Frank in the news, Colombians and China Daily

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Yeah, I was on the news, on China Daily, a Chinese newspaper published in English. Proud to be Colombian!!!

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/life/2008-07/21/content_6863083.htm

24-hour party people
By Alice Xiang (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-07-21 10:12


Colombians (clockwise from top) Valeria Nicholls, Ricardo Restrepo and Frank Cardenas are all caught up in the frenzy of the Beijing Olympics.

Be gentle on Colombians Ricardo Restrepo and Frank Cardenas today. They are probably recovering from a huge weekend of all-night parties, for yesterday was their national Independence Day.

Restrepo, 23, has called Beijing home since 2006, while Cardenas, 38, has just completed a three-year teaching stint in Zhuhai, Guangdong province.

Restrepo wistfully describes the myriad parades, performances and general merriment that overflow on Colombia's streets during the occasion.

Compatriot Valeria Nicholls, 28, puts the special day in a wider perspective. "In Colombia, we can make a party out of anything," she laughs. "We just find a reason.

"If the soccer team wins, we go out and party and get drunk. If the soccer team loses, we go out and party and get drunk."

The Colombian joie de vivre has always been what drives these South American people and China's small but flourishing expat community is no exception.

Life here for all three was at first chock-full of culture shock and riddled with a sense of displacement.

"Ninety percent of the Colombians who come think we're going to be fluent (in Chinese) in four months, and millionaires in five," says Nicholls, who comes from Colombia's second largest city Medellin.

She cracks a grin implying she's seen all the way through that myth now.

Another frustration is "the pace at which people walk here". Too fast?

"Too slow!" she exclaims.

Her comment would amaze most expats overwhelmed by the capital's bustling chaos. Apparently, people rush about in Medellin at an even more frenetic pace than Beijingers.

Beijing's terrible traffic and smog rank among annoyances for Restrepo, who is also from Medellin.

"There," he smiles, "the weather is like spring all year round." Cardenas, from the village of Salazar de las Palmas, found the "Nowism" and last-minute decisions hardest to adjust to but his endearingly pragmatic TIC (This is China) attitude proved helpful.

Then there were the baffling cultural differences. A jokingly aghast Nicholls describes a tanning encounter in Hainan.

She and a friend were trying to soak up as many rays as possible, whereas two neighboring Chinese women were seated under a large shade, mummy-wrapped in towels with big round hats and tiny umbrellas for their feet.

However, many things have helped smooth the transition, particularly the people they met. Some of Cardenas's best memories are of his students. "I have been teaching for 15 years and never before had I encountered so much respect and generosity," he says.

Nicholls describes one instance when she was out and about and urgently needed to make a phone call. Spotting a policeman, she asked about a nearby payphone; he shot her a strange look and immediately offered his own mobile.

"For him it was so stupid I was asking for a public phone when he had one," she recalls, laughing.

The gesture left an impression on her. "I can relate, because in my city we're also very proud of where we are and we also want people to feel comfortable," she says.

"It's in the little things, or things as big as the earthquake.

"I got the chills when I saw people in Beijing, who didn't even have family there (in Sichuan), and the way they really felt the tragedy."

Restrepo is equally appreciative of how family ties are central to both Chinese and Colombian cultures, while Cardenas notes that both societies "are conscious of our problems but adopt a very happy attitude towards life", traits which have helped make life in China less unfamiliar.

Food is another significant "smoothing" agent.

Nicholls falls into a brief rhapsody on the merits of mandarin fish and Peking duck, while Restrepo rattles off favorites in impressive Mandarin: gongbao jiding (kung-pao chicken) and yuxiang rousi (shredded pork with spicy-sauce). Tofu, however, is something he simply cannot stomach.

On the other hand, Cardenas has a particular weakness for sweet and sour pork and recalls how his fondness for it led restaurant staff to start greeting him with "Tangcu again?"

Nevertheless, the trio sorely miss their native food, even while excitedly discovering delectable Chinese ones.

Nicholls hankers most after arepa, a round corn foodstuff that "goes with anything". Restrepo names the classic Medellin dish "bandeja paisa".

The main problem about eating Colombian food in Beijing is getting hold of the right ingredients; hence the non-existent Colombian restaurants here.

For "bandeja paisa", it is the pork sausage, herbs and red/kidney beans. For "ajiaco", the traditional dish of the capital Bogot and a kind of chicken soup, you need several different types of potatoes, which you cannot buy here.

"Sometimes, it is the little things that make life interesting," Nicholls says.

One such experience for Restrepo was a week of English-teaching at Hohhot, in Inner Mongolia. After a 16-hour fume-filled bus-ride - "interesting" was his gracious description - he was astonished to find an enormous poster with a blown-up photo of his face in the middle of campus.

Recalling the unusual welcome, he laughs: "Many of the kids had never seen a foreigner before and wanted to take pictures. I felt like (soccer star David) Beckham."

Meanwhile, Cardenas was enraptured by the picturesque city of Lijiang, in Yunnan province, describing the feeling as "Frank in Wonderland".

For Nicholls, the beauty of Chinese characters is a continual source of fascination. So is experiencing Beijing's rapid transformation over three years (buildings appear/disappear without warning) and progress (less honking, more greenery, and Olympic-era taxi drivers who beamingly practice their Madam-can-I-help-you).

At the same time, Beijing's breakneck rate of internationalization worries her. "I don't want to come back one day and see China is just the same as every other place in the world."

Now, on the cusp of the Games, all three are caught up in the frenzy.

Cardenas is the delighted owner of an Olympic ticket; Nicholls can barely wait to see the opening ceremony; and Restrepo will have his hands full helping his Embassy cope with the record-breaking number of Colombian athletes slated to compete.

These Colombians reveal a deep affection for the lives they've created here (while also confirming beyond suspicion that a friendly disposition and robust sense of humor are characteristically Colombian).

When Restrepo jots down his e-mail, it contains the word "Beijing". But what if he moves? "I'm not going anywhere," he laughs.

Cardenas is already off on new adventures, accompanied by vivid memories of his time here, and as for Nicholls:

"Maybe in the future I'll live in Colombia," she says. "But definitely from now on I will be connected to China."

(China Daily 07/21/2008 page10)

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