Most often days spent in China you see quite peculiar sights. Members of the older generation provide me with most of
them. Their quest for good health in old age is admirable but also frankly quite comical.
In
broad daylight, you will see grand dads and grandmums walking down the street
clapping their hands rhythmically with their step or swinging their arms around beating their chest and back (no word of a lie). I’m laughing as I write this imagining my
grandparents doing this down the Wiltshire High Streets. They often produce quite a beat which allows you to beatbox no trouble.
Other recreational activities for the old from what I have
noticed consist of napping in front of the sofa (quite common there), picking
up their grandchildren from school (necessity for a functional family) and
evening group dances.
The latter is quite a thing to behold. A real Only in China
thing. This nightly ritual probably starts with a few grannies throwing some
shapes to the music, but is soon joined by as many grannies and the odd grandpa
or out of tune Westerner. The participants always seem to know the step routine
and there is barely much of a mutter through out the dances.
The silence of course changed when Tom and I got involved a
few weeks back. There was mild laughter at our dance inability, then there was a bit
of a roar when Tom took his shoes off for better agility and then people went
skitz when I decided a kick in the backside of one's brother should be the final
piece of that particular routine.
One further point of praise is the oldies choice of fashion.
Most of the time its standard wear, but then you get the oldies with possibly
no perception of what a New York Yankees cap entails, or a Playboy jacket or
even a Adidas Impossible Is Nothing T-Shirt gets me.
Honestly I love the oldies here. They don’t give a monkey. I
like their lifestyle that is probably not full of riches as I’m guessing they
missed out on the Shanghai boom. But going from my privates grandparents they
always seem happy!
A way to distinguish old people other than their crazy
walking or mad dress sense is their grey hair colour which sticks out on a sea
of black tops!
Haircuts are ridiculously cheap out here. Its criminal
really that I’ve only had three since arriving. Probably for the mixed bag I’ve
received, from an included back massage, to what was essentially a bowl, to my
latest ‘professional salon’ do for what was £4.
Hairstyles are really what Chinese people use to distinguish
themselves if that is what they crave. Not many people will dye as it usually
goes ginger. Most of the people who decide to style their hair are usually
young cool male types, the pretty girls or the middle aged woman who are
clearly having a mid life crisis!
One style that you don’t really see that much of is the
schoolboy classic, the Quiff. I think because Chinese people have quite a lot
of forehead. Their hair must start a few centrimetres back from my set of
locks. The hot weather has ended up making my hair look like a steep cliff on
my head and it without doubt gets a few students in a bit of a stitch as they try to stifle their need to tell me of my hair.
Kid: Teacher, teacher your hair is so.....
Me: Good?
Kid: <laughter>
I also would like to add for the lads that a Chinese girl
who cuts her hair short raises her hot rating by a good two bars. FACT!
I’m feeling reflective as I’m on the train back from my penultimate
lesson with Katy. My crazy, tree climbing 7 year old private. I won’t miss the
long one hour commute it took to reach her humble abode, but I will her family
who have been truly accommodating and even took me out for pizza last Friday.
Having said that Tom is back from his travels on Sunday so I
now find myself with 8 more precious free hours to spend with Big T next week.
I imagine some of those will be spent him telling me about
his trip around China. I have to say it makes me green with envy listening to
my brothers story as he annihilates every part of this country.
But then again no one deserves it more and I am mighty proud
of my little bro!
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