American Inside and Out

Let me just start by saying that today was the best day ever. First, we need to play a little catch-up. During the Tang Dynasty, there was this famous poet named Dufu who lived in Chengdu; his poetry was largely inspired by my current environs (although back then, there were far fewer cars and much less smog). The city of Chengdu has rebuilt his thatched cottage and surrounding gardens in his honor. For the spring festival (the Chinese New Year), the staff at Dufu’s cottage is putting on a show, complete with performances of some nature by several famous Chinese actors. There is also to be a poem read by some foreigners. My Chinese teacher, Lin Laoshi (laoshi means teacher), selected Will and I to be the requisite laowai. We will stand up in front of a large crowd and recite one of Dufu’s most famous poems. There will be camera crews there, we’ll get to meet famous people, and apparently we’re also going to be on TV. Exciting, right? It gets better. Since this is a Chinese performance, we need Chinese clothing to wear (despite our evident foreignness). So, lucky us, we are being bought Chinese clothing! We may even get to keep it after the show, although that part is still a little unclear. Accordingly, I will be wearing a qipao, a traditional Chinese dress. Since we currently have no Chinese clothing, Lin Laoshi took us costume shopping today. Okay, now we’re all up-to-date and back to present day. Like I said, we went shopping, where it was immediately apparent that I am an American through and through. In order to wear a qipao, the wearer must be quite slender. Quick disclaimer: I am plenty skinny. But let me tell you something about Chinese women. Not only are they very slim, they also have very slight hips. I went to try on a qipao, I pulled it up over my legs and – you guessed it – it got stuck around my hips. So I thought maybe it would actually work if I pulled it over my head – not so. I was definitely stuck mid-hip. The next size up presented the same problem. I ended up with the largest size, not because I am a large person, but because I have American hips, which correspond to the approximate body width of an overweight Chinese person. The sizing troubles don’t end here, however. I suppose it could be said that my waist is on par with that of a normal Chinese woman. Which means that once you get past the hips, the qipao is far too large on me. In order to compensate, I stuck with the largest size, but the people we got it from are altering it for me so I don’t look like an American sumo wrestler instead of a curly-haired Asian with extraordinarily large hips. Oh, and don’t worry – I’ll have plenty of pictures taken at the performance so I can show you all what I looked like. One more note of catching up. There are numerous street vendors here that sell lots of interesting things to munch on. Among the most pungent (and as far as I’m concerned, the most appetizing) are the baked yams. Hot, sweet deliciousness for less than 28 cents. I have been vowing ever since I smelled them the first time that one day I was going to buy myself one. So, back to the story. After costume shopping, our teacher took us on a tour of Tianfu square, the center of Chengdu. And oh man. I smelled them before I saw them. We rounded a corner, and all of a sudden it hit me. Someone was selling those baked yams. I started smelling the air with vigor. Heaven in my nose! There was no denying it – Lin Laoshi knew right away what I was craving. She bought me and Will each one yam, one palm-sized delicacy, hot and ready to eat. It was everything I had imagined and so much more. I’m still on a high from that yam.