My China Odyssey

As Bin had stated earlier, the cab ride from the bus station to the school was indeed very short. Less than a mile I would say; if not for my albatross we could have easily walked. Upon arriving at the Kewen, pronounced K’win, I was introduced to Mr. Wang and Ms. Xie, the boss and manager of the school. The boss, stood slightly taller than me with black hair and dressed in all black. Appearing fairly serious as I entered, his look became much friendlier as Bin began introductions. Ms. Xie was about an inch or two shorter than the boss and gently smiled as we were introduced. Next I was introduced to Jill Gao, the first familiar face I had seen since landing in China. She had been my first contact with the school and we had remained in contact via Yahoo’s Instant Messenger. She was an English teacher at the school and acted as translator between the boss, manager and I. From our many correspondences I knew her written English was very good, though she had told me here oral English was lacking. With such a grasp of the written language I had found this difficult to believe. A few minutes into our meeting I realized she had been very modest regarding her speaking ability. I was very impressed by her grasp of English as she translated for the boss and I.

Within a few minutes most of the initial formalities had been covered and the boss suggested lunch. It had been hours since the morning buffet and my stomach made me aware it was indeed time to eat. Jill said she would be unable to go to lunch with us as she had a class to teach that afternoon. This left Bin, Ms. Xie, the boss and I to lunch together, at least Bin would be there to translate. I followed the trio down a flight of stairs and out the back door into a small, very crowded parking lot. We came to a stop beside a small white four-door car and Bin and I were directed to sit in the back. I assumed this was Ms. Xie’s car as she was the one that sat behind the wheel and drove us to a nearby restuarant. We traveled only a few blocks before reaching our destination. Though it was only a short distance from the school, it was great to be in a car since the temperature and humidity was very high. Exiting the car, I noticed the restuarant we were approaching had a very large neon sign above the door. The unlit sign was in the shape of a fish so I figured we were going to a seafood restuarant for lunch.

An attendant was standing at the door and held it open as we entered. We were guided upstairs and shown to a private room. The room, about ten feet by ten feet, had in the center a round table with eight chairs surrounding it. A circular piece of raised glass covered about three quarters of the table. In the corner stood an upright air conditioning unit that stood about six feet high. As we were taking our seats, the waitress turned the unit on. The boss must have been a regular, as he began ordering without the need of a menu. By the time he had finished the room had cooled down enough that the beads of sweat had disappeared from my forehead. Within minutes of taking our order, the waitress returned with a large bowl of cooked shrimp, heads and legs intact, and a dish of green leafy vegetables that appeared to have been stir fried. Both were placed near the edge of the glass circle that sat atop the table. Wielding his chopsticks like they were an extension of his hand, the boss took hold of a several shrimp and placed them in the small bowl before him. Using his free hand, he slowly turned the raised glass until the dish was in front of Bin who deftly acquired a portion of shrimp for his bowl. By this time, several other enticing looking dishes had been brought to us. The glass disc had been turned to place the shrimp and other fare within my reach.

Even though the waitress had brought me a spoon and fork, I was determined to use the instruments of my new home. Having used chopsticks a little in the past, I felt somewhat confident as I reached first for the shrimp. I was able to retrieve a couple of shrimp to my small bowl with little difficulty which caused me to smile with pride. Unsure of the correct dining etiquite, I had been observing my companions to learn the proper way to eat this meal. Picking up a single crustation, I placed it tail first in my mouth and bit very close to the head. Being sure to keep hold of the head with my chopsticks, I then lightly sucked the rest of the meat from the head portion and lightly spit the remaining pieces onto the small plate beside the bowl. From my observations, this was the correct etiquite for eating this kind of dish and was also sort of fun. The center piece had made several rotations which had given me a chance to sample all of the lunch items. I thought everything was very good, even the foods which were still unknown to me. Throughout the meal I was encouraged to eat my fill as the others talked amongst themselves to finalize the business at hand.

The feeling of being oddman-out was not so great as one might think. Even though I had little or no idea of what was being said, my new employer had put me at ease with the friendly greeting and gracious invitation to lunch. As the meal came to an end I was told that we would return to Kewen and retreive my albotross and take it to my new residence. The ride back to the school was as exciting as the initial trip, we drove through red lights and weaved around a couple of vehicles waiting to make turns. Up0n returning to the school, Jill told me that her and Ms. Xie would come to my apartment shortly after classes had finished for the day. They would then accompany me to one of the large local supermarkets to purchase any items I may need for the coming weeks. This being arranged, the boss once again led us to Ms. Xie’s car which would be our transport. I sat in the back with the rest of my luggage peering out the windows in an attempt to familiarize myself with the new surroundings. So amazed was I with the sights and sounds around me, I knew that attempting to try to memorize the route would be futile.

Tags: Travel

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