Every spring semester my supervisor, Wang Laoshi, holds a seminar-style class for his PhD and Masters students. For our last class he planned a picnic to Changchun's Jingyuetan, a large man-made forest and reservoir just outside the city. It was my first time to the park and, albeit the pictures don't show it, I was excited for the outing.
While waiting for everyone to arrive at the meeting point, Wang Laoshi took out his camera. I could see him pointing it in my direction, so I turned away awkwardly. Really, the following pictures are not my best, but I felt embarrassed at having the camera pointing at me and not knowing how much he had zoomed in on my face.
Our picnic location in a meadow overlooking the lake.
The women lagged behind, with each step lamenting their quickly dirtying shoes.
As per some unspoken rule of Chinese picnics, there had to be a tent.
No one had called or texted me...just avoiding the camera again.
Wang Laoshi's idea of a picnic is to hold regular class with each person giving a short presentation on some aspect of the reading from the semester. Not surprising, I was chosen to read mine first. Oh, the expressions of my avid followers!
"Ting de dong ma?"
Can they even understand what I'm saying??
The tent stands alone, the tent stands alone, hi-ho-the-dairy-o...
Wang Laoshi handed off the camera
I'm not sure what I wrote after all.
Attentive much?
I just had a feeling I was unnecessarily included in some photos.
Quite to my surprise, one of our department's secretaries showed up to get some papers signed. I wonder if he had to pay the entrance fee for the ten minutes he was in the park. He took our signature group photo, had one piece of chicken, and left.
The glory of my day: being the only one to enter The Tent with my half-eaten cucumber.
Aha! The picture we have all been waiting for. Wang Laoshi and I--minus the cucumber, which a classmate graciously offered to hold for me. After eating I proposed some games. Eventually I suggested "Do You Love Your Neighbor?" and we ended up playing that for the better part of an hour. Whenever someone lost they had to eat something as punishment. Once all the cherries and strawberries were gone, the women moved on to tomatoes. One girl ended up eating at least two as her "punishment."
Not a clue.
I'm it!
I made a few friends, got a sunburn as well as class credit, taught one of my favorite games to a new group of people, and hung out in nature all day. As my student says religiously, "Class Over!"