A trip to the peaceful ocean

Last weekend was labor day in China (May 1). This meant that we got Friday off to make it a three day weekend. I have a three day weekend every single weekend, but the students don't, so this is a big holiday for them, and almost every single student goes home. As I have previously alluded, life on our campus is just a bit less comfortable than my time at TU, so I completely understand the students going home whenever they can. 星星 (Xingxing), who I have mentioned a lot, invited Dave and me to come visit her home and family. Dave's mom is currently here visiting, so she came, along with two of Xingxing's friends and one friends' boyfriend. The trip got off to a very poor start for me. I was supposed to meet the three of them for a six a.m. bus on Friday morning. Unfortunately, Danthemanstan and I did a fair amount of baijiu drinking after poker night on Thursday, and I slept through both of my alarms and four phone calls. As this post explains, baijiu's power is similar to those of Superman or Wolverine.

I got a later bus ticket, made it to Hai An (海安), Xingxing's hometown, without too much trouble, and also had a good chat with the man next to me. He had actually visited the U.S. for business training and meetings with GE, seeing the Detroit airport and Erie, PA. His group took a three day tourist trip to Los Angeles, which he said he didn't like because it was too hot. I guess not everyone will be impressed with America. Upon buying the bus tickets, I realized that Hai An meant peaceful ocean. Hai An is not on the ocean, but is pretty close. The only reason I bring this up is that both Xingxing and her/my friend Qin Chen, who is from a town near Hai An, have never seen the ocean. This absolutely shocked me when I heard it; but is more understandable after finding out more about China and how travel is very uncommon, and realizing that the ocean near Hai An is pretty polluted and mostly shipping ports.

It was a fun, albeit short trip. I went to the KTV (karaoke bar) with Xingxing, Qin Chen, Jiang Ling, and Yang Bo, which was a pretty fun time. I reluctantly sang 'My Heart Will Go On', which is about as popular as rice in China. Otherwise I used their singing as a way to practice my Chinese characters by reading along on the screen. We had a wonderful dinner at a restaurant with Xingxing's family (mom, dad, cousin, cousin's wife and daughter). There was enough food to fill all of us three times over, which is the Chinese custom. At her house the next day we had a lunch, and by that I mean feast. Her mom really put out the Chinese spread. We had delicious fish, some awesome, awesome shredded pork with peppers and onions, lots of good vegetables, and some mini-lobster/crayfish. Seeing Xingxing's childhood pictures around her house was pretty awesome, there were some outrageously cute ones. The best was one when she was pretty young, essentially had a bowl cut, and was wearing boy's clothes. Rest assured a few jokes were made.

One interesting thing we did was to visit the high school which both Xingxing and Qin Chen attended, as well as the new one under construction. It wasn't a bad campus, in fairly good condition and the new campus was nice and had lots of gardens and trees. It was drizzling when we visited them, so that may have added to my experience. What struck me was how serious and drab the atmosphere at the school was. Classes were in session, and we visited in the post-lunch period. I caused a pretty big stir when walking by the classrooms (picture to the right). Xingxing explained I was probably the first foreign (and non ethnic Chinese) person these students had ever seen. The students weren't in class, but rather were required to be in the classroom. This was successfully enforced by locking the dormitories. I was blown away by the stacks (I mean stacks) of books on each student's desk. I talked at length with some of my friends about their high school life. At poker night we determined that it was pretty similar to prison in the U.S. Danthemanstan made a very convincing argument that he would rather go to prison. A good portion of the students at the school live in the dormitories, although a few live at home. The majority of the kids were asleep on their desks, as they can't go to the dormitory (it's locked, remember), and they use this time to catch up on sleep. The other students were silently and solemnly studying at their desks. I'd be one of the students sleeping for sure.

I can't really say enough about how good of a friend Xingxing has been to me. She essentially is a 24/7 translation and cultural interpretation center. I don't know the number of times I have put her on the phone with a store owner, taxi driver, or someone else, and every time she gets the job done. She is incredibly courteous and helpful, which in my opinion is her greatest downfall, as she seems to spend her life helping me (and other foreigners). The biggest reason that she has been such a good friend is her great sense of humor and sarcasm. I don't think she would be able to deal with me if she took half of what I said seriously, and luckily she doesn't. Having seen every episode of Friends, Sex and the City, One Tree Hill, and Two and a Half Men, she has a good bearing on American humor. So it was great fun to see where she grew up, and meet her parents. Her dad was very quiet and reserved, much like many Chinese men, but her mom was cheery, and as I have mentioned, incredibly gracious. Lastly, I always thought my parents were pretty strict when I was in high school. I won't be complaining so much after seeing Xingxing's house. The only door to her bedroom comes from her parents bedroom, and they share a not so thick wall. There was no sneaking out or staying up late for Xingxing as a child.