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Published: September 12th 2012
Oh my goodness, we are in China... wait... what?!
I'm going through all the same emotions I experienced two months ago when we arrived in Indonesia. Culture shock round two!
Overall, I'm very impressed. We were really smart to practise our key social terms before getting here. The little mandarin we can speak has gone a long way! The locals seem to find it pretty amusing when we can say the price of something or carry on a short conversation with a child. We probably sound silly, but I love it. I have never really wanted to learn another language before. Sure, I found french class more interesting than most and took it a year longer than required, but other than that I never had to speak anything other than english and wasn't in a hurry to do so. Now I want to learn every language!! Tyler and I want to start with Spanish (since our next trip will hopefully be to South America), but then I would like to learn Mandarin (because it is complex and challenging) and German (because of my family heritage).
Speaking of things I was taught in school, history was by no means my favourite class. It wasn't until I was surrounded by it that it caught my eye. China is ancient, there really isn't another way to put it. Yes the main cities are huge and modern but no matter where you are, you can always see a hint of history. It's beautiful. The Chinese are so proud of their history and I completely understand. I want to know the history of the Forbidden City. Who lived there, what scandals took place and what was the real cause for the fall of the dynasty's?
Being out in the world makes me realize how much I don't know, how much I still have to learn and that humbles me. I'm being awakened, a new light is shining through me and I want to share it with you!
The world is my new classroom and as ambitious as it may sound, I want to see as much as possible in what little time I have on this "spiny blue ball" .
Back to China! It's old. It's huge. The people are generous, friendly, intimidating and bossy all at the same time. We have two months to see as much as possible... can't wait to let you know how that goes!
xoxo Becs
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Kim Rusin
non-member comment
This big shiny ball
I love reading your blogs. Tric told me I should comment sometime and so here it is. I know what you mean about making every moment in life count and how you should cherish everyone and everything around you. I can literally feel your excitement when you write and its contagious. Keep it up - looking forward to the next one !!!