Old School Hip Hop in China

Our first weekend in Shenzhen was a fun one and a busy one. On Friday after classes, Serena and I decided not to punish ourselves with school cafeteria food and found a nearby restaurant where we were able to buy dumplings for 3 yuen, so we bought two orders and a frightening chicken soup with unidentifiable gray masses floating inside.

We decided to walk home and cool off before meeting Serena’s friend from Hong Kong, Stephen, at the metro station. At home, I lay on my bed, staring at the ground, when I realized our spotted carpet wasn’t just dirty, it was covered in hair - shed and left by the previous occupants? I put on my sneakers and started scraping the dust and hair up with my foot and had created quite an enormous hairball when Serena walked in and caught me. I explained the situation to her, which caused us both to erupt into hysterical giggles. She threw on her sneakers to and we “sneakered” her bedroom as well, creating an equally large hairball to the one left in my room. Our pets, we called them. It is amazing how much nicer our carpet looks, and at some point the entire living room will need to be “sneakered” as well. My college roommate and I used to "sneaker" our carpet during our freshman year in the dorm.

At this point we realized we were late picking up Stephen, so we jumped into a cab and headed to the metro station.

Stephen is a tall Englishman with blue eyes and dimples. Serena met him in Hong Kong over the summer at the university where they were both studying Mandarin. We had heard so much about each other prior to our actual meeting, so we greeted with a big hug. He was wearing a pair of jeans, which looked very stylish but was not practical in this warm weather, so we took him to Carrafour so he could purchase a cheap pair of shorts - we also bought some fruit and other snacks to take back to our apartment. In the evening we met a large group of teachers from our group at a sushi restaurant in Hua Qiang Bei and then we all headed to an expat bar called Cue Club to hear some deejay spin old school hip hop. I have to admit it didn't feel much like I was in China in this club. Aside from a few locals, the club was mostly filled with expats, but it was fun to meet other expats who were here living and working and not part of our teaching group. Everyone danced to familiar western music and sang along. I was drenched in sweat and talking to a guy named Andy who was also teaching English but not part of our program when I turned around to catch a friend of mine passionately making out with a Russian guy. I found the scene funny but have to admit it made me want someone too and miss Kevin a lot. Later, I shared a cab with some friends and got home by 4:00 AM. I slept in the next day and was feeling a bit depressed and lonely when I woke up. But I showered quickly and hurried to the metro stop with Serena and Stephen to meet my friend Fred. Fred is living in Bao'an (factory district) and was coming into the city to visit. We met him at the metro station and walked around that area - which is very Western (lunched at KFC). We met up with others and left Fred with them, so Serena and I could make it to our dinner with our contact teacher, Christy and Principal Qiu. We met them at the school, and Principal Qiu drove us to a restaurant in Lou hu in his snazzy new black Toyota Camry.

Dinner started with a suspiciously neon green shot of something that smelled and tasted similar to Italian Grappa. I believe this may be served before dinner to assist in digestion, but we were told this deathly strong shot would make us beautiful. A few members of the Education Bureau also joined us for dinner - including Flat Top (our nickname based upon his haircut), a guy with scary blackened teeth who smoked cigarette after cigarette at our dinner table, and another man who had brought a gorgeous Chinese woman who he grabbed at and kissed throughout dinner (believe she may have been some high end escort). Principal Qiu who is very conservative and soft spoken toasted us, which then lead to a series of shots. Each person at the table wanted to toast us with a nice shot of bei jiu (rice wine). Serena smartly poured hers into her soup, but because everyone was speaking in Chinese anyway (including Serena) I downed each shot. Dinner was interesting... the usual brothy soup clouded with grayish mystery meat, a chicken dish complete with the cooked chicken head... but alas...calamari! I like calamari, so I scooped up a sizable serving and chowed down. "calamari, right?" I asked Serena. She asked our contact teacher, who kindly informed us that it was pig intestines...chopped into calamari looking rings... Hmmm, I am just gonna pretend it's calamari, I told Serena.

After several shots we were all having a good time, taking funny pictures. I was even trying out my limited Mandarin. After dinner we were dropped back at our place. Stephen was waiting in our apartment and feeling antsy, so we picked him up and then walked up to the main street outside of our neighborhood for late night massages. Serena and Stephen seemed to enjoy theres but I was either cringing in pain or giggling from the tickles through my entire massage. By the end though, I was numb and falling asleep, so we stumbled home and fell into our beds.

Sunday... SHOPPING. Stephen, Serena and I met Kate and Megan at the metro and shopped in Hua Qiang Bei and Dong Min. I bought a cute top and fake Tiffany's necklace. They all got foot massages, and I got a pedicure. I think the people ripped us off, but we decided we couldn't expect less in such a touristy spot. We ate dinner together and then went home as we were all tired from being on our feet all day. Oh, and we did manage to stop in at Chocolate Bar. We were told not to go there - it's owned by the Chinese Mafia. Of course, such advice only makes one want to rebel even more, so we went in briefly. Chocolate Bar is very nice actually, and we agreed we should all go back when we aren't wearing flip flops and shorts.

Monday was our day off - Mid-Autumn Moon Festival (so hot, this can't possibly be mid-autumn). I decided to spend the day at the beach. My friend Megan was up for it, and another friend, Jeff, said he knew the best way to get there. So after an hour of waiting around, getting people together, and making our way to the correct bus stop; we boarded a nice air conditioned bus and rode the 1-hour to Dameisha in Yantien. The beach there was actually very pretty, but the heat and crowd took away from the atmosphere. As usual, people were harrassing us like paparazzi - some more bold, others more sneaky in snapping shots of us. After an hour on the beach, we (Kiki, Kofi, Cody, Liz, Megan, other Megan, Niko, - Daniel, Jeff, and I) decided we were hungry. We ate at a restaurant near the beach - eggplant, prawns, mushrooms, beef, greens of some sort, fried rice, and tea - before heading back to Futian. I felt exhausted on the bus ride, and still a little depressed. Not sure why, but spending the day on the beach with everyone just made me feel every lonelier. I felt as if I had retreated into myself and I just didn't have the energy to speak up and make myself known. When I arrived home and fell into bed I felt small and shriveled. Perhaps my trip to China was some sort of exile, I thought.

Today, after teaching in the morning, I came home and took a nap. Serena woke me up for up lunch. She called me into her room and told me she was making a CD of Christian music for me. She played the songs, and I recognized some from Mosaic Church back home. I felt a sudden surge of emotion as I listened to the lyrics of the song she played. It reminded me of church at home... it reminded me that God is here in China too. It was as if I had been suppressing a strong feeling of loneliness that had reached it's pinnacle, and God was shouting "Ranjana, I am here!" I tried to sit still in order to feel nothing, but when Serena asked me a question, all I could do was burst into tears. They were not sad tears. I felt reassured. I am not alone here. And in the past couple of weeks, in my fear of being alone in a new place, I have focused on befriending the other teachers here. I want them to like me, to love me. I don't want to feel alone, and I believed these friendships would take care of that. Of course, they helped, but in listening to this song that Serena played for me, I realized it was God who I had been missing for the past couple of weeks...and it was God who was speaking to me now. Promising me I am not alone, holding no grudge over my negligence.

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