New Year’s Eve is usually a savage drunken beast, prowling in loud packs, wearing the latest fashionable war paint, gorging on proximity, possibility, and the power of mass presumption, leaving entire populations weeping, weaving and heaving, anticipation biting like a coiled rattlesnake and the night all out of anti-venom, as the bright butterflies of celebration fade into the dull angry moths of morning after regret. But in China, hardly anyone celebrates the Western New Year, and the streets of Baoji were Wednesday night normal as we made our way to a bar locally known as the ‘Four Sisters’. On a short dead-end road lined with bars it became apparent that no one had told the revelers here that this night was not celebrated in China. Every bar was packed. By this time we were a group of eleven and the Four Sisters couldn’t accommodate us—though they tried, and we finally settled into what I think was called the Che Bar. I remember the owner’s name was Michael and he uprooted the people at the window table and let us settle in. In China you just go along with this; it does no good to protest. They had mini kegs of Heineken and imported scotch and hookahs and a large red banner of the Cuban revolutionary hanging on the wall. From this point on it was all talk-talk-talk. Talk to Jordan the Australian who rode an RV across the United States. Talk about the Silk Road and how China is resurrecting the corridor with hi-speed travel. Talk about New Jersey and the UK, and how Canada isn’t even a country. Everyone good-naturedly breaking Paul the Brit’s balls . . . about what? Who cares, just the fact that everyone got the concept, that breaking balls is the Western way of showing love, kinda. And laughing. Faces lit around the table. Toasts made, and forgotten. A tornado of TALK, touching down here, turning trailers into aluminum dust, veering toward nonsense and then real sense, a focused funnel of intention breaking into lighthearted jeers, gathering everything up for freewheeling consideration, initiating sparks of connection, forest fires blazing briefly, spinning off into unanticipated trespasses, uninvited awakenings, ponds of joy sucked up and scattered, cracked silos of memory shared in an instant and then—gone, baby gone, to wherever spent conversation goes, reinvigorated by another burst of enthusiasm, then on towards the nearest star beckoning outward. Talk about the polar bear prison in Churchill, Manitoba, turned left and inspired making up country western lyrics for ‘I left my heart . . . in polar bear prison.’ No matter what anyone said, there was an answer to it. There was a reason for it. There was a purpose to it. Maybe not known, but still . . . above all, there was simply the fun in it. And I loved every single minute of it. When it was time to go, I made sure all the expats knew how special this night was for me. How it was so great not having to explain everything. How great it was breeze easily breaking each other’s balls and that it wasn’t considered rude or crude or misconstrued. Trying to explain it, I blurted out a word I haven’t said or even considered in many years, and though I don’t want to be offensive, I want to be accurate. After all, a word is just a word, right? So I burst out, “It’s been so great talking to you, freely, without having to explain everything, like, I don’t know, smegma.” A surprised pause, followed by the laughter of recognition. Then, explaining to the Chinese among us what it meant, more laughter. And then, after that, a wonderfully spirited argument about how the chances of contracting HIV increase if you are uncut or not. I looked on in awe, realizing that not only had I said smegma out loud in China, but also I had caused people to argue about it. I stood up and whooped like a Sioux; proud to be contagiously and fluently counting coup in my own unrestricted language. After that, we went back to Paul’s, and ate more cheese.
1 Comment
Mary
3/25/2015 07:10:55 am
Great picture captured of lobsters almost look like they are glowing in the dark!!!! Well Chinese New Years was nice and easy for you I am glad. Once in awhile you need that and surrounded by all those friends sounds like you enjoyed it all. More cheese!! Happy New Year!
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