China, Gangnam Style

Our tour guide, William, has kept us on our toes in Xi'an.  We never know quite what's coming next, but we can be sure it will be fun.

William, who is also known to his family and dear friends as Borbor, is the only boy in a family of four, and (self declared) very spoiled.  His parents had two daughters before the one family, one child policy was instituted, and they paid a substantial fine to have a third child, who turned out to be Borbor and his twin sister.  He's a hip 30-something with a sly sense of humor, and an outrageous flirt.

We had not been on the tour bus for five minutes before William told us that he had been on stage the week before dancing to Gangnam Style in front of an audience of 1000 coworkers and their families at the annual New Year's office party.  He pulled out his cell phone and we watched the video as we traveled from the airport to the city.  (If you have not seen Gangnam Style or any of its knock-offs, check them out on Youtube.)

William took lead, with several back-up dancers, and we all agreed he was very good.  It did not take much convincing for him to agree to dance for us the next day.  Meanwhile, at every stop we made, we saw William showing the video to anyone and everyone.

(His phone gets quite a workout.  In addition to its use for Gangnam Style, he makes and receives calls constantly.  Xi'an is a small city, he says, only 8 million people, but I think he got calls from every one of them.)

Our first stop the next day was the terra cotta warriors museum, and William was as good as his word.  After lunch, as we were gathering the group to go back to the bus, we did an impromptu performance, with William leading about ten of the group, many of whom were unfamiliar with the meme.  The results were hilarious—a group of Westerners stumbling through Gangnam Style as if it were an exercise class.  We ran through it twice, gathering a little crowd of puzzled onlookers.

Our next step was the orphanage, more accurately a foster care facility for children whose parents are in prison.   We were treated to a sweet little performance of a folk dance by the children, and then they invited us to perform for them.  With William's encouragement, the group from SAS and the children got up together and tried gamely to follow him.  (If this video is ever posted, you will see what a good sport I am, considering how bad I am at the routine.)

Then, the sweet little children went back up on the stage and performed their own version of Gangnam Style, perfectly choreographed and executed.

We'd been had, by a bunch of wide-eyed ringers.