Here are two anecdotes that are indicative of how this past week has looked and felt for us:
1) Yesterday, Brian and I went on a long walk from campus to (and around) West Lake. As I mentioned before, the lake itself is huge. It would probably take an entire day to walk around it, but we've at least explored a few more nooks and crannies. I'll try to post some pictures soon, but every corner has a new vista with weeping willows, mountains, lily pads, bridge, and pagoda. It really is all quite charming.
After walking and exploring for a few hours, Brian and I stopped at a lunch place at a pretty alcove on the lake (I'm guessing the place turns into a karaoke bar at night based on its decor, but I was desperate for air conditioning and nourishment :). While we were eating our lunch, a guy walked by and very openly stared at me. I'm getting used to the stares--though this city has thousands of foreign students, my blonde hair still elicits plenty of gaping mouths and pointing (for the record, this isn't "wow, she's hot!" kind of gawking, but more along the lines of "is that hair REAL?"). I first tried to ignore his staring, but then he started slapping his right arm and pointing at me. I ignored this as well, until he was standing right in front of me, semi-shouting and slapping his right arm.
Ah. Now, I remember from my first trip to China. What is freakish about me in this instance is not my blonde hair, but my left-handedness. I'd love for someone to explain to me why it's taboo to use chopsticks with the left hand. This guy was not-so-subtly trying to correct the error of my ways.
While I'm all about being culturally sensitive, I can barely use chopsticks with any hand (let alone my secondary one). To save face, I switched hands with the chopsticks until he passed by. Then I switched back. Next thing I know, the waitress brings Brian and me forks for our food. We saved face again by nicely accepting them, then we put them down while I took chopsticks again in my left hand. I guess I'll never know if we just looked that clumsy eating our food, or if my south paw preferences offended them that much? :)
2) After our lesson in how to use chopsticks from our slaphappy friend, we headed back to our dorm. As soon as we put down our bags in the room, we get a telephone call. We were shocked anyone was calling because we've had abysmal luck receiving calls from our friend Sarah who has also moved to town. So hearing the phone ring surprised us both.
Turns out, someone was going to come by shortly to replace our TV. The TV that we have put into a corner and haven't touched since we moved in because it takes up precious counter space. I thought at first this was their not-so-subtle way of telling us they wanted us to put the TV back, but apparently all the TVs on our hall were getting replaced.
Let me put this in perspective. We have no idea how we're supposed to dispose of our trash, we have to go out every day to buy drinking water, and we are still not quite sure how we are supposed to get clean linens. But by golly, we now have a new TV for our room! Oh, and to save face again, we had to clean off the counter space so someone could come in and install the TV. We then promptly unplugged it and put it in the corner, just like the other TV.
I should clarify with both of these anecdotes that I know I am the foreigner, and that we have chosen to go to a new country. Obviously the culture here works for over a billion people, so I need to be open to learning it. I do look forward to more adventures, but the adventures will be a little more palatable once we have more basic needs met. Oh, well. Each day we learn a little bit more, and at least this TV takes up less corner space.