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Published: August 25th 2009
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Zaijian Mama
Mom was making goofy faces and trying to hide behind me...making us laugh hysterically, which I much preferred to crying. In the spring of 2009, I applied for a full scholarship through the Chinese Government to study Mandarin full time at a Chinese university. Less than a month ago, I found out that I got it. A whirlwind of a month later, I left my friends, family and job, bought a one-way ticket to Shanghai and I am sitting in an apartment on the campus of the school I taught at in Shanghai 3 years ago typing this blog to share my story with you.
My scholarship is for one year of full time study at Yunnan University in Kunming, China. That adventure starts tomorrow.
For now, I arrived in China on Thursday for a 5 day stopover in Shanghai to catch up with friends here and satisfy some of my food cravings that I've missed over the past few years. The school has changed a lot, yet it is eerily familiar. I've been able to fall back into using my basic Chinese very easily, like riding a bike, which I've also been doing.
My flight was so smooth and I had the whole row to myself. I slept most of the way and the 17+ hour journey
Coors Light
A little reminder of CO, as if I needed one. went by very fast. I flew Air Canada from Atlanta to Toronto to Shanghai. Our route took us over the arctic circle, Siberia and Mongolia. Interestingly, one of the two beers they served on the flight was Coors Light. ;-) After I effortlessly breezed through customs, picked up my bags, rang a friend on a payphone and made my way to the taxi queue where I easily told the driver where to take me, I was sitting in the taxi gliding down the expressway when it finally hit me....Holy crap! I'm back in China!
A little background for those who don't know. I first came to China in 2001 on a summer study abroad fellowship through my university, Emory. I traveled and studied with fellow students and a teacher for 6 weeks. It was enough time to get me interested in this culture that is so different from anything I had experienced in my life growing up near Atlanta, Georgia. I was intrigued enough to continue studying Chinese after I graduated college and moved to DC. So after two years working in the states after graduation, I returned to China to teach in the International Division of a Chinese
Bags
All my belongings, for a year. school for a year. The school was in Shanghai and during that year I was able to travel not only around China, but also throughout Asia. After returning to the states, my time in Asia stuck with me so much that I found myself constantly referring to the experiences, situations, challenges, annoyances, teaching skills I picked up, and fun that I had while living there. I feel like almost a day couldn't go by where I didn't reference it in some way. So, I returned to my Chinese language studies in DC and while doing so, came across the scholarship that I subsequently applied for and won, which once again has brought me back to China.
Though, this time the decision to come back wasn't as easy as in the past. I recently opened numerous doors of opportunity for myself and had grown close to many people, so had a lot to contemplate. But since you know what path I chose to follow, we'll save those stories to share over a beer sometime in the future.
The point is, I'm here, so, while I'm here this is where I'll be sharing my experiences with all those who have
Taxi
Speeding into my new life. supported me in my crazy endeavors! Plus facebook isn't easy to access and when I can see it, I haven't figured out how to let me post pictures yet and it is extremely slow.
A bit about my week in Shanghai-
Some things that are new in Shanghai:
• There is a new "tallest building in Shanghai" which towers over the Jin Mao Tower and resembles the world's largest bottle opener. I suppose it is fitting since China produces the most beer in the world (that doesn't mean it is good beer).
• Shang Hai Zhong Xue (The school I taught at) expanded, a new elevated highway was built over it and there are way more foreign teachers here than when I was here.
Some things that are the same:
• My favorite dumplings are still here, shengjian mantou.
• Traffic is chaotic as usual
• I still don't know how to order anything more than Kung Pao Chicken (gong bao ji ding), fried rice (chou mi fan), meat filled buns (rou baozi) and dumplings (xiaolong bao/mantou or shengjian bao/mantou).
• The 6 am local division's morning exercises, chanting and marching are still just as loud and annoying...YI, ER, SAN, SI!!!!! (1, 2,
Bottle Opener Building
I don't know what it is called, but it is nowhere as cool as the Jin Mao Tower, which you can vaguely see lurking on the right edge of this building . 3, 4!!!!)
• The beer is still generally unsatisfying, but cheap.
Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to run a Hash while I was here because right when I was walking out the door a tremendous lightening storm that was dumping buckets of water and flooding the roads was sweeping by the school and I really didn't feel like getting struck by lightening. And by the time it was safe, I would have missed the start and the trail would have been wiped away anyhow. Guess I will have to start a kennel in Kunming to get my fix.
Well, I am going to do my best to share my experiences on this site. Also, I love taking pictures of the food I eat here, so be prepared for lots of those. :-)
Are you curious about China? Have random questions that I can try to answer? Let me know what else you'd like to hear about. It gives me reason to go out and explore and please do comment.
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Jingle
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The adventure begins...again!
Glad you made it there safe and sound. Can't wait to keep up with your adventures. We'll miss you in CO. (Coors Light? Really?!?)