If I had to sum up the second half of this Hangzhou experience, it would only consist of two words: KTV (karaoke) and tennis. KTV has become the go-to group event, while tennis has become the go-to family event. In the past week alone, we braved the KTV rooms twice and each time I discovered something new. Slowly and slowly, Jim (Andrew’s first host sibling) has gained notoriety for his femaleness. There are some duets where he can single-handedly tackle both the male and female roles, and often times singing the female lines better.
Another hidden gem at karaoke is Kay (Emily’s second host sibling), who at times absolutely stuns me with her ability to sing with such a mature voice. Sometimes, it’s hard to tell whether the real song is playing or she is singing because she has that seasoned voice that radiates the entire room. Lastly, during our final KTV trip to celebrate our time here together, another friendly face, Swan (who came to DS last year), made an appearance. Even though she only stayed for half the time, (she had to leave early for the college entrance exam the next morning), what she lost in time she made up for in quality. Let’s just say she had the best voice hands down in the whole room. Her voice was emanated the room with a Peking opera-esque feel, simply amazing. She even tried some American songs like “You Belong With Me” by Taylor Swift, and made it sound just as good as her native Chinese songs. It shocks me how good the Chinese are at singing, but I read somewhere that the Chinese is more tonal than English, which apparently makes singing notes more fluent and eloquent. Maybe I should try out for a spot on the American Idol judging panel, or maybe I should just stick to KTV for now.
Another activity that has become mainstream in my life is tennis. My host father is an avid tennis player and takes Harry (my host brother) to tennis about twice a week. When Andrew heard about this, he was extremely excited to play tennis so the four of us went to the courts weekly. At first, it was difficult for me to hold the racquet and return balls properly, but with the help of Andrew and some of Harry’s tennis coaches, I gradually learned the ropes. We would play on half-court for a while and then just try to volley for as long as possible. Sometimes when we were taking a break, there were absolute bosses playing in the courts next to us. One of the veterans there, who was in his fifties, used to be on the Junior Olympics team and played on the national level. After observing Andrew’s tennis prowess, he challenged Andrew to a friendly rally session. Some of the shots this guy was hitting were ridiculous. With each stroke he made his racket released an enormous amount of spin and power. The pop from each shot resounded throughout the tennis courts. Having warmed up with the first singles player from the day before, Andrew was able to keep up with most of his shots, which was very impressive. However, we were sharing the courts with a bunch of people that day, so Andrew and the Junior Olympics tennis player had to stop this spectacle after only thirty minutes. We also played doubles matches, Andrew and I vs. Harry and his dad. To call it competitive was a stretch, because it was really a bunch of amateurs rallying back and forth, but it was nonetheless a fun workout.
In other events, our time in Hangzhou is officially over and I am writing this blog on the train. The last three days have really been memorable, because our host families and English-speaking friends have really treated us to the best of Hangzhou. Friday was our last day together with all of the host siblings in one place, and we had a blast at the karaoke bar. Saturday, our English-speaking friends, Youyou, Emily, Daniel, Fang, and Justin took us on a nice stroll along the famed Hefeng Street where we bought some cool gifts and toured the Chinese medicine museum. After which, they treated us to lunch and dinner at two of Hangzhou’s finest institutions, Green Tea Restaurant and Grandma’s Café respectively. It was a pleasure spending our last full day in Hangzhou with our good friends seeing some cool parts of the city. And then today, I spent the majority of the day hanging out with the family, and saying our formal goodbyes. To try make this as uncliche as possible, I had a swell time. I can’t believe it, but as I speak, we are actually leaving Hangzhou, our home for the past four weeks. Yet the ironic thing is, we still haven’t tried Beggar’s chicken, the one and only food that Mrs. Viz made a shoutout to. It’s all good though, because our next stop/final destination: Beijing.
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