“I’m sorry whispered to me,” he said. “If I’d known it would take this
long, I would have sent you somewhere.”
In my head, I thought in reality,
my ticket here only cost $10USD…If all it gets me is a reunion with some friends,
that’s not such a bad investment.
And his boss (Helen) was very nice. She greeted me warmly when we came
in and asked me questions about my Eagle Scout, how long I’d known Bryan, and
what I was doing in school.
The meeting itself was interesting. The company they work for teaches
leadership, citizenship, basic life skills (cooking, etc), and cultural
understanding to a wide range of kids through a wide range of programs. Bryan,
Emily, Johnny, and Luke are supporting the staff this summer to help them run a
couple of the different programs.
As they talked through the various agendas, I noticed not that none of
the days were particularly full. There was always time for napping, and Helen
and the other staff talked a lot about having “time for a rest.” I’ve noticed
that “rest” gets a lot of emphasis in Chinese culture. Some of the other
interns have told me that their Chinese colleagues sleep at their desks after
lunch. Vivi also often asks me if I had a nice rest after each weekend.
In addition to resting, there was a lot of emphasis on safety precautions.
Some of the programs dealt with outdoor elements, and they talked at length
about keeping the kids safe.
I trying to figure out how the whole dynamic of control worked with
this company. It appeared that the Chinese staff wanted to make sure things
were planned—which in my mind, having a plan gives you some sense of control—but
they were very open ended about what the plan was. It was almost as if having a
plan was more important than understanding it. Along the same vein, Helen kept
reminding Bryan and the others that none of the times on the schedules were
accurate. It was more of a sequence of events than an actual agenda.
At several points in the meeting Helen told the group to “act like
super stars” and play up some of their Americanisms. Bryan told me that on several
occasions they’ve told him he isn’t “American enough” and that he needs to be “bigger
and louder.” I find this really funny because in Europe, I was frequently told
when something was “too American” or if I was being an “ugly American.” Here,
there seems to be almost an idolization of American culture (at least some of
the superficial aspects of culture like the dress, the body language, the loud
English accents, etc.)
Luke pointed out a similar odd characteristic in some of the
advertising. I’d noticed that most of the models on billboards, magazines, and
TV ads were all white. Luke found a make-up product called “perfect white skin.”
It strikes me as odd to not only accept a culture so different from your own,
but to almost long for it.
As the meeting appeared to be wrapping up, Bryan gave me his key to
his hotel room and suggested that I go get my stuff so that we could spend the
rest of my time in Suzhou touring around. As I walked back, I’ll admit I was a
little irked that we hadn’t exactly had an action packed day, but I remembered
what my friends Matt and Lizzy told me in Germany: “Every day is an adventure.”
While I’ve used this phrase often, I sometimes forget that even observing
ordinary life is an incredible opportunity to see and learn something new.
Once I had my pack—which Bryan even offered to carry—I met them at the
office and we were ready to go. Our first stop was the Emperor's wall.
"It’s a wall that everyone claims is thousands of years old, but it
definitely looks brand new,” Bryan explained.
In fact, both Bryan and everyone who has told him this rumor are
correct. I read the chapter about Suzhou in my book on the train (between
guessing which station to get off at.) Suzhou was founded somewhere around
500BC and is one of the oldest cities in the basin area. Filled with canals, it
was instantly a merchant hub and by the 14th century, Suzhou was
actually China’s lead producer of silk. Just as Shanghai became known as “Paris
of East” once it was opened to foreign concession, Suzhou became nicknamed “Venice
of the East.” Both cities were known for their cheap thrills, although many
sailors swore that Suzhou women were the prettiest in China. Silk trade
continued to flourish and it is estimated that much of silk transported on the
silk route came from Suzhou originally.
But back to the wall, like much of China’s history, it was…removed…by
the cultural revolution in 1949. In the 1980s, the small portion of it that
remained was disassembled and moved to it’s current location, where it was
restored and has since become a museum on the history of Suzhou.
The wall was beautiful. Made from small grey bricks, it had several gorgeous
archways that over looked the canals. At the center of the top was tower with a
roof that looked like quintessential Chinese architecture (I’ve tried to find
out if there is a name for this style, but everything I’ve read just calls it “Chinese
style.”)
Inside the wall was an exhibit on Suzhou. Most of it was in Chinese,
but some of the displays were quite fascinating. They had a stone map depicting
the original city layout. Given the good condition it was in, I’m guessing the
map might not actually be 2500 years old, but it was really cool anyway. There
were also a lot of dioramas of what the city looked like as it went through
different phases. I have to say, for a majority of its history, it kind of
resembled an old western movie set. There were two story wooden taverns with
swinging saloon doors. Granted there were canals everywhere, but the history in
a lot of ways looked like history in small town America.
We did get to go up on the wall which was also really cool. They
appeared to be shooting some sort of movie scene at the top, but the caution
tape (which was white with orange letters and read “limit line”) seemed to be
ignored by everyone. Despite a lack of blue sky and an abundance of identical looking
buildings, the city had some nice views. The water in the canals was pretty
grubby, but the little boats people paddled around in were very cool.
Our next stop was Pingjiang Lu, which is sort of the “down town”
shopping district of Suzhou. On the way, we got mango smoothies which were not
as good or impressive as the pureed mango back in Shanghai. But never the less,
that mango flavor is so refreshing in this hot weather.
Unlike Nanjiang Lu in Shanghai, which is flashy and urban and commercialized,
Pingjiang Lu was quiet and filled with street vendors and little shops. We went
into one that was selling all kinds of cliché Chinese souvenirs. They had
wooden combs, those beautiful knots with the tassels, paper fans, beaded jewelry,
jade knickknacks, and all kinds of other fun “Chinese” stuff. I attempted to
haggle with a woman for a fan, but she apparently was not in a haggling mood
(we are currently using this story for a marketing project at work, so I might
elaborate on it later.)
The big Chinese item which I have avoided thus far—and probably will
going forward—that every vendor was selling was chicken feet. This legendary
delicacy ranks up there with escargot in Paris. I tired escargot in France, but
I do not think I will try chicken feet in China. Not only, I imagine, are they
quite bony, they look terrifying. They have all the skin and claws still
intact! I’m not completely sure there is any meat on them.
Bryan took us in one of his favorite stores which was a little tea
shop and café. They had tables where you could either buy postcards or make
your own, and then mail them from the café. The Chinese staff and told Bryan
that they often did homework at that place, and I can see why. It smelled
amazing and was cozy (as well as air conditioned.)
As we walked along, we saw a man paddling a boat up the canal that ran
parallel to the river. Like good tourists, all of us ran over to get a picture
of him. That’s when it dawned on me. No one else had taken his picture…no one
else looked as enchanted by this street as we did…no one else on this street
was a foreigner…we really were surrounded by local Chinese people.
It was different than Shanghai in some ways. It was quieter. That’s
not to say it was quiet, but it was quieter. In Shanghai, people are very
animated and loud when they speak. Here, people seemed more poised. Their facial
expressions were still warm and readable, but their body language and volume
was much more conservative. At the same time, the air pollution here seems a
bit worse. Perhaps I just caught it on a bad day (Shanghai certainly has good
days and bad days) but there seems to be more trash laying around too.
At the same time, it isn’t so different. American brands are still
everywhere. Traffic is still chaotic (actually probably more so than Shanghai).
People are friendly and definitely want to practice English with foreigners.
There is still a fun, young energy about the city, and I’d say there is easily
as much English in Suzhou as in Shanghai.
I had three hours until my train left for Shanghai and we still had a
busy evening ahead of us. At the end of PingJiang Lu, we turned the corner and
headed to our next destination.
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