This Calls for a Party (or Two)

I have been so bad about blogging that I have failed to tell you the recent most exciting news of Yangzhou. Pretend it is last Monday…

Christina and I walked in from a long day of classes late on Monday afternoon and knocked on Corrine’s door. She was just getting ready to tell Matt her groundbreaking discovery and was glad for a larger audience.

“I am going to tell you something really exciting. The first part is really good, but just wait, because the second part is even better. Today I accidentally got on the wrong bus and…I found the Starbucks! But guess what is right next door?? DAIRY QUEEN!!!” Three people were instantly jumping in the air yelling wildly.

We had been hearing rumors of a new Starbucks built in Yangzhou but hadn’t been able to confirm it. No one had even rumored of a Dairy Queen, not knowing that this piece of information would be vitally important to us.

I cried, “Let’s go! Let’s go right now!” The Hanings had to back out, but Christina and I dropped our teaching bags and headed out to celebrate. The free bus, which conveniently stops by campus every hour, brought us to a new, huge development on the outskirts of town. Right in the front of a massive, 4-story mall, the promised locations waited side by side. Starbucks. And Dairy Queen. Exciting, right? But you don’t understand how exciting. Imagine that coffee and ice cream are two of your favorite things in the world and your city just got its first really good coffee and ice cream.

Teachers in China have a scale for rating Chinese cities.

First, there is the KFC city. It is usually the first “western restaurant” to come.

Then, there is the KFC and McDonalds city.

Third, the KFC, McDonalds, and Pizza Hut city. This is where Yangzhou has been.

Moving on up, we have the KFC, McDonalds, Pizza Hut, and Starbucks city.

Only big cities have anything else. Huge cities. I have friends in major cities who do not have Dairy Queen. The only other Dairy Queen I’ve seen in China is in Beijing. Do you understand how incredible this is? Yangzhou, the little city of Yangzhou, has just moved up two gargantuan points on the rating scale. The mall itself was practically glittering in wealth. Christina and I wandered around gawking at the polished floors and exorbitantly expensive clothing…and the emptiness. I felt really rich just being there and really poor knowing I didn’t actually belong. I kept saying, “I can’t believe this is Yangzhou! I feel like I’m in Shanghai…or America!”

So on Monday, I ate an oreo blizzard. A blizzard. On Thurdsay, I ate a Georgia Mudfudge blizzard. I had to – it was Matt’s birthday. Tomorrow, I am planning to do some grading at Starbucks. Then I’ll lay off for a while before I go broke.