The October Holiday Experience...Trains

Like most holiday vacations in China, the trip to Guilin was made by train. Train rides are always interesting experiences; if not for the conditions of the experience, then for the multitudes of children that tend to find foreigners no matter where they are on the train. It never fails, children find me on the train. I dream of riding on trains relaxing in the hard sleeper cabin while reading a book as the scenes of China's countryside whiz by and the clanking of the train cars beats steadily on my ears.

Though this dream has yet to become a reality, it is hardly anything to complain about. The children that I run into on the trains are quite entertaining. It always begins with a small child passing by the berth that I occupy and seeing me in the corner of his or her eye. These children- they see, they pass, they return, I smile, they smile, and then they run away. In no less than 5 minutes, the child returns to pass by once more. He steps further into the berth as if to test the waters. I smile. He smiles and then takes off again. And so begins, a 30 minute game of him and his newfound young cohorts on the train running down the walkway, slowing down enough to look in and smile, and then take off at breakneck speed after I smile at them. The fact that I am a foreigner attracts the attention of many children on the train. At some point, the children, after discussing what to do in their huddle, get the courage to come and talk to me. Maybe they just get tired of seeing my teeth. I don't know. "We're tired of looking at his teeth, let's see if we can get him to talk." In their bravery, they overestimate the amount of Chinese I might know. They come crashing in yelling all kinds of things in Chinese. In my broken Chinese, I try to answer. My favorite thing about this is when they laugh hysterically at the things that I say. It isn't long before I figure out that the responses I provide are not even close to the correct responses to their statements. Children: "Where are you going?" Me: "I like living in China." Children: "Are you from America?" Me: I know, the time is 8:30 pm." One day, I'll get it.

Recently, I have gotten brave with these little children. 60% of the time they want to talk to me in order to practice English. I let them practice, but I can only take general greetings for so long. After my boredom sets in, I proceed to practice my Chinese. In doing so, I always get to the verb for singing. This is my favorite part. I can't have full conversations in Chinese yet, but I can make suggestions. Boy is it fun to suggest that they sing. Of course, they will do it willingly. Something about Chinese culture: people ask each other to perform all the time. When asked, students, teachers, and children will perform; circumstances not withstanding. They are shocked when foreigners don't jump at the opportunity. I wonder if they think we all love to perform because they see so many performance TV shows like American Idol or movies where young people are trying to become famous. Whatever the case may be, the children performed when I asked. "Take me to your heart" "God is a girl" "Yesterday once more" Songs they performed for me. Of course, I was asked to perform in turn. Why do they love "My heart will go on"? I won't complain, I know that song and the first part is easy to sing. It pleases them at least.

After a few hours of interacting with these children, my savior, the mandatory lights-out time arrives. It is time to sleep. I like falling asleep to the rumble of the train and the constant swaying of the train car as it races to its destination slower than we would drive on the interstate in America. Overnight trains are nice because I sleep for nearly half of the trip only to wake as we roll slowly into the station where I will alight. This is the typically train ride - an experience worth having over and over again.