手工肉絲湯麵。These noodles rock my world.
So I'm sitting there, feeling a little better because I handed her money and got my ticket, got my chopsticks and soup spoon and am waiting. Then I hear some numbers called out. Not sure what numbers exactly, so I wait a little longer. Then I hear numbers after my order being called and "外國人” coming from the front counter. Processing the information given, I start to slowly form a plan with my scared and barely functioning brain to go up to the counter and ask. In the next several minutes of trying to build up enough confidence to even stand up off my very tiny seat I hear "外國人“ a couple more times, and some other customers making an effort to look over at me. Finally, after pretending I had something urgent to do on my phone for another minute or so, I try and, as nonchalantly as possible, get up and go fetch my order. Anyway, the meal was pretty good (the pork was better the first time I ate there, but I will return noodle shop! Just you wait! And this time I'll get my order right when it comes out).
Culture class today was super rad, we did Chinese painting! (as you may have suspected from the title). This guy was brilliant and crazy at the same time. He has been painting for decades now, has his own exhibit at the school, and even had some of his work up at the Beijing Olympics. He really liked making fun of peoples laugh. Someone would laugh awkwardly at something and he would ask "what you mean *imitate students laugh*". Which of course just built up on itself because other people would start making their individually strange laughing noises (laughing really is a bizarre thing). It was another one of those -teachers wouldn't do this in America- moments. He was kind of making fun of people, but then commented about how he enjoyed the laughter and keeping a light-hearted classroom.
Anyway, this man really is a genius. He had a student randomly drop some ink on the paper...
Work his magic...
And suddenly it's epic Chinese landscape art.
Another random ink splatter...
Killer flower drawing.
He then demonstrated how "easy" it was and painted any fruit that students called out.
A true master.
Here's what I did!
My first attempt. Kinda crappy, but you have to start somewhere eh. Just figuring out the different things you can do with the brush and how much water to use with the ink was quite a task.
Determined to paint some damn mountains. Didn't really know what to do with the blank space here. The river and trees were a last minute thought, but I think the painting would have been better without. Might just slice this thing in half longways and only keep the mountains.
This one I actually quite like. The thing in the middle of the waterfall is supposed to be a rock, but it ended up looking like a face, and the bottom rocks kind of like a ribcage so went with the bluff edges more wing like than rocky. I tried to keep "Arkansas" in my mind while painting this one.
And lastly this silly thing. We were two hours in and I was running out of ideas, so I thought, "what would painting depression look like?" And this was my attempt with the Alex Grey inspired eyes at the top.The lighter part is supposed to be a person engulfed in flames with their eyes and mouth slashed out and an upside down cross on their forehead. Then with some shadowy, authoritarian/deity like figure behind the right shoulder, and the eyes are pretty self-explanatory.
They even wrote an article about it! Unfortunately the reporter lady came in at the end when I was doing my last one, so I didn't want to comment on it haha.
I'm kinda hiding in the back left there. Everyone else did way better than me, but it was still really fun heh.
The bicycle parking lot heh. Katie's bike doesn't have back brakes :(
Some sky shots from my dorm, cause ya know, it's beautiful and whatnot.
Late night chillin with Chad! We went and drank some brews at the 7-Eleven like real men do. Moosehead <3
Walking around town drinking... cause it's totally legal (come on America...)
What do young handsome men like us do after downing a couple pints? Play scratchcards of course!
Anyway, twas a good day overall. After my lunch embarrassment painting felt good, then having some brews with Chad at the 7-Eleven talking about Taiwanese and American culture is always great. I still speak too much English with my language partner. People speak Chinese and I still have no idea what's going on, but all is well in the Phoenix City! Felt like this was a pretty entertaining blog, hope you all enjoyed as always! (broke 1000 views including some views in Portugal, Japan, and Austria!!!).
謝謝大家！
What a fun article! And you are on local newspaper! How cool is that! Don't hesitate to ask the local people to repeat or speak slower if you cannot follow their speaking speed! And it is a great opportunity to practice your speaking skills by talking to them! And ordering food is challenging! You have to learn about possible questions they may ask you before you go there! My mind also goes blank some times when I order in the U.S. I also pretend that I understand some times since I don't want to look stupid, but I think negotiating with them and let them slow down is better for me! And I will feel happy and accomplished if I learn some new things from the conversation.
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