the Mosque, an Earwaxing, & mahjong in the park

Today was quite the day for adventures. After classes today, Sarah, Matt, Ben, & I grabbed a route 55 bus down to ChunXi Lu and then went on exploring the area. We were in search of the local mosque. Using the map that I picked up from the hostile, we weaved around several streets and even found ourselves in an underground shopping street. It was quite the scene. The way our usual adventures go is that you walk in a direction for a few minutes, stop and ask for direction to make sure you are going in the right direction, and then continue walking until you find the next friendly looking individual to question. So...I'm guessing we walked for a good fifteen to twenty minutes in this underground shopping street. Ever couple of minutes, we paused to be certain that we weren't off the supposed trail. Actually, it was rather "fateful" that we ended up in this shopping street. Since we were planning on visiting the mosque, Sarah and I thought it would be respectful and maybe even necessary to buy a scarf to cover our hair. So, we each got a green scarf that will prove to be handy when winter rolls around. Matt got himself an American flag bandana...I'm not sure what he's planning on using it for....but...yeah...he got one. After walking quite a distance, we finally emerged at a street that led directly to the mosque. We could tell as we were walking along that we were getting closer and closer. More and more Xinjiang people appeared, most of them were men with these bicycle-carts full of dried fruits. They are some of the most delicious dried fruits I've ever had. In addition to buying some dried apricots, we shared a box of spicy noodles and a type of bread/pastry. After eating our fill *Matt and Ben, of course, got sheep-on-a-stick*, we headed into the mosque to look around. There weren't that many people around...but we took a quick tour around the place. It was a pretty decent sized place...although, I would have to say, I really have nothing to compare it to since it was my first time into a mosque. There were a few people in the main area of the mosque praying and a few Xinjiang people sitting outside in the corridor chatting. I snapped a picture of the room upstairs where no one. It was interesting to see the chart they had out in the front. It had the times and directions as to when they should pray. We weren't too sure what we could or could not do as no one in the mosque really took too much interest in us. Not too long after getting there, we headed out and walked across the street to RenMing Park. This was where the real fun began.




We started to meander around...and found ourselves in this section of the park next to a tea house where there were alot of elderly and middle aged people playing mahjong. What could we do but find out how all these people got their mahjong sets? We went into the tea house and found that if you bought a cup of tea, mahjong was complementary. So, the four of us, with our 10RMB cup of tea found ourselves in the midst of all of these people trying to figure out how to play. Well, it wasn't like none of us knew how to. My grandparents taught me a couple of years ago...but it had been quite a while. So, as we were figuring out this game, this guy walks up. Right away, Ben and I knew who he was. I'm not sure if many of you guys know who Anthony Bourdain is...but he's on the Travel Channel and does what people on the travel channel do...talk about the places they visit. Well, when I was in Texas, one of the episodes was on Beijing and Chengdu. In Chengdu, he went to RenMing Park *when we headed over to this park, we had no idea it was the same park that Bourdain went to,* sat around watching people play mahjong, and...get this...had his ear cleaned! Yes! There are actually people here who go around and ask if people want to get their ears cleaned. Okay, this was when I found out that I had a childhood experience that, now it seems, not many other people experience. I am not sure whether it's a Chinese thing or an Asian thing, but when I was a kid, my mom would often clean out the wax in our ears with a special earpicking tool. Well...when I told this fact to my friends...they just looked at me. Haha...it was hilarious. Well...like I said, Ben saw this episode. So as we were sitting down to play, he said that he was hoping to get his ear cleaned and was looking around for any of the ear cleaners. After a few minutes into our first game...lo and behold! The ear cleaner guy. :) So, the three of them all got their ears washed, picked, and cleaned for 25 RMB. Crazy isn't it? Well, not so crazy. I, having had this experience before, didn't feel like I needed the experience again. It was quite funny, especially when each of them had their turn and gave the most hilarious faces. Honestly, it doesn't hurt. Their squirming looks and im-being-tortured nervous laughter were more from the weirdness of it all. It can be, as they commented, quite enjoyable.
After that whole ordeal, we got back to playing. The most interesting part of playing is the fact that 30 minutes into our game, we literally had an audience of 20 watching us play. What probably drew them over was the fact that 1. we are young...most of the people who play mahjong in China are middle aged or elderly people. 2. we are foreigners...well, most of the time people thought I was a local and was trying to teach my friends how to play. So...this was what was so great about the whole thing. Not only were they helping us with our game, but they sometimes began to argue among themselves how we should be playing and which tiles to deal out. It was awesome. Oh, so me and sarah were the winners, I think for all of the games. Here is us with our victory-thumbs-up and our winning tiles. Overall, we had quite the afternoon.

In the evening, I went and met Maxim. I am his conversational partner...usually we just chat about anything that comes to mind in a mix of Chinese and English. Most of the time it's in English...so I help him with this grammer and his vocabulary. We talked about Chinese vs. American culture. I won't go into the details...cause that in itself is an entry in itself. I do want to share with you guys a feeling that I always get here in China though. At least once a week, more often now that I'm teaching English and going to Western styled resturants, I get this feeling of two worlds. Imagine this: going to eat lunch and your environment being much like it would be in the States. But then, when you walk out of the resturant....the door acting as some sort of portal, you are back in China. It is the strangest and most awing feeling. It feels as if 2 worlds are being connected by a simple door. :)