My grad school program has about 40 students split between Shanghai and Hangzhou, a small city of three million people that you probably never heard of. Two of my friends in Hangzhou were having a birthday celebration this weekend and I wanted to go visit.
It's not that I never say no to a party, after almost burning down the apartment/DYING in a fire last weekend, partying has lost some of its appeal. However, I will not say no to a birthday celebration. I love birthdays and I feel responsible for making sure their special day is special.
No long distance or 120RMB train ticket was going to keep me away but one thing might have, homework. Since I teach all week long I tend to put homework off until the weekend. Meaning I spent my Friday night attempting to write the financial part of a plan to export distilled dry grain solubles (DDGS) to China. With some creative accounting put into my pro forma income statement, it is actually a very profitable business. I also had to write summarizes of two chapters of my business class reading. Our actually homework involved reading from four books and we had to post summaries for two of them. What about the other two you ask? Well, I've never seen those books. I don't own them and don't plan to read them. Supposedly they would help me write my business plan but you know what else would? A DEGREE IN FINANCE. Check.
Most of my other homework this week consisted on commenting on everyone else's homework. Last week I had to write a research report on visiting a facort and this week I had to comment on two other student's reports, using APA citations of a scholarly article. Throughout the semester the assignments alternate, one week we write a report modeled after a chapter in Ikles' book The Return of the God of Wealth about like in Guanzhou, China, and the next week we comment on two other student's work.
I also take a teaching class (WHYYYYYYYY) which doesn't have too much homework mostly because I TEACH 40 HOURS A WEEK. This week I had to read 3 chapters and write about three points that stood out to me (teachers should smile, teachers should call students by their names, teachers should have mutual respect..... who would have thought?!) and the comment on two student's responces.
It might not sound like too much homework (or too mind stimulating) but combined with 40 HOURS OF TEACHING it takes a day out of my week... and that day is usually Saturday.
Regardless, I was determined to go to Hangzhou... on the 5 o'clock train... unil I got a message from Jenny and Ellyse who were going on the 4 o'clock train. So, I decided to turn in my homework as it was (oops) and try to make it to the train station. Well, I missed the train. However there were four more trains leaving that hour and I just bought a ticket on the next available train. Turns out Jenny and Ellyse missed the train too and had to buy new tickets but we were on different trains. After wandering outside the station and being harassed for being a white girl all by herself, I found out that Jenny and Ellyse were at Hangzhou station and I was at Hangzhou Nan (south). I gave the cab driver my friends addressed and prayed he would take me there. I HATE taking cabs alone, especially at night. Thanks to Beijing standard time (one time zone for all of china) and winter approaching, it gets dark at 6.
I put my stuff down, but on a dress and we took a cab to dinner. The restaurant my friend chose was called Angelo's and it said on the sign New York Italian. That's right, this Italian girl from New York come to China, by train to Hangzhou then takes a cab, and another cab to a New York Italian restaurant. I barely eat in Italian restaurants in American and now I had to bare the Chinese verison. Well to my surpise it wasn't that bad! I got to enjoy good food and the company of 15 or so friends and other guests. My friend Kate brought her 25 year old chinese friend who had never eaten western food in her life, SHE HAD NEVER USED A FORK BEFORE. She ate torelleni which she refered to as western dumplings (the chinese make terrific dumplings "jiaozi").
 |
| Squeezed inm between two birthday kids- eyes closed |
After that we went dancing at club Phebe (there is one in Shanghai too). The club was about the same, DJ, music, green tea and whisky pitchers... except for the fact that there were three tiny chinese girls who worked there dressed as the Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf. I thought maybe since I hadn't seen children in the past four years while I was at college I was missing out on something but turns out this is a Chinese sensation. There's over 100 episodes and an animated film, that I should probbaly pick up for 60 cents, that is the must successful animated film in chinese cinematic history. I smell an Academy Award. Anyways theses thigns are cute but it is pretty much the eqivalent of someone dancing in a full on Mickey or Minny Mouse costume at a club, odd.
 |
| Those are my friends, in costume heads |
Well we slept in this morning and I got to see the sights of Hangzhou. I was actually there with Charlie and Antonio at the end of my semester in Hong Kong. We took a paddle boat out on West Lake, Hangzhou's main attraction, and just hung around the lake area. This time it was a little cold for that so I saw the real Hangzhou. We ate at a Muslim restsaurant (Xinjang Chinese Muslim food) that might have made me sick. Then we went shopping on Rubber Street, a dirty crowded street filled with Chinese students from the six nearby universities. I actually mde me miss Shanghai shopping, which made me miss Hong Kong shopping which made me really miss American shopping.
After that I headed to the train station. The taxi man wanted to charge me 100 RMB to get to the station and I said no sir you are crazy it cost me 40 to get here. This was all in Chinse, if you think people in China speak english you are dead wrong. Anyways my friend Kate convinced him to use the meter and I bid Kate and Hangzhou farewell. even in China I like to always be right so I told the driver "wo gaosu le ni, ci shi kuai!" which is my rough translation of "I told you so!" and I was right 40 exactly. I will let no chinese man hustle me.
I just wanted to finish my book on the train home but the guy next to me insisted on talking. I knew it was good practice so I put Nicholas Sparks aside and chatted with so and so next to me. I got off the training feeling like I know NOTHING in Chinese but I think he actually thought it was a good conversation. Maybe one day I will be able to have a real conversation but for now I am impressed I have the courage to say more than 5 words in a sentence.
No comments:
Post a Comment