Shanghai Orientation

So, I've been in Shanghai a couple days and it's completely different from the rest of China. I went to the Bund, which is a bunch of really cool, modern skyscrapers. On the other side of the river, there are a bunch of old European buildings leftover from colonial times, which was really interesting to see. Yesterday, I went to one of the floors of the Pearl Tower and it was an amazing view! There's a floor made of glass there and you can walk all the way around the tower on it. One of the others and I actually laid down on it, looking downward, which gives you the sensation of falling...kind of scary.

However, I don't feel like I'm in China yet, which is a bit like how I felt at the beginning of the Xi'an semester while in Beijing. But whatever. I'll get to Mianyang soon! (today, actually!)

And I got to see Ellie (from the Fall semester in Yunnan) the day before yesterday, which was great. We went to the World Finance building for free champagne (it's funny, the building's actually is the shape of a bottle opener) and I told Ellie about it, but I didn't give her a lot of notice and, since we don't have cellphones to use at the time, I was thinking it would be unlikely for her to actually come. So we were just hanging out, dancing some, and suddenly I saw her face amidst the others, looking so excited! We got to talk and catch up, which was great, and we're both heading off to Sichuan, so I'll probably get to see more of her.

I've figured out that there are six of us here going on to Mianyang, which we still don't know much about. It'll be interesting to see how things turn out...

Crazy Moscow Airport and Shanghai Arrival

So I’ve arrived in Shanghai for the start of the GVI volunteer teaching program. I almost didn’t make the flight out of Paris (bit of a train mix-up) but everything worked out fine. I stopped in the Moscow airport on the way, and it was like being in a giant maze of liquor stores.

My plane reached Shanghai a little late, but that was okay. Someone from the program’s staff was waiting for me and I followed him to one of the other volunteers, Julia, who will be also be teaching in Sichuan (not everyone here is going to the same place apparently). We took a bus from the airport to the city.

On arrival to the center, the staff showed us to our flat, which is really nice actually. I also got to meet some of the other volunteers, who come from all over the world (USA, UK, Italy, Spain and a few other places), although only four of them (that I’ve met) will be going to the same place as me. There are supposed to be more arrivals tonight and tomorrow (many flights were delayed, apparently).

Anyways, had some really good dumplings for lunch (Chris, if you’re reading this, they were the dragon dumplings filled with broth – and soooo good! You were looking for those, weren’t you? :P). Also had a pretty good dinner, though the dishes are very sweet and not very spicy here. I look forward to getting Sichuan dishes when we leave.

I’m not particularly looking forward to all the orientation intro and language classes, but they’ll be over soon enough and I’ll be in Sichuan before I know it. Hopefully, I’ll get to see Ellie too, who should be here by now, I think…if only I had a SIM card! I’ll have to wait until Sichuan before I buy one.

Shanghai Tomorrow (or, really, the day after that)

So, tonight is my last night in the Paris apartment. Forever. Yay!!! No more sleeping in the office.

I am ready for some China, and after that USA!!!! Okay, so there's two months in China before the US, but, you know, just the thought kind of makes me crazy happy. I never thought I'd miss the US this much!

I'll get to Shanghai on Monday, and start the week long orientation (and reunion with Ellie!). I'm super excited to meet the other volunteers. I've made so many good friends on these kind of trips and met so many different people that I'm excited to see how this next group turns out like.

Anyways, I better get to sleep, early morning tomorrow. I'm...mostly packed. I can't believe I have so few things and that this is all I've had for the last year. When I get the US, it'll be a relief to be able to find my old stuff, buy new things without having to worry about whether I can fit it in my suitcase, and throw things in a closet without having to worry about packing it all up in a another couple months or weeks!

For the time being, Shanghai it is. And a very tiny bag because the big suitcase broke and I didn't buy a new one. Ah, well...

My Future (AKA, What the heck should I do with my life?)

So, during the last few days, in addition to not fretting over my visa (which has been obtained, so no worries on me waiting a week before departure in getting it), I've been thinking over what I'll be doing after I graduate from college next year (@#$@?!).

While the process is simultaneously exciting and scary, I've kind of narrowed down my options to, I dunno, this: studying/practicing Mandarin in China (probably while simultaneously teaching English) and grad school. It helps that I have one definite, must be accomplished no matter what goal: to become fluent in Chinese. The other stuff, like say, what I would do with fluent Chinese language skills and what kind of career I want, is a little harder to address. But, with the last three days spent poring over the internet, I think I know what I want to apply for and (maybe) do. Sort of. There is a plan there somewhere.

I wonder what all my classmates back home are planning (or not planning). I need to sort out all of this over the summer, because I have a feeling as soon as I get back to Wheaton in the Fall, things are just going to start rolling and I won't have enough time to contemplate and think things through leisurely. Or spend hours clicking through people's LinkedIn accounts to see the paths they've taken and how they got there...speaking of which, I just got my own account there, although I need to go look at some more of those how-to guides.

Oh, and concerning my more immediate future, I'm packing up everything out of Paris. Paris is OVER. I leave for Shanghai on Sunday!

Lyon (and China plans!)

So, I'm hanging out at la Bonne Maison right now, in Lyon. After being in so many big, noisy cities lately, its nice to relax in the garden (and the pool!).


This european keyboard is killing me right now so I'm keeping things short. Played games with the cousins (Solenn and Alice) yesterday, and met Julie, who's studying landscape architecture and has been volunteering in the garden lately. She had just come back from China actually, and had been in Beijing at the same time as me. It was great to talk about China with her - she'd actually stayed in Lijiang for a bit and had gone to a Naxi village with some friends. She'd also gone to Shenzhen, which I really want to visit.

Actually, I was flipping through one of my China guidebooks and kind came up with a travel plan for mid-August, when I'm done with teaching in Mianyang. I'm thinking of working my way through Yunnan, but only as far south as Kunming probably (leaving Xixuangbanna for another time, I guess), and then heading to Guilin (to maybe get a ride on the river to Yangshuo and back), then on to Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong (where my flight to San Francisco leaves from). I think using trains the whole way is pretty doable, unless I find flights that are cheaper.

Anyays, I'm getting very excited for China (again!) althought I still have to get that kind of obligatory, yet very troublesome visa...

Changing Times (Original Title: Nostalgic Rambling)

When I'm left alone in a small apartment with plans to leave tomorrow for Lyon (yay!!!) but nothing much to do in the meantime, this is what happens...

I recently came across something I'd written about a year and a half ago (for no other purpose than writing it...not for a class or anything). The funny thing is, it's about how quickly I've changed over the last few years, and I feel like I'm already very different from how I was when I wrote it. At the time, I was thinking a lot about leaving New Orleans for college and reflecting on how Hurricane Katrina changed my life. Now I feel like I've grown up a little more and I've become a lot better at holding on to connections with other people, rather than choosing to forget about them when they're gone. I'm still a kind of like that, but I've gotten a lot better. Anyways, it's all about goodbyes, connections, and change. Read on...

Looking backwards is a strange experience. Whether recalling events, slippery memories, or flipping back through old facebook photos (which, I admit, is what prompted this line of thought), the nostalgia I feel is a tricky misrepresentation of the past. In the photos I flip through almost everyone is smiling. We look happy. I look fairly good in all of them, having untagged the photos I did not appear...physically appealing would be the phrase. Don’t I really look like that? Not all the time. It’s a moment stilled, preserved because it looks nice. We, the ones in the photos, are showing the best of that moment. Other things, grievances and difficult times, do not show up in those photos, although I can remember them. In fact, photos from the most difficult year of my life are almost non-existent. There weren’t enough happy times during that year.

However, sometimes seeing is so much stronger than remembering. I look at a photo of two friends and myself. We look so happy and connected. People I do not even know anymore, not really. We do not talk. We live in different places. Growing up does that, as do strange, incomprehensible events that happen even when they shouldn’t. Even when we thought such things never would happen to us because of the distance between tragedy and everyday life, until the moment tragedy became everyday and we simply learned to live with that. We became different people. Growing up is that distance between me and the different people I’ve been. I’ve changed so many times that I have trouble keeping track of who I am. I look at old photographs and can hardly recognize myself. Only a year or two’s difference even. I’m young, aren’t I? How can a person change so quickly?

I change and my friends change too. That’s why we drift apart. I forget those connections I once treasured. Sometimes I feel selfish, remote from other people. How can a person be so important to me for so many years and then forgotten not long after? I have brief periods of remembering. Looking through old photos. A short outing together. Hello, how’s life? Good, me too. Bye, see you in another year. My goodbyes are always quick, the real misery of separation coming afterwards, when I’m all alone and I realize (again) what that feels like. Then I forget, because I’ve become very good at making new friends, going to new places. My life is full of that. Maybe better for it too. I know to treasure the present because I won’t be here forever, they won’t be here forever, and we won’t be here forever. There is only now and, perhaps, the chance of remembering.

...

Today:
Well, my goodbyes have somehow become a lot more drawn out (and a tad melodramatic).

I know there's also tomorrow. There's Xie Miao, Mi Ting, Gao, Crystal, Ellie, Jake, Rebecca, and Lexi over the summer in China. There Dad and Kathleen in August, and there's my Wheaton friends in the Fall. Perhaps Illinois for Thanksgiving. And there's all the millions of possibilities that extend beyond that.

End of Xi'an

So, I'm in London right now, at the airport. I just got here from Beijing and I have to wait a couple hours until my flight to Paris. I wrote this entry on the plane, and - warning - it's a little emo.

This is the last entry for this semester.

I kind of wimped out last year. I couldn’t write a final entry because I was too sad, I was too…ugh, emotional. I had too much to say and nothing to say at the same time.

This time I’ll be a little tougher on myself over this, although as I write I’m on the plane and I just spent the last twenty minutes with my face to the window so no one could see I was tearing up.

I think goodbye gets harder with every time I do it. Huh.

Anyways, I haven’t updated in over a month, so there’s a lot to say. Or write, really. But I don’t really think this is a time for a recap or something like that. Just maybe, to say goodbye to Xi’an and the people there (and those that have already left).

Okay, well, my departure is a good way to start this. Well, maybe a little earlier. Graduation ceremony, of sorts. Friday night, we ate dinner at the place next to the hotel. Chris played a couple songs on his uke, accompanied by Joe on the bongos. Malcolm and Zhang did their thing. Chen Hong and Sean also joined in. It was great (see vid below...or don't - I'll get that up later). We set off a couple fireworks on the hotel’s roof. Let me tell you, that was pretty scary. I was outside for the first one (some odd feet from the fireworks) and then I stayed inside for the rest of them, even though I couldn’t really see the fireworks from inside.

We said goodbye to the teachers. I’ll miss Xia Laoshi so much – she was such an amazing teacher. She put so much energy and effort into every class, and challenged us, while still keeping class engaging. I learned so much from her!

Saturday was spent packing, packing…avoiding thinking about leaving while simultaneously getting really exciting about arriving in Paris (there’s an important difference between the two!). Ate a rou jia mou (possibly my last?). Had all you can eat hot pot for dinner. Hung out at the hotel. Said a few tearful goodbyes. Repeated those goodbyes several times throughout the night (didn’t get much sleep). Got ready to meet the taxi at 7:30 AM. Cried some.

Joe and I took the taxi to the airport. We had said goodbye to Chris, Xie Miao, Gao, and Mi Ting. Crystal and Patrick were still sleeping. Sean and Malcolm had already left. By now (aka Monday, 4:12 PM Beijing time), both of them are probably in the States. Eating burritos. Or pizzas. Or god knows what. Having a good time, hopefully. I miss them!

Chris is probably on his way to Yunnan – to visit Kunming, Lijiang, Dali, and all those fantastic places. I already miss his uke, despite how many times I threatened to destroy it. I’m thinking a stop in Maryland on the way to Massachusetts might be in order (I’m hopefully going to roadtrip it from New Orleans to Mass – depends on a few unstable factors though: namely, my sister’s driving abilities and a pending school parking permit).

Xie Miao, Gao, and Mi Ting have all promised to visit me in Sichuan over the summer. They better hold to those promises! Crystal will be in Beijing, so hopefully we’ll be able to run into each other. I need her crazy, humorous ways!

Speaking of running into people, last night I had got the chance to see Jake, from the SIT program last semester. He’s going to be working in Beijing over the summer and will hopefully swing down south to where I am in August. We got dinner together and it was great to reminisce (as well as taunt him about my Xinjiang adventures).

This morning, Joe and I headed to the airport. It was strange being in the exact same part of the airport that I had said goodbye to Aili six months ago. Joe and I had breakfast/lunch. His last meal in China for a long, long time, is my guess. We said our goodbyes. Joe teased me about my crying, with the reminder that, back in the States, Texas isn’t that far from New Orleans.

And so now I’m on my plane, on the way to Paris. There are so many foreigners on this plane. There were so many foreigners in Beijing! I miss China already.

So, this entry is all over the place and way too emotional, but it’s better than nothing. Three weeks until I come back! ☺