Richard -- CP -- Week 4.2

So my fifth CP-session was tonight (does this mean I'm finished?). Ruiting and I did wind up going to First Friday, which I enjoyed. I met friends there -- my co-editor and an artist who's on staff with us for the Kudzu Review -- and they were very welcoming toward Ruiting, so I was expecting the night to be exciting and especially culturally informative for him. But, in my opinion, it was very much the opposite.

I think Ruiting experienced culture shock by a factor of 10 million! No, 10 kajillion! We walked around the various warehouses looking at all the art, which I thought looked awesome. Then again, I hadn't taken into consideration the extreme differences between Chinese art and American art (if there are any), and I didn't think I had to, be truthful. This is Ruiting, after all, the one who uses Skype in, I suppose you could say, an artful way.

My co-editor asked him what he thought of some of the paintings and he said that he didn't like paintings, any of them. "I have a simple mind," he said, and I myself found this to be quite shocking. Did I do something wrong? I mean, we are very different in many ways. He likes basketball and working out, and I walking through art galleries and drinking Pinot Noir (and writing poetry), but I thought we sort of respected each other for our different interests. For the most part, we do, but if he didn't want to come, don't you think he would've said No thanks?!

Anyway, of the art, this is what we saw: nudity, corpses, scenic Bob Ross stuff, abstract things, but most of all, nudity and corpses. Well, it was a little out there, I guess, a little extreme. But that's nothing I can't handle!

I could tell Ruiting was bored. He kept putting his hood onI just offered him to let me know when he wanted to go home. 10 minutes later, he said it: I want to home. So we left. It was extremely awkward walking back because we hardly even talked. I spoke first and said, "Well, now you know what American art is like, huh, Ruiting? What does Chinese art look like?" He dodged the question and said he didn't show up for class today. Maybe he's stressed out. We talked about his TOEFL exam, which he's taking in April. He needs a minimum of 70 to enter the university, apparently. I tried to encourage him, told him I understood his English, and that I thought he communicated very well. I think he disagreed with me. Anyway, it was all awkward.

When we went in our different destinations, I told him next time that we'll play Scrabble so he could focus on his vocabulary for the TOEFL exam. That seemed to agree with this.

Maybe tonight -- First Friday -- was a bad idea!