| In the end of August, Summer would be going off to school in South Korea, so the time we spent together during our vacation was very important to us since she would be gone for at least three years. Summer pushed me to cut off my mustache and beard because it wasn't stylish in China. The whole time I was there, I probably saw less than 100 men with any facial hair. Nathan was refused by Ms. Wang (from the first summer camp) because she already had a boyfriend, but he got over it quickly and was free for the care of another. Jane had hoped to work her way into Nathan's heart while we were visiting the mountains, but he kept up an invisible wall of ice around himself that she couldn't penetrate. Jane never had a boyfriend before, like Summer, and probably could have used a lesson in courtship, even though her heart was very sweet. Time went by faster than we expected, and it was time for Nathan and I to join with Daler, Betty, and Willimas to go to Xuan Cheng for the second summer camp. None of our other friends from the first summer camp would be there, except Franklin and Caro, who would meet us there later. On the last day that the four of us could be together, Summer and Jane bought going-away gifts that they presented to us at one of the McDonald's in Anqing. McDonald's in China doesn't look quite the same on the outside, but it is nearly identical to the ones in America on the inside. The only differences were that there weren't any drive-throughs; I couldn't communicate with the restaurant workers; and all the menus were printed in Mandarin. When I wasn't with a friend who could speak Chinese, the cashiers would often look at me and ask, "Ni ting bu dong?" which means "You don't understand?" I would just look back at them and shake my head while feeling a little vulnerable because it publicly exposed my inability to speak Chinese. All I could do was point and nod when they said something, even though I didn't know what most of it meant. They could have said I smelled like dead sewer rats and fried dirty diapers for all I knew, as I made blind affirmation to their words, but they didn't seem to be too bothered by my ignorance. When we were all seated after ordering our food, Jane pulled out a glass monkey figurine with some Chinese writing on it that she bought for me because she knew my Chinese zodiac sign was the monkey. Summer bought me some clothes and a very small turtle ornament as kind of a joke because I told her that someone once said I looked like a turtle. Once again I had a sad feeling about parting with Summer, though to a much lesser degree than the first time. I thought this would be the last time for sure since I would begin teaching at the middle school in Anqing as soon as the second summer camp in Xuan Cheng was over, and she would go back to Hefei to live her final days in China before going off to school in Korea. But this time, Summer shared my sadness. She explained to me that she would have to take off the necklace I gave her when she went back to Hefei because she didn't want to explain to her parents where she got it. Her mother and father wanted her to concentrate on her studies rather than get distracted by a boyfriend. She also didn't know what they would think if she told them she had a foreigner boyfriend. We walked out of McDonald's onto the street near Anqing's busy downtown area where there were endless streams of people and traffic moving past us. It was time for a sad goodbye between friends. When Summer and I hugged each other, she released me forcefully and started crying as she yelled something in Chinese. Since I wasn't sure when I would see her again, I tried to say to her "I love you," but she said back to me "I don't love you." When she said that, I felt angry, sad, and confused all at the same time. I said to her, "No? Then why are you crying?" And she told me it was because she had something in her eyes, as if I hadn't heard that one before. But Summer couldn't keep a reservoir of tears from pouring out of her eyes as she and Jane waved goodbye to Nathan and I as we boarded a taxi on the other side of the street, and rode away to meet Daler at his training school. The next morning, Betty, Nathan, and I took a bus to Xuan Cheng, and Mr. Wang, Daler, and Willimas followed behind us in Daler's van. The buses in China that travel between cities are usually close to full because the drivers will often wait until they are satisfied with the number of passengers before leaving. Sometimes the bus is so full that there are people with no seat, crouching or standing in the middle of the aisle. The bus makes what appear to be random stops on the side of the road to pick up passengers all throughout the trip, or maybe they aren't random, considering my ignorance of what goes on in China. In one of the stops just outside of Anqing, our bus picked up a young lady who was one of the classroom teachers for the second camp, but I didn't know who she was yet, though she caught my attention for some reason. The bus ride was about two hours long, and finally we arrived at Xuan Cheng, another city in Anhui province about as small as Anqing, but seemed to be less significant. We arrived at the school, which was much bigger than the first school we taught in Anqing. The school stood lonely by itself in a quiet part of the city. Within the school's outer walls were two five-storey classroom buildings, one in front of the other. Across from the buildings were two large dormitories, equal in size to the classroom buildings, that stood adjacent to one another. In the middle of the school grounds was a soccer field surrounded by a running track. Next to the field on one side was a basketball court, and on another side of the field were some ping-pong tables. It looked like there was no excuse for being bored at this school. Everything was run much like the first summer camp, but I had less enthusiasm because so many of our new friends were in other places. I also think I was feeling a bit sour after what Summer said to me the last time I saw her, whether she meant it or not. I didn't make many connections with the classroom teachers as I did at the first summer camp, but I did play a lot of sports with the students in my free time. They especially liked to gather around the tables laughing and cheering as we played ping-pong together. We all had a great time. One time I tried playing soccer with them while wearing some big cowboy boots I had bought in New Mexico since I didn't have any other shoes with me, but that didn't work too well. When I tried to kick the ball and score a goal, I tripped myself up and fell onto the dusty field on my hands and knees because of my clumsy footwear. Here I was trying to look like "The Godfather Part II" in front of the students, and then I did something so embarrassing. Jim, the biggest kid in the summer camp, who must have weighed at least 50 pounds more than me, came charging toward me and the ball at full-speed and managed to crash straight into my head stretching my neck out and twisting my head around as I tried to get back up off the ground. That made me wonder if he was trying to get the ball, or trying to take me out since he missed the ball completely. But the pain I suffered from Jim's freight train tactics quickly diminished after I stood up and scored a goal instantly. Bill, the student classroom monitor who had been watching the game from one of the classrooms, smiled at me after the playing was over and said, "I saw you playing football, but your playing was not good." I blamed everything on the cowboy boots, though being out of practice didn't help either. Many of the students would practice their oral English performances with me and the other foreign teachers in our dorm rooms when it was almost time to go to sleep, but especially Jim. He had a lot of determination to score high marks on his performances, and he showed his appreciation of my willingness to help him by giving me food and drinks while we practiced his English together, with a view of the soccer field and singing nocturnal insects outside the dorm window for background music. Daler originally decided to put all of us foreign teachers in dorm rooms with our students to give them more English speaking time, but we objected to the idea. We wanted at least a little time in our day when we could rest and not have to teach anyone. While I was still living in New Mexico, I worked at a Sara Lee bread plant with a man who picked up the nickname "The Wolf" from his fellow gang members when he was younger. The man was a fitness freak because he wanted to remain the unofficial "Head of operations" at Sara Lee. He could do 1,500 pushups in about two hours and run 12 miles everyday. Anyone who was foolish enough to challenge him at Sara Lee was dealt with severely, and he was never fired because of union rules. He even had the supervisor in tears over his own safety once. I was heavily inspired by his physical abilities, and continued exercising intensely even after I came to China. Sometimes my students would come into my dorm room as I was doing exercises and circle around me cheering me on and staring in amazement. When I stood up after finishing my exercises one time, one of the students, who was a bit of a trickster, came up to me and put his fists up. He appeared to want to test my strength, so I let him have a try. He punched me in the chest alternating between fists as fast as he could making "Ya ya ya!" sounds, and after about five seconds, his hands went limp and he turned around saying something in Chinese that seemed to indicate that he was in a great deal of pain. The other students laughed at him as he walked out of the dorm room. |
| China Dispatch/Andrew Gramling Summer tears: of joy and pain |
 |
 |