China Reflection

“I like Americans.”

This was one of the first lines that Strong Horse told me on our first encounter at a Thanksgiving party.  The party, held last year to celebrate my personal favorite American holiday, was hosted by members of the Beijing Hash House Harriers.  The ‘Hash House Harries’ refer to themselves as “a drinking club with a running problem.”  Meeting every Sunday at a different location in the city, the Harriers convene (rain or shine), to run a predetermined route marked in chalk by arrows, false turns, and beer stops along the way.  At the end of every Sunday run, they reconvene in a circle to sing drinking songs, make toasts, and be as chauvenistic and “dudey” as possible.  They are, in essence, Beijing’s version of “Animal House”–beer bellies bobbing proudly along the wide avenues of the city’s streets amidst stares from bewildered local urbanites.  Whenever I want an “American” feel, I can certainly feel it in the Hash.

It was at this Thanksgiving party that I first met Strong Horse (the literal translation of his Chinese name).  With a perfectly placed British accent, he introduced himself to me in the ever so polite tones of the gentleman that he is.  He told me that he had recently returned from 4 years studying in Sheffield, England, or “Sheffie” as he liked to refer to it.  Upon returning to Beijing, he decided it was high time to spend some family time with his mother and father.

Sea Turtle

Chinese refer to their contrymen returning from overseas as “sea turtles.”  Strong Horse wears his shell with pride.  He used to work with Sinopec (a major Chinese oil company).  I assume that the job he help with this company was a relatively high status and well-paid job.  He is in his early 40s and has not been working since returning from his time in “Sheffie.”

I like this sea turtle’s style of life.  He seems to glide with ease with no apparent destination in mind from my point of view.  I feel comfortable with Strong Horse when I’m talking with him.  I feel like he can see certain things from my perspective.  I can talk with him like I can with a foreigner, switching back and forth between English and Chinese.  We are just good friends.  We talk about the things that good friends talk about, the life of two bachelors sitting together in a bar eating barbecue and drinking beers.

Each time I meet with Strong Horse he has a list of different English questions to ask me.  He pulls out a sheet with the following phrases:

“Stand Clear.”

“Weird.”

“No sales of alcoholic beverages to minors.”

I’m willing to play with these phrases and teach him some English when we meet.  I know that he’s not studying English for a test or to get a good job.  His English is excellent.  He studies language for the same reason that I do…to communicate and to use his mind.  We talk about the expression,”stand clear,” an expression I have never used once in my 29 years of life.  When can it be used?  Is it correct?  Is this British English or American English?  The pronunciation of “weird” is a question in his mind.  I go over it a few times with him.  It’s his new favorite word for the day.

“And why isn’t it, ‘no alcoholic beverages  for minors’ instead of ‘to’ minors?”

I can’t answer this question.  I’m not an English teacher anymore.  I could research it, but I haven’t until this point.

Strong Horse and I order another beer.  We are sitting at one of my favorite barbecue spots in Beijing.  Sometimes I feel the need to get some bbq scallops and oysters.  Barbecue, however, is not something one does alone.  You need a sea turtle, a man’s man, to join you on these occasions.  The weather is hot.  Strong Horse pulls off his shirt, exposing the gigantic bowling ball of a sea turtle’s shell that his belly has turned into.  Like a rock, it sits there taking in all of the food and drink that we consume.

“Come on…let it out,” he beckons me to take off my shirt. This is a habit Chinese have in the summer months.  You can find shirtless men anywhere and everywhere in public.  I don’t usually join them, but sitting here with Beijing Man, I decide, what the heck?  I lift my shirt up and let my chest hair air out in the summer night.  Strong Horse and I order another beer…another one down the hatch.