Strange Encounters

Tuesday, June 29th, 2010 in: News, Travel

Although I was trying to get to Beijing the day before school starts, Monday was a holiday so I had a day to kill before the beginning of class. I’m writing this a month after the fact so I’ll just mention the most memorable moment of the day.
Bill and Adrien took me to lunch at the restaurant they lovingly dubbed 拉肚子. Laduzi, Chinese for “diarrhea.” As we were waiting for our meal, I was telling Adrien and Bill about my travels that had brought me to Beijing, showing some of the photos from Enshi and Zhang Jia Jie. I was explaining the elevator at the latter and how ridiculously tall it was, and how funny it was to have a huge elevator in the middle of a national park like that.

Apparently, “ridiculous” is a trigger word that sets off alarms in Chinese people’s minds, because the guy drinking at the table next to us chimed in and randomly started saying how we should be careful cause we never know who might be listening. It took several minutes to realize that he mistook my statement as a bit of a dig at China. After clearing the air, he suddenly became very friendly and bought us a round of Beer. At 2PM. Smiles and nods all around, this was a little weird but there isn’t much refusing Chinese hospitality.

He spoke pretty decent English, albeit with a heavy accent, and confessed that he had lived many years in New Jersey and was headed back there in a few days. His family and business were back in the states, and assured us that New Jersey is a great place we should visit. More smiling and nodding.

During the exchange, a fellow student from our school sat down behind us for lunch. Bill had to leave for an appointment, so Vanessa took his place across the table from me, next to our new friend. A Chinese-Canadian, Vanessa gets it tough as a language student. The businessman was a dismissive of her when he realized that Adrien’s Chinese was better. I kept smiling and nodding when it seemed appropriate. I know he didn’t mean any harm by it, but I didn’t presume to translate his intentions. After all, I had just met the guy. He told me I should stick close to him if I wanted to prosper in life.

He insisted we join him for dinner the next day before he goes back to Jersey, and he could introduce us to some very important government officials he knows. There was no saying no, so he had Adrien exchange info with his driver, whom he praised as a loyal dog. “It’s OK,” he assured us, “he doesn’t understand any English.”

Narrowly escaping a second round of drinks, Adrien and Vanessa asked me if this kind of thing happened to me often. “You get used to it I guess!”

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