Feeling right at home in a big big country

Feeling right at home in a big big country
By Mabel

18th May 2007
Dear Diary,

After two days at Yunnan University, it was time to leave for our next destination, Guangzhou. As it was our very last night in Kunming, I decided to spend this precious time visiting Nanxi’s house at her kind invitation. It was a little ironic as I had got to know Nanxi only two days ago when I first arrived in Kunming. This was because there was minimal interaction between the respective groups that we had been assigned to when the Chinese delegates visited Singapore in March. I was thus both pleasantly surprised and touched by Nanxi’s invitation.

So off we (Fumin, Shree, Cheryl, Charmaine, Sandy, Crystal and I) trooped to Nanxi’s place that night: Her home was just a bus ride away from our hotel but it was hidden from the main road so we had to walk another fifteen minutes through an alley before arriving. The route to her place was a dimly-lit path with puddles of water strewn all over from the downpour earlier. But our spirits were far from dampened and we were in fact chatting, laughing, and absolutely eager to see how her home would look like.

A short while later, we heard Nanxi shouting to her mother from below, chirpily signaling our arrival. Her joyful call was merely a foretaste of what was to come: superb Chinese hospitality in a cosy setting coupled with two gracious hosts busying themselves to make us feel at home. Her mother was simply delightful, frantically pulling chairs for us to sit and eager to learn more about the group of us who had descended upon her dainty house in a flash. To save Nanxi from having to translate from Mandarin or English to the Yunnan dialect, Fumin valiantly attempted to rattle a phrase in the dialect (albeit a little more monotonously than how it is usually spoken), only to meet with chuckles all round the room. Even Shree who could understand neither Mandarin nor the dialect burst out laughing! Nevertheless, Nanxi’s mother was suitably impressed and applauded Fumin for his awesome effort.

After a mini pigging-out session on fruit and cake, we pounced on Nanxi's room. A talented musician by nature, Nanxi decided to entertain us a little by playing a famous piece on the Chinese zither titled “Nan Er Dang Zi Qiang”. As she played, we could see the emotion she invested in the piece as her fingers deftly and expertly plucked the strings with the ease of an experienced performer. So impressed were we by her solo recital that all of us whipped out our digital cameras and started recording her “live”, to the extent that the usually confident Nanxi confessed to being a little nervous by all the attention.

Time flew us by and before we knew it, it was close to ten. When we found out that Nanxi had actually invited us over at the expense of preparing for her examination the next morning, we were alarmed but more so touched by this wonderful gesture and warm hospitality accorded to us by both her mother and herself.

Our packed schedule in China, while enabling us to learn as much as possible about the four universities and cities in two weeks, sometimes had us wishing that we had more time to spend with our Chinese friends who took painstaking efforts to take us around and show us a side of China that one wouldn't normally get travelling alone. I don't think that any one of us will ever forget the sincere reception with which the Chinese delegates (and university administration) received us, and I know that distance will not be too big an obstacle in maintaining our friendships.

For sure, I know I will definitely remember Nanxi and her quaint little house where we felt right at home away from home.