Chance meeting with an elderly Chinese man

I had a pleasant experience this evening. I was walking home from teaching English and was passing some glass displays with student artwork inside. I saw an older man standing in front of one and looking sternly at some of the work. A friend recently told me if I want to practice listening to Chinese more, I should talk with older people. Because they have no need to practice their English, they will speak to me in Chinese and may enjoy chatting with a foreigner. I decided to take a chance. The gentleman was looking at some calligraphy. Using Chinese, I asked the gentleman what he thought of the works. He pointed to one work and said it was bad, the characters were written too fast and sloppy. To me the works looked great, much better than I could ever do.

He pointed to another and said it was written very well. It did look nice to me, but they all did. He pointed to another and said it was really sloppy. It did look a little sloppy now that he mentioned it, but I never would have noticed on my own. Then we started to walk along the road through the campus. He lived in the area and was passing through. I was surprised I could understand what he said pretty clearly. For some reason I had the unfounded impression that it would be harder to understand older people than the students. But even he suggested that because he spoke a little slowly that he might be more understandable for me. He asked me some questions about the foreign students on the campus. He told me he is from northeast China (formerly called Manchuria), but has lived in Beijing for over 50 years. He is 81 years old. I said he is about the same age as my grandfather. He said he was an engineer and built residential buildings like some of the ones we passed. He walked with a cane and moved slowly, but his mind seemed sharp and as well as speaking clearly and kindly. He asked me how long I had studied Chinese and praised my ability. He talked about the Chinese students on campus and how difficult it is for them to be accepted into this school. He also said I should talk with them as much as I could. Finally after about 20 minutes we parted ways, but I was so happy to chat with him.