I have ten oranges in my bag. They were given to us as presents by
various vendors. Food in China
is a very big deal. No one misses a meal and it occurs to me, feeding a
billion and a half people is no small feat. At dinner I am
overwhelmed by the amount of people. It seems like they are pouring out
of and into every opening.
We are dining in the hotel because it’s late, and frankly, there’s no time left
to explore. I’m leaving in the morning. Once the waitresses
announce the kitchens are closing, the tables empty like water down a
drain. Some vortex sucked them out and now we are the only ones
left. Staff members whisk off table cloths and fold down tables. Soon it
looks nothing like the restaurant, and I am annoyingly aware of the emptiness.
Claudia offers me an explanation: “China is like a wave at a stadium,”
she says. When one person starts, the next follows.” I adopt the
restaurant for a national model. China
has one billion more people than America and we are the same
size. This fact boggles my mind for a moment. How can one country
be so unified for its size? How can a government organize this many
people? China,
I think, must be a wave. Then I realize how fitting it is for this
trip to end here. Tomorrow, I’ll be riding the wave home.
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