I met a new friend the other day and one of the first questions she asked me was if I had ever seen the TV show, Friends.  For someone to know about Friends  is very, very odd here in China.  It might be on 5 times a day on TBS in the states, but hardly anyone knows about it here, so I was a little surprised when she asked me about it.  Of course I’d seen the show Friends.  It was really popular.  She goes on to tell me all about Joey and how much she wants to go to the U.S. so that she can meet him and would really like to marry him.  I laughed and joked with her saying that he was already married.  When I looked at her face, I could see that my laughing was a mistake.  She was perfectly serious.  I think I squashed that dream pretty hard.  Oops.

My really good friend, Elizabeth, has a bit more of a solid head on her shoulders, but still has a little crush on Michael Scofield from Prison Break.  She asked me last week if I had heard anything about him being gay.  I said I really didn’t know, but a lot of times stuff like that is just a rumor.  She looked relieved.  She watched the most recent season with her mom over the winter break.  They watched it in English with Mandarin subtitles, and I guess her mom was able to learn a bit of Prison Break English.  Keep in mind that her mom lives in the country and can’t speak any English.  Elizabeth’s mom can now say, “There is only one thing left to do.”  Can’t talk about the weather or exchange pleasantries one bit, but she’ll be prepared for that one situation when, indeed, there is only one thing left to do.