This morning we were on our way to a Tea House for our
lesson on Tea Art. A man was squatted in
front of a pile of bones. Our teacher
for the day explained that they were goats legs; a Chinese delicacy. The man started burning the hair off the
goat’s legs; which sent off noxious fumes.
At our Tea Art lesson we were served a dozen different teas
(green, yellow, black, and flower). Many
of the teas tasted the same to me, but some smelled like pretty flowers, and
one had an amazing aftertaste. The tea
ceremony had specific steps and ways of holding the teapot. Emilie got to serve the tea and resported
that it was very difficult to hold the pot with one hand and to remember the
steps.
This afternoon I went to a park across the street from our
hotel. There is a little lake, bridges,
trees, and nice grass. I found a place
to have some alone time and watched as two little girls drove a motorized boat
around the lake. It was not 5 minutes
till I had a small group of elementary aged children surrounding me. They were too cute to ignore, so I tried out
some of the magic tricks I learned from the orphans in Cambodia. They loved it and tried to communicate with
me using their English work book.
At English Corner today I received some very political
questions regarding Iraq,
the greenhouse effect, and the election.
The students seemed to believe that US car companies should work
together to eliminate pollution (meanwhile 1 million cars join the roads in
China everyday and the cars spit out black fumes). Once again I was treated to dinner by the
students. This time my meal was a huge
bowl of noodles with various pieces of beef and cabbage. It was very spicy; my mouth, tongue, lips,.
And even eyes went numb. There was no
way I could finish the meal. Thankfully
the girls had to leave before I had to stuff myself.
Chinese food is excellent, but it has been doing a number on
my stomach. The bathrooms in the
university are very interesting. The
stalls are made for Chinese height, so they reach about my hips and the toilets
are squatters, so there is not much privacy.
This evening we were invited to a drama competition being put on by the
freshman English majors. I stayed for 3
of the dramas. Despite the rough English
and shouting into the microphone the students did a good job. It was difficult to stifle the laughter when
Romeo and Juliet broke out into, “I will always love you”. I don’t think Shakespeare intended for that
song to be included.
