Green Guiyang, Fresh Guiyang.

One day I'm going to be lying on my deathbed thinking about times of the past. Some memories will be a blur: the color of my prom dress, the first boy I ever kissed, every trip to the beach. But some memories will come back to me with such vividness and clarity that I will be transported back to the time and place that they occurred and I will desperately try to hold on to those final minutes to keep the magic alive. I'm sure some of those memories are still waiting to be made, but I know with certainty that much of my time in China will be ingrained in my mind forever. But this last Friday night will go down in my personal history as a night I'll never forget.

We were invited to go to a theater show with some of the school teachers and administrators. We were very excited even though we weren't exactly sure what to prepare ourselves for. Whenever we go out, we have to take two taxis. Usually Amber and I ride with Cynthia while Cate and Jake ride with Daisy. So we hunted down a taxi in front of the school and were whisked away into rush hour traffic. To get an accurate image of what this would look like, picture traffic in LA on a late Friday afternoon. But add in nonexistent driving rules, ceaseless honking, and lack of space between vehicles and you have China traffic. This was probably one of the worst driving experiences we had since arriving in China considering the number of close calls, jerky stops, and generally crazy driving by our dear taxi man. But we made it in one piece to the theater and enjoyed a wonderful conversation with Cynthia as we always do.

The rest of the group had already arrived and wandered off in a different direction by the time we got there so we headed into a cafe across the street to wait until show time. Any time I see the word coffee, I get excited. That stuff is seriously a drug to me. Black and bitter or creamy and sweet. Doesn't matter just give it to me and I'll love you forever. And the place itself was pretty cool. It had a nice vibe, good decor, and smelled of coffee. What's not to love, I was in heaven. If only coffee drinks weren't so expensive here, it would be a perfect world.  I ordered a "mochaccino" so it was kind of part mocha, part cappuccino. Nice a foamy and rich and just perfect.

So now on with the evening, to the life changing part and memory maker and just all around awesomeness that is everything China but specifically Guiyang. Leading up to the show, we were all just hanging out in the courtyard of the theater and playing this game of sorts that is common here. Basically you get these weighted spinning tops and a stick with a whip on it. You start off by winding the whip part around the top, do some fancy spinning and foot work, and the off the top goes into a spinning frenzy. You then smack it with the whip and it just keeps going forever.  As I'm sure many of you could guess, I was terrible at this. I couldn't do it for the life of me. I would either just straight up miss the top, hit myself with the whip, or not hit it at the right angle. Oh well though, it was still fun.

We then entered the theater and some of the performers were in the lobby posing for pictures, so naturally we take the opportunity for a massive photo op. We all posed individually, as a group, with some administrators and yada yada. It was great. And of course other people entering the theater all automatically turn and look at us like we are aliens from another planet. It's so weird to think that some of these people could be seeing a white person for the first time.  But then again, any time I see a white person here (which is very rare...I think it's happened 4 times) I stare at them like an elephant at the zoo. I guess it is just exciting to see someone different from everyone else. I only wish that the others we have seen could be nicer. We always want to talk to them but we're almost always blown off and just kind of waved to. White people of the world...y'all need to be friendlier.

Okay. I feel almost like I've been putting this off because I already know my words cannot and will not do it justice. But the show. Purely magical. From the moment I walked into the actually theater, I was blown away and it hadn't even started yet. The stage seemed kind of small (but then when the current was pulled away it did get much bigger) and the screens themselves were really awesome. The way they were set it made you feel like you were either moving through the forest or the ocean or an old village. And it was just so lifelike. I swear several times I thought they were working some kind of Chinese optical illusion on me and I would think I was looking at a screen and then all of a sudden realize it was a real person. But nope, it was always just a screen (at least in the beginning) that looked super real. When the host came out, I didn't really know what to think at first. Part of me wanted to call him Michael Jackson, part of me wanted to call him Elvis...all of me wanted to call him a pimp. Purple, velvet suit with sparkly detail. Wowza. But the guy could pull it off. And even though I couldn't understand a word he said (we did get a little bit of translations from Cynthia and Daisy) I was still completely entertained.

And then the show actually started.  And within the first ten seconds I wanted to just cry from the beauty of it all.  Somehow, the whole stage was turned into this magical water wonder world. They managed to make a waterfall on stage. A real waterfall. Part of me so desperately wanted to figure out where the water came from and where it was going. But that would ruin the magic. But the dancing and music, now that was something to drop your jaw over and just stare in complete awe.  Everyone was so graceful and beautiful. Again, I couldn't understand the words, but I could feel the power, passion, and love from every single person on that stage.  And it gave me this feeling that I have not had in a very long time.  I hate to bring up my own dancing past because my skill level (or should I say lack of skill) was no where even comparable. But I know that I loved to do it and I know what it is like to put your whole body and soul into something. And for the first time watching a dance performance, I truly felt like I could feel the body and soul of each dancer. You could tell that they loved what they were doing.

All in all there were maybe ten or so different acts and each one had to do with a part of Guizhou (the province that Guiyang is in) and the many ethnic groups that live here. There were some that were just dance to music, some with dancing and music being played, some just music, some with singing. A little bit of everything.  Another stunning part of the show were the customs. Everyone for the most part was outfitted in traditional attire from the ethnic group they were representing (such as the Miao or the Dong). The brilliant colors and decoration and fine detail were amazing. The ornamentation was also spectacular. In one dance, the group of dancers changed their outfits twice while dancing and I still can't figure out how they did it or how I didn't see it happen. It is as if I blinked my eyes and there dresses changed from purple to red to yellow. Another crazy thing was the leaf player. No joke, this man comes out on stage and there is some music and at first I thought he was playing some kind of flute like instrument. Then I'm informed he is playing a leaf. I mean, are you kidding me? Sure everyone has seen the kid you can pick a blade of grass and blow on it and make a little high pitched whistle. But this was straight up notes and melodies and changing pitch...on a leaf. Just when I thought I couldn't be more amazed, I was blown away again.

The title of this blog comes from a tiny portion of the show that was pretty awesome as well (okay the whole thing was awesome...but still). This guy was singing and most of the crowd was singing with him because the lyrics were on some screens to the side of the stage. The song was of course in Chinese, but there were also English subtitles (that were just translated hilariously like everything in China is). And though the song in Chinese was completely beautiful, the translation just kept making me giggle. And everyone was standing and swaying to the music and dancing. The only word the four of us could sing was "Guiyang" but every once in awhile one of us would pick up on a word and sorta kinda sing along.  Well that wasn't gonna fly with me, so of course I start just belting out the English lyrics as best as I could with the melody.  And the part that was repeated time and time again was "green Guiyang, fresh Guiyang".  Finally people caught on to what I was doing and it brought about a few giggles. None of that should come as a surprise though, it was just me being typical Ashley!

Because I fear this is getting too long (and I've been working on this blog off and on for over two days now) I'll just quickly touch on two more little details that made the evening go from a home run to grand slam: the personal interaction.  At first, there was some crowd participation when Jake was invited up on stage with a couple other guys to take part in a dance competition of sorts.  They had to race to put on some traditional Miao clothing (which was falling off most of the guys...and pretty much all of them put something on wrong) and then they had to follow the steps of a dancer.  Jake was chosen as the winner (probably because he was a foreigner...but he was still great!) and won a nice little prize. Then the show continued and while I was super stoked for Jake, I was also a little jealous. It's not every day you get invited on stage at a show...and even less likely to happen in China! But then, all of a sudden, we were all essentially pulled on to stage during this dance of what a traditional wedding would be like. We just kept going in circles and circles swinging our arms and smiling and laughing and chanting. 

This is the moment I will never forget. The time when I could stop smiling until my cheeks started to hurt.  When I never wanted to let go of the sweaty hand of the dancer who jumped in between me and Amber. I want to hold on to that feeling of pure joy and exuberance forever. One can live their life day by day with being content. Maybe not true happiness, but content. But its those little pockets of pure joy and happiness that make all of the bad worth fighting for.  This was my little pocket of happiness. Something I never want to let go of. Something I will cherish forever.