Back in Beijing!
The rest of the trip was spectacular. We camped in the Gobi desert, danced with Uighur villagers (and slept in their backyards). We hiked around the mountains in northwest China, and partied in Kazak yurts (after eating a dinner of, you guessed it, yak).
It is amazing how much coming back to Beijing feels like returning home. We went to our “favorite restaurant” (honestly it’s only our favorite because ordering from their English menu makes getting food a pleasant experience rather than a 30 minute, frustrating and hilarious series of pantomimes aided only by shitty Mandarin. Matt clucked like a chicken and ended up with a bowl full of chicken feet instead of meat. Oh China!). Campus is in full swing. China is a very crowded country (believe it or not). I cannot look out my window without seeing at least 45 people milling around. It’s exciting and comforting to be back on campus, and the staggering number of students makes this place seem very dynamic.
I had my first Chinese class today. It’s going to be intense, and I am glad I went down a level rather then pushing myself into the intermediate class. We met our faculty members at a banquet on Sunday. I give the Beijing Center a lot of credit, this is a wonderful program, and the quality of the instructors is out of this world. I’m going to be taking classes with some monumental people. I remember being afraid that being on a program would put too much of a buffer between me and China, but it’s impossible to do anything here without having all of China’s quirks and traits come rushing at you (probably on a bicycle).
I was expecting a wave of homesickness about this time, but the most intense feeling I’ve been having is one of displaced deja-vu. I’ve really missed specific people, but I have yet to crave the physical scenery and feeling of Chicago. I’ve become great friends with a lot of people here, and I feel comfortable (as comfortable as a 6’1 blonde guy can feel in China), but I’m still struck by how ridiculous and movie like my life is. Am I really sitting here practicing Mandarin tones in a university in Beijing? Did that little girl really just pee on my foot? Why aren’t I in Chicago? It’s not an unhappy feeling, it actually makes me smile, but it is disorientating.
For example, I haven’t touched a fork in a month, and until right now I hadn’t thought twice about it, is that weird? Today I pulled an American dollar out of my pant pocket and didn’t immediately recognize it. I put it on the table at lunch and everyone got really excited, as if I had pulled out a gruesome bug or something. The culture shock coming here is 1000x times stronger than when I went to Chile, maybe that’s making home feel that much more dreamlike. I still feel extremely connected to the people at home, but the feeling-of-home is totally on my mental back-burner.
I know my love of all things American (meaning, my life/lifestyle in America) will come back in full force before too much longer, but for now pass me some chopsticks and hand a diaper to the little girl peeing on my foot.
The rest of the trip was spectacular. We camped in the Gobi desert, danced with Uighur villagers (and slept in their backyards). We hiked around the mountains in northwest China, and partied in Kazak yurts (after eating a dinner of, you guessed it, yak).
It is amazing how much coming back to Beijing feels like returning home. We went to our “favorite restaurant” (honestly it’s only our favorite because ordering from their English menu makes getting food a pleasant experience rather than a 30 minute, frustrating and hilarious series of pantomimes aided only by shitty Mandarin. Matt clucked like a chicken and ended up with a bowl full of chicken feet instead of meat. Oh China!). Campus is in full swing. China is a very crowded country (believe it or not). I cannot look out my window without seeing at least 45 people milling around. It’s exciting and comforting to be back on campus, and the staggering number of students makes this place seem very dynamic.
I had my first Chinese class today. It’s going to be intense, and I am glad I went down a level rather then pushing myself into the intermediate class. We met our faculty members at a banquet on Sunday. I give the Beijing Center a lot of credit, this is a wonderful program, and the quality of the instructors is out of this world. I’m going to be taking classes with some monumental people. I remember being afraid that being on a program would put too much of a buffer between me and China, but it’s impossible to do anything here without having all of China’s quirks and traits come rushing at you (probably on a bicycle).
I was expecting a wave of homesickness about this time, but the most intense feeling I’ve been having is one of displaced deja-vu. I’ve really missed specific people, but I have yet to crave the physical scenery and feeling of Chicago. I’ve become great friends with a lot of people here, and I feel comfortable (as comfortable as a 6’1 blonde guy can feel in China), but I’m still struck by how ridiculous and movie like my life is. Am I really sitting here practicing Mandarin tones in a university in Beijing? Did that little girl really just pee on my foot? Why aren’t I in Chicago? It’s not an unhappy feeling, it actually makes me smile, but it is disorientating.
For example, I haven’t touched a fork in a month, and until right now I hadn’t thought twice about it, is that weird? Today I pulled an American dollar out of my pant pocket and didn’t immediately recognize it. I put it on the table at lunch and everyone got really excited, as if I had pulled out a gruesome bug or something. The culture shock coming here is 1000x times stronger than when I went to Chile, maybe that’s making home feel that much more dreamlike. I still feel extremely connected to the people at home, but the feeling-of-home is totally on my mental back-burner.
I know my love of all things American (meaning, my life/lifestyle in America) will come back in full force before too much longer, but for now pass me some chopsticks and hand a diaper to the little girl peeing on my foot.
posted by Tim | 11:46 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home