Lost in Translation

Yesterday was Halloween, even here in China.  It was also my first full day as a 30-year old and I want to say thank you to all of my friends and family who called, sent emails, and posted on Facebook their birthday wishes.  It really meant a lot to me, especially being 8000 miles away from home. 

So back to Halloween, which we celebrated by planning and throwing a party for our students.  We were told by the International Program Office (IPO) that we should throw a Halloween party to give our students a taste of American culture and that is what we did.  We scoured the shops near the Haizhu Square metro station.  These shops contain every possible knick-knack you could imagine that you see for sale in stores in the States and are made in China.  There were stores selling all types of digital watches, necklaces, bootleg cosmetics, novelties, you name it.  Tucked in the middle of all of these stores were those selling Halloween supplies, including the wonderfully labeled “geak” kit, which sadly I decided not to buy.  Instead, I dressed up as a soccer player with my Chelsea uniform.  Alexa was a devil, Hanna was a witch, and Celia bought an excellent moustache and glasses combination wit a top hat.

 

Some students really took to the dressing up part of Halloween, but most came in their usual clothes.  Regardless, it was a lot of fun to see our students outside of the classroom.  Many of our students had a chorus competition that evening and we thought that they could not make the party, but Jack from the IPO coordinated with those students and had them bring Celia and I a cake for our birthday while singing happy birthday as they made their grand entrance.  The kids looked great and it was really terrific to see them, albeit for a short time before they took off for the competition.  We played some games including bobbing for apples, the Bar/Bat Mitzvah staple of Coke and Pepsi, and a game where everyone had to tie balloons around their ankles and try to pop the other persons to be the last person standing with a fully inflated balloon.  Suffice it to say that the kids had a good time and we felt like we at least gave them a small taste of American Halloween culture, unfortunately minus the trick-or-treating. 

This afternoon, Hanna and I embarked on a mini-adventure.  Actually, I roped Hanna into it because I did not want to do it alone.  I was invited to a “free hug” event by a guy named Gusta who attended the LGBT documentary screening last weekend.  He had asked Dr. Song for my email address and then emailed me out of the blue inviting me to this event he was organizing on Beijing Lu (北京路) this Saturday afternoon.  Beijing Lu is a giant pedestrian street with shops closed to all traffic and packed with people on the weekend.  These free hug campaigns were started by a guy in Australia and have been carried out all over the world, so this guy wanted to have one here in Guangzhou because he thought the people needed some random acts of kindness and he was hoping to get them to reject their apathy, both of which are lofty and noble goals.  Hanna and I show up and no one is there.  After about a half an hour, this guy and his friend with a camera show up.  His other friends are supposed to be coming.  Finally, his other friend shows up with some paper and markers to make signs advertising our free hugs.  At this point, I learned that 免费拥抱, mianfei yongbao, means “free hugs”.  Hanna and I are given our signs to hold high and like bees on honey, the crowd begins to take notice and flock our way.  At first some random people come up asking for hugs, but it quickly devolves into “let’s take pictures of the foreigners holding signs that say ‘free hugs’”.  At one point, I looked up and about 200 people had gathered around us with their cameras and phones, snapping away.  Some people actually came up to us and asked us to pose in pictures.  I began feeling like monkeys at the zoo who were being beckoned to sing and dance so the tourists could take pictures to show their friends and family back home.  At this point a guard, presumably from the Municipal Management Bureau, came over and told the guy that we were creating too much of a crowd and people could not walk through, so we would have to disband.  Hanna and I decided this was our exit and we politely said goodbye, but not before snapping some pictures of our own. 

As Hanna and I walked away, we remarked on how bizarre that whole experience was.  I definitely did not expect the people of Guangzhou to be so fascinated by two foreigners holding signs advertising free hugs that they would mob us and start taking pictures.  I thought that snapping pictures of foreigners went out of fashion a decade ago in big cities like Guangzhou, but apparently not.  I am also not sure if posing with the foreigners was what the founder of the “free hug” movement had in mind when he came up with the concept.  Perhaps in our own small way, we were spreading kindness and fighting apathy by getting all of these people to stop and take notice of something beyond themselves.  Perhaps our pictures put smiles on the faces of people who might not have otherwise had them.  Or we were just a spectacle and most humans love to take pictures of a good spectacle for posterity’s sake.  Regardless, here are some pictures from today’s event.  You be the judge. 

Four Fellows in Costume

Our Kids Dressed to Compete in the Chorus Competition

Hanna, me, and Gusta with our “Free Hugs” signs

Me and my 免费拥抱 sign

A “geak” costume