FroYo and Baseball

Yesterday Zhiqi and I met and went to Yo! to eat frozen yogurt. Both of us were excited for this small event, because of our shared enthusiasm for ice cream and, basically, anything sweet. 

On the walk over, she pulled a paper bag with my name etched on it from her purse and announced that she had gotten something for me in her recent trip to New York. I had no idea, she had even gone, but she explained that she had gotten my New York key chain this last weekend when she was there getting her Visa to go to Canada for spring break. I have been amazed at the amount of traveling that she has done since she has been here. 

Over Christmas break, she went to the Grand Canyon; her and some friends are going to Canada for spring break; she went to New York for the weekend; and this summer she is going to Cancun. I had to tell her that I am quite jealous of her quick trips, but that it must be so exciting to see so much of a big country in so little time, knowing that she will only see more in the several years to come. 

This time we met, we spoke mostly of our upcoming spring break trips and how it was funny that we were going to two completely different climates. Zhiqi is preparing herself for temperatures of 50 below and hoping that her clothes will keep her warm enough, while I am going through my swimsuits and tank tops looking for clothes to keep me cool in the Texas heat of the Port Aransas beaches. 

After our frozen yogurt experience, I told her that I was going to the TCU baseball game with my friends and she was welcome to come, but not to feel pressured to come if she did not want to. She responded that she might as well get the experience now rather than later. I had my friends save us seats and when we get there we had some minutes to spare. We filled it with talking about sports from China and eating peanuts. She said that table tennis and swimming were really big there, but that she was not really great at any of them. I reassured her that was fine, because I am really not good in any sports and we just laughed at how un-athletic we are. 

It was fun and exciting just to have Zhiqi around. She was excited about every play in TCU’s favor, and would jump up, scream, and clap. I was nervous about bringing her, but I am so glad that I did. 

Next week she is treating me to Chinese food. I can’t wait. 

Modern Art Museum

On my way to the Modern Art Museum I honestly had no idea what to expect. I think I went to a modern art museum when I went to Spain sophomore year, but I honestly do not remember the types of sculptures and paintings that were present. I was pleasantly surprised at what I found in the Fort Worth museum though. 

It was almost too quiet in the building for as large as it was but as I ventured further into the museum’s depths the silence grew on me, as well as the strange paintings and sculptures that surrounded me. I was expecting for some of the so called “art” to not fancy my interest and some did indeed prove to be a bore. By others though I was truly fascinated. I found myself wanting some of the designs and pictures for my future home.

One painting that stood out in particular to me is a painting called “Jar of Olives Falling,” by Edward Ruscha. This painting is a simple one. The background is a golden color that   fades into lighter shades as it goes to the bottom. In the upper, right-hand side, there is a jar of olives that is depicted as falling by having bits of olive juice and individual olives coming out of the jar. At the time, I could not realize why this painting was so intriguing to me, but as I have thought about it more after my visit I realize I like it because of how simple and clean it is.

Another piece of work that blew my mind was a series of guns that were morphed to form optical illusions. Each gun was flattened, stretched, or pinched into a form that made them look like they were pointing a certain way in which it could have been pointing at you or at another object. As I walked closer to the different pieces, some of the guns were literally flattened, the wood and all. The optical illusion of the guns actual began to hurt my head and I had to go into the next room, but it literally blew my mind away. 

The way the water came right up to the building and the view of the metal trees fighting was intriguing. Every time I turned the corner and saw the view, it was so cool to see the water hugging the side of the building. It was, to say the least, modern. 

Some pieces that I was not impressed with was the different colored Standard gas station paintings. I did not see the point to them. They all had a different variation of color and some had another object added to it as well, including an additional sign, an olive, and a ripped magazine. 

Something that actually frustrated me about the modern art museum were the paintings that I could have painted when I was five. What I mean by that is the paintings that are just colored boxes or smudges of colors that are not patterned in any artistic ways. These paintings were not unique or intriguing to me, but were upsetting because I felt like if I was born in the right time period I could have painted them and gotten money for them. 

Overall, I had a good experience with the modern art museum. It was interesting to see and I felt really peaceful during and after my visit. I would definitely go and visit again. 

Meeting: Part 2

This time Zhiqi and I went to the BLUU together. It was interesting to see the differences. I got one plate with my meal on it, and ate the whole thing. She got two or three plates from the get go and only ate part of her meal. It’s not a huge difference or detail, but it reminded me of the different cultures that we both come from. 

This encounter was a little more awkward from the first just because we did no have introductions or anything to really talk about but the conversation traded with the chewing of meals pretty evenly. 

We sat at the end of one of the long tables right across from the football players, which I did not think would be different than sitting any other place, but it proved to be entertaining. The two of us were sitting there talking when we here the big boys beside us start yelling and then one raced over to our table smacked it and stated, “See I can win.” I am not certain what this statement or “race” was supposed to signify, but it proved to lighten the mood. As dinner went on the football guys started dancing to the karaoke playing in the background and Zhiqi commented on her wonderings of why African Americans are almost always prone to dance well. It beat me, but we both decided that it was impressive. 

We both spoke of the snow days and how the night it snowed we went and played in it at 2 AM, but then we also spoke of how the other days we tried to stay indoors as much as possible. It was a sort of in between being friends and being acquaintances conversation, but it was still pleasant. Hopefully the next one will be better.

My first meeting with Zhiqi

This is a little late but I met with my exchange student, Zhiqi, last week. She is a freshman from China and she is one of the sweetest people I have ever met. 

We decided to meet at the TCU Barnes & Nobel and get a drink at Starbucks to meet each other for the first time. As the meeting time approached I got in line to order thinking that Zhiqi would join me soon. I received my drink and 5 minutes went by, and she still had not shown up. 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 20. Nothing had occurred. I looked around, searching for a girl that might be my exchange student, realizing that I really had no way of recognizing her. 

I emailed her on my phone saying that I did not see her in the Barnes & Nobel, and that maybe we had a miscommunication. As I was walking out to go back to my dorm, I got an email from her saying that she was sorry and was on her way. 

I walked back into the Barnes & Nobel and shortly after a petite girl came in rushed. I recognized that this must be my student immediately. 

Quickly after introductions, Zhiqi apologized over and over again. She was not feeling that day and overslept and felt terribly about it. She kept insisting that she buy me a drink or something to make up for it but I told her that was completely unnecessary. We sat down and began to question each other. 

She talked of how China was so much different from here. She kept mentioning how peaceful and easy going everything and everyone in Texas was. Everyone is China was always so busy and she truly appreciated the way people took time to appreciate the little things in their day. It was so interesting to hear, because so often it is said that our society is becoming too impersonal and speeding through life. 

We began to talk about our families and Zhiqi spoke of how her Dad was always away in different parts of China on business, and that she rarely ever saw him. I showed her a picture of my 6 person family on Facebook and told her about how my parents are retired and are currently working together on reconstructing our house. The one comment she made was how my parents really must love each other to work together day-in and day-out on such a project. I had never thought of the project as a portrait of their relationship and commitment but when discussing it with her it completely made sense. 

She began to confess that for the last month or so she had been amazed by the concept of love in America. She was amazed at the relationships between married couples and that it was amazing that they truly loved each other. That really threw me for a loop, when all I hear about relationships in the media is how a huge percentage of marriages are ending in divorce. I never realized that her parents might not love each other the same way that my parents did. It was beautiful to see the smile on her face when she talked of one day falling in love and being happy with someone. I have never had to consider marriage as anything else except love, but many countries, including China, can simply view marriage as business. 

I am excited to see how the rest of our meetings go. I can already tell that she is going to make me realize the blessings I have here, not because she does not have them there in China, but because she recognizes them more.