Hello and happy Friday! How’s everybody doing today?

Today’s Friday Five interview is with the magnificent bastard known and loved the world over… Aric Queen! Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that Aric is the on-air host of the The Greatest Saturday Show in the World, as well as its producer. He also writes the copy for all the lesson teasers! Bet you didn’t know that, did you?

Aric and I spent a good long time talking during my trip to Shanghai and he nearly had me packing my bags and moving there the next day. There’s a great deal to be said about living a life with no master, but I’ll let Aric say it. Read on…

FRANK: I’ve heard you tell a story about how you were once a dishwasher in Germany. (Was it Germany? Morocco? My memory slips here.) What’s the oddest job you’ve ever held?

ARIC: Ha ha - I’ve got what’s been called “Employment A.D.D.”. Most of the most interesting gigs came whilst bumming around the EU…let’s see; in England it was a sous chef, dishwasher and stable hand, in Prague it was an English teacher, Spain it was a bartender in a Russian mob run Irish pub, Ireland it was a butcher’s assistant. I tried to find work in Morocco, but ended up just buying a camel with a friend and walking around with him for a day before we sold him back….I guess they were all odd in their own way.

FRANK: How did you end up in China?

ARIC: Well, after said jobs (fun, but didn’t make any money), someone told me that I should teach English in China, so I sent my (heavily padded) C.V. to some guy in Beijing who contacted me a few days later saying “I’ve found a school that wants you”. Great, right? Problem was, I didn’t hear back from him, so after 3 months, gave up on it and came to terms with my illustrious K.P. job. One Friday, I came home to a fax from China (in Chinese), so called back the guy who claimed that he emailed me a few months earlier and yes, there’s a ticket and visa at Heathrow airport…IN 8 HOURS! I boarded the plane knowing no Chinese, nor did I know where I was going, where I’d be teaching, what I’d be making, etc - and, oh yeah, this was 2 weeks after S.A.R.S..

FRANK: What is the single most useful Shanghai-ese phrase every visitor should know?

ARIC: Without a doubt, “zai wei” (”see you later’) - using this (as you’ve seen, Frank) always evokes a laugh from locals.

FRANK: You’ve often compared Shanghai to the Wild West. Costs are cheaper there, yes, but is there anything else that makes Shanghai such a great place to be for the globetrotting adventurer?

ARIC: I think it’s the overall communal feel of artisans here - think someone from New York, London, etc in the same field as you will be open to sharing ideas and contact? Absolutely not - but here, it’s such a pioneer-esque feel, people seem to support each other. It’s also the next place to be blue-listed and the world has it’s eye on China. And the beer is ridiculously cheap.

FRANK: Producer. On-Air Talent. Writer. Actor. Dude… what don’t you do? And what’s next?!

ARIC: Ha ha - I think all of those could be classified under “charlatan” - to be honest, my love comes in photography and writing. I just got back yesterday from Jakarta where a friend and I spent Chinese New Year helping out with flood relief. While I was there, I took loads of photo’s and will showcase them in a gallery here, taking all of the proceeds back to the village we were in - if that goes over well, I might spend a few years doing the same for other affected areas - Haiti, Calcutta, Cambodia, Sierra Leone, etc.. All I really hope is that, on my deathbed, I can quote the Lizard King’s “This is the strangest life I have ever known”.

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Aric, thanks so much for taking the time to answer these questions! The next round’s on me, brother. See you soon!