Chinese New Year

Madrid is a thoroughly international city with ethnic representation from all corners of the globe. Monday is Chinese New Year’s Day and the Chinese community of Madrid turned out in large numbers for a big celebration in the Puerta del Sol. It’s becoming clear to me that the Puerta del Sol is the staging ground for every popular event, grievance, or other public expression in this town.

As I walked toward the plaza, I heard the sound of beating drums. It had the discordant tones of an American high school band warming up for practice. Images of majorettes and flag twirlers flashed in my head ... oh sweet Jesus, tell me it isn’t so. I considered going back to the house to get some Valium, but just then I caught a glimpse of the big dragon making its way through the crowd, and I realized what it was.

Hector tells me that, because of the problems that the world is having with defective Chinese products, Madrileños tend to be a bit stand-offish toward the Chinese immigrants here. Couple that with the inherent differences between the Eastern and Western cultures, and the Chinese community rather keeps to itself. But not today. Today they were showcasing their culture to Madrid. Apparently all the various regions of China were represented, because each group was in its own regional costume, standing behind identifying numbered banners. And while they were waving flags of the People’s Republic of China, they were smart enough to make sure that they were waving more flags of their host county.

Men and women had their distinctively separate activities. Men twisted nylon dragons on poles through the throngs of people, while women wore elegant costumes and danced in groups. All the while, the disharmonious sounds of beating drums, woodwinds, and cymbals were coming from all corners of the plaza. It was clearly evident on the

faces of all the Chinese people who were there, whether performers or observers, that they took great pride in showcasing their cuture(s). And their caucasian audience responded with keen interest and paparazzi-like photographing. I’d say it was a resounding success in cultural relations for them.

By pure coincidence, I had my own experience with one of the Chinese students at my (now former) school this week. Wherever they are, Chinese students seem to study harder and longer than any of the other students in school, and so it has been my observation here as well. I’ve noticed that they take pride in this distinction of being “most studious student”.

This past week, I went to school early everyday to review the previous day’s lesson in the study room/library, and early on, I noticed that a young Chinese man seemed to be competitive with me. On Monday, he seemed to be startled that someone was there studying before he got there, was curious about what I was studying, and engaged me in conversation to see which of us was more fluent in Spanish. Each day he got there a little earlier, and each day I was already there, and each day he seemed a bit more agitated. Then on Thursday, with one eyebrow raised, I thought, “I’m gonna f with this Chinese kid ...”.

I got there particularly early on Thursday morning and took several books off the library shelves and opened them in front of me on the table. I had three pages of notes laying out from previous classes with arrows and bullets all over them, and I even mocked-up some diagramed sentences. Then, when he walked in the door, I was poring feverishly over my notes. When he saw the situation, his eyes popped opened like somebody had just stuck him in the ass with a pin :-) He didn’t make it to study hall on Friday. I’m not sure if he had something else to do or if his head simply exploded.