I'M HOME

Back in America... (more details will eventually follow; but not now)

First Group of "Goodbye"s

Well, it has been a good while since my last post and so some of you may have given up checking to see if I have written a new one. But hopefully you will check one more time. So much has happened in so little time.

Two Saturdays ago, about 10 or 15 Chinese students came over for a really fun afternoon of playing games such as a balloon popping game, the egg toss (both of which me and my team won), a mystery food eating game, and another one that I'm having trouble recalling. After the games, we went into our friends apartment to bao jaozi, which means to make these little things with meat and stuff on the inside; not too bad, and really fun to make. One of my new friends taught me how to do it; it really is an artform. It took me forever to finally figure it out, even with her constant instruction, but by the end of the day, I could make one that looked at least presentable (below is a picture of what they look like before they're cooked; not too different looking afterwards though)

Also, I have been impressed on a few occasions by some of these students' knowledge of American slang. The same girl who taught me how to make jaozi had said earlier in the day (after I said that my team was going to win a game and that hers and my other friend's teams would lose) "In your dreams." And my friend Jack (he chose that name because he likes Jack Sparrow from Pirates) said a few days ago, something.....umm, something slang...but I can't remember what it was. Regardless, he said something slangish.

After we finished the jaozi, we got a very intense game of Uno started. Now, for those of you who have played Uno before and think it is a pretty boring game, one of our Chinese friends is the master at Uno and has a few extra rules that make the game a million times more fun, interesting, and competitive. That was so much fun.

Before this fun field day, however, I had to go teach the English class that I've been helping out with; the one for the young Chinese kids. But there was a catch, this week I had to do it alone. The problem with this is that my Chinese is obviously not the best, and it seems like its almost a vital component for a teacher to be able to speak the same language as the students, but all things considered, it went very well. I had a little trouble keeping these young minds focused, especially it being a Saturday morning when (in my opinion) kids should be running around outside. So anyway, that went well and it was even a little sad to have to tell them goodbye for the last time; they're really sweet kids.

As the 2010-2011 school year is on its way, I have been doing a lot of considering, thinking, and planning about my time at Chapel Hill. One thing that I found out was that, regardless of what foreign language I plan on taking in college (which I'm thinking Chinese), I have to take a placement test for the foreign language I took in high school; and that happens to be Spanish. Being so immersed in the Chinese language, my foreign language thinking is far from what I learned in my high school classes. After I found out that I am going to have to take a Spanish placement test, I wanted to see how much I could remember. So, I tried to remember some translations. After trying to figure out for a couple minutes how to say "1-2-3" in Spanish, I finally had to ask Danielle. "Uno-Dos-Tres"... I'm in big trouble!!!!

I saw two Chinese car wrecks a few days ago. No, I didn't see them happen; I just saw the interesting after effects of them. The first one was a car in a ditch with the back end sticking straight up in the air. There were no police cars, no crash victims, and even no onlookers anywhere around. I have no idea how it got there. The second one was when I was riding the bike back home after spending some of the afternoon with my friend Jack (who I mentioned earlier) and his girlfriend and another friend. There was a huge crowd of people in the middle of a really big intersection (and I had heard that when there is a wreck in China, in a matter of moments, a crowd will gather). So I knew that this was an example. I stopped to see what was going on. It didn't look that interesting, so I wasn't too disappointed when a policeman came up to me and said something to the effect of "you can't be here if you are on a bike." So I quickly resumed my journey back home. I just thought it was pretty interesting; I don't know.

My Chinese is starting to pick up enough to have good basic conversations. I was really happy when I had a little conversation with the man who runs the little garage where the bikes and dian dongs are parked. I see him and his wife almost everyday, and up until now, our conversations have consisted with just saying hello, thank you, and goodbye. So you can imagine my excitement when we actually talked for once... that was a good day.

Well, on Friday, I got up at the crack of 7:45, and started getting ready for a trip into the city. I said goodbye to Josh and Danielle, grabbed my backpack and guitar, and headed out the door. After a 5 or 10 minute walk to the bus stop, I was surprised to come upon a crowd of maybe 40 people waiting for transportation into the city. I was like, "oh no, how am I ever going to be able to get on a bus with all these people? they're gonna all be packed." Well, the first bus came by. It was completely packed (seats and standing area) and we sqeezed one or two people on, in a very uncomfortable-looking position. Then the second one came by, just as filled as the first. I started to wonder if there would ever be a bus with enough room for all of us... and then it happened; around the corner, like a valiant steed, came a big, beautiful double-decker bus, with a little bit of room. Everyone swarmed to the edge of the road and it was hilarious to see this group of people shuffle to the side as the bus slowed down, trying to end up in front of the door when it stopped. It was rediculous; so much pushing and shoving and yelling and trying to get in before everybody else... and some of them STILL wouldn't let me through. No I'm just kidding, but it seems that most of the people crowded around me had that exact motive. As we pushed towards the door, I saw the guy in front of me try to pickpocket the guy in front of him. He was trying to get inside of the bag on the guys back. I was like... "hmmm what am I supposed to do now? do I maybe tap the victim on the shoulder? or perhaps should I let the guy in front of me know that I saw what he was doing? or should I just stand here?" I had never seen someone trying to pickpocket anyone before, so I really wasn't sure what I was supposed to do. Fortunately for me (and the guy who's bag was being messed with), the little thief couldn't get anything out. So, we just continued trying to get on the bus; and I watched my own bag even more carefully. We finally got on and for the entire hour into the city, I had to stand, trying to keep watch on my bag and guitar. As you can imagine, it got slightly boring, and so I decided to conduct an experiment about the difference between Americans and Chinese people. Now imagine that you are on a public bus and there is a guy standing behind you. And here in China, there a little handle things that hang down from the bar above. They are not incredibly stable and they swing back and forth. So imagine the guy standing behind you is pulling the handle back and letting it go, causing it to swing into the back of your head. Americans would (most likely) turn around, get mad, and be like "what are you doing?"... But Chinese people (as I discovered) do not even flinch...even after 5 or 6 times. I mean, it was enough to hurt him or anything, but still, an American probably would've gotten annoyed. Needless to say, it was a pretty fun experiment to conduct.

When I finally got into the city, I got off the bus and caught a taxi to my friend Luke's house. On the way there, we passed a playground and there was a man with his shirt off, hanging upside down from the monkey bars, doing some sort of exercise. I would've been surprised, except...it's China. I got to his house and we spent the morning and afternoon just chillin and having a good time. We went to lunch in a little Muslim restaurant near his house, which had really good food. Later that afternoon, we got a taxi to a nearby park. We found a nice spot and sat down with our guitars and began to play and sing. We had so much fun playing for the group of people that quickly gathered around. It was obvious they were just interested in us because we were foreigners singing English songs (and Luke's hair is very blonds, which made us stand out even more). But it was loads of fun. We had planned on being back at his house at 4:00, so that we could get some more stuff done before going to youth group where we were going to help lead the music. However, the first time we even looked at our clock, it was 4:45. We had really let the time get away from us and had stayed an hour longer than we planned, but it was completely worth it. We learned later that the proper term for what we were doing (contrary to what we thought is "jamming") is actually "busking." Whatever it's called, we had a lot of fun doing it.

Oh by the way, I've seen some very interesting automobiles while I've been over here; and to name a few: a crazy-looking 3-wheeled car, a dian dong che (motor bike) with a cover over top (it's hard to explain), and even a 20-wheeled truck (plus 2 spare tires on the back). Those were all from a long time ago, but I just now remembered to blog about them; so there it is.

Anyway, it was really sad going to my last International Youth Group meeting ever!! But I gotta say, it was a really good one to end on. I got to play guitar for the singing while my Australian friend led, Luke played bass, plus we had a drummer and keyboardist. It was a lot of fun (and we never used a capo; just straight up; so that was interesting). Before the singing, we played a really fun game called acid river, in which you have to find creative ways of getting across the acid river without touching it. The catch is that you have one guy on your team who can be in it. To save from going into too much detail, I'll stop there. But anyway, my last time across, I got Luke to kneel down and I was planning on jumping from his back to the other side. Little did I know that he has a slippery back. Consequently, I went flying through the air and pretty much landed on my face. It was a little embarrassing, flailing through the air in front of all the girls, but I'm sure I'll live. Anyway, that was a really fun game. Everybody was really kind to me, telling me that they've enjoyed getting to know me and that they hoped I would have a good trip back to America. I walked to shaokao (where most of the teens go to eat afterwards) with some of my friends. I was only able to stay for about 10 minutes because my ride was leaving at 11:00. Anyway, I didn't want to leave. I've really enjoyed being with all these other teens. It's incredible how nice they all are and how close I've gotten to so many of them over only a short period of time. It was no fun at all having to tell some of them goodbye.

The next day, Saturday, I went with Josh and Danielle and like 20 Chinese people (most of whom I had never met) to have a nice morning/afternoon at a lake a little over a half an hour from the apartment. It was so much fun. We cooked so much food it was unbelievable. Some of it was pretty good and some of it not so much. But I ate squid for the first time and I thought it was not bad at all (in spite of the obvious resemblance to a live squid's tentacles). I had a really fun time getting to know some of the students, throwing frisbee, playing uno, singing Chinese songs and playing some games, and just hanging out. Although it was extremely tiring, it was a great way to spend the day.

Yesterday, Sunday, was my last day of going to the International Fellowship. After the meeting finished, Josh and Danielle went home because Josh wasn't feeling very well; and I stayed in town so that I could hang out with some of my friends. I went with Luke, Rachel, Miriam, Emily, Nathan, and the Thongs (these names probably mean nothing to you; these are some of my friends) and rode the bus to a nearby eating place. We ate at the French Cafe (which was really good; I got a burger), where we enjoyed a couple hours of chatting and enjoying one another's company. After we finished, we all went for a walk through the streets, stopping in some clothing stores that the girls (and Nathan) were interested in, and going into the market to buy some vegetables for Danielle. I was having so much fun talking with them and just hanging out.... But unfortunately, the time came to say goodbye. These were the worst of them yet. These were the closest of all of my youth group friends. After I gave them all hugs and said goodbye, I walked off down the street to meet Amy so we could catch a taxi back to our apartments. After 20 minutes of being lost, going to the wrong place, and continually getting updated directions (from a store phone because my cell phone had run out of minutes), I finally got to our rendezvous spot. On the way there, I saw the place where Josh and Danielle used to live; the place where I had stayed with them on my first visit. But anyway, yeah, I hate saying goodbye.

On a lighter note, today was a blast. I went with Josh and Danielle to the Wild Animal Park. It was unbelievably cool (but I'll save those stories for the next blog...which will include pictures). But after we did that, we were joined by Grace and Amy (our friends) and we all went to dinner in a Samoan restaurant, where, oddly enough, we knew the waiter. When we got home, I left and rode the dian dong to campus (in the dark) to meet one of my Chinese friends. The reason: he wanted to give me a gift. He gave me a big, rolled up piece of paper that had really cool looking, painted Chinese characters on it. I asked him what it said and he told me that it said my name and that he hoped I would have a great time at college. It is really cool looking and I'm planning on hanging it in my dorm at UNC next semester.

Wow, this is a really long post. Props to anyone who made it all the way through. Be looking for the next post about the wild animal park; its gonna be really interesting.

Well, I better go make the most of these last couple of days here in this wonderful country of China. The idea of leaving is extremely bittersweet. America, I'm almost back!!