| I had been wanting to draw this woman since I
arrived at the hotel, but had no idea how to ask. I did actually set up
a time to draw her at this station earlier, but I got the time wrong and
missed my chance. On this night I realized that if I sat in the stone gazebo
just off the dining room entrance, I could see inside well enough to make
a drawing. Even though she had to escort diners inside now and then, she
always returned to this spot, and in approximately the same pose. While
I was drawing her, some Chinese boys saw me in the gazebo and wanted to
know what I was doing. They came outside to where I was sitting, looked
over my pad, and immediately recognized the hostess. They pointed at her
through the window, then at my drawing, and started jabbering excitedly.
Next thing I knew, they had dashed inside and were excitedly saying something
to the hostess. She cast a glance my way, then whispered something to the
boys, who got a big smile on their faces and ran into the dining hall where
a wedding party (an enormous wedding party) was busy having a good time.
About one minute later, at least two dozen kids from four to ten years
old ran out of the party and onto the gazebo with me. They were all wearing
their best clothes shouting "Ke but ke yi hwa was" or "will you or won't
you draw me?". This is a slight variation of a key phrase my wife taught
me ("may I draw you?"), so I recognized it immediately. I spent the next
two hours drawing these kids until my pencil was worn down to a nub. I
would have liked to get copies of these drawings, but I had no idea how
to say "please, may I make a copy first?", so I just handed them out as
I made them. I made over twenty and some were pretty good, all were at
least fair likenesses. I was rescued by some parents who understood my
dilemma as soon as I held up the tiny bit of pencil I had left. A short
time after the kids cleared out, they came back, each with a gift box of
candy for me. This might be my favorite moment from the entire trip, though
at the same time it served to remind me of the distance between me and
my own family in the US. |
