A Text Exchange

December 7,2012- China is a very safe country to travel in, even for a woman traveling alone. Young women are often trained to roam in packs, especially in foreign countries and/or after dark.  My co-workers at school were all surprised to hear that I have been traveling on my own, and I remember several conversations before I left home in which Mom and I discussed befriending and traveling with guys.  While I came to China intimidated by the thought of traveling alone, and even a little frightened at the prospect, over the past few months I have fallen in love with it.  Everything seems so much more intense and immediate when I have to figure out everything myself, when I have to stumble along with my barely adequate Mandarin.  Of course, I have had some truly wonderful travel partners in the past, and I love sharing those experiences with good friends and family.  Last weekend I decided to head off to Taishan on my own, and for the first time in China, I wished that I was with a friend for an extra sense of security.  I thought about not even writing about this incident (don't worry Mom, Dad, Grandma, whoever else has a tendency to worry about me!), but a journalistic desire for honesty came over me, so here we are.

Getting ready to climb Mount Tai

 First of all, you have to know that I am an uncommon sight in China.  Living in the US, even a place like Iola that is 99.9% Norwegian, it is hard for us to imagine such a homogenous culture.  Foreigners stand out.  Always.  I get stared at.  People ask to have their picture taken with me.  People call me beautiful (this is almost always young Chinese women).  People are curious and like to practice the English that they know, even if it's only "Hello." I'm used to most of this by now, and when someone asks to take a picture with me I usually smile and nod, snap a quick picture and go on my way.

Taishan is in the province to the southwest of Hebei, where I live.  "Shan" means mountain, and the biggest (only) attraction in the city of Taian is Mount Tai.  Mount Tai is one of China's five holiest mountains.
 I left on Friday after class and two fast trains and 5 hours later I arrived in Taishan.

One of the many temples on holy Taishan

 After checking into the hostel, I found a night market with cheap hotpot stalls.  I was walking up and down the street, checking out the other venders and trying to decide where to eat.  A young Chinese guy (in his 20's maybe?) came up to me and started to speak to me in very poor English. He asked if he could borrow my camera.  I just repeated, "borrow my camera?" while clutching said camera and looking for exit strategies.  Then he said he wanted to take a picture with me.  Now, this is the first time anyone has wanted to take a picture with me using my camera.  I was a little baffled.  He wouldn't even have a copy of the picture.  I agreed anyway and then because he asked for it and because I didn't know how to politely say no, I gave him my phone number. We parted ways, and this text exchange is what happened next:
 
  7:15pm  Li: i don't good at English.  But i want to make friend with you.  do you have dinner?

  7:29pm  Li: you are my first friends from English.  hoho. I have classmate in your country now.

  8:02pm Me: I'm sorry I have to return to Hebei.  It was nice to meet you!

  8:14pm Li: I feel sorry for hear it.  we can have friendship in after days. my english is very bad. I thank will be well. nice to meet your.

  8:28pm Li: I have just come back from the army demobilized.

  8:33pm Li: I am a person who likes to make friend, Hope our friendship forever!

  10:15pm Li: I wish you a happy voyage

  10:41pm Li:  I drank some wine. i think if you have hard, tell me, i will help you.

Halfway up Mount Tai

  And then the next day, while I was climbing Mount Tai (all 6000+ stairs to the top):

  3pm Li: Friend, I see you

  3:10pm Li: Coincidentally I in Mount Taishan

The stairs leading up the mountain

  And then on Sunday night:

  10:52pm Li: do you have a man you love?

So, I sent this guy one text, and I don't think it was particularly encouraging.  I can't even really describe how much I wished that I had a friend with me on this trip after this happened, especially after I got the "Friend I see you" text.   Everything turned out fine, and if I had had a friend to laugh it off with it wouldn't have been so creepy and upsetting.  In fact, when I got back to Baoding and recounted the whole thing to my friends here, we were all laughing so hard that I could barely finish the story.  I still enjoyed the scenery, had some great and really cheap street food, practiced my budding Mandarin skills and had an overall good trip to Taishan, but this incident definitely tainted it.  I guess it reminds me that even though I'm feeling so comfortable and at home in China these days, I still need to be aware of the situations I'm getting myself into. I mean, in a strange country or not (and, young woman or not), it's not a good idea to give out your phone number to strange men that you've just met.

In other news, my school is having an English match tomorrow.  My students have been practicing for weeks, and tomorrow they will compete.  The winners will go on to compete against other students in Baoding.  I'm still a little hazy on the details of this competition, but I'll let you know how it goes!