Gentle Reader,
This was a "yuen fun" day... a day filled with many happy coincidences. It was a day, too, filled with the power of music as the universal language. And as Scott put it on our way home, "Being in China is like being on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride over and over again!" Yes! Yes!
We said goodbye to Scott's student Li today, as he had to return to Foshon City. He will be riding the train for 21 hours to get to his home. We were so grateful to see him here, and we shared many adventures with him the last four days. I will elaborate on these adventures in another blog entry.
Today... our first serendipitous adventure was in the downtown area, right after we had been to the Buddhist Temple. We heard some clanging of cymbals outside, near a pavillion. It was the hottest day yet here in Guiyang, so everyone was seeking shady spots. The rhythmic cymbals were emanating from a group of very old women, all of whom were dancing in a circle around a tree. They each held scarves or fans or pieces of cloth, and they waved the to the beat of the cymbals. They were having one grand ole time! Then, they moved underneath one of the pavillions and took turns singing into a microphone, with two people playing the Erhu, a popular two-stringed instrument in China. They were clearly singing familiar songs, which we assumed might be popular folk songs. There was such liveliness in this gathering, and they quickly motioned for us to join them under the pavillion. Before I knew it, they were putting the microphone in my hands, pressing me toward the center of the pavillion to sing. So... I sang the old Irving Berlin tune, "It's a Lovely Day Tomorrow." Then, sensing they were craving something they could clap or tap their toes to, I sang a rousing chorus of "Skidamirink a dink a doo I love you." Twas a real crowd pleaser, and the fact that we understood very little of what each other actually said, made no difference whatsoever. We bonded over the music, and that made all the difference.
When I was first moving toward the pavillion of dancing/singing women, Scott was approached by a man from Guiyang. He just chatted him up a bit, as many do when they see "foreigners" here in Guiyang. Keep in mind that Guiyang is not a touristy place at all. We are living amongst the locals, experiencing life day to day in a pretty darn genuine fashion. This man then showed Scott a laminated card and a box. Our first thought was that this was a sales pitch of some sort. However, the man just opened the box, revealing a beautiful jade piece of jewelry. He gave some happy-to-meet you kinds of gestures, and gave Scott every indication that the jade was his to keep. Another adventure on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride today!
After our meanderings through the park, we went to Highlands Coffee Shoppe, which is run by an American named Chris. He became our buddy the last time we stopped in at the coffee shoppe, offering us restaurant suggestions which both proved to be excellent. While waiting for our coffee and mocha smoothie, a young Chinese woman and her mother began to chat us up. The mother spoke no English, but she kept feeding questions to the daughter, who spoke quite good English, to ask us. We discovered her name was Claire and that she was a university student in Beijing, home for the summer. She was happy for the opportunity to practice her English. Her major has something to do with working on translations for Chinese soap operas and film. Anyway, we talked for a long time, and then her mother invited us to dinner. We assumed this was an invitation to her home, but we learned a bit later that she wanted to take us out to a restaurant. Although Scott was a bit hesitant, as he didn't want to impose, I encouraged us to respond with a "yes" to this most generous invitation to strangers.
Sidenote: Scott then referred to this as my "zipline moment." His zipline moment occurred on Saturday when he took the plunge on a zipline across the landscape of the Cave Park we visited. He flew across in nothing but a barebones sort of harness. To say that my heart was plunged into my stomach is an understatement. And yes, indeed, he was waving as he flew across the zipline. He was joined by Li on the zipline, and both of them were completely exhilarated after this wild ride!
Anyway... back to today... We ended up going to a restaurant with Claire and her mother. Her father and two other friends, one of whom was Claire's former English teacher, also showed up at the restaurant. The food was tremendous, but the company was even more fabulous! Claire's father sang for us in this deeply resonant, lyrical voice: Chinese songs as well as Russian songs. They then asked me to sing, and the evening turned into a wonderful swapfest of songs. We all knew "Eidelweiss" and "Do Re Mi, " which turned into a beautiful collection of voices. The father even sang a love song to the mother. Scott and I harmonized singing "You are my Sunshine." Again, the power of song to build bridges and to truly be the universal language. This was a most lovely evening... and after an exchange of email address, we now have many new friends.
I will talk about the issues we discussed at the table in the next blog. Questions about human rights were raised by the father, as well as Scott and Claire discovering that they are both jazz percussionists. A day filled with Yuen Fun... happy coincidences of people meeting!
May you, too have moments of Yuen Fun today and everyday...
Namaste,
Bai Ling
No comments:
Post a Comment