Crazy street is located about 3 blocks from the college, and is the main "merchant street for this area". There are 4 colleges and universities right beside each other (I think about 50-60,000 students in total?) and this street is where most of the food vendors etc. are located to service this population.
Needless to say this road (that people still drive on) is one busy little place! Because of this, the other teachers have nicknamed it Crazy street, which really suits. It is really kind of hard to describe "crazy street", and much easier to just say refer to the attached pictures...
I generally buy my meals on Crazy Street.....or from one of 3 or 4 restaurants/food vendors on campus. I also usually buy some type of fruit every day, and get that from a little fruit store on campus (I have also attached a picture of this shop + owners)......we have no ability to communicate at all except through gestures, but they are really nice. We are now in a routine where they will give me a little piece of some "new and different type of fruit" so that I can try it before buying it (surprisingly they recognize me right away when I come into the shop, but that may not be totally related to the fact that I am regular....being 2 feet taller than everyone else and not Chinese might also factor in?)
The rest of the day (actually right until about 7pm!) I worked my tail off....and while this meant it was kind of a sucky day - I really did need this. I was very productive, and got all the assignments marked, all the grades input, 2 of my 3 final exams set, and got ready for classes on Monday.
My thought was that if I worked hard all day, my reward was that I could go to/enjoy my (first ever) beach party! Morgan, Greg and Chris had planned a BBQ/party on the beach in front of the college for Saturday night.
I have to admit, this was a little bit disappointing....I think I expected a bonfire, a sky full of stars....and maybe a band like the Archie's or Beach boys to come out and play songs like Sugar, Sugar or Surfin' Safari....and it was really more like standing around on a beach in the dark drinking beer (different locale....but same idea as the bush or gravel pit parties we use to have as kids!). Of course there were some unique aspects involved because it was a "Chinese Beach party".
First of all (the foreign teachers call them China gangs, and I'm not exactly what this means or how it works) but we had to pay a guy 100RMB to use "his" beach for a BBQ. He did not have any sort of uniform (or probably authority) to do this, but Chris says if you don't pay, he will come back with his friends (and baseball bats). Having said that, it is not as ominous or as intimidating as it sounds, because he was only about 4'6" and gave us a receipt!!!!
I found this hilarious...and not sure what this receipt would say???...perhaps something like "paid quasi-legal beach fee to make sure we were not bothered/arrested or beaten up while BBQ'ing". (I have attached a picture of Morgan holding our proof of payment below)
The actual BBQ'ing was done in these little metal boxes. They put coal in them and then BBQ chicken, beef, eggplant, bread on little skewer sticks. I tried to take pictures, but as always, it was hazy last night (i.e. which is also why no stars etc., in fact, I'm not even sure I have seen the moon while here?). Because of the haze, when the sun goes down, my little camera just does not take any good pictures as it can not/will not focus. The BBQ'd food was really tasty...but probably pretty carcinogenic with the coal fire and I'm pretty sure you would not want to eat Chinese BBQ for years and years.
It was a nice visit, but I called it a night fairly early (when they started forming a rum circle and were going to pass around a bottle of straight rum....this is where the 46 years old versus 26 to 30 year old "difference" shows). Having said this, they are a really nice bunch, interesting and lots of fun. They have also been quick to include me, which is much appreciated.
I have briefly mentioned them before and said I'd give more details, so as previously promised, here it is. Most of the foreign teachers (6 of the 10 that I know best) are all from the same graduate school in Tennessee. When they finished school a couple of years ago, the economy/job market in the U.S. was so bad that they could not any work in their fields. Morgan and Greg (I think they are married?) came here first. Morgan is really the den mother/leader, and she is the one who organizes the Friday night dinners, speaks the most Chinese, and kind of keeps all the others on the straight and narrow. Of the guys....Chris, Lee, Will, and Ryan were friends of Greg and Morgan's......who over time, called them and said why don't you come to China and teach ESL?
During the week, everyone is pretty busy - and many of them take on outside tutoring/private teaching jobs in order to earn some more money. However, Friday is "their social day" and they have a standing date to do a Friday night dinner where everyone is invited...and then go out for drinks...and because they are all in that "26 to 30 years old age group" 2 Friday's ago......Greg, Morgan and I grabbed a cab and came back home much earlier than the rest (3:00am!...way past my normal 9-9:30 bedtime here!!!!). When I saw them on Saturday, Lee and Chris said they got home as the sun was coming up, and that they were going to be eating breakfast/lunch and dinner all in the same bowl because they had all slept until 4pm.
I think this type of job ends up being a viscous circle. The U.S. economy (and Tennessee in particular) remains in rough shape, and so none of them can find a job back home. They make quite a bit of money "for China " and therefore, can live really quite well here...especially given all the holidays....but are not making enough to build any sort of nest egg. What they really need is the U.S. economy to get back on track?
Pictures enclosed!
(P.S. I do not mean to make these postings into novels...but you talk about one thing, and it leads to another...and then another....for example: Beach BBQ--->Mafia Guy--->Foreign Teachers--->Friday night Dinners etc. etc.)
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