Time to play
     Time was coming for the holiday season of 2005, but of course that meant something different in a place that does not generally
celebrate it. It hadn’t snowed yet, and there were no reminders about the holidays such as Christmas lights or yard decorations. No one
had their own individual yards in the city, so even if they did want to celebrate, they would probably be limited to putting up their
decorations on the balcony of their apartments. But no one did that because in Hefei, most people primarily celebrated the Chinese
holidays. Chad’s new friends from English corner, Rachel, Bluestar, Lucy, and several other friends of theirs helped us celebrate
Thanksgiving and Christmas because not many others in the city that we knew of were thinking so much about those days, and certainly
our families were nowhere nearby. Aside from those times, they had come to our apartment several times to cook for us. On Christmas
Eve, Chad dressed up like Santa Claus, and had each girl sit on his lap and tell him what they wanted for Christmas, but Lucy was the
only one who was too shy to sit on his lap. She was a very shy and quiet girl, but once she got to know someone well, she transformed
into a relentless talker. Lucy gave us both Christmas cards, and then we continued celebrating by having a cake. The cake was not
meant for eating at first because the girls grabbed pieces of cake and threw them at Chad and got him and his Santa Claus costume full
of frosting. Then he retaliated of course. I tried to avoid getting into the fight, but the apartment living room was too small to escape
forever. Kingwater was the first to run up on me and smear cake in my hair, so after that, I was fully involved in the cake war. There was
cake and frosting all over the creation.
    The next morning, Chad, a few of the girls, and I took the bus miles west of our apartment to a quiet part of the city to go to a
Christian church where there was a foreigner named Dale from the U.S. that we had met weeks earlier. He had been involved in some
teaching at one of the universities in Hefei with a team of about a dozen foreigners, primarily young ladies from America, all with
blonde hair and blue eyes. There was also one young man who taught with them named Daniel. They stayed in China only a couple of
months before returning to America, but Dale had been staying in China for years, returning home every summer with his wife who was
from Hawaii. Dale performed regular services at the church, and since Chad was somewhat religious, he wanted to go there on
Christmas Day. The girls did not come inside with us because there is a law in Hefei, and possibly other cities, that a Chinese can’t
attend church with a foreigner, but they can go by themselves. There were a couple other foreigners inside of the church, which was
very small and not like the traditional Christian church. We sat in a room on some small chairs in a circle and shared wisdom with each
other. One important saying that I liked that Dale said was, “When you’re going through Hell, keep going!” I reminded the small group
that sometimes when we have a problem with other people, it’s because of some problem in ourselves that we deny and refuse to
recognize. Some people act out what others keep buried deep within themselves, but still exist nonetheless. We would not know such
things were possible if one of us human beings did not behave that way and show us the consequences of such behavior. That is why
some people seek to understand rather than seek to blame others.
    While the group of American teachers were still in Hefei, we all went bowling together one night, and that was when I first learned
about Chad’s true competitive spirit. Whenever it was his turn to bowl, he would send the bowling ball with so much force and effort that
I hadn’t seen before in the game. “I don’t like to lose.” Chad said when I commented on his bowling techniques. I started calling him
“Rocket Arms” because of the way he would launch the bowling ball instead of rolling it like most people. Chad was quite serious about
sports, and he had played hockey back when he was in high school.
    Chad, Daniel, Chad’s student Qi Sheng, and I also had a chance to play basketball together before the weather became too cold at
the Agriculture University basketball court. The university was very close to Hu Po, almost right next to it. The north gate where we
entered seemed to be the back entrance to the school because it was smaller, and less people entered and exited from that side. The
south gate of the university was located on Changjiang Road on the other side of the campus. After walking through the gate, there was
a small hill, and after the walkway began to level-out, there was a large soccer field on the left where some students were practicing
freely and others watched them from the side of the walkway. I had always wanted to play soccer, but I never met the situation that
seemed appropriate for me to do so, or perhaps I was not practical enough when I was younger to get involved. But in China, and many
other countries, soccer was very popular, so the chance to play on a team that needed players was not impossible. On the right, across
from the soccer field was a basketball court next to some general stores and restaurants. There were only two hoops, so we had to wait
our turn to play against other small teams. Many students were watching the excitement all around the small court. Chad and I had
bought some tennis shoes, but they were too small because Chinese people’s feet are generally smaller than Americans’ feet. It wasn’t
going to make for a comfortable basketball game. Again Chad’s competitive spirit came out during the basketball game as he tried so
hard to juke and out-dribble the players on the opposing teams. His light-blue eyes always got big and intense with his mouth slightly
open as he was cocking his head back and forth and side to side trying to fake out the other team. Whenever I got the ball, I always
dribbled up slowly, waiting for the other team to make the first move before I bursted on them. Qi Sheng liked to come up with the fade-
away shots, and Daniel was just an all-around baller. There was one boy on another team that was very skilled at rebound shots. He was
tall and a little heavy, and he would jump up and grab the ball and throw it into the hoop almost perfectly every time. As soon as he got
the ball, I knew what would happen every time. None of us knew what to do against him. After the third or fourth game, Daniel said,
“Man. I gotta take a break. I don’t think I can do anything against these guys anymore.” But I told him, “No. You should keep playing with
us. We have a better chance of winning if you play.” I was right, because during the next game, whenever the boy on the other team got
the rebound and tried to put the ball through the hoop like he usually did, Daniel was all over his game blocking his shots and getting
the ball for our team. My toes were mashed up inside of my shoes and throbbing with pain, but I managed to continue playing until it
was time for us to leave. As we were walking away, Daniel hollered out, “We won three, and we lost three. What?!” In case anyone was
thinking that the only three foreigners who were playing that day made a poor performance. Chad said, “Andrew plays basketball like a
gangster!” I had played basketball with some gangsters in the past, so possibly I acquired some gangster basketball skills from them. Qi
Sheng stopped off in his apartment, which was on the way back to the center of Hu Po where the police station was. The three of us that
remained had lunch in Mei Qing Ke and Gong Jia Feng’s restaurant. Not long after that day, Chad and I both lost the entire toenail on
our big toes from playing with the shoes that were too small.
    Back to the end of December, the solar year was coming to a close, and the Chinese holiday called Spring Festival was
approaching. Chad had only a couple of weeks left because he was returning to America on January 5th to finish up his education in
Utah. David told Chad’s kindergarten when they first signed the contract that he would stay and teach there for the entire year, so he had
to make up an excuse for why he couldn’t stay.
“Performance evaluations” both ways
     We also had some mid-term performances and evaluations for the schools. Hilary knew it was important that the students behaved
well and performed well when it was time for their parents to come in and observe the teachers. She wanted everything to be absolutely
perfect. However, on the day of class at Yong Hong when the parents were there, some of the students had trouble answering some of
the questions, but they were still glad to try. In Hilary’s mind, the whole purpose of that event was to show the parents that their children
were perfect, and that they had a perfect teacher. But that doesn’t match well with my concept that perfection is only an aim, and not
anything that truly exists. After the class, Hilary asked to talk to me outside. The first thing she did was stare deeply into my eyes fiercely
to intimidate me because she was not satisfied with how the class went in front of the parents. She had no idea living in such a safe
place as Hefei what kind of people I had met before who truly were intimidating, so I just looked back at her without blinking.  When she
realized that I wasn’t going to be affected by her charms of darkness, she broke down and said, “You never listen to me!” “I listen to a lot
of what you say, but not everything!” I said back to her. The situation was difficult because as cold and emotionless as Hilary was on the
surface, deep inside of her was a person that did have feelings, but I only got to see that side of her once or twice when she let down her
guard. Apparently the education system and teaching career that she had grown into did not focus on feelings, but rather on results. She
was truly a product of her environment. If a teacher in China can’t control their students and ensure that they have enough knowledge to
score high marks on tests, that teacher will face serious heat from the parents, at any grade level. I hear that students in China are not
taught for the purpose of having more knowledge. They are taught in order to pass tests specifically because of the competition to make
it into college. Every parent wants their children to go, and pushes their children very hard, but few out of all students can make it. Even
though Hilary seemed quite annoying to me the way she was always on my back, I tried to have compassion for her and her country’s
situation.
    We also had a performance with students in an auditorium within walking distance of Yong Hong Primary School. One of the
performances was with a group of my students singing the Happy New Year song on stage. “Happy New Year! Happy New Year! Happy
New Year to you all! We are singing, we are dancing. Happy New Year to you all!” Which goes to the rhythm of “Oh my Darlin’.” I had
some performances with them where I asked them questions like in a game show, and there were many other performances that they did.
Little Dustin was left out of the performances, because after the way he behaved during class, there was no way to predict what he was
going to do when he had the attention of the audience. After the show was over, I went downstairs to the bottom level of the
performance building with Hilary. While I was having a conversation with her just in front of the doors, I looked to the side and saw an
old man standing not too far away from me with his eyes wide open and his mouth in a position to start leaking some saliva. He looked at
me as though he wasn’t sure if I was really standing there in front of him, and like his heart would go out any second. I turned away from
him and continued to speak to Hilary, and about 20 seconds later, I looked back at the man, and he was still staring at me. He hadn’t
moved a centimeter. I wasn’t sure exactly what he was thinking, but in all my life, I had never received a look quite like that before, but it
was funny to me.
Summer’s sister Amy
     Spring Festival was a month long holiday that is served to celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year. Each year it is celebrated on a
different day since the lunar year is a different number of days than the solar year that is used in most countries. People celebrate by
getting together and lighting off many fireworks and eating dumplings with their family. Some families like to put coins inside of
dumplings before they cook them, and the person that catches one of them is supposed to have good luck that year. There is a big
performance held in Beijing that is broadcasted on television all across China on New Year’s Eve. It is said to be the most important
television program in China. Many people dance in traditionally styled dance costumes, and there are singers and comedians that fill
up a timeslot of several hours. Chad didn’t get to stay there for the Chinese New Year because he had to leave. The girls came to see
him on his last day and rode with him by taxi to the train station. Kingwater cried, and Bluestar wanted to marry him, but Chad wasn’t
thinking the same thing about her. Even though Bluestar had a boyfriend herself, she often forgot about him and thought about whoever
was in front of her face. She was the quirkiest of Chad’s friends, and probably out of all people I had met in China up till that point.
Summer was going to come back from Korea soon, so I anticipated a confrontation with her in the near future. Her sister Amy called me
one day after not hearing anything from her for a couple of months and told me she had a gift for me. She met me that same day on the
San Xiao Kou walkway bridge at the center of the city. Amy presented her gift to me, and it was a keychain with a gorilla attached to it.
She gave it to me and told me that it reminded her of me. An alarm went off inside of my head when she said that. “Why do I remind
you of a gorilla?!” I asked. “Because when I first met you, you were so …” Then she put her arms out like a weightlifter who just got
pumped up at the gym. “Well, if that is the reason, then … I guess it’s all right.” I said. By now, I had seen many faces of people all over
the city in many different streets, buildings, schools, buses, corners, and alleys, but her face looked different to me than many of the
others I had seen. I told her, “There are some friends that I make sometimes that I think just want to practice English with me …  but you
are different. You are a real friend. I can tell.” “Are you just saying that because I’m Summer’s sister?” she asked suspiciously. “No! Of
course not, silly! I replied. “Then I am so happy to hear that!” she said as her suspicion was melted away by warm and friendly words.
Then we began walking down the stairs of the walkway onto Changjiang Road, and she said to me. “When I first saw you this time, I
thought you looked like a…..” She didn’t know what word to use, so she pulled out her mini-computer-dictionary. When she found the
word she was looking for, she showed it to me on the small screen. “A beggar?! You thought I looked like a beggar?!” I was so surprised
she said that. “Why?” I asked. She told me because of my long grey coat and my facial hair which she hadn’t seen before because I
stopped shaving since the last time I saw her. I didn’t know who was harder to deal with, Amy or Summer, but I would soon have the
chance to compare the two.
China Dispatch/Andrew Gramling

Fun, work, and shoes to fill