After breakfast we took a taxi to her part of the city, which was such a relief to leave these same streets I walk up and down every day. Her part of the city is much prettier. We went to a huge park there. One part of it was over 1000 years old, and another part was just built. It was like walking between two worlds. Inside the park there were bridges and temples built hundreds and hundreds of years ago. When we walked in there were three Chinese girls taking pictures of each other, and I offered to take a photo of the three of them together. Susan told her son, "Miss Autumn, she is always this way. So warm." We walked around and Susan translated stories her son wanted to tell me about his adventures in the park. The stories of children are sometimes so funny. His stories went something like this, "There is where there are snakes. I saw a snake so close, and I almost grabbed it with my hand", or "There were birds in this temple in the summer and I saw them flying," or "This is where I go fishing, I caught my pet turtle here." I liked her son because he made things less awkward. He was a very strange mix of extremely polite and quite rambunctious. We bonded in the park for this reason: in this particular park there is something very strange. There is a very old children's playground that has been closed to the public because it is so old, the equipment isn't quite safe. The gates were grown over with ivy, and in fact the whole playground was overgrown. It wasn't much like any playground I'd seen before. There was a huge, knarled tree growing in the middle, making everything seem dark. There were odd, colorful statues everywhere. There was a big chicken-shaped merry-go-round, that was my favorite. Her son wanted us to sit on it and be spun around and around, he thought it was hilarious. Susan got sick, and said, "You are very strong, my son."
His favorite part was the huge clay dinosaurs you used to be able to climb on, but had rotted away. We also played on a see-saw. Susan and her son on one side, and me on the other. There was a big metal airplane you could climb inside. I loved that playground. If I still did that sort of thing, my friends and I would have done drugs there, and talked about how eerie an overgrown playground is, how desolate it seems. How a place absent of children, when children are so obviously supposed to be there, feels haunted by them. An overgrown playground seems much more desolate than anything else does. 
After the park, we went to Susan's home, and I met her husband. He was a very thin, kind-looking man. He was very patient with their son. I had heard that being allowed into someone else's private home in China is a great honor, rarely bestowed. I wanted to show that I appreciated this, so I bought them the most expensive bottle of wine I could find, 50 RMB. When I pulled that out and handed it to Susan and her husband, I thought they were going to cry. Susan said, "It's too expensive. It's too much." They were so pleased that her husband went out to the bakery down the street and bought a cake, which he came back with in a big hot pink hat box, with ribbons around it. Very festive. Her husband made us lunch, and he made too many dishes for me to eat. Shrimp and also a very large kind of shrimp-like shellfish that was purple and hideously ugly, and you ate it with vinegar and garlic. A soup made with mushrooms, cabbage and pork, and a plate of fresh green beans. Her husband was impressed with my mad chopsticks skills. I can't say I blame him. While they cooked lunch, her son took me to his room to play computer games. He only knew one website, and the computer games were total rubbish. I wish I could have shown him a few that I know, but they're blocked here. A shame. Well, lunch was delicious, but my stomach must have shrunk or something, because I could barely eat anything, still so full from breakfast. When it was time to leave, Susan accompanied me back to the school gate, and I gave her a hug. This time it wasn't awkward at all. I said, "You have been too kind today. My morning was wonderful, breakfast and the beautiful park. I'm so glad we went there. Thank you so much for everything." Considering the conversations I've had in the past, I guess I should explain why I was able to communicate so much easier with Susan. Susan, I can tell, is very much like me. Her English accent is impeccable, almost flawless, but she doesn't have a very wide vocabulary. But the most impressive thing is her listening. She listens and understands English much better than Jenny or Flora, and she understood everything I said today. What a relief, I actually felt like someone was listening to me! And we had an actual conversation! There was even a point at which I thought I'd lost her because I sneezed, and she said bless you, and then I (who knows why I decided to say this) explained why you say "bless you" when someone sneezes, that it is based on an old superstition that when you are sneezing your soul is escaping. She was quiet for a moment, and then said, "The Chinese have a similar superstition with the number 4. The number 4 is pronounced like ssss, and it is the same way you pronounce 'death' in Chinese." You have no idea. A real conversation. I daresay my first real conversation with any Chinese person, where we both talked and understood each other. I even made my first real joke! A stupid one, but you have to start somewhere. When we walked up to her apartment, her apartment number was 440, and I said, "Oh no! Twice as unlucky." Hey, I said it was stupid. But we both laughed, and she told her husband about it in Chinese during lunch, and he laughed as well.
I gave Susan my e-mail address so I could send her the pictures of her son at the park, and I do hope she invites me out again. I enjoyed her company more today than I have enjoyed some of my classes, and that's saying a lot, because my classes are the joy of my life!
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