Notes on my last two weeks in Beijing, from February 14 through February 22.

Bi suggested to her eleven-year-old son, Lujen, that he start doing pushups with me. This was funny because before coming to China and after I had made plans to live with a family with a son, I had dreamed that if we got along well we would do pushups together. When Bi suggested it I was laughing and smiling on the inside. Outwardly, I just said sure he could do them with me. I do pushups every other day and Lujen began to do them with me consistently. I did limit his sets and helped him with his form since I did not want him to hurt himself.

Lujen is a mischievous kid who likes sports and teasing so we get along well in different ways. Bi and Richard mentioned a few times how much he would miss me, but I did not think he would because normally boys do not work that way.

In Beijing it is very common for housing complexes to contain playgrounds that also include non-electronic exercise eqiuipment. This includes cross-country skiing machines, stationary bikes, nautilus-type weights for both legs and arms, and flexibility stations. The parks are usually not crowded, and the equipment is low-impact. The equipment is used especially by older people. Since most, if not all, apartment buildings are part of housing complexes, this means most of the people of Beijing have a free, convenient gym. One day, after playing frisbee, Lujen and I stopped in the playground to do some exercises. This is something Lujen frequently suggested. I usually wanted to go straight home since I was so often cold, but would not say so. A girl working out in the park started speaking English with me and I complimented her on her impressive English. She said straight out that she had a talent with languages. After talking for ten minutes Lujen and I returned home. I regretted not getting the girl's number since it would have been interesting to get to know a native-Chinese person that was about my age. A few minutes after getting home I rushed to go outside for my jog, hoping she would still be at the park and luckily she was. I got Jenny's number.

During my last couple of weeks in Beijing Jenny and I ended up spending three entire afternoons together, each time meeting at 12. Not once had I planned on hanging out past lunch yet each time we ended up hanging out until about 6.

When we met up the first time, on a Sunday afternoon, I was originally disappointed that she had a map with her and then suggested that we go to one of the many tourist spots. I tried to say I wanted to see non-touristy neighbourhoods that I would not normally see, my typical annoying request that hosts have difficulty fulfilling, but gave up as I was not getting my point across.

As we discussed where to go she kept saying how much prettier each place was in the summer, which I started to find annoying. Isn't just about every park! After I picked out a tourist spot where we could walk and talk we went for lunch. I was able to communicate to her that I wanted to go to a restaurant that she liked, and that she should not ask me where we should go. When we arrived at the first place she thought of, she saw that it had changed from a spicy-food restaurant to a restaurant that serves Beijing Duck, so we looked for another one. I was clear about wanting good, native, authentic Chinese food, yet as we passed by Domino's Pizzaa she suggested we go there. Ugh! I started thinking this was not going to be fun, but things soon turned around.

The first sign that things would get interesting was at lunch, when she gave me a mind teaser and told me that in Shanghai the back of the subway tickets usually have a puzzle of some sort. Then, on the cab ride to the park, we discussed divorce in America and China. She said it is uncommon in China and is looked down upon, especially when the parents have kids. As we entered the park she asked what I thought of the situation with Iraq. From this point on it seemed everything we talked about was interesting. We discussed a wide-range of topics including Iraq, terrorism, war and social systems. We also discussed love, relationships, culture and family. I could write for pages about our conversations and how much I learned from them. Jenny is an extremely special and intelligent person, I feel so lucky to have met her, though I do not know if we will maintain our friendship. For details on Jenny and our converstations click here (I suggest you do).

Back to Lujen. Lujen liked really liked it the first time he saw me get a buzz and was often asking me if I wanted a drink since then. So, I decided that I would get a good buzz the very last time we went out together. It was the night before my last in Beijing.

Six of us went for dinner at the one and only place we ever went, a restaurant in an ally behind our building complex. It was Richard and family plus Matt, one of Richard's students. Richard, Matt and I each started out with a small bottle of Er Guo Tou, an extremely strong alcohol that is well-known in China. I was excited that Matt was game to drink the Er Guo Tou since he had not tried it before, despite being in Beijing for over a year. It is not the tastiest alcohol. We finished that in less than five minutes because of my enthusiasm and then shared a large bottle among us. Lujen, at eleven, was already good at using peer pressure to get me to drink alcohol. He himself was quite helpful in filling my shot glass while I was not looking and I ended up having seven shots within the half-hour, as did Richard and Matt as the graciously matched me. Lujen also matched us with shots of Sprite. I wanted him to have some Er Guo Tou too, but the best he would do is put a tiny amount of beer in his Sprite.

After dinner we all went back to the apartment, Matt stopped by to take a look as he had not seen their place before. He would not have asked to see it but I asked him if he was curious, since I would be, and he was. Matt stayed for a few minutes and ss he said goodbye from the hallway he leaned on its wall. This was about when the alcohol started to feel comfortable in our bloodstreams. The hallway wall was coated with a powder that likes to leave its marks on one's clothes but Matt did not mind despite having a suit on. Right after Matt left, Richard lay down in bed and asked for a bucket by him, as he could not get up. The alcohol hit us suddenly and we did not get to enjoy a solid buzz.

I decided to hang out by the sink as my head began to spin. I was very happy as I ended up throwing up three times that night Saturday morning Richard got up with me at around 5:30 AM and walked with me and waited with me at the airport bus stop, a three-minute walk from their apartment.

"BYE-BYE BEIJING, HELLO KUNMING!" I knew I would miss the family but was excited to start school and settle in.

Random Note

I had previously said people did not mind being hit or almost hit by the frisbee in the park, but this turned out to be untrue. Me and Lujen got many nasty looks from near misses and minor hits. I missed someone's head by inches - that would consitute a major hit. It seemed that if I especially tried to avoid someone I would come closer to hitting them than would be possible if I tried to hit them intentionally, in interesting phenomenon. Though we brought distress to many people by our neglectful play, I cannot say how many people got huge smiles on their faces as they got to pick up and throw the frisbee after one of our errant throws. This included people of all age groups. I remember once an old man that joined us to play. Another time, there was a child who liked to run to where the frisbee was being thrown but would not pick it up.