I'd left it a little late to ask this girl out - I'd figured out I liked her by the end of the second class, but I didn't do anything about it then. After that I just had to wait, because I had no way of getting in touch with her. I knew she had my contact details - I'd written them on the board for the benefit of the whole class. Several students from that class did get in touch with me, all of them were interested in talking with a foreigner and improving their English, but I didn't hear from her. I sighed and moved on.
After several weeks she did get in touch with me, however. It took me a while, but I eventually got around to asking her out for dinner, and on Sunday we went out.
At this point Linda (Alex's girlfriend) was very helpful - she helped me decide on a restaurant, and later turned up with Alex at the same restaurant. She also told the girl she could stay at our apartment, since she and Alex would be staying at his other apartment that night.
Dinner was had and enjoyed, then we went on to Ivy's birthday party. No amount of coaxing would convince Vera to dance, and we left early, since she was clearly not enjoying herself much. Back at my apartment we watched TV for a while, then went to bed (in separate rooms). In the morning, I asked if she would be my girlfriend - to no avail. She said she wanted to focus on her studies. I was disappointed, but carried on with the plan we'd decided on the night before - that I'd go back to her university with her, so that I'd know the way (yes, I'd been there twice before, but that was by car - I had no idea how to use public transport to get there).
Once there, I met several of her friends - all people I'd met before, all from the same class I'd taught. Of these people, two of the boys stayed with us for the day - so then we were four. Oh yeah, names! The girl who isn't my girlfriend is Vera; her friends are Frank and Alexander.
I joined in their P.E. class, and guess what P.E. in China involves? Ping-pong! I spent most of the morning playing against a succession of other students, several of whom taught me nifty tricks. One guy showed me how to put spin on the ball, and one girl had a wicked serve that kept catching me out. After that we had lunch together, and then the three of them skipped their afternoon classes so we could go out together.
We wandered by the riverside for a while, talking and taking photos, and then decided to walk to the foothills of the mountains. By the time we came back the sun was getting low, so we had dinner in a restaurant on the way. When we got back we talked outside for a while, and then went to the dorms.
Dorms in Chinese universities are strictly segregated by sex - each sex has separate buildings, and the opposite sex is not allowed in. So, Vera went one way, and I went another with Frank and Alexander. Their room had eight bunks, so I spent the rest of the night watching half of The Da Vinci Code with a bunch of Chinese guys.
In the morning I had breakfast with Vera and her friends, and then went to their English class. The first class was listening class, which was not too exciting, but the second was oral English, and I think I intimidated their teacher a little by being there. She recovered well, however, and got me to correct everyone's pronunciation. They had great difficulty with "sun", of all things. It probably didn't help that the New Zealand accent has very slight difference between all the sort vowel sounds. Even Australians can't tell the difference between the New Zealand short I and short E.
Finally, Vera helped me catch the right bus home. I even managed to get off at the right stop - she was worried that I'd get lost on my own.
So, in the end, I had such a good time that I completely forgot to be depressed over being rejected. I'll go back sometime to hang out with them, maybe have lunch together, because they're all nice people.
Alright, you've read enough - photos!
This is me and Vera by the riverside. Yes, I'm holding a pink umbrella.
This is Frank. It's not so obvious in this picture, but he looks vaguely like a Chinese Harry Potter. He's also the class monitor, which in theory means he's responsible for making sure everyone gets to class on time and such; in practice, it means that Vera teases him relentlessly about it.
This is Alexander. He's quieter than the other two, but he's good company.
This is me, Alexander and Frank once we'd gone as far as we cared to go up the foothills.
This is a stealth photo of Vera, after she made a big deal about getting a photo taken. She stole my camera and tried to delete it, but as you can see, I was victorious!
Finally, this is the view we had from the foothills.
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