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Published: April 1st 2010
Happy April 1st!
Our time here is getting shorter and shorter by the minute, and we're definitely starting to feel the crunch to see everything we had hoped to before heading back to the States. Some mornings I wake up, mistakenly think I'm in Seattle and can't wait to hop out of bed and drive to go get coffee. It's then that I remember where I am and that the closest thing I'll get to that is a walk down six flights of stairs to buy a bottled Nescafe drink from the school market. It's interesting to look back on what we thought we'd miss and what we're really missing. I've missed food a lot more than I expected I would, and haven't been homesick for family as much as I thought I might be. I dream about a burrito in my mouth almost daily and I'm sure it'll be one of the first things I eat upon our return. Mostly I'm just excited to hug family and friends again and be an active part of each others lives again.
This past week has been good, both eventful and uneventful. We spent the weekend in Macau with 9 friends, another "Special Administrative Region (SAR)" of China, like HK. It was colonized by Portugal, has surpassed Vegas in revenue and size and yet...it's still unmistakably China. One minute you're walking down cobblestone streets with colonial looking buildings, the next you're passing the world's largest casino and still the next minute you're watching a 3 year old pee on the sidewalk. Weird, weird place. It was our friend Pete's 30th, so we all chipped in for a 3 bedroom villa rental and spent the weekend eating, laughing and losing some money at the casinos. I'm not a game player or a gambler, so I wasted a small amount of money on slot machines and spent the rest of my time enjoying Portuguese wine at a bar where everything was half off- score. I doubt we'll go back to Macau during the rest of our time here, but you never know. It takes an hour long bus ride followed by an hour long ferry ride to get there, so not too bad.
Other than that weekend excursion, we've mostly been laying low in Shenzhen. Our cafeteria at school opened up a new section upstairs that now serves "spaghetti and other western food", according to our contact teacher. We had dinner there the other night, surrounded by students and absolutely no other teachers. The food definitely wasn't "western", but it was ten times better than what the regular cafeteria serves, so that was a nice change. We've spent almost every weekday evening lately talking with 3 students- 2 of whom are in Martin's classes and 1 from my class 5. They come to our office to get help and just chat about things, in addition to teaching us some new Chinese words which is always entertaining for them.
Random topic:
We've also been having daily lunch conversations with our contact teachers, which are always fascinating. In Macau, Martin took a picture of a Chinese person not-so-subtly taking a picture of all of us, something that occurs on an almost daily basis here. When we tell other Chinese people about this staring and picture taking that goes on all the time, they generally have one of the following responses: "Really? I did not know people did this. Haha, yes, you must feel like an animal in a zoo!" OR "Well, this is a reasonable reaction. This is their first time seeing a foreigner in person, so they are very excited!" Is it a reasonable reaction? Our favorite and most right-on response from our contact teacher this week was "Ha. This is ironic considering Shenzhen wants to be such an 'international city'!" Exactly. It was something I never knew about China before coming, and I wasn't really prepared for. At first, it sort of felt like we were celebrities. 8 months in, it's just humorous and occasionally very very tiresome.
The following was written last year by the foreign teacher that was at our school before us, so full credit must be given to him. It's a great observation though, so I had to share: "I pass out on the bus and arrive at Shenzhen International Airport in Bao’An. From there it is a 2 minute and 2 Yuan ride on the 327 to Bao Ya Dian Zi, locally referred to as “Xing Wei Lu Kou.” The ticket lady on the bus always thinks it’s a mistake when I tell her this is where I’m going and she usually tries to charge me 5 Yuan for a fare to Shi Jie Zhi Chuang (“Windows of the World,” where all the fat Englishmen and Frenchmen go to buy overpriced cocktails, Western groceries and pick up desperate but hot Chinese gals). Over the months my verbal correction has become curter but it still elicits the exact same laughter and awe from the vegetating apes of Shenzhen who can’t fathom why foreigners are anywhere near their airport.
I always look for the point and I always get it. Somebody always notices me, then double takes. Then triple takes. Then quadruple takes. You think I’m exaggerating and being an asshole - you are wrong. All nearby buddies, wives, strangers and babies are informed. Literally, the attention of little children is drawn towards me by the extended fingers of parents in counterfeit Converse shoes. “Waiiiiguoren!” the child exclaims, to the laughter of all in the vicinity. It’s a real family portrait, and it’s case-closing evidence that China will never evolve into the world’s country, even if its economy becomes number 1."
We've had people walk into trees because they're so busy looking behind them at the foreigners. The worst part is the giggling. You really do start to feel like you're some weird creature on display. It's never really mean, but it never feels good either. The REALLY bad part is that we've started doing it ourselves to some extent. When we see a foreigner who isn't in 'the program', we all look sort of baffled and often comment to one another "Look, a waiguoren that we don't know!" Waiguoren, as you might have guessed, is the word for foreigner in Chinese. It literally means "Outside person". We also regularly hear "Meiguoren" (American) and "laowai" which is a more affectionate term for foreigner, literally translated to old foreigner.
We're all humans. Nothing special to see here, people.
I can't wait to see what China is like in 10 years.
And on a final note, Happy April Fools Day. I started my class speaking in Spanish and completely confused my students. Love it.
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Mom/MD
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It would be most interesting to go back to China in 10 years to see if there have been changes in how they look at Americans and whether they are still pointing and exclaming Waiguoren or whether it's become so natural to them that they no longer take notice except for the fact that you are slightly taller than they are...ahhh, but the differences in mankind is what makes life interesting! Very cool that you started the day out speaking Spanish to you kiddos...am sure they will long remember and tell the story to their own kids someday...at least we hope, right. Thanks for the great conversation tonight...love you both so much! Glad that Dad and Debi will be there soon to share the time with you and already looking forward to having you home! What an awesome experience you have had and who knows what your next adventure brings for you both!