Rediscovery

Feels like SAGA.. .

A lil' background for those non-wheatie readers: the cafeteria at Wheaton College is referred to as SAGA by the entire student body. Back in my undergrad days (like... half a year ago) I used to love sittin' in SAGA for ridiculously long periods of time over a cup of tea or coffee with a friend and just chat. In the midst of busy college life, I always considered SAGA time a time to slow down.

Tonight I had dinner with a student in the university canteen. I've had quite a few meals in the canteen with students in this past semester, but today was different. There was this atmosphere that almost made it feel like home... wherever that is.

I met her at the canteen around 6, past the typical student rush hour. Since it was freezing outside we opted for a hot bowl of Lanzhou Hand-made noodles. I was especially hungry and got some buns and an egg too. She laughed at me. This made me glad cause she doesn't smile too often. There was a sense of heaviness about her, but that's typical this season. Examinations are a huge deal and students go into hiding to study. Even the tables surrounding us were filled with students with their heads in their books instead of eating.

We chatted about pretty random things. Evidently she had made a list of things to talk about cause she can be pretty forgetful. Ironically, she forgot what she wrote down cause she hadn't looked at it for a few days. So we start with the basics like what she'll do over break for spring festival, what courses I'll be taking in Thailand for my Grad Studies. She decided to ask a few questions about the Final Exam I was going to give in class for Newspaper Reading, specifically the difference between Editorials and Features. After a little review she suddenly remembered what she wanted to say.

"I saw 'Yi Yi' a few days ago. It took me forever to find on the internet," she says. 'Yi Yi' is a Chinese film by Edward Yang that I consider the third in my personal trilogy of milestone, life-transforming films. I had talked to her once about how much I loved it before. If there's any film that can spark meaningful conversation, it's this one. We talked about how the movie made her feel. The silent scenes shot from the subway staring into well lit Taipei apartment buildings in the night reminded her of her own experiences staring up into Mainland China's many own high rises. She often wondered what types of people lived in them. I shared about my own experiences and thoughts about it, how the movie taught me that simplicity can be holy, that all of life isn't in the hype but in both the details and the big pictures as Yang portrayed in his masterpiece of a film. It all felt so natural, even in my broken Chinese.

"Do you ever feel like you're better than others?" she asks. I reply "no, not really." What sparked the question? Well, during the Christmas Eve service the foreign teachers were automatically placed at the front of the building which is reserved for choir members and 'VIP' where as the rest of the Chinese have wait in line for seats. She couldn't get one and was frustrated with how unfair it was that foreigners got preferential treatment. I agreed with her. In fact, we had tried to get out of sitting in the front but the staff pressured us into it. It's that Chinese hospitality thing. "It's about face, of course," I say, "And I do think it's wrong. I hate all the special treatment I get."

"Americans are treated so nicely just cause they're American," she comments, "It bothers me." Yea, it bothers me too. It actually bothers me a lot. She's a little surprised at my response, "So you don't like all the extra hospitality and attention?"

She tells me this story about a situation she saw in Beijing as a high school student on vacation. This rich lady steps out of one of those tricycle rickshaws and rips her dress on the side of it or something. She gets so mad, she demands the man pay for it. The driver is, of course, poor. He drives this rickshaw as his job, a humble servant in a city that seems to be busting with prosperity. He does not have the money to pay for this lady's over-expensive dress.

So what does this lady do? She grabs a policeman and to force the man to pay, and if he can't pay to confiscate his tricycle/rickshaw as compensation. The man gets nervous, fearful, and hopelessly flusttered by all the accusations. If he loses this bike he loses his job, his livelihood. The policemen doesn't seem know what to do, but the driver can't risk it.

So what does this man do? He gets on his knees and kow tows the rich lady and policemen, begging for mercy. This is a pretty damn shameful thing to do... but he does it.

My student was watching the whole thing. She said it made her want to cry.. .

"If it's not foreigners, it's the rich, or whatever," she mumbles quietly, "life's not fair."

No, it's not. But there's more. We've got to trust there's more...

The whole meal/conversation lasted about an hour.

I can't put my finger on it... but tonight felt familiar. Was it the subject matter of conversation? Talk about movies, art, social justice, and such were certainly common place around the SAGA table. Maybe it was because it felt so much more natural then other conversations I've had with students, like we were actually friends. I wonder if it is because I'm starting to settle in more. I wonder if its just this particular student. I wonder if there'll be more times like this in the future.

Whatever it is.. . it was nice.

... A week and a half left before the end of the semester. Then it's off to Chiang Mai, Thailand.

posted by Unknown @ 10:15 PM