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Our Changsha hotel; amusement park sign; dinner w/WorldTeach folks.We all slept in until nearly lunchtime. Dan took us to a restaurant across from the school that houses WorldTeach in Changsha. The food was great, and less than 100 yuan. While there, some of the new, returning, and soon-to-be-departing WorldTeach staff came in: Amy #1 (Chinese descent, leaving next week), Amy #2 (a French teacher from Nyack, arrived last night), and Natalie (Assistant Director, in her 2nd year with WorldTeach).
Afterwards, we went back to the hotel to avoid the midday heat. Changsha is really hot & humid, and the pollution gives it an extra greenhouse effect. Like DC, but with less air conditioning. For more Changsha shots, click here: http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=172069165/a=102868539_102868539/t_=102868539.
Around 4:45, we ventured across the street to a large city park that goes on for acres. There’s a small lake with an island, amusement park rides (none of which seemed to be running), and a war memorial… among other things. Also, some pretty great signs translated into mangled English.
From there, we went to meet Steve, the new WorldTeach Director who Dan has been crashing with in Changsha. Steve brought along the “new” Amy, who is TOEFL certified and will be helping with the program this year. Our target was the Mao Restaurant. At least, that’s what the WT kids call it. I think it’s more like the “people’s restaurant,” but it’s filled with paintings of the Chairman & his adoring people. Keep in mind that Hunan was Mao’s home. The people love him here.
On the way, we met Rick (half Chinese WorldTeach staff, leaving soon) and Lance (a middle school teacher from Cincinnati who spent a year here on leave). They joined us.
Steve has gotten fairly fluent & is extremely gregarious, so he talks to everyone. He was definitely the evening’s ringleader. He ordered one adventurous dish – bullfrog – which Adam, Chris and I ate. Judy and Amy demurred. The rest of the fair was more standard, but with delicious Hunan spicing.
After dinner, Steve suggested a massage. The 5 Olvers plus Steve and Amy went to a place where we were met by young women dressed in nurses’ uniforms. They escorted us to a room with 7 massage tables and brought us some chamomile tea. Before we could imbibe, 7 masseuses in doctors’ coats came in and instructed us to lie down. They worked us for 50 minutes each, hard. I think Chris benefited the most – he said his shoulder felt fantastic. The whole thing was 35 yuan each. About $5 for an hour full-body massage.
During the workout there was a constant patter between Steve and the 7 masseuses. They understood almost no English & Steve probably understood less than half of what they said. No matter. Everyone was laughing and having a good time, including the masseuses.
From there, Dan & Steve stopped at Steve’s apartment to get Dan’s guitar. We headed for “the 15th Floor Bar” – again, a name the kids came up with. Some guy converted a couple of apartments into a bar. It’s unmarked, as far as I can tell – Steve learned about it from an acquaintance who works at the Sheraton. Anyway, you take the elevator to the top (15th) floor, go left past a couple of apartments, and then turn into a nondescript doorway. There’s a small bar area with coffee tables and techno music blaring. Go up the steps to more of the same plus a full bar and balcony patio. You climb out a doorway and up a steel stairway on the outside of the building to the roof, where the techno is gone and you can see the Changsha sky (or try, if you can get through the pollution.
We were waited on by Sonny, a Changsha native with wild hair & a wispy goatee who clearly liked it when Dan and Steve came to play. Sonny donated his guitar, and Dan & Steve regaled us with a repertoire of Beatles, Zeppelin, Harry Nilsson (“Lime in the Coconut”) & so on. Some of us sung along.
We didn’t overstay our welcome, but I think we overstayed Amy’s jetlag (having arrived from the U.S. only the night before. We returned to the hotel in the wee hours.
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