More than 2,800 women, 14 floors, one elevator.
We waited in quite the line as our girls all live on the 14th
floor and there was simply no way that our legs would be able to endure
fourteen flights of stairs. We made it to their room, so happy to allow us to
sit on their bed as they stood around and talked to us.
“do-re-mi-do, do-re-mi-do…” she began to sing. I chimed in
with the remaining solfege. Same song, same language? The remaining girls began
to chime in with the Chinese [just for the record, they sing about a little
tiger, we sing ‘are you sleeping?’]. The music major in me became overly happy
and in go-go mode. “Miss Kayla, there is a song. I want to learn. Doe, a
deer…”. Oh happiness, oh joy! So in the small cubicle of a dorm room, with lots
of listening and repeating I taught one of the Sound of Music’s most beloved
songs to four eager Chinese women. The power of music, people.
We could have stayed there all night, but there were so many
other people to see. “Miss Laura, Miss Kayla, come see our room!” Each of these
dorm rooms were about the size of a dorm room at my college. However, six girls
were living in one room. Let’s talk about living in community! So from room to
room we bounced, saying hello, listening to stories, and watching them act out
the stories when their vocabulary wasn’t sufficient enough. Quite entertaining,
let me tell you. With these women we laughed and laughed, catching glimpses of
who they are.
We were dragged into 1422 where a posse of women we
anxiously excited to greet us and to allow us to sit on their furniture. From
there a 15 minute photoshoot ensued, documenting the fact that the foreign
teachers in fact came to visit. There were squeals and giggles and “yi, er, san"
[1,2,3] after "yi, er, san”. So many photos and so many smiles.
Ten o’clock rolled around way too quickly {we have a
curfew.} We walked away from the dorm with smiles on our faces and a renewed
purpose of why we are here. We couldn’t stop laughing, overcome with joy and
excitement and love for what we had just encountered. We will be making these
dorm visits a frequent thing throughout the upcoming months.
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| Meet the beautiful ladies of 1422 (well, four of them). |
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