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Published: November 25th 2006
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If you're lucky, there will be one place in the world that you can call home. I am blessed to have two places to call home. Despite my blonde hair, despite my green eyes, despite my fair complexion, despite the fact that I am still learning new Chinese vocabulary every day, in my heart, I feel that i am now a true Beijinger. The past 5 weeks have been a cacaphony of excitement, apprehension, joy, confusion, understanding, frustration and awe, but I finally feel that I am home.
I've said before that China is a true divide between old and new, development and stagnancy, change and tradition. I see it every day on the streets: old woman practicing tai qi in the park in early morning while across the street, a hutong is being knocked down to make way for new luxury apartments. The noise of construction is deafening, but only adds to the excitement and anticipation of China's emerging status in the world order. The 2008 Olympics are on everyone's minds and advertisements for the games are everywhere. There has never been a better time to be here.
My classes continue to go well. As this
Wangfujing Street
The 5th Avenue of China is week 4 of the 12-week course schedule, I gave each of my core classes a progress test. This made for an easy week for me-- review and the precious time to read a book while the students completed the exam. I'm currently reading 'Oracle Bones', by Peter Hessler, who also wrote 'River Town', which is about his experiences teaching in Fuling, a small industrial city in China, for 2 years during his stint in the Peace Corps. I highly recommend both books-- they will be another glimpse into China today and my own life here.
Thanksgiving came and went without fanfare. Obviously, this is an American holiday and not recognized in China, although some of my students were careful to wish me "??????" or "Happy Thanksgiving". The other teachers and I have been delighted to discover that Beijing is wild about Christmas. Already, there is a 30-foot tall Christmas tree smack dab in the middle of the two towers where our school is located, as well as a winter wonderland scene (see pictures). Unfortunately, we don't get the actual holiday off, but the feeling of merriment is still in the air.
Last Sunday evening, I was able
Only in China
Notice the worker is hanging on to the overpass railing and dangling on the outside of the bridge. If he falls, he's toast. to have dinner with two of my coworkers from the internship last summer. It was great to see them again and hear what they have been doing, as neither are still with OCDF (the adoption agency I worked at). We had a nice dinner at a place called 'the bookworm'; this is part restaurant and part lending library. The food is fantastic and the bookshelves contain thousands and thousands of books in multiple languages. It was through one of my coworkers that I have been able to take part in something I've wanted to do for a long time: volunteer at an orphanage. (China is all about connections; even more so than the business world). Yesterday morning (Friday) I rode along with 4 other volunteers (1 Brit, 2 Australians and 1 New Zealander) to an orphange that is about 45 minutes away from where I live. I wish I had been able to take pictures, but orphanage staff around China will no longer allow most foreignors to do so; a few years ago, some British journalists posing as volunteers took secret footage of some orphanages in poorer areas of China and made a documentary about the supposed terrible conditions the
Panjiayuan
Huge market where I like to buy paintings and other household furnishings. Also known as the 'dirt market'. children live in. That was unfortunate, because foreign volunteeres were refused for a short while as well.
The orphanage I went to was quite nice. The babies were adorable; it was amazing how easy it was to make them smile. Many of them had colds, so the worst 'condition' that I saw was runny noses. Although I was there in person, talking to orphanage staff about the babies and holding them myself, it really didn't sink in that they had all been abandoned for various reasons. I think many Westerners don't understand the complexity of the Chinese social system and the enormous pressure women in rural areas have to produce sons. Additionally, many rural areas are so desperately poor, that these babies' families cannot afford to take care of them. I heard stories at my job last summer about families using half of their yearly income to take a train to a bigger city to leave their baby there-- to give the baby a fighting chance. Sometimes the mother will actually hide and wait to make sure her child is found. I can't even imagine what that must be like....physically holding yourself back so you don't snatch your child
back. Even if these parents changed their minds, they can't go back for their children-- abandoning a baby is a crime in China, and the parents would be punished, even if they wanted to take their own child back into their home. ????? there is no easy solution. However, I do want to stress that the babies I was playing with seemed very happy and well taken care of. My only complaint is that my arms ache from lifting and carrying all these babies!
After coming back from the orphanage, I walked to a local market and got 3 fish! I really wanted to get a dog, but decided to be rational about this, and settled on fish. All three are goldfish, although they have different markings. (see pictures). I've named them Schubert, Mahler and Brahms. (Not entirely surprising).
After getting my fish, I headed over to my host family's for dinner. Going to their apartment is always such fun. I'm greeted like the most popular person in the world. My host mom is a really good cook, and so I always know that I'm in for a treat. Last night, she made 'jiaozi' (Chinese dumplings stuffed with
mushrooms, spinach, carrots and egg), a spicy tofu dish, and a fruit salad of sorts with potatoes. ???Delicious! After dinner, ?? (the little girl) and I watched "finding nemo" in Chinese. That was really fun, although I missed hearing Ellen Degeneres' particular inflections. Still, excellent practice. On my way home, my host mom sent me off with 2 Chinese grapefruits and some red-bean buns that I liked last summer. Mom and Dad, do not worry-- I am well taken care of here!
Tonight, (saturday), the other teachers and I are having a belated thanksgiving potluck. My roommate and I are contributing Macaroni and Cheese, which we are able to get from an imported foods store. I'm very much looking forward to good food and better company.
That's all for now....I will soon be hard at work on our holiday newsletter (international edition), so have no fear, faithful readers; I will be writing it again this year!
As always, I can be reached at merritt.wilsongmail.com
Thanks for reading.
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qz
non-member comment
glad you are enjoying the country!
Beijing's winter is very cold so be prepared! =)