Tried something out for the first time. Wrote something for class in Chinese and translated it into English (with some variations here and there). We really do think differently when we think using a different language—or this might just be the limitations of my Chinese coming to light. Either way, this was interesting.
Visiting David
February 26, 2023
Three days ago, my friend from class 大卫 (David) invited me and some other friends to visit his house on Sunday for some tea. Today is that Sunday. I’m pretty excited, because I love tea and it’s always great talking to David. I used Baidu Maps to check how to get from the dorm to his place—take the subway from 五道口 (Wǔ Dào Kǒu) station, take Line 15 and switch to Line 8 at the Olympic Park station, finally get off at 鼓楼大街 (GǔLóu DàJiē) station.
David said, he’ll meet us at the station. I’ve never actually met him before, except on VooV meetings for online classes, where he never seemed to stop smiling. Today I finally get to see how genuine that smile is.
My friend 武孟松 (Manh Tùng, his Vietnamese name) and I left the campus at 2 PM. While walking, I realized that this was already my sixth day in Beijing. Although I’ve acclimatized to the cold and dry weather, I’m still not used to all the walking. After about an hour of trying to not get lost, we made it to GǔLóu DàJiē station. I felt the warmth of the Sun welcome us as we exited the station. David was right there waiting for us, as expected. He was wearing a black down jacket and a purple beanie. He’s a Frenchman but I noticed his aura is that of a Beijing local. It’s his sixth year living in Beijing, so I’m not surprised.
Tùng and I thought we’d go straight to David’s house for tea. After all, this was the reason for the invitation. This way, we’d be able to go back to school by 6 PM, just in time to rest for the first day of classes the next day. But upon our arrival, David said to us, “鼓楼 (GǔLóu; the Beijing Drum Tower) is this way. After that, let’s go to 后海 (HòuHǎi; a scenic lake in central Beijing).” Our friend has turned into our tour guide, and not once was “tea” mentioned in his introduction.
Although I was hoping to sit down for some tea straight away, I was open to seeing the sights around the area. I figured Tùng shared the same sentiments. Besides, the views here are much better than that of Wǔ Dào Kǒu, where our school is located. I told David, “Only now do I feel like I’ve finally arrived Beijing.”
Our tour was basically one long conversation over varying backdrops. We passed through a newly-built 胡同 (HúTòng; a narrow—usually ancient—residential and/or commercial alley) to get to the Drum and Bell Towers. Here, we looked at the wildly expensive houses while our conversation topic centered on the Chinese economy and its government.
We joined a sea of tourists and locals as we got to the Drum Tower. The Drum and Bell Towers have a long and rich history, which our tour guide must’ve forgotten. All he could say about this part of the tour was that soon-to-be-married women would come here for photos-ops before the wedding. He was right. “See,” he said as he pointed at the bride posing at the foot of the tower.
At around 4 PM, we arrived at HòuHǎi. The place is covered by another sea of people, some of whom were drying themselves off after a swim in the half-frozen lake. We walked along the lakeshore. Here, the topic was Peking Duck, Chinese calligraphy, and Tai Chi. We also talked about school and we what plan to do with our free time.
I told David, “it’s tempting to go out drinking every weekend but I think I’ve had enough to drink over the last five or six years.”
“That’s right,” he said, “you’re in Beijing. Don’t waste your time.”
During certain lulls in the conversation, I would think about the situation I was in and the company I was with. Three guys from three different countries, all in a foreign country. I thought about how differently China was perceived in our respective countries. There rose an inner disturbance in me about devoting these coming years to (re)studying the Chinese language, while the overwhelming outlook of my countrymen towards China remains largely negative—and understandably so. Something to think about over the course of my stay here.
We walked and talked, and before we knew it, we were at the outskirts of the Forbidden City. The sunset here was beautiful—although a part of me thinks the air pollution has some part in this. It looks as if someone took the egg yolk floating on your bowl of ramen and stuck it on the sky. David continued his tour with some more personal sentiments, “The Chinese language is an open door,” he said, “once you walk though it, you’ll see how the culture is so rich, you have to immerse yourself in it.” I understood what he was trying to say but at this point, I would’ve done anything for some rest. So I couldn’t help but suggest, “why don’t we have some tea?”
We made it to David’s house at around 6 PM. Finally, tea with David and Tùng—not too bad. At 10 PM, we made it back to the dorm. After a day at the center of Beijing, I feel like the world has gotten much smaller, but at the same time, so much bigger. Class starts tomorrow. The door’s wide open.
拜访大卫
三天前，我的法国朋友大卫邀请我和一些一年级时的同学星期天去他的家喝茶。今天就是那个星期天，我很兴奋，因为我非常喜欢喝茶，也真的很喜欢和大卫聊天儿。我用百度地图查了查从北语到他的家怎么走——从五道口坐15号线，然后在奥林匹克公园站换到8号线，到鼓楼大街站就下车。大卫说，我们在地铁站的出口见面。其实我从来没有面对面地看到大卫，只是在腾讯会议上网课的时候见到他一直微笑的脸。今天我终于能亲眼看清那个微笑是不是真正的了。
我和越南同学武孟松下午两点出发。走路时我意识到，这是我在北京的第六天了，虽然我适应又冷又干的天气了，但还不习惯经常走这么多路。过了几乎一个小时的努力才不迷路，我们到鼓楼大街站了。一出门就能感觉到温暖的阳光在欢迎我们。大卫果然在等着我们。他穿着黑色的厚厚的羽绒服，还戴着紫色的帽子。他是法国人，可是我发现他的气质十分像北京人了。
我和孟松以为大卫会从地铁站直接带我们去他的家喝茶，毕竟这就是我们被邀请的原因。这样大概六点能回到宿舍，然后就可以在晚上为了明天上学的第一天有精力而休息。不过，我们到鼓楼大街站后，大卫对我们说：“鼓楼在这边，然后咱们去后海。”他竟然变成了一名导游，“茶”这个字甚至一次都没有提到。
尽管我很想马上喝茶，但我对参观这个地区的景点持开放态度。我估计孟松也是这样想的。无论如何，这里的风景比五道口好多了，我告诉大卫：“到这里才觉得我终于到了北京。”
我们的旅行基本上是一次背景各异的长时间谈话。我们通过一条新建的胡同走到鼓楼大街，在这里一边看周围昂贵的房子，一边谈中国的经济和政府。到了鼓楼，我们进入了游客和当地人的海洋。鼓楼和钟楼的历史都很丰富，可是这些都被我们的导游忘了，他只是告诉我们，快要结婚的新娘喜欢来这里拍照。
大概下午四点，我们到了后海。这里人也特别多，有的在半冻湖里游泳。我们在湖边散步时，话题是北京烤鸭、书法、太极拳之类的文化知识，还谈到了学校和我们的休闲计划。我对大卫说：“每个周末出去到夜店玩很诱人，可是我五六年前，第一次上大学的时候，已经受够了，酒也已经喝够了。”他说：“对呀，你现在在北京了，不要浪费时间。”
我们走着聊着，没想到，走到故宫了。这里的日落非常美，太阳看起来像一个粘在天上的日本蛋黄。大卫继续说：“汉语是一扇门。中国的文化非常丰富，我们应该沉浸其中。”我理解大卫的意思，但是我也很想坐下来休息，就不好意思对他说：“咱们去喝茶吧。”我们六点才到大卫的家，终于能跟大卫和孟松坐下来喝茶——还不错。
10点半才回到宿舍。在北京中心度过了一个下午后，我觉得世界变小了，但同时变大了。明天是开学的第一天。汉语的大门真的打开了。