Being local celebrities

Carrie wishes she knew how to say, "Back off, dudes!" in Mandarin.

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Everywhere we go in Yongzhou we are stared at. By everyone. Some people are more discreet than others but we don't just get double-takes, we get quadruple-takes. We worry that we are going to cause a traffic accident every time we walk down the street. The top Senior Middle Schools (US grades 10-12) in the city have had foreign teachers for the past few years so we aren't the first Westerners to come to town but there haven't been many and we are objects of great interest. Strangers will shout "Helloooo!" to show off the only English they know. Carrie got mobbed by employees at the supermarket as she was checking out toothpaste and soap. People want to be helpful but they don't realize how little Mandarin we know, and there seems to be an assumption that Westerners want to buy anything with English on it, even if it makes no sense. (Don't worry, we are working on a collection of Chingrish to amuse you with!)

We try to have a nice lunch with a student and strangers get all in our buisness.

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One of the benefits of being honored guests is frequently being taken out for enormous meals. Every meal is family style, with all the dishes brought out as they are ready and placed on a rotating circle in the middle of the table (a huge Lazy Susan). Each person has a small cup for tea, a saucer, a bowl, a soup spoon, and chopsticks. Half the time we are complemented on our chopstick skills (I think by people who have had a little experience with foreigners before) and half the time we make people giggle and try to help us with our technique. There is SO MUCH food, and much of it is wasted. Take-home boxes are uncommon - perhaps because they make you look cheap? People want us to try everything, but some of it is too spicy for me (Carrie). Hunan is known for it's spicy cuisine. Luckily we can now identify the hottest peppers and pick around them.

Jesse is learning the Chinese version of Rock, Paper, Scissors. It is much more complicated and (of course) involves drinking.

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We have really enjoyed the food. Even if it's a little strange it always has great flavor. Jesse is even eating vegetables! Although we eat a ton we both feel that we're already a little thinner. We do miss cheese but I've heard you can get it in some speciality stores - maybe not in Yongzhou but our awesome instructor at Buckland, Betts, said that she'd mail us some from Yangshuo if we got too homesick. Neither of us were big milk drinkers before which is good because here it is watery, sweet, and warm. ICK.

(Jesse:) I seem to somehow have entered into an elaborate drinking contest with the entire city. Our second day in the hotel, Peter (our Foreign Affairs Officer, aka "handler") called us early in the morning and told us to come to the school quickly. The senior grade one class (US grade 10) was performing the final drills of their mandatory marching training and the local TV station was there to cover it. As we got dressed, Carrie and I prepared our pro-China statements in case we were interviewed (a very real possibility) and then we headed off to sit in the sun in the middle of an overgrown basketball court and watch Carrie's classes perform the abbreviated Chinese goose step and sweat. After the ceremony was over I was given a megaphone and asked to address the Chinese students. As an after thought I probably could have quickly said anything insulting and been cheered, but I opted to compliment them on their discipline and attempt to explain that American students could never do such a thing.

We were then whisked to the restaurant at our current hotel were we dined with the schools Principal, the Vice-principal, the head of grade one, the Communist Party leader for the school, and half the officer corps of the Yongzhou Naval airbase. I was forced to drink a giant bowl of beer in a race with the principal - Gan Bei! After that one of the soldiers toasted me which initiated being toasted by every soldier there, about thirteen in all. Beer is poured into a small glass (about a triple-shot) and when you are toasted you are expected to down the entire glass. Many of the soldiers expressed through a translator that in China two is better and made me do a round two with them. I wanted to burst. The local beer is only 3.1 to 3.8 percent alcohol but in enough volume.... I fared better than the party leader who threw up in his mouth while trying to find a toilet, but I was feeling it and suffering from the spins as we returned to our hotel to nap. Every meal with people has been the same. I am toasted about 3 to 1 versus Carrie. I apparently earned a reputation as a drinker that lunch and I have been unable to politley excuse myself from any toasts. I never want to drink beer again.

(Carrie:) Although I am not urged into quite so many drinking contests, I have another issue. In China it seems that men smoke everywhere and as often as possible, while women of good standing don't smoke in public at all. I am constantly surrounded by smoke but I have to wait until we get back to our hotel to indulge in one of my own. ARGH. I am getting pretty good at chugging the small glasses of beer and I think my skill has really impressed people, especially the women, who usually toast with tea or "milk."  It seems that this behavior is okay for me though, because at every meal I am ordered a beer whether I ask for it or not and they keep the glasses coming. I help Jesse keep track of who has toasted us because the polite thing to do is to return the toast later in the meal. Sometimes we have to toast the whole table at once because we are too stuffed for 3-8 more rounds to get each of them individually. No one believes us when we say "wo chi bao le" - I am full!