A Massage and Mao Kitsch

A couple days ago, I went to get a massage at a place around the corner. We ended up paying 20 bucks for about 2 hours of full-body massaging. I went with a friend from my program and they put us in the same room. My friend had an older masseuse, while I had a younger girl. Both looked like they were probably former peasants from the provinces in Beijing to make a life.

There was a lot of banter and talk between the two masseuses( I think this is the plural form), and I for the most part had no idea what was going on. Then I feel my masseuse slip something into my hand. When I had turned over and had the chance to examine it, I realized it was a small red pin featuring Mao's portrait.

At this point I didn't know what the hell I was supposed to do with this, but I assumed it was some sort of flirtatious token. Then towards the end of the massage I find out, after asking my friend, that the girl wanted my phone number.

I said I didn't know my phone number, but my friend told it to her anyways. The next day I received a bunch of text messages but couldn't read them since my phone is unable to display characters. Thus, this was the last I heard from her.

But...I still have that piece of Mao kitsch as a little souvenir from my first massage in China.