On Sunday the 19th we went
to Zhongshan Park, in 1921, (Elder then) President David O. Mckay dedicated a
tree in China to spreading the gospel. It’s a beautiful park. We
didn’t get to see all of it; we’ll probably go back. Anyway, we (Aaron,
Joseph [another student in our program] and I) went there so that we could
visit the tree. We found the tree, but we also found... wait for it... A
MATCHMAKING PARTY! That's right, elderly Chinese people were showing off their
grandchildren right and left. Along the side of the path we walked were
several papers with information such as name, age, gender, job, and interests.
We were quite amused by this bespectical, and we expected to just
observe; silly children assuming things... We were just trying to find this
tree, and then all of a sudden this lady came up to me and started asking me
questions. Then Aaron and Joseph can over, and a swarm of people started
gathering around us. The first lady asked me where I lived and I
said the Haidian district and then she proceeded to correct me on my tones and
tell me a tongue twister; it pretty much sounded liked she said the same thing
over again (I only recognized it because it was in my textbook). Oh well,
I can't be perfect on tones overnight.
Anyway, moving on. It
was a little intimidating. They asked me basic questions, mostly
regarding where I was from, why my hair was black but I was from the States,
and why I spoke Chinese like a child. It was really cool, except then after
the large group of people crowded around us there was no escape in sight.
I had an opening to say I needed to return home, but Aaron and Joseph
were still tied up. I couldn't very well just leave them! So we
ended up talking and being interrogated for about 30 minutes. A guy we
later learned was 45 pushed to the front because he spoke English relatively
fluently. He apparently speaks about 7 languages and has met many
important leaders in the world. He's very well connected in politics.
He's met Bill and Hillary Clinton and some leader from India and Russia.
He was very intent on finding a wife. And made it
very clear that he did not want a hooligan or a prostitute.
At least he has good morals. He invited us to go to his house and
teach us Chinese and we could help him learn "American speech." China
is a very safe place, but to be honest, I think we'll decline...
I swear it wasn't a con, these were not people who were around a ton of foreigners. They were just normal people who were trying to get a spouse. Also, there were a lot of elderly people.
I swear it wasn't a con, these were not people who were around a ton of foreigners. They were just normal people who were trying to get a spouse. Also, there were a lot of elderly people.
(I wonder if they were
striking a deal at that very moment)
(Classic example of a person being advertised for marriage)
(This is the stone that marks the tree that President David O.
Mckay dedicated.
But the sign doesn't read that. I'm not sure what it says
actually.)
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