Dancing and Affection

Friday night I went out dancing with a few students. They took me to a local dance hall that was cheap. Many students go there on weekend nights. It is open from 7-10. All of the people on the dance floor were partner dancing even when the songs were fast. We even did the three-step to Britney Spears. Going out dancing here means waltzing and ballroom dancing. Everyone was asking me to dance since I was a foreigner. No one can really dance right so I had to teach them how to ballroom dance.

A side note: boys slow dance with boys here. It is ok for boys to show each other affection. If you dance with a boy or touch him that does not mean you are homosexual here. The same thing goes with women. Chinese are in such denial that homosexuals exist they would never make the connection. Once I had a student ask me what University in America had the least homosexuals because that was the school he wanted to go to. I told him all schools had homosexuals. I told him at this University there were many homosexuals. This idea was foreign to him and he could not accept it. When it was “disco” time in the last half hour they all made circles around me and copied every move I made. I also saw some boys freak dance each other and a lot of Michael Jackson impressions. All in all, I had a lot of fun.

Chinese Dinner Party, News, and Politics

Saturday night I had my students over and I cooked them a Chinese meal. We ended up getting into political discussions about where Chinese could get their news (they told me if you could read English well enough then you would try to read English news, that is what they do), if the Cultural Revolution could happen again they thought it could easily happen again), what they thought about abortion and the one child policy (they did not agree with abortions, which surprised me), and also the conversation was all in Chinese! So maybe I did not understand exactly what they were saying but I thought I understood the general feelings. I said I would cook for them if they spoke to me in Chinese for the whole night. So my contributions to the conversation were things like “I like China,” and “Very good,” or “very bad,” or my favorite “Very interesting!”

Chinese Cooking Lessons

Monday night I had my cooking lesson—we made the most delicious food. Only it was really hot (lot's of peppers) and I learned my first important lesson in cooking Chinese food: don’t touch your eyes when spicy stuff is on your fingers. I spent the whole night with one eye half closed. My teacher does not talk much so I just kept asking her questions. For example, I asked, “Did anyone in your family ever have bound feet? Was anyone in your family ever a concubine?” Things like that. If anyone is wondering, her grandmother had bound feet and her great uncle had 3 wives.

Public concerts and blending

Also, the other day I was lying in bed reading and all of the sudden I heard a song by “Guns n’ Roses” blaring through my window. I went outside and there was a live rock band playing rock songs. The lead singer, who had long hair and ripped jeans and a cigarette hanging out of his mouth, was singing "Knocking on Heaven's Door." It was the first “cool" (By Western standards) thing I have seen in China so far. The last concert I attended outside here was a band playing the Disney classics and all of the University students were there to enjoy it. So I stayed and watched for awhile but I did not really feel like I was a part of the energy, I sort of felt like I was watching their social interactions through a glass window. I wonder if I will ever fit in here.

Update on the Stalker

Although I have been avoiding Martin Nelson he called me up and said, “I have made a Chinese painting for you! When can we eat dinner together so I can give it to you!” So I am eating lunch with him on Friday. Yes, I know, it is a mistake to concede to meet with your stalker but the man made me a painting, so what could I say? I forgot to mention that he also helped me change my Chinese name a few weeks earlier. My new Chinese name is “Li Yun” which means “Plum Cloud” because he said I am like a cloud who has flown here from a far away land. But I have trouble pronouncing my own name and no one can understand me at first when I say it.

I want it - that way

Today Rock came over and we practiced singing, “I want it that way” by the ”Backstreet Boys,” which we are going to sing this weekend in front of 500 students and teachers. I do not know how I ever got convinced into doing this, but I guess if I am going to do it, I might as well just go all the way.

Lessons on China

Things I am learning: it is useless to explain that J-Lo is not a good singer and to explain that Titanic is really a stupid movie, sometimes you just have to agree.

And how can I ever give a student a bad grade when their papers end with “Heather—I love you.”