We were split up with six American students and two Chinese faculty or students at each table. Everything was a little quiet and awkward at first, but as the next-door work party got louder we were forced into mutual pain. I will now take a moment to discuss Chinese business:
They drink a lot.
They don’t drink often, but they drink in large quantities when they do. A work party is employees only, no spouses and no one outside of the immediate work force. The goal is to have fun, while competing for who can keep their composure after a constant flow of wine. Needless to say, not all of them do, and when you put loud speakers, karaoke, feedback, and a Chinese celebration in one room, quite a ruckus escapes past the half-walls they put up to section our dinner off.
Regardless, it was great to meet some of these people. A few of them may be at Purdue in the fall, and most of them will join us at the Min Hang campus in a few weeks. Chris is an awesome guy who’s been extremely helpful and will join us in Thermo later this semester. Audrey is really fun and is going to Sheffield University in Great Britain this summer. We really got to know them when we went around the corner and upstairs to this crazy-awesome KTV!
KTV is “Karaoke Television”… I don’t know why they’re all called that, but they are. The lights and decorations were all halfway between, gaudy, futuristic, and fancy.
It’s quite the impressive show. We were broken up into two rooms, each with a couple mics, several TVs, and nice couches. Songs are chosen through touch screen, and it was clear that if we weren’t here as University Students, the staff would have consistently brought plenty of beer instead of water. There is an interesting respect for University students in China. It’s as if the whole country goes out of their way to protect them. The reason college students don’t drink very much in this country is for their protection… which makes a lot more sense than the mentality in the U.S.
After two or three hours of everyone growing hoarse, learning a few new songs in Chinese, and bonding over the words and terrible attempts to hit Freddie Mercury notes in “Bohemian Rhapsody,” we all went home.
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