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Bewilderment.

That is the only possible way to describe today.

A happy little tune began singing loudly in my ear. Its effect on me was anything but happy. Stubbornly refusing to open my eyes, I groped around in the dark for the source of my anger. Finally I managed to push the right button, eyes still tightly clamped shut. "Hello?"
"Katie?"
"Yes?"
"Katie Marshall have you get up?"
"Um...no..."
"Can you hurry and get up? I am waiting for you."
"What?"
"You said you would come to my birthday party today."
"Yeah, at noon."
"I know but we are ready now."
"Um, who's ready?"
"Everyone."
"Now?" (I'm a little slow in the mornings.)
"Yes. I am waiting for you outside."
Knowing that eventually I must resign myself to the decision my eyes snapped open to rest on the indiglo of my watch. 8am. Saturday. The birthday party was supposed to be lunch. Beginning at noon. It's 8 in the morning. Repeating these details to myself a few times doesn't seem to make things any clearer so I sigh and give in. I'm much too tired to argue. After hanging up I tell my muscles to begin the process of getting out of bed, but they don't respond. Sleep starts trying to overtake me again, I can feel its pull hanging on for dear life. The picture of Li Meng standing outside my apartment waiting for me suddenly appears in my mind and obediently my legs swing over the side of the bed. The wood floor could be a little warmer I think grouchily as I make my way into the kitchen and peer through the grease-laden window. Sure enough, there she is standing by the playground with her cell phone in her hand. No shower for me today I groan as I start sqeezing toothpaste onto the brush. A few groggy minutes later I start hopping down the four flights of stairs and I decide that I had better smile and enjoy today for her sake. After all, no one wants a grouchy friend at their party. So with cheerful being the name of the game I run out into the rain and hug her. Thankfully I had the wit about me to grab my umbrella, camera, and Huck Finn. With these three things I can weather any storm. I don't know what made me think to grab a book as I ran out the door but I am very grateful for that bit of my thinker that woke up before the rest of me.

After four and a half hours of meeting people, remembering not a single name, and playing Beat the Landlord, lunch began. Only one person besides Li Meng spoke English, so we resorted to card playing. I'm amazed at how much friendship can develop without words. Lunch was delicious, albeit mysterious. I really am learning to love Chinese food. After lunch we decided to go for a walk. We meandered down the street for a few minutes and begin to veer to the left. We climb a few stairs...and a few more stairs...and then I realize that we are climbing Moji "Mountain." As Li Meng said, "The stairs seem endless." It's really a lame excuse for a mountain. Supposedly the highest point in YiChang, it's really not impressive as "mountains" go. What is impressive; however, is the fact that some brilliant person decided to put stairs ALL the way up. Not only does that defeat the beauty aspect of mountain climbing, but it also makes the climb much wearier. Chinese legs are shorter than American legs (maybe not mine, but most) therefore their stairs are shorter than American stairs. In theory this would be an advantage for short little me, but my legs are very used to a standard size that us conformists are required to use. They are very NOT used to tiny little stairs that tend to vary in size depending on the mood the builder was in. My giant feet couldn't even fit on the whole stair without hanging off. We made it to the top and I took turns taking pictures with every person up there, my smile becoming more fake with each snap of the camera. I was more the center of attention than the birthday girl, no matter how much I tried to blend in with the background. I start downhill, pausing to pick an orange off the overhanging trees, and realize with the rain I could easily slip and end up rolling headfirst down the entire "mountain." Halfway down that starts to sound more appealing. It's about now that we realize we picked the wrong side of the hill to descend. It reminds me of another time and place called Redcloud and Sunshine. Once you summit Redcloud and Sunshine, you realize that you have to go back up over Redcloud to reach base camp. Did I mention that these were 14ers? Well at least today's peak was nowhere near that magnitude, but it had the same effect on my morale. Then Li Meng turns to me and asks me to sing them an American song. I hope she never makes that mistake again. I had been singing "I'll Follow the Sun" to myself as I went down, laughing inside about how you couldn't actually see the sun in China, in order to follow it; but alas I couldn't sing that to them because I can never remember all of the words so I end up repeating the same 4 lines over and over again no matter how many times I listen to it. Since the words wouldn't come to me, I kept the Beatles theme and sang Dear Prudence to the poor souls. I hope their ears aren't permanently damaged. That put a little spring in our step, or at the very least they decided to hurry down so that they wouldn't have to endure the torture of my voice any longer. Eventually we made it down and walked back to the bus stop, where one of my students called me and asked me to climb Moji "Mountain" with him tomorrow. HA! But then he changed his mind because of the rain, so I didn't have to make up an excuse not to go. It was beautiful, and I might go back sometime, but climbing it two days in a row didn't seem like the utmost in fun.

Eventually I got back on trusty bus 23 toward campus, when my phone rang again. It was Gisele. Her, Zack, Elizabeth, and Salina were going to get foot massages and wanted me to come. So I got back to campus, got off bus 23, ran across the street in front of two honking motorcycles, and got back on bus 23 heading back to Yiling Square. Don't worry, the motorcycles weren't necessarily honking at me, they were just honking for the sake of honking. We stopped for food at KFC because what American doesn't love Colonel Sanders? After one of the longest and most confusing days yet, the perfect end to it was a 90 minute foot bath and massage with my nose buried in Huck Finn. It was 9:30 pm before I made it back to my apartment. I thanked Li Meng for inviting me today and for being such a good friend and she answered, "It is my pleasure. You can consider me a sister." You know, I really do feel like she is my little sister. She's the sweetest girl and even though I had no idea what was going on today, or why I was woken up at 8 for lunch, I had a wonderful time and am so glad to have friends to spend my Saturday with.

"In reading great literature I become a thousand men and yet remain myself. Like the night sky in the Greek poem, I see with a myriad of eyes, but it is still I who see. Here, as in worship, in love, in moral action, and in knowing, I transcend myself; and am never more myself than when I do."

-Clive Staples Lewis