Singing and Dancing... Another Reason Why I Run
Pictures with a penguin after BBQ and karaoke.
A note on orthodontics and dentistry in China. I am very familiar with orthodontics because I’ve worn braces for about a third of my life and a retainer for a solid fifth. Lots of kids at my school in America wear braces or a retainer, but I haven’t seen anyone wearing braces here in China. I’ve noticed a number of people with teeth that are not aligned, and I’m thinking that orthodontics is not a big thing here in China. Having a correct bite and straight teeth is not only an aesthetic desire; it’s also a functional necessity. I think part of the reason that not many people in China have braces or oral surgery is because of the expensive price and the lack of orthodontists. I’ve only seen one dentistry place here in Chengdu. Definitely a topic I would like to do more research into.
After a normal day of classes, we had our cultural activity as usual. Today we learned how to do this traditional Chinese dance. It was pretty comical. The dance teacher was this incredibly skinny and absolutely gorgeous lady. I felt like she was the only one in the group who could actually dance. This dance has two parts: the guy part and the girl part. The girls had to do these ballet-like movements, twirling in circles, pointing feet, making these dainty gestures. I felt like you’d need a background in ballet to do this dance well. The last part of the girls' portion involved picking up this oversized flower at the back of the room and swinging it back and fourth, and then running quickly and daintily to the front of the room. The guys’ part was pretty much jump up and down, do jumping jacks, and act manly with a long red scarf wrapped around their waist. When we did both parts together, we all looked a little foolish, but we were having fun.
After the fabulous dance class, I went with my host sister, Annette’s host sister, Chandler’s host sister, and Chandler to Seaside City, a large mall in Suangliu. When we got there, the host sisters asked Chandler and I if we wanted to sing. Generally speaking, I’m never really in the mood to sing. Singing isn’t really my specialty. However, we all headed to the middle of the mall where there was this gigantic stage. Apparently there was a karaoke competition/activity happening. I was not obliged to sing, but Chandler was all for it. She sang a song by Bruno Mars, and she attracted quite a crowd in doing so.
Afterwards, we headed together to this Chinese BBQ restaurant. Chinese BBQ is far from the roasted pig in a smoky sauce typical in the southern regions of America. At this restaurant, each table had a small pit in the center of the table and a smaller burner on the side. The small pit had a piece of wax paper in it and oil on top. You got to pick the meat and the vegetables. You could also pick certain desserts, rice porridge, and drinks for consumption. With your chosen food items, you could cook them in a bowl with broth on the small burner or cook them in oil in the little pit. I genuinely enjoyed myself because I could choose to eat copious amounts of vegetables, and I even had a nice bowl of orange pumpkin squash. Honestly, I think I like Chinese BBQ better than the American version because there are so many more options and lots and lots and lots of vegetables, and of course there were mushrooms!