Summer of Service

You may be wondering why the title of this entry is 17 Mile. One word: Karaoke. Crazy karaoke. It was an interesting cultural fusion--American music in a distinctly Chinese setting with distinctly unreadable button commands in Mandarin.

Just to clarify, this is Mike Vinson and Chris Schlegel. We're doing a lil' two-for-one blog time. It's great.

So back to last night: we sang our little hearts out, Rory holding it down with a rousing 'Men in Black,' Francine busting out 'Waterfalls,' the rest of us trying desperately to match that performance with our tambourining/maraca-ing/yelling/harmonizing. (Crazy four-part harmony on all Backstreet Boys tunes.)

On a more serious note: Beijing is an absolutely busy place. Busy in all aspects--lots of people, lots of cars, buses merging into those cars, cars merging into bikes and pedestrians. The city is being built at a fever pitch in preparation for a post-2006 construction ban, so the smog is, at times, a little overwhelming. Back at the hostel at the end of the day we do our best to scrape the 'Beijing film' off our bodies. But we love it.

As for Mike's Chinese ability: it's ungodly. He has conversed with more people than could possibly be advisable, including female hotel clerks, Chinese tourists at the Forbidden City, &c., &c. Today he talked with a cabbie who loved translating Mike's and Lisa's second Chinese skit into English.

Oh, and the dialogues. The first was performed for many folk, most impressively at the Hot Pot in the Hutang last night. It was at times a bit difficult to follow but involved Mike and Lisa greeting each other, fighting, and ultimately parting on poor terms. They rectified the situation by the second.

Skit the First:

L: How are you?
M: I am fine, and you?
L: I'm fine.
M: Um...that's good. Um...how are your parents?
L: They're fine, and yours?
M: My parents are not fine.
L: Why?
M: I arrived in Beijing yesterday. Beijing is in the People's Republic of China.
L: You are a bad son.
M: I know, I know [head in hands, anguished].
L: Oh I'm sorry, I'm sorry. You are a good person.
M: Thank you, thank you.
L: I love you.
M: I love you too, but you [edited].
L: I don't want you...goodbye!!
M: I don't want you either...goodbye...

Skit the Second [immediately following S v1.0]

M: I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I love you.
L: Thank you.
M: Where did you go today?
L: I went to the bar.
M: Did you have fun?
L: Yes, very much fun.
M: What did you drink?
L: I drank green tea. Do you like green tea?
M: No, I do not like green tea. I like beer.
L: I like beer too.
M: Very good! Let's go to the bar.
L: Let's go! Very good!

[End]

So that's it for the skits. In all honesty, we're trying our best as a group to communicate. Chris went up to a few people today at the Temple of Heaven proudly announcing that the People's Republic of China would last for 10,000 years. Mike taught him everything he knows.

Mike's deep thought: 'It seems as though you can learn so much here if you just leave your ego at the door.'

Chris's deep thought: 'It's a bit anecdotal, but the Chinese people I've encountered don't mind if you speak Mandarin to them. Even if it's horrific Mandarin.'

Enough for now. We're super-duper excited about English teaching--a few of us taught a vendor today how to say 'Olympics.' Or we tried to teach. But we're ready for Jishou.

M & C.