God sees it all--snapshot

So, last night I went by myself to hit up 新浓清酒吧，my favorite hangout 'cause it's full of Chinese men of all types who are drunk as hell and looking for a chance to talk to anyone who will listen. I've done most of my research there for my projects, but I've also went because when I go, I rarely have to pay for beer. Nice...

Last night I went with one of the bartenders back to his place where we continued the conversation we started earlier that night. From 河北 (Hebei) province, he has that northern swagger I'm such a fan of. We talked about a variety of subjects, such as how Xiamen is not as open to gay men as other cities, how some people still think being gay is some sort of sickness, how he knew he was gay when he was younger but had to hide it--he just poured out information along with pouring alcohol into my shot glass. Nice...

When I left his place about 3:00 (I was only there for a short while), I hailed a taxi to head back to campus. It was the first time I had come back from the bar and had a taxi cab driver who didn't want to talk my head off while I'm intoxicated. For instance, last week I came back and had a particularly chatty taxi driver:

[in Chinese, of course]
Him: So, you're from Africa, aren't you?
Me: Actually, I'm American.
H: Wow, you can speak Chinese so-so (usually, they say I speak it very well, and then I go into how I don't think it's good enough, etc).
M: Thank you.
H: So, you understand what I'm saying.
M: Yes, I do.
H: What am I saying right now?
M: ...You're asking me if I understand you or not...
H: So, you understand about 80% of what I'm saying, I suspect.
M: Right now, I understand everything you're saying.
H: Yep, about 80% of what I'm saying. Do you understand?
M: ...Yes. I understand.

The night after that, it was a little better, but still bad:
New Guy: Wow, you're an African.
Me: Actually, I'm an American.
NG: Whoa, you speak Chinese!
Me: I can speak it a little bit.
NG: What's it...what's it...oh! Obama! He's black, isn't it?
M: Well, he's really half black and half white.
NG: He will do lots of good things for people who aren't white, right?
M: I think he'll do good things for everyone. Even if he were white, I'd still choose him.
NG: You know, you black people have healthy bodies.
M: Um...?
NG: I saw some sports the other day, and really, you all have great bodies.
M: Well, you can see me smoking a cigarette in front of you, so obviously my health is not that good, so it can't be true, can it?
NG: [blah blah muthafuckin' blah].

Last night, however, I had a great driver because he started his conversation off with:
Last Night Driver: So, what country are you from? America?
M: Wow...um, yes! You guessed right!
LND: Are you a student at Xiamen University (I had given him my destination)?
M: Yes, but only for a semester.
LND: Ok.
LND + M: [Silence].

A truly rare and beautiful occurance. He also had an accent that I understood, not this damn Southern snake-talk that, after being here for so long, I still have some trouble understanding (the majority of the teachers at UNC are from the north, and standard Chinese originates from the north. Beijing was a breeze in comparison to Xiamen).

But the greatest part of last night's ride was the radio. As we were coming back, one of the few Chinese songs I know came on: Teresa Teng's "Small Town Story 小城故事". It's one of the old little diddies that you'd have to ask your Chinese parents about, but she is arguably the most popular Asian artist to ever come out from Taiwan. When the song came on, the taxi triver and I did a duet and had a lovely time together as he pulled into the Bai-cheng Gate of my school. It is one of my "you can only experience this shit in China" moments, and although it's a small thing, it really makes me happy to sing along with the taxi driver, after a nice evening with a bartender, experiencing this country in small ways that I can't duplicate anywhere else.

I'll be back in the states in exactly a week. I'm so happy ^_^. I'll get to meet Diadra there, and what's funny about that is that I've seen Diadra more times in the last 3 months that most of my friends. I think are paths are aligned in the stars or some shit.

And, for your listening pleasure: "Small Town Story"! There are lyrics at the bottom the screen Karaoke style--sing along if you can:



[The song is about this little time where things are happy, beautiful, and quaint. It then goes on about how you can come on down, chat a spell, and meet some nice folks in this "not so bad" place. Also, invite your friends to come with you--the little town loves having guest. Basically, it's a song about Roxboro, North Carolina].