Home for the Holidays... and more...

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Winter is in full swing here in Minnesota. I love that we have had two big snowstorms already in December! and we're in the midst of the Christmas Blizzard of 2009. I don't need to dream of a white Christmas, it's here! I've been home in Minneapolis for over a year now, and thought I'd blog about my transition back home and what's next for me. I have many blog entries to type up from my travels in 2008. One of these days I'll get around to typing up my travel journal. Meanwhile, some insights and highlights from 2008-2009.

I left China at the end of August 2008. After several weeks traveling thru Russia via Trans-Siberian train, then crossing Europe to visit friends in Germany, Scotland and England. I finally hit US soil on 1 Oct 2008. I spent a week in Boston visiting friends, then finally returned to MN. I spent about a month looking for work, and landed some interviews in Nov. by Dec 2008, I was employed! I was very lucky, considering the US economy took a nosedive while I was on my journey home. I remember watching BBC News while in Munich, and there were some British financial institutions failing. then the AIG and Goldman Sachs fiascos. what a way to come home and look for work! but I was tenacious and I got lucky. I was hired to work full-time as a Teaching Assistant for a public school in St Paul AND was hired to teach English as a Second Language part-time/evenings. a busy schedule but I love my jobs! and there are built-in holidays and vacations during the school year, and a lighter schedule in the summer. I appreciate those days off!

because I came home in Oct, I was able to register and vote in the Nov 2008 elections. I didn't know all the local candidates, but I tried to glean some info from local media about who stood for what. most importantly to me, I was able to vote in the US presidential election. I happily voted for Barack Obama. what a revolutionary moment in US history! a victory for progressives everywhere. I didn't volunteer for the campaign as many of my friends did. I had volunteered in 2004 in Boston, but just coming home from overseas I felt like a bit of an interloper, watching and waiting and observing and hoping and wondering. a strange feeling for someone who has been politically active in the past. politics is so NOT part of the public consciousness in China, and the media is censored, so my mindset was, well, off-kilter I guess.

In December, I settled into my jobs and celebrated President-elect Obama and prepared for the holidays with my family. I was so happy to be home with my family for the holidays in 2008, I really missed the experience in 2007. the 2008 holiday season was filled with family and friends. I delighted in being home with my parents, siblings, and nephews. I met a fun new group of friends that enjoy going out as much as I do, so New Year's Eve was a big party night at a club in downtown Minneapolis. I love going out on the town, and having friends who enjoy the same is fantastic!

2009 arrived and work became routine. my evening/part-time job had some cut-backs, so I stopped working there but still came once a week to volunteer my time. I wanted to stay connected to the ESL students and the non-profit I had worked for. it was a good idea, because in August they hired me back to work the same schedule again. hooray! my day job is working with special education students with emotional and behavioral disorders, most of whom are teenagers. it's a good job with supportive co-workers. who needs to have kids when you work with them every day! LOL I enjoy the contrast between my two jobs, working in special education and with English language learners.

I miss the festivities of Chinese New Year, but the holiday season in the US is certainly celebratory. less firecrackers, less fireworks, (so less noise) but still a time of reflection and looking forward and exchanging gifts and hanging decorations. I remember in China that they would put up Christmas decorations at Christmastime and never really take them down. there would still be Santas up in April. strange! but most of the decorations in China came in the form of paper cutouts of whatever the animal of the year was. my first year in China (2007) was the Year of the Pig and 2008 was the Year of the Rat. in case you're wondering, 2009 is the Year of the Ox. 😊

I had a great summer this year. my first summer back in Minneapolis since 2002 (when I moved to Boston). I worked summer school and was a nanny for one of our students after school. we went to the beach, the State Fair, walked the dogs, and spent a lot of time in the back yard. it was wonderful! I spent a week's vacation in Boston. I visited my friends there and re-visited all my favorite places. I miss living in Boston and would love to live there again. someday maybe I will. and there is a long list of places I want to live in and / or travel around the world. but for now Minneapolis is home. I lived at my brother's house for my first year back home (and he let me use his second car, which was indeed very handy). I finally moved into an apartment in Minneapolis in September. it's a 2-bedroom in a duplex and I have one roommate. it's an old house near the University of Minnesota. I love it! and I'm happily car-free once again. the city bus is very handy, the Mississippi River is down the block, downtown Minneapolis is not far, and I can walk to a lot of nearby shops and restaurants. life is good at my new apartment!

and now for a little compare and contrast - some observations of China and the US: in China, people are busy. they work 24 hours a day. they are very industrious and entrepreneurial. people in the US are sometimes like that, but some of us can be pretty lazy too. Chinese people will push and shove and squeeze in whenever there are a lot of people, they don't wait in line at all. I remember thinking they were rude but after a while I just joined in the pushing and shoving too. hey, when you gotta get on the bus you gotta get on the bus! but they ALWAYS gave up their seat when an elder got on. having opened up economically over the past 30 years has, in my opinion, helped China tremendously. there are mom-and-pop businesses all over the place. Chinese people are very blunt, very matter-of-fact. people are more like that in Boston but certainly not like that in Minnesota. the reputation of "Minnesota nice" is quite true. I find it annoying at times, but it does make things a bit more pleasant here. 😊

the food in China was yummy! I miss jiaozi and baozi (different dumplings) and street food and just eating on the street at those little tables and stools. so cheap and so yummy! ok, it took a while for my stomach to get used to the food, but eventually I loved it. I could always get my Western fix at Pizza Hut or at a restaurant in Beijing if I needed one. food in the US is way fattier and more processed. everything in China was much fresher. I have found a fanstastic Szechuan restaurant in St Paul so I can at least get close to food I had in China.

I think it goes without saying that the American diet plus lack of exercise is why Americans are so fat nowadays. in China everyone takes the bus and bikes and walks a lot. having a car is a luxury there. (unfortunately more and more people are buying cars in China.) the US is ALL about convenience and fast food and driving everywhere and parking as close to the store as possible. in China, every evening in any given city, there are people out in the public squares doing tai chi, ballroom dancing, rollerblading, skateboarding, playing mahjong, flying kites. how very different from the US where most people go home and watch TV in the evening! ok, we do love our sports here and many people here utilize the parks for sports, when the weather is nice.

while in China, I didn't miss the barrage of media that we get here in the US. the 24-hour news day is a bit much. I did miss hearing the latest hit songs on the radio and I missed my celebrity gossip. but every so often my friends & family would send me an US Weekly or People Magazine so that was enough to keep up. I did learn a lot about what was happening in Asia and in the business world. the one and only English channel in China is very business-news-related. I REALLY missed going to the cinema for movies. in China it was all about the DVD at home. DVDs were SO cheap (copies of copies are always cheap), so I bought a ton of them. this year at home in the US I've seen so many movies at the movie theater. I love the big screen and a bucket of popcorn. oh, that's another thing: the popcorn in China is sweet - yuck! I'm so happy to be back where the popcorn is proper salty. yum!

I experienced four seasons in Jinan, but the summer was hotter and wetter and the winter was not as cold and very dry. snow in winter in Jinan was rare. I visited Harbin in northern China for their Snow and Ice Festival, so that gave me my snowy, cold winter weather. in the summer months of July and August it rained a LOT. so much so in July 2007 there was a massive flood and people died and it was a terrible mess. I guess in Minnesota we have to deal with tornadoes (including a surprise tornado that hit Minneapolis this summer, how rare!) and of course the snowy weather. treacherous roads and dangerous travel conditions are never a good thing. but it's a winter wonderland and perfect for sledding, skiing, and whatever other winter sports you enjoy. it's picture-perfect outside this Christmas in Minnesota!

my final news is that I was accepted into a Masters of Education program here in Minneapolis. so I'll start graduate school in January 2010. a bold, new endeavor that will get me closer to becoming a licensed teacher and move me towards my goal of being able to teach anywhere in the world. wish me luck, I haven't been in school for over 15 years!

Happy Holidays and Happy 2010 everyone! best wishes for a happy, healthy, joyous, peaceful New Year!

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