Shacking with the fellas

A few weekends ago (I know, I am a little behind on posting) I spent the night in the main boys dormitory with some of my students. During one of my classes, when I had the students suggest article subjects for class, one student-English name Terry-suggested the EPL. Luckily, my wee bit of soccer knowledge allowed me to know that he meant the English Premier League. I later found out he picked his name after John Terry, the English defender for Chelsea FC. Oddly enough, when I talked to him during the break, he informed me that Real Madrid was his favorite team. So I was ecstatic to find out that he watches almost all their games (even though they're on in the middle of the night). Well, he misses the mid week games due to the fact that the electricity is cut off after 23:00 during the week.

So, I arranged to watch a game with him and his roommates one weekend. In their room of eight beds, there are seven guys living there, as one moved out previously. Many students go home every weekend, so there was room for me to sleep in Terry's bed, and he in another. The extra bed is littered with old class materials and extra bedding. I have already visited the boys dorms and discussed it a little in this post. I had actually already been to this building and floor, as some of the students I taught last year live last year live there. The floor has four rooms, three of which have senior English students and one with sophomore English students. The game wasn't on until two in the morning, so I had plenty of time to hang out with them before it started. I came over at 22:30 (before the 23:00 curfew) with some fried dumplings and a six pack of Snow Beer. Most of them were pretty excited to have me spend the night, and honestly, I was excited to do so.

Immediately upon entrance in all four of the dorm rooms on this floor it is apparent what the main weekend activity of Chinese male college students is: computer games. They are wildly popular here. Wildly might be an understatement. At least two, if not three or four computers are set up on the one main table in the rooms otherwise cramped with beds, books, and bags. From the minute I showed up until a little after 02:00, there were never less than two guys playing in each room. If I had money to invest, I would be pouring it into companies developing games for the Chinese market. I have been told the girls also are glued to their computers, either watching movies, tv shows, or playing simpler flash games. They seem to really enjoy it, and have some beer or pop to drink while they play, as well as munch on sunflower seeds, spicy tofu strips, or spicy fried chicken. As I was when I first visited the dorms here, I was impressed by how well the guys got along and joked with each other. Their decorations were pretty sparse, the main one being an "inspirational" poster with a picture of all eight roommates that the school required them to make. Some of the guys had used a Sharpie to add some real inspiration to the poster. A few guys were reading on their cell phones (very popular here) or watching movies on their laptops, but playing or watching computer games was by far the most popular thing. Terry and I stayed up to watch the game, which Real Madrid won, so it was worth the late night.

In contrast to a Saturday night during my time at the University of Tulsa, these guys' night was pretty mild. The 23:00 curfew and lack of co-ed dorms really limit the type of parties that have suffused American campuses. Furthermore, the dorms are packed tightly enough to effectively prevent any sort of gathering even among the guys or girls. The fact that many students spend Friday and Saturday nights in the library studying or "relaxing" and reading magazines displays a studiousness that inhibits any keggers from gaining much ground. My (invalidated) opinion is that they choose to do more individual activities on the weekend nights because they already spend so much time with their roommates and classmates during the week. It's fundamentally difficult to be alone in a place as populated as this part of China, and even the senior students still have pretty regimented lives during the week-most of it with their classmates (who are also their roommates). I never saw my senior year roommates in an academic setting, as they had different majors in different colleges; so hanging with them and other friends on the weekend meant seeing someone different. Not so for the students at my university. It was a great experience to spend the night with them, and even furthered my respect for the resiliency that so many Chinese people in all walks of life exhibit to make their place in a very competitive and unforgiving economy/environment.