Hongwei (age 23 and a senior in college who wants to be a financial analyst) could not have been more friendly and helpful as I quickly learned that he even had a plan for our time together -- get me to my hostel, have lunch, walk around the beautiful West Lake (what makes this place "heaven" on earth) and dinner together.
I could tell from the conversation that Andy had already told him that I liked eating authentic native food that he regularly ate -- and we did just that. In addition, the long walk -- on a spectacularly beautiful day gave us both lots of time to get to know each other. Over a fun lunch (chicken feet - correctly translated as "phoenix" feet, lotus root and noodles)
I learned that he was very apprehensive about our day together because he lacked confidence in his English. He had never had an opportunity to talk or learn from a native English speaker -- and had been cautioned by his sister (who lived in Portland for two years) that his English was not good. As we talked, his confidence grew such that we even talked about confidence. His command of the language isn't what Andy's or his sister's is yet, but it was easy to communicate.
On our walk (easily 5 or 6 miles) I totally enjoyed asking him all kinds of questions about culture, food, education, relationships (he has a long time girlfriend who is going to college in his hometown -- a 4 1/2 hour train ride away), family life.
As dinner time approached -- he took me to a wonderful restaurant that specialized in the kind of food from his hometown of Wenzhou and we feasted on shrimp and duck -- a vegetable and a soup for less than $20 -- and enjoyed a long discussion about Chinese eating etiquette as I learned to shuck the little fried shrimp with my teeth and spit the shells on the plate while loving the taste and experience.
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