Dumplings

There is a glass wall between me and the Chinese people. It separates us from the understandings about our cultures, foods, the life we live and what we have both gone through in the past. This glass wall may never be broken. We may understand a lot about each other, but it is only a small dent compared to how much there really is to understand. Many may never break this glass, but I know it can be cracked, and if I crack it large enough, I will be able to understand much more than many others understand about this world. Just being here gives me the knowledge I need to to know things about China that I can write down and capture in my own mind. Hopefully, someday, I will pass on that knowledge to someone else, and then that person will pass it on to more and more individuals until eventually it will be as if the whole world is one organism in mind, and that glass will finally be cracked, crushed, pounded down and let us see a clear view of our so very different worlds.

It is my third week in Jinan. For the last six days I have unfortunately been ill. My throat, eyes, stomach and nose are all exhausted from pain and tired from fighting off the sickness. I am still tired and sluggish not wanting to leave my room, not wanting to do anything other than rest. Lai Si doesn't understand how bad it has all been. She filled me with medicine and thought that is what I needed. I needed to sleep, I needed to give my body a rest from the alien things I have been doing and eating. Changing my diet is a large part of the reason and it is hard to take it slower and eat things I normally do.

It is very beautiful outside, but right now,I only care about covering my eyes to block off the light and not move until the sun goes down. I got up anyway, just in case today is anything like what happened yesterday.

I had not wanted to do a thing but sleep. La Si and her husband urged me to get into some nice clothes, put make up on, dress warm and come with her outside to meet her friend.

I got dressed, but I didn't care about wearing anything nice. I washed my face but left it blank and I had no desire to look pretty today.

I went downstairs and out the door with Lai Si. We went out to the gated entrance. We saw her friend and her friends daughter coming towards us. The woman was in high heels, fancy clothes and she was wearing sun glasses. Her daughter was wearing long pants, a long sleeve shirt with a light jacket and bright blue shoes her mom got her from America. She was very tall and skinny with short black hair. she wore eye glasses and continued to text on her cell phone as she walked to meet us.

I said hello trying not to show my sick face, but Lai Si explained to them I wasn't feeling well. I thought I was going to go back to the apartment with her, but she left me with these strangers and so I walked with them to the pharmacy which was very close by. They bought warm tea that tasted very sweet. I tried to refuse but there faces told me that it was very good and that it would make me feel better. I knew it was going to be a long day with these people. They knew it too, and so through the journey, in order to keep me alive, they were going to stuff me with different medicines to keep me functioning to help their daughter practice her English. The girl was always stumbling, she was very clumsy and embarrassed to be with me for some reason. She was always afraid to say the wrong things and fought a lot with her parents telling them she doesn't want to translate, or that she can't say a certain word. She knows more English then I do Chinese, but she was very modest about it.

We first went to their home and they showed me pictures of there family when they went to Washington for a trip. Then they took me to a nice restaurant with even more food I couldn't eat. I took advantage of the fruit and they finally figured out I wasn't having the best time eating sea cucumber and jelly fish or even lambs meat. The mother began to get worried and called the pharmacy. They asked for someone who could speak English. I talked to the women on the phone. She had a strong Chinese accent I could barely understand. Finally I told her I was ok and all I wanted her to tell them was that I didn't want to eat very much and to just let me be and eat the fruit that I had on my plate. They offered me the water, but it was warm and I only felt like drinking cold water like I always did in America. I asked them if they had any ice. They brought out some just for me and it was very nice to know they wanted me to feel comfortable. Their daughters English name is Tabitha. I explained to her what a beautiful name she has and I thought it was nice to know she had such an uncommon, but pretty, name. She only ate cake and sweets for breakfast. The mom and dad got a lot of clams and see cucumbers to mix with their meal. I sat there answering any questions the parents wanted Tabitha to ask in English.

There was a chubby boy sitting across the room going back for seconds then thirds then fourths as I sat and watched him. He was very pleased with the amount he ate when he was finally finished. He had a large grin on his face. He never noticed I was there, well, he knew I was there, of course, but he showed no indication that he cared.

We went back out to the car when we were all finished eating. I had been asked if I needed to use the bathroom before we left, but I decided I would wait until they took me back to the apartment building. I realized, while we were driving, that that is not where we were going because we must have been driving for about 30 minutes. Suddenly, I couldn't hold it anymore. Tabitha was asleep next to me in the car and was the only one that could understand the word "bathroom" in English. I had to wake her up and they finally knew. We stopped at a small motel and had to walk up two floors to get to a bathroom. Tabby's mom went up with me. We finally found a bathroom, but it did not have an actual toilet just a hole in the floor, which was always what I tried to avoid. I have finally been able to get use to it and know what to do in those situations. After I had gone, I felt better but guilty I couldn't tell them earlier until the minute I really needed to.

We finally came to large park, much like the one in the Zoo or at the springs Lai Si took me to. This was another spring park. It was the largest spring display in Jinan and it was very beautifully developed. There were lots of springs and many were very big. My favorite is the black spring. It is so deep and so large, that the water is completely pitch black. It makes me wonder about the history of it and how it became so large and famous. There was also a white spring. It is mainly called the white spring because they made it that way. They put white rocks in the water which continues to make the spring flow in that shade. I think they are beautiful, but think it would be better if they were left to use naturally and not have to pay to see them. On the brick walk way around the park, Tabitha saw very small bubbles and water came out the middle of the two sidewalk bricks. She got out her camera and they all seemed very excited about it. It was funny but I can understand why they think it is so interesting.

I posed for many pictures they took of me and the springs, but my stomach made me uncomfortable and my throat began to get worse. They gave me medicine as we went through the day, but all it was was a clump of sugar and mint flavor. It did no good whatsoever. When we left, we drove even longer after that and came to a large dumpling restaurant. They asked me if I liked dumplings. I told them I do in Chinese and they were very glad about that. But as the dinner party went on, and the food kept piling on the table, I didn't see any dumplings until the very end, when I was already full. I couldn't eat most of the food and I took advantage of the mushrooms and soup. When they brought out the fish they finally asked why I stopped eating, and so I told them (in Chinese) I am full, "wo bou le." At dinner parties, they don't seem to care about this simple disadvantage the stomach has, because if you are full, ignore it and just keep on eating. That night I put my foot down and knew that if I don't want to eat something, I won't eat it, and if I want to stop, I don't care if they don't take no for an answer, they're just going to have to try and put it in my mouth for me.

Lai si has already done this, but I won't continue to let her or anybody else anymore!

So, at the end, I only had two dumplings and we finally drove back to the apartment at about 10:15 pm. Lai Si was waiting for me at the gate. I told them thank you for the experience, I hope to see you soon and good job on your English to Tabitha. They gave me their email address and I gave them mine. They will send me pictures soon and It will give you a better look at where I was all day yesterday.

Good night.