I’ve been meaning to do it for a while, but somehow circumstances just didn’t permit until last night.
Linda is one of maybe 10 Chinese teachers here at the school who teaches English. She is a pretty girl and the fact that she selectively makes eye contact, on purpose or otherwise, intrigues me like a good mystery. We’ve had some superficial conversations before, but we usually meet when she supervises one of my classes.
Like I said before, the Chinese English teachers here are friendly, but very shy to initiate any kind of conversation, and for the rest mostly avoid eye contact for exactly that reason. Having spent 3 years at college studying teaching and English, many are shy of the fact that they cannot speak flawless English.
I’m a (near) native English speaker and my English is not flawless (as the many mistakes in my Blog might testify).
So last night, as I hung over the railing of the balcony, not looking forward to another boring Friday night probably alone or trawling the streets with King, Linda walked past below, looked up and as she saw me asked what I was doing. After stating the obvious I asked her if she’s not going home, as it was already past the time her bus usually picks her up.
I had gone downstairs for a face-to-face and she confirmed that she was on her way, but her bus was late. After the briefest of pauses she asked if I wanted to join her, quickly adding… ‘and King’, so as not to come across as trying to ‘take me home’. I said I’m keen, but I needed to ask King his opinion (then already knowing he might say no, as he’s not the spur-of-the-moment type of guy), so I ran back upstairs and poured my enthusiasm over him in a manner he was unable to refuse. At first, he agreed.
We went through the motions to prepare, ie. go to the ATM to draw an extra 100 Yuan for in case we needed to make a hasty escape (or stay in a hotel). By the time we got back to the school, the bus had arrived and was in fact waiting for us. At the sight of the bus, a rusty, old Jalopy (if you can call a bus that), King got nervous and decided that this outing wasn’t for him after all.
Dragging my feet I went to tell Linda we’re both bailing out, but as she approached me (and there’s something about the way she approach me) I decided I might just go alone. I asked her if it was alright if just I came, as King chickened out (chickin-a-la-king). She hesitated for a clock-cycle of the bus’s old diesel engine, then said it would be fine.
With glee I quickly ran upstairs, grabbed my video camera (I was going as a tourist, after all), contact lens paraphernalia, tooth paste and I swear I grabbed my toothbrush too. Throwing everything in my way-too-big-for-only-an-overnight-trip bag, I bounced downstairs and into the diesel-fume-coughing coach and off we went. By now it was dark and the ride was hair-raising. The bright lights of the oncoming traffic blinded me as I sat halfway back in the bus, and I feared for (had a fear of) the driver.
There were some kids on the bus with us, and as it was an open day here at school, there were one or two parents too. Holding on for dear life as the driver dodged the one on-coming truck after the other on the road dotted with people clad in dark clothing, I thought that if I as a parent knew this is how the bus rocketed through traffic with my children sitting unrestrained on it, I would never let my kids near the bus (or the school) ever again.
Eventually, after seeing plenty of lights and several parts of my life flash before my eyes, we reached our stop. As the bus blasted off under the cover of darkness and a thick plume of diesel fumes, silence fell so hard it startled me. We were in Linda’s neighbourhood.
Walking away from the road, we walked through a new housing-slash-shop development with ample light and a few restaurants still open. The customary 3 to 4 people per outlet (at this time of night, usually all staff) were present as required. As we approached a bridge spanning a river, Linda ran ahead to meet her sister-in-law who came to meet us (her) halfway. As she ran she said ‘oh, I didn’t tell my family you were coming, because I didn’t want them to make too much fuss’.
As we walked across the bridge and along a path which was mostly devoid of light, I inquired as to how big her family is. She said it’s her, her sister-in-law, mom and dad and grandma and brother. Her brother was out stationed in Shiyan, working as a trainee doctor at a hospital, and grandma actually lived next door to them.
Plodding onto a smaller, unsealed road which was even darker than the previous one, the faint light of the dim stars were all we had to guide us (well, me, they knew what they were doing). We approached an old shop lot where a light was shining through a half-open door. Linda announced that this was a clinic and her dad was the resident doctor. We entered and I was introduced, shaking Linda’s dad’s hand with my own half-frozen one.
The clinic was basic. My attention, involuntary of course (not like I was searching for it), was immediately attracted by strings of condoms in glittering packaging, hanging behind the counter and stirred in the breeze so as to refract the dim light in all directions. Let it be known that this visit has no sexual intentions. This morning in the light I noticed the familiar red ribbons on a poster otherwise dotted with Chinese writing, which explained the prominent display of these taboo objects in an otherwise conservative society.
Her sister-in-law prepared to lock-up the clinic while her dad pushed a motorbike inside the shop. I assumed this was the ambulance. We then continued down the path, which branched off onto a yet smaller path which sloped up a hill. I followed their voices concentrating on my footing, as I felt the road becoming ever more uneven. Eventually we reached the top of the hill and thankfully, their home.
Disappointingly, their house was very familiar. Nothing strange on the floor, no funny way of sitting, in fact, nothing unfamiliar except the language. I was disappointed in the sense that I had nothing unusual to report. Their house is big. On the ground floor they have a living room, a dining room and what I assume are 3 bedrooms (the doors were closed). The furniture were all wood and slightly dated. The rooms were dimly lit by the few light-bulbs that were either not blown or had been replaced when it did.
After her dad offered me some rather delicious, heated, home-made rice wine (which I graciously excepted and almost gulped down more for the heat than the taste), we had dinner, to which mom and sis-and-law had added some food as I was the unexpected guest.
Dumplings, meat and veggies of the standard variety. Oh, and chicken’s feet, or “chicken’s hands” as they are called locally, which I’ve never had before. But with my two recent explorations into the world of duck’s feet, I thought, they’re only a quack apart, so why not. It was rather delicious, the feet and the rest of dinner.
After dinner we went upstairs. On the second level, which is a carbon copy of the first, it was as if we’ve climbed the stairs and with it 20 years into the future. On the 2nd floor the furniture is of the soft, modern, padded variety, the floor is laminated wood as apposed to tiles, and it looked significantly newer than downstairs. It was also not as cold as downstairs.
We watched some Chinese soap operas for a while and chatted in between. I saw some of a much younger Linda’s pictures from when she was in college. Her and her family asked me many questions over the course of the night, all of which I was happy to answer, except maybe, the one about my salary. Later on she and her sister-in-law disappeared into one of the bedrooms, and through the door I saw them prepare a bed.
She came back to the living room and said that its her room, but tonight I can sleep there, she will bunk with the sis-in-law. I went to the bathroom at which point discovered the absence of my toothbrush, and opted for smearing some toothpaste on my teeth. It never fooled my mother either. I washed my face in ice cold water, and my feet in warm water which was at the ready in a thermo-flask.
As we said good night, I took with me an old English story book Linda had produced and read several pages of it before I finally felt sleepy enough to attempt sleeping in the cold. Her blankets were nice and heavy, which made them a lot warmer than my light-weight duvet. Her pillow was quite hard, but not as hard as her mattress. I quite liked it though, and apart flipping myself once or twice during the night, I had quite a comfortable rest.
She woke me up early this morning, and I found it easier to get out of bed there than from my own bed. We visited Wu Dang town, close to the gate of Wu Dang Mountain.
The town is not very big and there is nothing really interesting to report, except a very old palace of which I can’t remember the name. It has been severely neglected though, but there was a mystery about the location. A vast expanse, now mostly filled with weeds and burnt-out ruins, once the proud palace (and the term is used very loosely) of a desolate Emperor who had it built in order to spend the rest of life in isolation.
The bus ride back this afternoon was a lot calmer and more comfortable than going there last night. Oh, we paid a brief visit to one of Linda’s friends, a hairdresser, who shaved my head as a favour to her.