Drawing: Round One

When it was time to go to class, Lillis and I had trouble getting a taxi and telling our driver where we needed to go. We showed him some Chinese characters. Our taxi swerved and stopped short in front of a large gate. The driver gestured for us to pay and get the hell out. We hesitated. This looked nothing like the dark muddy driveway Julia led us through just four days ago. It was actually a legitimate university. "This can't be it." We showed him the characters again. Finally, he did a quick u-turn and drove us a few feet around the corner to a different gate. We immediately recognized its randomness and knew we found the right place. Feeling foolish we stumbled out of the cab and entered the driveway. Our memories were vague and it was dark. We managed to find the muddy path that lead off the road, into the darkness, past a caged abandoned building. Behind this building, away from the road was the art building. The doors were flung open and it also seemed abandoned. We were headed for the seventh floor. The only problem: there were no lights! It was PITCH BLACK and silent. We began to think that there had been a misunderstanding. Maybe no one was there. We listened carefully and could hear voices in the distance. We decided to enter the stairwell and attempt to find the room we were in last time.
It was creepy. If I were in America I never would have gone near that building. This is the stuff horror movies are made of! As my friend Anne once said, things that are shady in America aren't shady in China...but as I was blinded by darkness, clutching for the banister halfway between the third and fourth floor in the middle of nowhere, I began to question if that's true. I recalled a few days earlier when my friend Matthew and I were shopping for gloves. We came upon a store that sold a lot of random stuff including weapons. I picked up what looked like a police baton. The owner came over, thinking I might make a purchase, and took it from me. It wasn't a baton. He unscrewed the handle and pulled out a MASSIVE knife. We're talking a 10 inch blade at least. It was enough to make my spine shiver. With this image in mind, I couldn't help thinking that maybe I have a false sense of security. Maybe I am naive. However, even as all of the alarms were going off in my head, I felt safe. A dark stairwell, an abandoned building, not knowing if we were lost or not, nighttime falling....I've been trained to not feel comfortable with this type of situation. At least not at home anyway. But it was safe. This contrast was enough to leave me both giddy and spooked. Suddenly someone else entered the stairwell. Two floors below us and climbing, a Chinese man was humming his way through the darkness. Someone was coming!! Lillis and I panicked and picked up the pace. We finally saw some light as we approached the seventh floor. We felt both embarrassed and relieved to discover that the man behind us was a friendly pipsqueak of a high school kid...as opposed to a man in a ski mask with a machete of course....our bad :)
We were greeted by our teacher, a short Chinese man with broad shoulders, long flowing hair (parted in the middle), braces, and a brown leather jacket. We sat down with him and Julia to talk about our classes and to pay. It was all very serious. Our teacher wanted to prepare a timetable for us so we can progress as much as possible in ten lessons. Julia did most of the talking as she was translating. Our teacher sat on the other side of the table looking serious and mumbling Chinese shyly to Julia . Suddenly, without warning and in perfect English he looked at Lillis and then at me and blurted out "YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL." Awkward giggling ensued by all parties and so began our first lesson.
We did not draw that night. Instead our teacher gave a demonstration. There were mostly high school kids crowded around a tiny stool and drawing board. There was a still life of a jug, some fruit, some fabric, and a Pepsi bottle. Our teacher sat down. Pencil in hand, he got right down to business. We on the other hand, immediately caused a scene. Julia made a fuss about getting us a good place to sit. The others whispered to friends and stared curiously. Julia informed us that the teacher asked that she come to all of our lessons to translate! We tried to assure her that this wasn't necessary. During the demonstration, she stood between us narrating as our teacher drew. "He is drawing the outlines now"...."He is drawing the shadows now". An hour passed and we took a break. As we spoke to Julia in English we became surrounded by a circle of other students, who wanted to try and understand our language. The break ended.
Our teacher was determined to finish his drawing. It was coming along nicely. I was impressed with his lack of hesitation. He drew fast and yet each and every mark or his pencil was confident and calculated. Like a machine. Another hour passed. At one point a tall Chinese boy stood up next to Lillis. I could feel him eyeing the two of us, hoping we would look. He had an immature but cocky attitude. He moved closer and then a little closer. He Nudged his buddy to say something and then kept gawking. It was all too much. I tried to hold it in, but at least one cackle escaped and I found myself crying from trying not to laugh. Lillis was privy to the situation. I could hear her attempting to contain herself which made the situation even more funny. I thought of walking up the dark stairs, of watching our teacher draw a Pepsi bottle for what felt like an eternity, of his random declaration of our beauty, of Julia's play by play, and I began to wonder what we were doing there...everything became hilarious. We took a short break only to be told that this was a three hour demonstration, so it was going to be awhile. Lillis and I had enough. Our teacher looked a little crushed and insulted when we told him we were bolting. As we stood by the door putting on our jackets, a crowd of students came by to watch. As one man explained his name in Chinese, our teacher walked by once again. He stood behind the crowd, looked at us and yelled "HOT", he then walked away briskly. Welcome to random town. We carefully made our way back down into the darkness.
Next lesson: we draw.