China in regards to parkour, or whether you are allowed to run around jumping and climbing.
You could do it in the middle of the night—no one will notice!
Yeah but it’s too dark and not fun alone. Actually, I have just got in touch with a guy who is practicing parkour in Shanghai. I will meet him soon to train together, so I’m really looking forward to that.
Well good luck with your studies and jumping around Shanghai. I’m sure we’ll see you again soon!
Thank you! ✖
(Interviewed by Anna Watson. Photography by Oscar Malpica. Photo illustration by Daniel Kwan.)
I used to live in the “outback” as well. It’s a totally different city there.
“Parkour was like complementary training to wushu training. I did it in order to improve the height of wushu jumps.” – that explains the crazy height of his jumps…you think he can dunk?hehe
Awesome photos and cool outfit. I love that tie.
um.. i want to jump too
He reminds me the “YAMASAKI ” movie lolzz