Ahmir, Rex and I had set off to our first Japanese restaurant at 7pm the night before. The restaurants seem to close at 9pm in Wuhu so there's none of the European late-night dining here. In fact, everything seems to happen earlier in the day here! Anyway, it was a fantastic meal and I am slowly picking up titbits of Chinese, with the help of Rex and others at Aston School.
After a bit of sake, Ahmir and I decided to join Rex and his friends at a club, one of only about three in Wuhu. It really was like nowhere else I have ever been. It was like an English club in appearance but certain differences will stick in my mind for a while, I'm sure. For instance, tom and jerry was showing on the TV screeens when we arrived (random!?) and later on people danced in friendship groups around their tables to the Chinese pop/R&B that the DJ was playing, as opposed to on a dance floor. It was nothing like the drunken meatmarkets I experienced at Uni and, while there were loads of people there, it lacked the messy, sweaty, drunken atmosphere of the Wedge or similar clubs. Another difference was that you can buy a whole bottle of the spirit you want and they'll keep whatever you don't drink for you behind the bar with your name on it. That way, you can just come back and resume drinking next time - genius methinks!?
Upon arriving back at our flat, we found poor Joe standing outside looking more than a bit crestfallen. He had been on the landing for over an hour and a half because his key had broken off in the door. To cut a long story short, after a couple of hours we eventually got into the flat - Caroline was woken up and came from her house in a taxi to let us in through another entrance. Unfortunately, this episode did mean my sleep was cut short by too many hours for my liking!
I had not had a shower, eaten anything or even put on make-up (!), but I did meet Rex and get to No. 11 Middle School by 7.43am on Friday morning. I was not feeling particularly inspired but that actually changed quickly. Indeed, Friday's lessons with the Junior high school was another eye-opener. From my experience of being at school at their age, I was not expecting such friendly, enthusiastic, playful adolescents. As far as I can tell, most 12 and 13 year olds in England are too cool, for example, to get excited by Girls vs Boys quizzes, to giggle at the mention of a famous and gorgeous popstar, or to volunteer that they love their mother and father very much; they are more interested in taking up smoking.
However, they were so sweet and I really enjoyed teaching them. I think the point is that they remain children for a bit longer here, which is so refreshing to see and it makes the teaching process a lot more fun. Their standard of English continues to astound me as does their fascination in foreigners - I was surrounded at breaktime with children who wanted my autograph!!!!
After school I would probably have been quite happy to veg in front of a DVD or read a book but Ahmir and I were taken by Rex and Neil to Wuhu Guan Ji Si, which is a Buddhist temple about twenty minutes walk out of the centre of town. It is situated in a large, well-kept public park with a hill that emerges from amongst the trees, which we climbed and got great views of the sprawling city. Although I didn't see them, there are public exercise machines in this park and plenty of people go for runs and do Tai chi early in the morning there, too. I'll be returning soon - it sounds like just my thing! The Buddhist temple was really impressive but I wished I knew more about the religion and what the colourful drapes and statues actually meant.
On Friday evening Caroline took Paul, Ahmir, Joe and me out for a Korean meal. I think it was intended as a bonding exercise for her foreign teachers (or at least the ones who have arrived - we still are waiting for two more). She warned us that it was highly likely that we would appear in the local media at some point in the next few months; in magazines, on the radio or even on TV! We all found that hilarious, of course, but Joe seemed really quite keen to be cast as the 'gruff love interest' in a Chinese soap opera. Most of the Korean food was like nothing I have tried before. Strange and wondrous dishes that we all shared, with tastes similar to Chinese food but with their own distinct identities too.
At about 9pm we separated from Caroline and started drinking at the flat. The wine was called 'Great Wall' but we concluded that it may be 'Great Wall' but it is crap wine. We persevered though because we knew what was ahead for us that night: Chinese Karaoke. In China, it is really popular and most young people go quite regularly. The difference between the Chinese version and the version I have avoided participating in at home is that, in China, friends hire out little rooms and can take in their own drinks and snacks to make it a far more intimate affair. I cannot sing and I didn't think I would like it much but, if I'm honest, we all has a really good night. There were 8 of us in total and none of us took ourselves too seriously so it was just a good laugh - the cheesy Chinese videos for Western songs were so funny. I just can't wait until my next visit to KTV...! x
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