Just hangin' with the girls

Last Wednesday night my roommate, Si Yu, and I went to Walmart to eat dinner. We ran into Xiao Man and her friend Yang Yang and decided to eat together. This was the first time I had ever met Yang Yang, and I noticed that she really didn't look "Chinese". If I saw her in America I would think that she was American. When I told her she looked "American", she freaked out. She was really happy and kept rubbing it in the other girls faces. I guess it's a really good thing to look American. Throughout the whole evening she kept asking me if I thought she was pretty, which she was, and her excitement grew each time.

While we were eating I listened to all the girls discussing their boyfriend issues, and realized that all three of them were in fights with their boyfriends. They then asked how my relationship was going with my own boyfriend and when I reported that mine was great they immediately said it was because he is American. I laughed. For awhile. I tried explaining that American boys aren't perfect like they think and they said that because they are all so handsome that it's okay. I laughed at that too. I do not agree. :)

After we ate, we decided to go to Yang Yang's hotel room. I was really confused by this because I thought she lived in Yanqing, and she does. I asked a few more clarifying questions and found out that Yang Yang lives with her boyfriend in his parent's house, and because they are fighting, she decided to move out for a month and rent a hotel room. I figured it would be really expensive and when asked, she responded that it was actually only 1000 yuan for the whole month. That is $150! for a whole month! I was pretty impressed at the bargain price and really couldn't believe it was so cheap. That is like a million times cheaper than renting a place at home. Of course, I always compare everything here to prices at home, and really you can't do that because living expenses are so much different.

When we opened the door to Yang Yang's hotel room, my mouth literally fell open at A) how big the room was and B) how much stuff she had. I guess I didn't really think about how much stuff you would have to move out, but there were literally 20 bags of clothes strewed around the room. I found a seat on the couch and watched for the next few hours as the girls consumed a large amount of cigarettes (which may I say is the most I have ever seen someone smoke at one time). By the end of the 2 hours, each of them had finished 6, one of them 8! In two hours! Xiao Man was on the phone talking to her boyfriend for about 25 minutes, and I took the time to try to figure out how much Chinese I knew by figuring out what their fight was about. I think I got the big picture and understood about 75% of what she said, which is pretty good for me! I was really surprised about what she did next, which was call her dad and tell him what her fight with her boyfriend was about. I feel like I am really close with my dad, and I often tell him my relationship problems, but I have never seem or heard any of my other friends talk to their parents about relationships at home. So seeing her do this reminded me of my own family and the countless times I have asked my mom and dad about what to do. What was interesting about her conversation with her father was that when she was done talking, her father told her that he would call her back after talking to the boyfriend. This, my father has never done, nor would I ever want him to. I told this story to the Kenyan teacher and he told me a story about when he broke up with a Chinese girl he was dating here. He said that her mother actually called him on the phone and asked why they were not dating anymore. I couldn't believe it! How awkward that conversation must have been. It is so interesting how involved the parents are in their children's social/dating lives.

After awhile of listening to Xiao Man talk on the phone, Yang Yang got a little restless and dragged one of the large bags onto her bed. She opened one of them and poured the contents out onto the bed-- A HUGE pile of stuffed animals and toys. I asked her why she had so many and giggled, put one arm in the air, and simulated a claw reaching down to grab a stuffed animal. Her eyes lit up as she grabbed an arm full of toys and threw them in the air. The girls took many pictures with the stuffed animals, cigarettes in one hand, and  throwing up peace signs with the other. When I was about to take a picture of them they FREAKED out. I asked why it was such a big deal and they replied in Chinese, "Our boyfriends HATE girls who smoke!  If they knew we smoked, they would dump us!" I often get confused at their logic and this is just another one of those times where I can't figure out why they are doing what they are doing. As we were getting up to leave Yang Yang's room, I noticed that all the cigarette buds were on the floor and that no one had used an ashtray.    I have also noticed that whenever people spill liquids on the floor that no one bothers to wipe it up. This has been really difficult for me here because at home I have never seen anyone leave water or any liquid on the floor on purpose. At the school I live in, this means that all the floors in the teacher's dorms are wet and sometimes it may mean the liquid is urine (super gross).