Bu Yao Go Back!

Last weekend I was invited to have lunch at the home of one of my students from my adult class, Bruce. His wife wanted to cook me Chinese food. The food was some of the best that I've had so far and it was nice to see inside a Chinese apartment building (which was very nice inside – their home was obviously newly remodeled… the outside kind of looks like a prison).

 

The best part was playing with his kids though. He has two little boys, 4 and 9. His nine year old has bad asthma, so when I got to his home, Bruce had to rush his oldest son off to the doctor. That left me with his wife and the four year old, neither of whom spoke English.

 

The four year old immediately loved me though and we did some coloring and watched an episode of Dora the Explore in Chinese.  He then led me from room to room by my fingers showing me all of his toys and the vegetable garden on the roof. It was adorable. He loved hearing me speak English so he kept pointing at things and asking "Zhe she shenme?" "What is this?" I would answer and he would giggle and then drag me on to the next room.

 

Bruce and his other son soon got back from the doctor and it was then a competition for my attention between the boys. "I do not like to watch television. I prefer to play table tennis and study. Are you able to play table tennis?" For a nine year old, his English was awesome and quite proper. I played a few rounds of ping-pong and he showed me his English books. It was absolutely adorable.

 

After lunch we took a drive down to a little park area at the mouth of the Yangtze River to watch some of the barges pass by and climb on the rocks.  Finally, Bruce asked me if I was ready to go back. The oldest boy immediately responded, "Bu yao go back dad!" (Bu means no.)

 

All in all it was a lovely afternoon.

 

The point that I'm really trying to make with this story is that the Chinese are extremely hospitable and generous. They are very interested in foreigners and more often than not they are willing to open their homes and make prepare a home cooked meal for a stranger. When's the last time that you did something like that?