Monday, July 9, 2001

From: Meg Thomsen meginchina@yahoo.com
Subject: Chrysanthemums in the morning.

Life is still pretty great in China. It's hot as Hades, I drop into bed exhausted every night after six hours of language class, I've been sick for the last two weeks, but I love it here anyway. I love that whenever I leave the house, strangers invite me over for dinner to welcome the foreigner to town. I love that the town shuts down for three hours in the afternoon so everyone can take a nap. I love the view of the river from the little restaurant on the corner, and I love watching giant groups of people huddled around a mah jongg game. I love that I never have any idea what's going on, and I really love that I never know what's going to happen next!

For example, the other day, I went home for lunch. That morning Qin Xiaonu, my host mother has mentioned that a few people would come out to lunch with us at a restaurant. When I got home, it turned out that English teachers that lived hours away had travelled to Deyang to talk with a native English speaker! So, we went and had a banquet at this super-fancy restaurant, me and twenty people who had travelled to Deyang to meet an American. So I told them about American history, different cities and popular sports. I praised all of the food in Mandarin, and talked in terrible French (the last time I took French was in the eighth grade, and I wasn't the best student) to the one French teacher in the mix. I sang a Sichuanese folk song for them and ate an unbelievable amount of food.

Something is always happening in China.

Last week (or was it two weeks ago, I've forgotten), I went into downtown Chengdu with a group of friends. It was a rather eventful trip-- when we finally found a taxi that would take five people, it promptly ran into another taxi, so we had to get out and walk. We walked for about an hour, and finally we reached our destination, The Highfly Cafe. Walking in, I ran into two friends from Boston! Katie and Punzak had just gotten married the week before, and were travelling to Tibet for a wedding ceremony with Punzak's family. There are coincidences, and there are occurences and meetings which are meant to be.

I'd better go home now, it is nearly time for lunch. Qin Xiounu has been trying a series of remedies for my finicky stomach. This morning's chrysanthemum and hawberry tea was the best so far. Yesterday's Muslim bagels that another volunteer brought from Kunming (a mere twelve-hour trip by train) helped, too.

Be happy, I miss you folks!

Lovelovelove,
Meg