January marked my one year return from my study abroad to Nanjing, China. Sometimes China feels like it happened just yesterday, other times I have to convince myself that it truly wasn't a dream. I've become so acclimated to my pampered US life that I can barely remember what it was like to not have hot water in the bathroom, feel sick to my stomach weekly, and sleep on a slab of wood. Here are some highlights and (low?!??) lights of my China adventure:
- Meeting amazing Chinese college students who treated me like one of their own. I have managed to keep in contact with them over the past year.
- Meeting my family in Nanjing whom my family hasn't connected with in over 50 years
- Seeing the house my great grandfather built, which may be taken away by the Chinese government and converted to a museum. My family is doing everything in their power to prevent this.
- Visiting the four capitals of China: Luoyang, Xi'an, Nanjing, and Beijing
- Improving my Chinese skills somewhat
- Climbing the Great Wall of China
- Eating dishes like suan cai yu and mapodoufu and falling in LOVE with them
- Late night visits to street vendors for grilled octapus legs and freshly made dumplings
- Squatter toilets
- Mean cab drivers
- Fake purses and clothes
- Traffic
- Hangzhou and West Lake; breathtakingly beautiful
- HONG KONG seafood, dimsum, dan tat (egg tarts)
- HONG KONG shopping
- Jessica Tang
- Hong Kong's MTR
- pirated movies
- Travis Orton
- Jiang Lao-shi
- Tai-chi, for the 2 weeks I went
- sleeper trains
- dirty hotels
- blowing your nose into the street, ie. snot rockets
- men peeing in the streets
- babies with an opening in the back of their pants (much easier than diapers)
- pagodas
- finding myself
- long distance relationship
- bike rides
- bus rides
- parks
- English corner
- getting ripped off
- Terra-cotta warriors
- the glorious lights of Shanghai
All my complaining aside, I'd love to return to China. I think it helps that within a year's span, my memory seems to recall less of the negative aspects of China, and more of the positive. There are a few things I'd like to do differently, in fact, I'd call my next China adventure, "CHINA-TAKE 2." As for things I'd like to do differently, I'd definitely not believe the prevalent rumors circulating about what China is like. For instance, someone told me that I would not be able to find bottled water in China (it was on every corner). Squatter rumors were true, but I can count on my hands the times I had to use them. If I return, it will probably be through a English-teaching company or something of the like. While I was considering furthering my studies in Chinese at Beijing University, I've realized that simply immersing myself in the language is how I learn best. Time (and an application) will tell if I have the opportunity to go back.
No comments:
Post a Comment