| Jackie, Summer, Nathan, Candy, Angel, and I sat down at a group table inside of KFC, which had reached its maximum occupancy and still had big lines in front of the registers. Jackie and Summer ordered a big bucket of chicken and some other side orders and then returned to our table. The food didn't taste quite the same as it did in America, almost like it was healthier and cooked with less grease. Unfortunately, some of the flavor was also missing with the grease. Summer asked both Nathan and I what we were going to do since we left Daler's "protective care."Nathan was going to return to America in the beginning of August anyways, so all he had to decide was where he would spend his last few days in China. I told Summer that I was probably going to try to find some work in Italy because there was an old family friend who lived there that could help me find a job. I wasn't satisfied with the short amount of time I had been away from the United States, so I was willing to do anything to keep from going back so soon. Jackie laughed at me because he thought the idea sounded a little absurd, but Summer got a sad look on her face that she tried to conceal. They both said that they would take care of me until I was ready to leave the country. After we made it back to our hotel by taxi, Nathan and I decided we were going to venture across the street into the Nighthawk Bar. The bar was a little small and square-shaped on the inside, and there was a service area in the center that surrounded a dance stage in the middle where two young women were pole-dancing, with a projection screen playing videos and speakers in the background playing Chinese dance music that I recognized from the bar we all went to in Anqing with Daler after the first summer camp. We sat down among the crowd of bar patrons circled around the service area and stage. Everyone was focused on the dancers, who were illuminated by the colorfully lighted dance floor beneath them, which was a contrast to the dimly lit room. I once told Nathan about a story when I was living in Florida when I got so drunk at a bar one night that I didn't care about anything. My favorite thing to say was, "I don't give a s@$*!" about anything to anyone, but it wasn't because I was angry. I was just so happy that nothing concerned me, and I was still able to remember it all clearly somehow. I was so carefree that night that I probably would have blown off receiving news that my car had been stolen. That same carefree emotion got me into a bit of trouble later that night as my old friend foolishly led me on a false mission into the dark and dangerous streets of Florida, where my artificially induced friendliness was unreciprocated by some other young people who were a bit more sober than I was. The story had become an endless source of humor between Nathan and I during our teaching at the summer camps, so while we were at the Nighthawk Bar, I dared Nathan to get so drunk that he started talking like that because I thought it would be funny. But I didn't know what a low tolerance he had. He was only 19 years old, and hadn't reached the heavy drinking stage yet, if ever he would. After about five beers, Nathan started feeling nauseous and had to go to one of the bathroom stalls in the back hallway. Each stall stood side by side in a hallway with lockable doors, where there was no differentiation between genders. Inside each stall, there was a flush toilet in the middle that was built directly into the floor with no seat, though it was all of modern design. Many public bathrooms don't include toilet paper because of fear that it will be taken, so it was usually necessary for people to bring their own at a public restroom, or W.C. (water closet) as they call them. I tried to help Nathan as he was on his hands and knees vomiting, but there wasn't much I could do for him besides stand there and give him verbal support and a presence to count on. After he expelled much of the poison from his body, I helped him back across the street to our hotel room and apologized to him profusely for encouraging him to reach a new level of drunkenness, but he wasn't upset at all. Nathan usually kept his emotions ruled by temperance, but sometimes he would react to events with rare bursts of emotion. The next morning, Summer came to our hotel early with her younger sister Amy, who wore a cute hat and had long pigtails coming out the sides of her head. They brought some breakfast items for us to eat, and some thin clear plastic cups with straws that had sweet flavored soymilk, and some little squishy balls of sugar inside called pearls. Amy was much more reserved and introspective than Summer, but the friendliness still seemed to be there. She knew Summer and I were involved with each other, so she teased Summer about it whenever she could, almost as though Amy was the older of the two, but Amy was about four years younger than her sister. The four of us had nothing serious to do that day, so we went shopping at different areas near the city center. There was one place we went to called "The Walking Street." It was a wide street with no place to drive that was meant only for pedestrians, and was lined from beginning to end with mostly clothing stores and a few restaurants. There was also a big and flashy KTV there and some open areas where people sometimes have fashion shows and other live performances. Some of the taller downtown buildings that surrounded the Walking Street could be seen rising up in the distance over the small clothing stores. There were also many small stands where cooks would sell their food products that took little time to cook. Some of the stands sold barbecued items like whole fish, lamb meat, corn on the cob, hunks of bread, vegetables, hot dogs on a stick, and other foods. The food was usually cooked on two metal rods that dually pierced through a line of each food item like a shish kebab. The Walking Street appeared to be the main shopping area in Hefei for younger people. I saw many adolescents wearing brightly colored casual clothing or clothes with western themes. Many of them were styled in a fashion that seemed to demand attention, almost like the counter-culture in the United States. Some of the young men and women I saw liked to dye their hair different colors and sport a spikey-haired, anime-style look. Some others who were a little older and/or more conservative wore business suits or beautiful dresses. One popular hairstyle that was common to many men of all ages was a low-cut flattop haircut. None of the people I saw displayed their fashion in a forceful or hostile manner, and were usually surrounded by an aura of calm and peace even if their faces looked sad or troubled, except for many of the hard physical laborers whose spirits had been superseded by the physical strength that was necessary to build and destroy China. Everyone could exist within the same space without giving each other looks of disapproval or harassment because of differences. Most of the people I saw had thin, well-proportioned bodies because many people believe in eating a balanced diet of healthy foods. Actually, the word balance seemed to be one of the key words that could be used to describe present-day China because most things seem to happen in a set way that rarely shows evidence of independent thought from what I was able to observe. I also didn't see so many people with robust physiques trying to be the number one gangster on the streets. Most of the physically adept people I saw were part of the military, and could sometimes be seen running down the streets in large groups wearing green or light turquoise army fatigues, or posted in small groups on guard duty at a shopping center or other kind of store that needed security. But even they didn't seem very intimidating, regardless of their size and training. There would also be minivans that would drive up in front of banks for money exchanges where two heavily armored guards would jump out with combat shotguns and stand in front of the entrance to the bank waiting for another man to go in and make the transaction. It could happen unexpectedly at anytime anywhere there was a bank. One time I had to pass by very closely to one of the guards because some cars were blocking my path, and the only way to go was in between some cars very close to him. I walked by, about a foot away from him, and he followed me with his eyes without turning his head and looked as though he was more afraid of me than I was of him. He was probably wondering where this strange foreigner came from and why he was walking so close to him and his shotgun when every other job he had done was rather routine. Summer criticized me for wearing darker clothing, saying that it made me look old, so she pushed me to buy some bright and colorful clothing. She said it would also help to bring my sunshine qualities closer to the surface. Many of the clothing stores we went to had shop assistants that would stand near the entrances dressed in identical uniforms that looked like colorful street or sports clothing, and sometimes they wore visors on their heads. Most of the stores had the pull down steel doors that were left open instead of swinging doors so customers could enter and exit quickly and easily. Many of the shop assistants couldn't believe their eyes when they would see us come into their stores. They would stop whatever they were doing and quickly come over to see what we were doing, sometimes following us all around the store with wide-eyed curiosity. The Walking Street was intersected by other small streets that led out to Changjiang Road, which ran parallel to the Walking Street. At the intersections, there were many motorcycle taxis and three-wheeler taxis congregating in large groups, waiting for anyone who needed a ride while the drivers, mostly middle-aged and older, smoked their cigarettes and talked to each other. There were also many car taxis crossing The Walking Street in front of them that were usually already occupied. The Walking Street was blocked from motor vehicles by heavy marble spheres that were lined up securely in place at each intersection where many people filtered across while avoiding the bumper to bumper traffic that sometimes slowed to a stop. At lunchtime, Summer led us all to a Pizza Hut that was near the end of the Walking Street. There was a big line out front to get inside where the restaurant workers took names, like at a Hollywood club, but no one was getting rejected for entry. We only had to be patient and wait our turn. The people who worked there seemed to treat Pizza Hut as though it were a high-class restaurant and were dressed to match the attitude. The prices of pizza were high by Chinese standards, probably because Pizza Hut wanted to make a profit that justified being there, since the value of the U.S. dollar is multiplied by eight in China. That would also explain why the place was high-class. Who would want to go to an expensive restaurant without the service that comes with it? Summer and Amy thought I was crazy when I ordered a small Hawaiian-style pizza with ham and pineapples on it. I think they would have had more of a chance to find that acceptable if they grew up in the U.S., although some people who grow up here also think it's crazy. |
| China Dispatch/Andrew Gramling On the streets of Hefei |
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