Adventures in Guangzhou!

I had my second language lesson today and boy was it a workout. My tutor really pushed me and I appreciated it. I can now successfully say numbers, times of day, days of the week, and a couple of other random things. As it turns out, my tones have been okay so far, but my pronunciation skills have been lacking. I don't know what it's called, but the u with the diacritic mark over it (the umlaut) is killing me. My mouth simply does not want to make that sound, but I'm working on it. In concurrence with the old adage that when it rains it pours, I now have contact info for a couple of other tutors, after I struggled forever to find one. Apparently it is the expat way to try out a few until you find one you really like, so this weekend I will be meeting up with #2, a grad student at the university next door. Her name is Cherry and she has entertainingly awkward English. Sounds promising...

One of my friends and co-workers has been after to me to play tennis with him for the past few weeks so I finally obliged today. I think I was asking for it when I told him at the outset that I really enjoy tennis (true) and that I play (barely true). So for the first time since gym class with Coach Coursey back in senior year of high school, I picked up a tennis racquet. I wish I could say that I staged a major Andre Agassi-like comeback, but that would be a lie. We ended up playing doubles with two other teachers and while I wasn't embarassed, I definitely got worked around the court quite a bit. I hit a number of forehand winners which was satisfying. Unfortunately I also hit an almost equal number of backhand shots that went straight up or behind me. Oh well. It was actually really fun though--I think I'll play again soon. The only annoying thing is that the court is right out in the open by the student dorms and I unwittingly drew a serious crowd just by playing. Not much I can do about that one though.

On a more serious note, Steven and I held our "English Corner" free-form conversation session today in which any student could show up and chat with us. As per the precedent apparently set by Melissa and Sonja, the two PiA-ers here last year, we had it out in the courtyard of the academic buildings on a very pretty little bridge. My side of the conversation was pretty tame as several students asked me about applying to American colleges, but Steven had a slightly more interesting conversation. One of his students asked him if he had any black friends and he responded with a yes. The students on his side were somewhat surprised and told him that they are all scared of black people. This is the first time I've heard it in such a direct way, but sadly, it is not the first time I've gotten that impression from the Chinese.

What I don't know is the true source of the fear. I'm guessing that some amount of American media infiltration is responsible, but it has to be more than that. Did an African or African-American commit some type of heinous crime here? I tend to doubt it, at least nothing that a Chinese had not done already. So what is it? This is an issue that I would like to explore further because I think it's indicative of an overall racial tension in the country. While the government would like people to think that everyone is treated equally and that no one is discriminated against, that's just blatantly untrue. At this point we are well aware of the various minority groups around the country that do not get the same opportunities in school, occupations, or religion. I get the feeling that anyone who is not Han-Chinese is generally starting out with a couple strikes against them before that at-bat even starts. Whatever it is, I am very curious and would like to find out more.

On a less serious note, Steven and I made a major purchase yesterday and coughed up the dough for a couch. It's not exactly a luxurious Italian leather foldout, but it should do the trick for anyone who wants to crash with us (not to mention making movie-watching more pleasant). We have a nice sized "sofa" here already, but it happens to be of the traditional-Chinese variety meaning it's all wood. I think our gluteus muscles will thank us for this one. The process of buying the thing was pretty painless, but figuring out how and when they would deliver it was more of a challenge. Or perhaps I should say IS more of a challenge since we don't actually have it yet. It was supposed to be here this afternoon but I got a call on my cell from someone speaking top-speed mandarin that apparently said it could not be done (or so Steven translated). Check with me at 7:30pm tomorrow night and I'll let you know if we need to go crack some skulls over at the Park & Shop.

As if I needed more to do, I managed to locate all four seasons of 24 on DVD and now I'm screwed. Those of you who watch the show know what I'm talking about. Those of you who don't, I highly recommend you check out season one. Just don't do it when you have anything to do for about four or five days in a row because I promise you will be unable to turn it off. A.C.-sorry buddy. Looks like I'm going to have to do seasons three and four in your absence, unless you want to take off a week of work and head over here. Let me know--I'll wait for that.

Otherwise, I'm trying to figure out what to do for my week off at the beginning of October. Anybody want to rally for a party in Hangzhou? Yangshuo? Let me know.