| After leaving the summer camp, Mr. Wang, the driver dropped Ms. Wang off at her mother's apartment somewhere within Anqing. All apartment complexes were at least five stories high, and there were no houses for individual families. Since dryers didn't seem to be a mainstream appliance, everyone would hang their clothes to dry on a line on the balcony of their apartments that usually had bars to protect them from thieves. Daler took the rest of us to a restaurant across a busy four-lane street that arced around a gymnasium that looked like a futuristic football stadium near his training school. It was a small restaurant with three rooms that could seat about eight or nine people each. There was a glass turntable in the middle of each table, because when people order dishes in China, they order for everyone to share and keep it on constant rotation. Some of the more common dishes I can remember are sliced eggplant with spices, tomato and scrambled eggs fried together, beef and potatoes, fish served with the bones still inside, chopped cucumbers and garlic, lotus flower, pork, seaweed soup, and that might all be ordered at just one meal. No one ever walks away hungry. Rice was always served in small bowls, usually after the other dishes had been eaten already, but sometimes during the meal. Green tea was usually served in small porcelain cups without the necessity of ordering it. The waiters or waitresses would put down the correct number of chopsticks that were either made of fragile, disposable wood, or stronger wood or plastic chopsticks that can be washed and reused. The waiting staff would often offer to give me a small porcelain spoon since they thought I would not know how to use chopsticks well, but I always refused because I wanted to learn. While eating, it's not impolite to spit bones and unwanted pieces of food onto the table or floor. Also, no one thinks anything about burping. Jackie used to remind me that I was in China every time I would say "Excuse me." I was still feeling the sadness over the loss of Summer almost an hour after leaving the school. I stood outside of the restaurant trying to gather my strength, while watching the traffic roll by and watching people doing what they need to do in a place far from home. I realized that they were living a life that I was far from understanding, just as I was far from understanding my own feelings about Summer. As I looked around, I was surprised to see palm trees standing in grass sections along the side of the road and on the median strip in front of the restaurant. I thought they could only survive in places that stayed warm all year. Betty kept telling me to come inside and eat, out of concern, but I had no appetite. I could only think about how I could not accept life without Summer. Later that evening, Daler invited Nathan and I to have dinner with the middle school headmaster and several of his associates at a fancy restaurant. Since I couldn't read Chinese, it was difficult for me to tell if the restaurants were privately owned, or part of a chain of restaurants. But the small inexpensive restaurants were always family owned and family run businesses. The more expensive restaurants always had young men or women dressed in traditional Chinese clothing who would welcome customers usually by opening the door for them and greeting them with a Chinese expression that sounded almost just like "Good morning!" It took one of my friends eight months to figure out that wasn't what they were saying. Many of the servers were very serene. They glowed with warmth and friendliness and had sunshine smiles. Willimas, along with some of the classroom teachers from the summer camp, was also there and dressed for the occasion. They looked happy to see us again, and I was equally happy although surprised to see them. I found out at that moment that those teachers taught at the school during the regular school season aside from teaching at the summer camp. The headmaster couldn't speak English, so he told everything to Daler for translation. They knew I was looking for a job following the two summer camps, so the headmaster invited me to teach at his middle school starting August first, which was about two-and-a-half weeks away. I gladly accepted the job opportunity because I already knew the school and some of the teachers there as I had just found out. Then it was time to celebrate by drinking some alcohol. I was "trying to quit drinking" at the time, but I didn't want to seem rude to the headmaster. Drinking is actually a large part of the culture in China, andit is very common that everyone drinks together during meals whether it's business or personal. It's not easy to refuse a drink there, not because of desire to drink, but out of desire not to break someone's heart. People love to con each other into drinking more and more alcohol for laughs and enjoyment during a meal. The headmaster ordered a bottle of clear alcohol called baizhou (ZH makes a sound similar to J), which should translate into "bee-sting in a bottle" since it's nothing to play with. It's nearly as strong as vodka, and leaves a strong aftertaste for as long as eight hours no matter what is ingested afterward. We all stood up and drank a toast together out of a tiny glass to the success of the summer camp. People also love to give individual toasts to each other all throughout the meal and show each other the empty glass when it's bottoms-up time. Since Nathan understood quite a bit of Mandarin, he listened in on other people's conversations around the table. At some point, he heard that Daler and the headmaster bribed the police so that we could teach in his school during the summer camp since the school was not certified to hire foreign teachers. That's why Daler wanted us to be secretive about our intentions to the police officer back in the hotel on our first day in Anqing. Nathan and I were feeling blurred from drinking along with everyone else, so we just laughed to each other about it, not realizing the seriousness of the situation. After dinner, Nathan received a phone call from Jackie. He wanted to invite us to have dinner the next evening with Jane, Summer, Candy, and himself. Nathan told me about it, and we both agreed. I was so glad I would have the chance to see Summer again. I knew what I had to do, even though I knew the path ahead was doomed from the start. The next day was the beginning of our vacation during the pause between summer camps. Our friends Franklin and Caro disappeared for a while to take care of some of their other concerns in other cities in China, and eventually they would meet us at the second summer camp. Daler met us at the old hotel late morning on his motorcycle. His motorcycle only had enough room for two, so he took Nathan and I one at a time to his mother's apartment to have lunch. She cooked duck and duck stomach, along with some other vegetable dishes. I felt guilty for having no proper way to thank her for what she did for us. Daler invited his nephew to come and show us around Anqing city after we finished eating. Daler's nephew and his close friend took us to the temple next to the Yangtze River that I could see from a distance when we first came to the city. There was a grand view of the great Yangtze River from the higher levels of the temple. Several ships were conducting their business at ports alongside the wide river. After we left the temple, we played some games of pool at an entertainment center. In China, people call pool "snooker" because it closely resembles a sport of the same name that is frequently broadcasted on television. Nathan developed some feelings for the classroom teacher named Ms. Wang, so he bought a beautiful wooden comb for her while we were out, and that gave me the idea to buy something for Summer since I would have at least one more chance to see her at dinner time. Daler's nephew took us to a modern jewelry store where there were mostly stone-carved necklaces in the shape of Buddha among other things inside of glass cases. I chose one small necklace that had a light-green disc-shaped stone on it for Summer, and Daler's nephew bought it for me since I couldn't communicate with the store clerks. Later that evening, Nathan and I went by ourselves to a restaurant to meet our friends. There they served something called hotpot. It's a big pot full of water that is placed on a burner in the center of the table that heats up the water that is divided into spicy and non-spicy sides. Food is then ordered and the waiting staff bring it over on a cart where the food has been placed uncooked on small plates. Customers can then place the food they want cooked on either side depending on individual tastes. Most people do not like to cook their food on the spicy side because although the food doesn't burn the mouth on the way down, it can put the churn on your stomach worse than rolling down a giant hill with a stomach full of jalapenos. Some of the common dishes to order for hotpot are crab, mushrooms, sprouts, beef shavings, tofu noodles, rice noodles, tiny hard-boiled eggs, and thin potato slices. Our friends met us at the restaurant and we sat down at one of their larger hotpot tables. Summer instantly noticed a big bulge in my pocket. She said, "What's that? Do you have a gift for someone?" She knew I had a gift, but she didn't know it was for her. I was having second thoughts about giving it to her, but Jackie and Jane knew my plan, so they encouraged me to give it to her. Jane told me to "catch the chances," which was a slogan from the summer camp used to encourage students to catch the chances to speak English. So I finally took the necklace out of the box and showed it to Summer. She was very surprised. She had no idea I had any feelings for her since I had cleverly disguised them, but she accepted it and let me put it around her neck. Jane told us we had a bright future ahead of us if we could survive all of the obstacles in front of us. Candy kept smiling and drawing hearts in the air with her two pointer fingers. In one aspect, the necklace represented the newly established connection between Summer and I, but it was also symbolic of her family name. She said it was strange that I chose that particular necklace because of what it represented about her family, and she had plans to buy one herself someday. That was a lucky pick. |
| China Dispatch/Andrew Gramling Summer love |
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