All that junk!

I'm sitting on the grass outside my apartment reading my book and relishing in the fact that I don't have class and have five hours until I have to be anywhere. Spring in Wulingyuan on its good days can be spectacular- flowers, a running river, kids playing outside and eating pineapple. I'm leaning against a tree and smiling across the lawn to my neighbor who is an old woman who likes to spend her warm afternoons outside bundled up in a padded jacket, long dark polyester pants, and little black shoes sitting on small wooden chair with her hands clasped in her lap. For myself, a moment of reflection, writing about the quaint nature of this place while running my toes through the grass.
Mid sentence and mid thought that was probably orbiting around the ideas of culture, expression, communication I'm stopped by the abrupt blast and following crackle of a dated radio. The song that continues to play from the tiny tape player sitting at the side of the old woman comes to me from a far away memory of sweaty frat parties and general debauchery. "My Hump" is the song of choice for this woman taking her afternoon rest in the sun of the Chinese countryside. "What ya gonna do with all that junk, all that junk up in that trunk?" "My hump my hump mu lovely lady hump." My own mother would have a hard time identifying these words and phrases as her native tongue. The beauty of the whole expose was watching this woman just lean against the back of her chair close her eyes and let the lyrics of "My hump," fill the air.
Who knows who told her this was a song worth listening to or if anyone informed her that the topic of the song happened to be about the pride a woman has for her curvy figure and because she is so abnoxiously proud of it she chooses to refer to it as her "junk." These are the moments that I really love China when you realize that so many things are lost in translation and the intersection of culture is nothing short of utterly hilarious and ridiculous.