I have since returned from my 6 weeks all over China, but with no time to blog about it just yet, here is a glimpse of my thoughts the first couple days after arriving in Xian to volunteer teaching English:
September 6, Sunday
Last night, I arrived in Xi’an after a long day of traveling. Leaving Singapore at 9.45am, I arrived at the Cross Cultural Solutions home base close to 11pm after a 5 hour stopover in the Hong Kong airport where I hung out at Starbucks reading the amazing book by Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture.
Today we had orientation, taking a brief tour of the city to see the Bell Tower, the Drum tower (both in the middle of the city), the Muslim Quarters and Art Street. We then came home, had a meeting to introduce ourselves, then went on a mini walking assignment to get to know the neighborhood. In my group, there’s Felipe Isamu Gonzalez Noguchi, a Spanish-Japanese guy who goes to NYU but lives in London, Richard and Vandana (married couple), and Dipika, who all live not far from London as well. There’s also Kaha from Korea who’s been here for 10 weeks already, and has 2 more to go. She attends Carnegie Mellon for Economics, but wants to pursue hospitality. She went to high school in California, and is very independent and easy to get along with. She’s my roomie, and I like her. :)
Our welcome dinner was at a fancy Chinese restaurant opposite from the Wild Goose Pagoda, where we had Peking duck and all kinds of other dishes. It was a feast! Also got to catch a bit of the water fountain show in that happens in front of the pagoda, apparently it’s the largest of its kind in Asia or some other region sort measurement.
After dinner, Kaha, Makayla (our program assistant), Felipe and I went to Trust-Mart, about 5 minutes from our apartments, for supplies. It’s kind of like the French department store CarreFour, or like Target in the States; and sells everything, but I was amazed at how the organization of products makes absolutely no sense. The shower gel was shelved with the toothpaste, but at the opposite end of the mart from the shampoos and body lotions. In between them, we found the bakery, clothing, ice cream, frozen meats, and some cleaning supplies. The Q-tips were with the skewers and tupperware. What?! I am mystified.
The air quality here is quite appalling, and my throat is already scratchy from the dust and smog in the air. My eyes and nose burn from the dust kicked up by the passing vehicles, and I cant help but wonder if I’m doing my body a major disservice spending more than a month in China! Breathing with my mouth open or talking for a couple of minutes gives me little gritty pieces in my teeth, and when I’m slick with sweat from walking in the heat, I can feel sandy grime on my chest when I wipe it off. Ew. Apart from that and the crazy cars that don’t stop for even a child crossing the road regardless of zebra crossings or green lights, the people are generally friendly and helpful when I ask for directions. I have to say that even though I don’t understand it all, I respect the Chinese for their c’est la vie attitude, because they seem to be pretty content with the ways in which they run their affairs.
September 7, Monday
Today was the first day of our placement. I woke around 7:45am to get ready, had breakfast and talked to Danny for a bit on Skype (I am SO thankful for it! Seeing his face and hearing his voice keeps me sane and a little less anxious in a foreign environment) before going with Felipe to the office in the next building to meet the college students with whom we’d be touring the city with, correcting grammatically wrong signs in English, and naming landmarks for them to draw up in English. The maps they complete will be put in local hotels, and given to other volunteers to get around.
The college student I was partnered with is called Zhao Qing Yuan. He has us call him Zhao because it’s easier to remember. He just graduated from the local university in Bioengineering, and is applying for grad school to be a zoologist! We had a brief conversation about my dislike for animals in general, and his inclination towards cats- large felines like lions and tigers, in particular. As we walked past a school looking building, I asked him in Chinese what it was so I could name it in English for the map. He said, “this is a party school”, to which my eyes widened and implored, “party school?!” He laughed and clarified, “this is where people who want to learn more about communism and join the government party come for classes before being able to register with the party, not party like, party!!!”
More intrigued than before, I asked him what his personal take on communism is, a question that rendered him a little flustered, as he mumbled in English, “Oh, I don’t know, I’m not in any position to say… but in general I think I agree with it. It’s the government!” We had been warned by our CCS staff that talking about religion and politics is highly risqué in China, so I let it go, drawing that discussion to close with a dissatisfied “oh, okay”.
We spent about 2 hours walking the streets of our neighborhood, called Xiao Zhai, which also means “little village” before heading back to the home base for lunch. After lunch, I got to talk to Danny again, for a longer period of time so that we could have a proper conversation. It made my day, as usual (: After brainstorming with him for a theme for this Halloween’s haunted house at the Montecito Inn, I joined the group to learn how to play Mah Jong. It’s a pretty fun and chill social game for 4 that’s similar to rummy or Phase 10, and I managed to win 1 of the 4 rounds we played. Yay!
The rest of our evening was left free, so apart from dinner, I pottered about reading American fashion magazines from 2007 and 2008, and a Cathy Kelly novel I found on the communal bookshelf. I think I will go read more of the book before heading to bed… tomorrow will be a long day, correcting signs at the Bell Tower!
