After lunch we split off into little groups to visit the various sites of Beijing. My first day here I went to the old summer palace ruins with my roommate, Chen Su Min, who just now told me that my head looks like a pineapple. We get along very well...later I'll tell you about our conversations about the government and about life for my generational counterparts in China. Ooo- and just now she is watching Chinese tv (hi-LAR-ious) and told me the plot for all Korean dramas is the same. She says "I will tell you the story"
So here it is folks. All of Korean's dramas in one paragraph, in the words of my dear roommate Su Min:
"A is a girl. B is a boy. B like C who is a girl but C does not like B. A like B, but then B like both A and C, but B must date with A and then they fall in love. And then C love B, and she try to destroy the relationship with A and B, and B is changing his desires. And then D comes, a handsome, a perfect, a rich guy who love A a lot. Then comes to A and A love B and D, but love B better. Then there are a lot of conflict between all of them. Eventually A and B they have some good ending, you know?"
I ask "Well what about C and D? Do they hook up together in the end?" Su Min doesn't understand my question. I try again "Do C and D become a couple?"
"In SOME dramas sometimes C and D become a couple. Sometimes. Also the characters are always like this. A is always not very beautiful and good personality just as the common girls. You know, the dramas are for the girls who are very common. She is common and sometimes she is a little bit STUPID. B is good looking but he has some...some disadvantages. Such like he is not mature enough, and he always hesitate to make decisions. C is of course very very beautiful. Good education. She is a successful woman, also pretty."
"Sexy?" I ask. Su Min laughs "Yeah, sex."
Well enough about Korean dramas. Watching Chinese television is extremely entertaining though, I will say. I have watched snippets of all the different genres, and I can't decide what my favorite is: the comedy shows where there are four hosts all talking at once, the old movies with all the crazy warrior dudes with the swords and the pony-tails and the mustaches, or the MTV type channel with the Chinese boy bands (man, it sends me into giggle fits) or the reality tv shows they call "Truman Shows", or (and this may be my favorite), the news shows with a reporter at some outdoor event interviewing people about some serious matter, but in the background amidst a crowd you see somebody dancing around dressed in a giant purple foam square waving ribbons and shouting with a O-shaped pink mouth.
On Wednesday I visited the famous White Pagoda in the Beihai Gardens which included lots of baby ducks and stray cats (I think I mentioned that already) and an hour-long bus ride (Beijing is famous for its crowded buses) in the 85-degree heat through downtown. It was fun, and when we (the seven of us who went) stopped for cold treats later in the afternoon, the other American student and I were shocked, SHOCKED I say, to see that the Chinese students chose pea-flavored, bean-flavored, and corn-flavored frozen treats-on-a-stick. I managed to find a fruit-flavored one. Somehow frozen mashed peas on a stick didn't sound that....refreshing. Even if the peas WERE fresh when they were frozen.
Thursday night the entire class went out to a Sichuan restaurant for Chinese's spiciest dishes. We also ate Peking duck and drank fresh plum juice. Last night (Friday) several of us went out for Asian-style karaoke-- that is, you rent a room for just your group instead of singing in front of an entire bar. I ordered what I thought was one glass of bourbon on the rocks and instead got an entire bottle of Black Label blended scotch, a bucket of ice, a three-tiered plate of fruit and 7 cans of Coca-cola. I decided to share. It was a fun night, and the Chinese students introduced me to a fair amount of sappy Asian love songs, which they performed with unparalleled gusto. I think the favorite song the Americans did for the Chinese was Whitney Houston's "I wanna dance with somebody." Good times. I submit that you haven't really visited an Asian country unless you expeirence your own very Lost In Translation sort of karaoke experience.
Today I spent the afternoon shopping with YanYan, a girl about my age who the Chinese students say is "my twin", probably because she is goofy and will eat ANYTHING. I mean-- she eats the faces of the fish and of the hog and the feet of chicken, and the face of the duck from our Peking Duck the other day. That part of YanYan isn't so much like me--I'm not big on eating faces-- but whatever. We had fun today and made a lot of the sales-people laugh at us. Of course I have no idea what they thought was so funny-- probably the fact that I was trying on dresses designed specifically for a population of 1/2 billion women who are all at least a head shorter than i am. Maybe just to see a Westerner in Chinese fashion was hilarious, but at any rate I think I'm getting used to being treated like a giraffe. Not badly, but usually awkwardly. The other day I went walking and a mother actually pulled her child away from me as they passed. I...I don't quite understand that particular reaction. But oh well.
Even though the food is amazing, it's strange how quickly you miss recognizable food. I have no idea what I'm eating most of the time, though when YanYan and I had "fast food Chinese" for lunch today, I dug a bunch of floaty stuff out of my soup. YanYan, who eats everything, says "Ooooo! Feet! Feet of chicken! Is very good, very healthy for women." I said "Great! You're a woman. Here you go." And gave her the feet. I couldn't try the feet. Sorry. I'm pretty adventurous, but...I just...I just failed on this count. They were grayish blue and gnarly like a starfish. Perhaps you can forgive me. I DID drink the broth they were soaking in, though. So, silver star for me.
I am having a fabulous time here. The actual conference starts tomorrow evening-- this is the "big deal conference" with lots of speakers flying in from the States, including I think two Nobel laureates, the chair of Harvard physics and Calvin alumnus Gerry Gabrielse, and of course Al Plantinga and some other philosophy of religion A-listers. I will give shorter and more frequent updates throughout next week-- I'm sure the conference will keep my quite busy. I also have to finish working on my talk, which I give on Friday (I think). Through-out the week we'll take trips to the Great Wall and other famous locales (I'll send along pictures) and then on Sunday afternoon next week I'll be back in Chi-town---Chicago, that is. So fast! I feel like I haven't yet adjusted to this place. It's still a shock when I leave my hotel room and enter the Beijing heat...
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