I'm convinced that southerners of any country are generally more friendly. Every time I head a little south, I'm greeted with warmth and friendly smiles. And this was definitely the case in Xi'An.
If anyone had the inclination, they started a conversation with me. Regardless of their English abilities or my seeming ability to speak Chinese. While I was watching a random fan dance in a park in Xianyang, a young lady started talking to me. Gathering a few of the words she was saying in Chinese, I tried to answer her questions. But a conversation that could have been good ended in me repeating, "Ting bu dong." (I don't understand.)
After the fan dance, I wandered around the park and started to read by a dead fountain. Three young girls (10, 11, 12; they told me) who were roller blading around got curious and sat rather close.
"Ni hao."
"Hello!" followed by rapid fire little girl squeaky Chinese.
As most students in China, they are in English classes. They knew a little English (probably more than I know Chinese) and we had an interesting conversation that resulted in my phrase book and random words written in my notebook.
They eventually rollerbladed away after a very exciting text message.
After my trip to the Terracotta Warriors, I got on the bus to go back to Xi'An. The bus driver and the girl collecting the money insisted that I sit in the front seat, next to the money-collecting girl. And she, of course, struck up a conversation with me. Although I was tired, I figured it would save my iPod battery and entertained it.
She asked me about my job. And my age. She got very excited about these two things.
(Chinese to the entire bus) "She's only 24, and she teaches at a university!!!" She must have repeated this 15 times as she walked around collecting money. She searched my phrasebook for something that she wanted to ask me.
She asked the first question I ever learned in Chinese, "Do you have any siblings?" And I replied with the first sentence I ever learned in Chinese "Wo you yi ge mei mei." (I have a little sister.) She asked about my mama and baba. She was impressed that both of my parents are teachers and that my sister is in school to be a nurse (I'm still not sure how I got that across).
When we arrived back in Xi'An she and the bus driver wanted pictures with me. And they gave me their QQ address. I said repeatedly that I'm not a subscriber to the Chinese instant messaging service, but they insisted. I'm not sure exactly how they thought they were going to communicate with me on this anyway as they don't speak English and I barely speak Chinese.
She also asked me if I liked China. Repeatedly. I responded with affirmation. Repeatedly.
It was a nice change. People in Beijing are not so friendly or half as interested in talking to me (mostly just staring at me). But I guess I didn't realize that I was interested in chatting with them either.
