China is fairly typical for a developing nation, where any job that can be done by one person can be done just as well by three or four. There are large staffs at the parks, including a couple of guards at each gate, doorkeepers who dole out the keys at the academic buildings, and a flock of guards at the south gate of the university who don't seem to stop or check anybody. There are an infinite number of shops and stands. How did this country ever even try to enforce a socialist economy? The people are natural entrepreneurs and unbelievably hard workers. They're open for business and outside in the cold or in underheated buildings for uncountable hours every day, seven days a week, patiently waiting for the next customer and cheerful when he comes. America, remember the wise words of Satchel Paige: "Don't look back. Someone might be gaining on you."
Kaifeng needs to be convinced of the renewing effects of a paint job. The decor-free restaurants that surround the university are potential customers. The university could set the example. I've never been in a gloomier library, desperately in need of bright walls. Funny, the Chinese at times exhibit a keen aesthetic and at others appear oblivious to the dingiest surroundings. Sherwin-Williams, get on it!
Two students took me to the dining hall. The food is displayed cafeteria-style in large pans behind a glass wall. White-smocked masked workers put your choices in a bowl and hand them to you through a hole. Students pay by swiping a card. Even mediocre food is good but the surroundings are dull. Paint!
The lower-rung restaurants have small disposable chopsticks and I shudder to think about how much wood is used every day in China with these throwaways. I'm trying to remember to carry my own pair when I go out. Think globally, eat Chinese, act locally.
No salt on the tables. In fact, seasonings are rare. Some restaurants put out hot pepper seeds. A sweet vinegar is used for dumpling dipping. I haven't seen any soy sauce. I suspect that's a southern Chinese thing. Really, the food is usually fine as it is.
700,000 or so people in the city and I am told there is one movie theater somewhere. "There used to be four," I was informed. In 1950s America the advent of television caused thousands of theaters to close. Here it's the Internet. The Chinese download everything. Any movie, some still in theaters in the States, television shows and series, just about anything. One of the Beloit kids hosted a small group for beer, bai jo (Chinese turpentine-like whiskey—in this area Scotland and Kentucky need not fear the competition), and the newly-downloaded "W." One person has just obtained "Generation Kill," another is making his way through season five of "The Office" and offered me a bootleg DVD of "Mad Men" one and two. Jackie is a big fan of gangster and crime flicks (his favorite actor is Al Pacino). I recommended three to him yesterday. He's already downloaded them. Very popular among Henan University students: "Gossip Girls" and even more, "Friends." "Prison Break" is a hit. The Beloit teachers have their students act out the episodes in their conversational English classes. I attended Mike's class. He first showed an entire episode. The students had been given scenes and they acted them out, complete with colloquial prison dialogue. You assign these kids something they do it.
I'm starting to think like an ex-pat, equating a yuan with a dollar. So I ate lunch today and thought, "Man, 14 yuan. Kind of expensive." Yeah, I spent $2.00.
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