(Alaina)
Wow, I can’t believe it’s April! I feel like just yesterday I was marveling over it being March.
Today started slowly before rapidly picking up the pace. Yimei had classes in the morning, so I slept until 9:30 (I can’t sleep any later! I bet my parents can’t believe it) and lounged around being lazy for a couple hours (that they can probably believe). Yimei came home with a friend named Lucy, and the three of us were dropped off along the Beijing- Hangzhou canal. We met up with three more friends, and after a bit of searching and miscommunication, finally found Alex, David, and several more of their posse. I wasn’t expecting a large group activity, so it was a nice surprise. Though I hadn’t met any of the other kids, they were all outgoing and very friendly so I enjoyed talking to them. The plan was to take the “river bus” down the canal, but first we had to kill an hour or so before the boat came. We did so by buying kites and flying them while everyone got acquainted. Thanks to the wind, there were another dozen kite-flyers in the same plaza. I don’t think you’d ever see teenagers and adults flying kites in the middle of the city at home. I love that whenever I look up, the sky is dotted with swatches of darting color.
Most of us got on the canal boat while a few had to take taxis because there wasn’t enough room. It looked just like a train inside, with a narrow isle and seats on either side. The ride wasn’t particularly noteworthy. When we got off there was some confusion and lag time before we decided to head for KTV. (It seems that plans are never well organized. I often feel that communication skills are lacking.) It took us a 30 minute bus ride to get to the KTV building, where we got a private room that was similar to the one we had earlier in the trip. Students are always surprised that this form of KTV is not popular in America; I’m not sure if it exists at all. Alex and I sang a song together and somehow managed to escape solo embarrassment. The most interesting singer of this round was Jungle, who I suspect Alex has mentioned in previous blogs. He’s extremely outgoing and apparently a class clown, as evident in the jumping included in his songs. Once again, I was amazed by how great most of the voices were. How do they all sing so well??
After KTV Alex and David left the group to meet up with Derek while the rest of us went to Pizza Hut for dinner. Okay, I realize that every time I write the blog I’ve just eaten Western food, but I swear it’s not actually a usual occurrence!! This is the first cheese fix since my last Shanghai blog. Admittedly, I did thoroughly enjoy and appreciate the stuffed crust pizza and potato mushroom cheese gratin. It was interesting to see how surprised and slightly taken-aback everyone was to hear that the fries, pizza, and chicken wings we ordered would all be eaten by hand in America. This is particularly interesting because in most ways I think Chinese eating customs are far less polite and orderly than those in America. Everyone slurps drinks, reaches across the table, eats straight from the serving dish, holds bowls right up to the face, eats noodles by the dangling mouthful, and spits things back out. Personally, I’m perfectly happy to accept a downgrade in manner regulation, as it makes eating much easier. Conversely, the Chinese students were clearly not comfortable eating food with their hands. I did convince a few brave souls that finger food is meant for the fingers, but most continued to attack the pizza and fries with fork and knife.
At this point most of the group dispersed while Yimei and two boys named Bear and Island continued to search for entertainment. (I’m starting to like their use of real words as names. It's fun!) We walked to a movie theater, but there were no English movies playing anytime soon. Luckily, there was an ice cream shop to make our walk worthwhile. I’ve found that it’s (shockingly!) common for kids here to not like desserts. Island didn’t get ice cream because it’s “too sweet.” Blasphemy!!!!
We continued to wander the streets for a while and when we couldn’t find anything of interest we walked to Bear’s home. I wish I had met him earlier because he was great to spend time with. Boys have been especially shy around me, and though Bear is soft-spoken, he is also confident. He introduced us to his mother and ushered us to the sofa where Mr. Bean was promptly selected as the evening’s entertainment. It was perfect because there isn’t much speaking, and we could all chuckle at his expressions. Before we left, Bear’s mother presented me with a gift of two blue china tea cups that were probably pulled right out of the cupboard. I get too many gifts!!! All I did was walk into her house and watch movies with her son for an hour, why do I (and none of the other guests) deserve a gift?! Anyway, from there Yimei and I got picked up and here I am now, ready to go to sleep!
Ah, but the topic of gifts reminded me of someone I should introduce you to. About two weeks ago I helped with the student radio show that Sandy described earlier. The girl asking questions asked about movies, so I told her Tim Burton was my favorite director. We could barely finish the interview because she also loves Tim Burton / Johnny Depp movies, and is just as well versed in them as I am. I think we were both so excited to share such a specific interest given the huge difference between our lives. Rinka (her English name) and I began talking about movies and plots, from Edward Scissor Hands to Sweeny Todd, which broke that initial ice and let us find even more in common. Since then she has come to every English Corner. We get along perfectly. Gifts reminded me of her because on Thursday she gave me a gift that is definitely the best I have received so far. It’s a Chinese children’s book called “when we are together” and Rinka put a post-it on each page translating the words. In a long and incredibly sweet note, she said that she loves it though the story is simple. To give you a taste, here are a few pages: “a little girl, a crocodile, a gray bear, a giraffe, a piglet, and a lion are all friends. They paint together. They have fun on the moon together. When the feel tired and have a rest, they still stay together. Even in their dreams, they are still best friends.” Awww!! There are a few kids I’ll really miss. Actually to be honest, since we haven’t known each other long it’s not exactly that I’ll miss my new friends. It’s really that I’m sad we won’t be able to develop the great relationships that we would given more time. I’ve met some people who I know I could become very close to, and though I’ll always remember and absolutely try to keep in touch, we can’t continue to build our friendship in the same way. This is the bittersweet element to making friends abroad.
This time next week we’ll be on a plane!!!! WOW. I’ll save those thoughts for my last blog.
Mkay thanks for reading!
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