So, what kind of people want to run away and learn Kung Fu? The answer, for the most part, is: good people, and people who want to make themselves better.
I've kind of been putting this one off because for a while I couldn't help but focus on some of the people's bad points. Unfortunately, practically everyone here goes out drinking on the weekends, and a majority also smoke. One morning, Wei Sifu had us all line up together, like he often does for announcements. Turns out, they had done a "Cigarette Raid" that morning, which I wasn't too pleased about; not because I had anything to hide, but because it's not fun to have people look through your stuff. You see, they have a set of rules at the School, and one of those is that you can't drink or smoke. Although they can't actually stop anyone from doing it in town, they do have jurisdiction over the School grounds. So when Wei Sifu lined us up, he talked a bit about how they want to help us and what the rules were, and then they broke the packs of cigarettes in half.
The day after people have been out drinking is always kind of annoying because everyone's talking about the crazy things they did last night. Usually I go out with everyone for dinner and then leave early. This actually happened on Friday night, when we all went to a hot pot place (all you can eat and drink for only 42 kuai!) for someone's birthday. I don't even know when everyone else got in, but apparently they were doing some pretty stupid stuff. A police car actually stopped by, because they knew some foreigners had stayed out late. The school has a 10:00 curfew on the weekends, but the party-type people completely ignore it.
But smoking and drinking (and other rule-breaking) aside, it's honestly not hard to fit in. The nature of the school is super transient. People come and go on nearly a weekly basis, so it would be hard to form definite cliques. I mean, there are a couple of year-long students who hang together, and people who are in the same class get to know each other better, but I don't find it at all hard to approach someone with a question (as long as I have one in mind, of course). Like, this weekend I carved a little jack-o-lantern for Halloween, and I didn't have any qualms about asking if anyone had a candle or lighter (my roommate happened to have a candle and of course someone had a lighter on them). And as I was carving it several people stopped and asked about it. Turns out, Halloween isn't really a big thing in Europe. Most people had to ask me when it was. Nellie, one of the translators, was especially funny-- she kept asking how I was going to cook it. I had to tell her that we don't usually cook it, we leave it to rot on the porch and then scrape it off some time in December to chuck it out. Crazy Americans.
Anyway, one of the weird things about the people in this place is that I just have no idea what age anyone is! As a recent high school graduate I'm really accustomed to all my peers being right around my age, so I kind of just naturally assumed that everyone here is fairly young. But then I asked my roommate how old she was-- 27! And I would've sworn she wasn't a day over 23. That's probably the one that surprises me the most, because I assumed for so long that she was close to my age. But as I've gotten used to the idea, it's not too hard to imagine someone as 29 or 35 when I happen to ask them. It's practically impossible to tell how old the Sifus are. But you know, it's gotten to the point where age doesn't really seem to matter anymore. It's not necessarily an indicator of maturity.
Oh! Speaking of the Sifus, I found out all their nicknames! There's Wei Sifu, Young Sifu, Wu Sifu, Hair Sifu, Smiley Sifu, and Stripey Sifu. Apparently Stripey Sifu is called such because he used to always wear stripes-- but then I guess someone explained it to him so he mostly stopped. It's not hard to see how Smiley Sifu got his nickname. He's the one who's usually hanging out with Young Sifu. I hadn't the faintest idea how Hair Sifu got his nickname. But then on Tuesday we went into town (more on that the next post), and he had his hair sort of gelled up. *shrugs*
Yeah. This week was actually pretty eventful, so I'll be posting that sort of update later today, after I finish it. I really meant to post this one yesterday, but Arianne lent me her hard drive which has a ridiculous amount of movies on it, and I ended up watching Ip Man 3. <3
I'm not sure what else to say about the people here… oh, a guy actually just arrived who's a skater. He brought no less than three skateboards with him in case they break during the year that he's here. Maybe I'll see if I can pick up some skills from him on that account? And a lot of other people have hobbies that they do. Like, I did a water color of the Great Wall last week to put up on my ridiculously blank wall. I'd need about another 10 watercolors to keep it from looking so white. Maybe I should clean it first… oh, right. Hobbies. Several people play the guitar, so there's often some serenading going on out on the porch. Someone brought a backgammon set, so a few people have been picking that up. I watched as one of the German guys explained it to someone, but I haven't actually tried it myself yet. And then I have my ukulele, which I've sat out and played a couple of times, and taught some of the people who've asked a few chords. I don't really have the capabilities to teach them beyond that, though, because although I brought a chord chart I only know like 2 songs. There's a lot of reading going on. Several people brought their kindles and will temporarily trade it for another book ("Game of Thrones" is a popular one). Everyone does what they can to pass the time until training starts again. For some people it's going out and getting wasted, for others it's staying in and borrowing a movie to watch.
There's also a bit of traveling. Jinan is only like 40 minutes away by speed train, and Beijing is 2 hours away by the same. So every now and then people will take a weekend or longer to go and see the Forbidden City and Great Wall.
What kind of people end up running away and learning Kung Fu? Normal people, good people, and people who came all the way to China to try to make themselves better but ended up staying exactly the same.
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