Wandering

Today was the roommate’s birthday, so we celebrated with a manicure and a shopping spree, spending most of the day wandering around the busy shopping district near the campus. The streets are extremely crowded, the stores all look the same, and the sidewalks are all lined with un-pruned trees which greatly inhibit your ability to look for landmarks, so it’s easy to get lost. Somehow, we managed to get where we needed to go and find our way back to the dorm after.

During our wanderings we happened upon a strange underground mall which must have had about 200 cramped little shops squeezed into it, consisting almost entirely of clothing shops and beauty salons. It turns out getting your nails done is a great way to practice your Chinese. I didn’t even know the Chinese word for fingernails when I walked in there, and we had to use hand gestures and a pocket dictionary to tell them what we wanted (because we were just there for a polish, not the two-inch-long jewel-studded talons that are so popular here), but they figured it out. We had a quick, simple, somewhat unsanitary manicure while the woman behind us had her eyebrows tattooed on. One of the girls there, whom I gather was the younger sister of one of the beauticians, was extremely friendly and chatted with us in Chinese the entire time we were there. She only knew a few words of English. She used words we didn’t know and had a bit of a Chongqing accent, so there were lots of times when we didn’t understand her, but whenever we really got stuck she’d grab my dictionary and look up the translation for me. She was great.

All Chinese students study English from middle school through high school, so nearly everyone under 25 here knows at least a little English. Most of them have an English name, too. I did a bit of a double take when the girl told us her English name was Jezebel, but she seemed pleased when I said her name was very unique. She was particularly interested in my tattoos – I get tons of comments on them here. She was horrified when I told her how much they cost. She said she thought tattoos were really cool and she wanted one, but her mom wouldn’t allow it.

Although the constant stares my roommate and I get when we go out in public are unnerving, the people here seem really interested in talking to us when the opportunity arises. My Chinese friends tell me they stare because they’re curious and they want to talk to us. They’re all eager to practice their English with us, but they’re even more excited to meet an English-speaker who can speak Chinese. People will often just walk up to me and start speaking English. I have great conversations with strangers nearly every day, and they frequently end with an exchange of phone numbers and a new friend to practice and explore the city with.

The highlight of the day: seeing a woman who was at least 50 wearing a bright red t-shirt with the words “SEK ZOMBIE FROM MARS” written on it in rhinestone-studded block letters.

My new favourite Chinese word:
辣妹子 Làmèizi
Hot chick(literally, spicy sister)