Before I go

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As most of you know, I'll be studying Mandarin Chinese language and Chinese culture as a foreign exchange student this fall at Sichuan University in Chengdu, Sichuan, China. I leave this monday. I'll miss y'all, but I'll return with novel, re-conceptualized thoughts and states of being to further mystify y'all with. It'll be good. Trust me. I know. I won't be able to celebrate Christmas, Thanksgiving, Halloween, or my twenty-first birthday in America. But no worries: It doesn't concern me. Why let it concern you? It'll be cool. China's cool. Trust me.

I've been asked a lot this month: "what's the one thing you still need to do before you leave?"
I took care of that this morning--a fashionable haircut, of course. (see photos)

But what I've also asked myself a lot is, "Why are you going to China this fall?" I feel I have to. I can't imagine anything else, at this point. Then I say to myself, I says, "Well, let's discuss this further sometime" ...

written August 16, 2009

I don’t know the local dialect. The city’s history and dynasties are essentially unknown to me. The province itself is large and beautiful, I’ve heard. In the city stand ancient pagodas and in the countryside, climate, distinctive mountains and wildlife. Summers in Sichuan province are hot; autumns are gorgeous and faintly chilled; winters are windy and cold; plants grow in Spring. North of Chengdu city, north of the where I’ll travel to study, construction of the Three Gorges Dam promises to progress the Nation, and in doing so, flood peasants’ homes.
These are all things I’ve heard about Sichuan, China, but which mean nothing to me yet. I have not personally felt them.
In Sichuan Province, the food is spicy, but makes bellies feel full.
All these human lives, all felt individually. I was born feeling one of them. To realize what it means to fully feel like me, I have to realize the others. I need experiential learning, and I learn best from movement, self-reflection and friction-heat.
I’m trying hard not to write an over-exposed, theme-laden, creative non-fiction story right now. This is hard for me to not do. I have to try very hard to write real things. I’m trying to write why I’m going to China in 8 days, and this is difficult.
My flight from Phoenix to Los Angeles is to leave at 7:30 a.m. on a Monday. I’ll be suspended over the Pacific Ocean for 14 hours. Stewardesses will ask me in forced English for my drink order before bringing to me my in-flight meal. It will be preserved in a box. I special-requested the vegetarian alternative through my travel agent. It will taste awful. I may be compelled to order an alcoholic beverage when the stewardess asks for my choice. I’m unsure if I will let myself order.
After the flight, customs in Shanghai and another three hours of travel, I will arrive in Chengdu, Sichuan, China, shortly after midnight Wednesday (local time). A representative (TBD) from Sichuan University will receive me and take me to campus.
I’m to be the only university student from the American Southwest studying in Chengdu (population: well over 10 million) this fall. I’m scared and exhilarated, to dizziness. I don’t yet know where I’ll be staying or what courses I’ll be taking. I won’t know until I arrive.
I don’t know what the next four months will be like for me. Honestly, I can imagine my life upon returning to America more clearly than the trip itself. These next four months, I can’t imagine them at all.
I don’t know how I’ll feel. I’ll relearn how to feel. I’ll do this thru movement, self-reflection & friction-heat. Thru watching: old men squatting in alleys over mah-jong boards with their grips of leaf tea; valleys with clear rivers and varicolored trees. Thru hearing: Mandarin drawls and temple drums. Feeling through sensory perception, intuition & force of will.
Being next to mountains with cold wind and no snow. The governmental structure of the People’s Republic of China. Simplified characters, pictographic text and proper grammatical form. The real People of the Republic of China. The ones who have as many memories and children as they can. Girls and boys who will grow up not knowing how to cry, and ones who will. Calligraphy in wet ink. And then, eating hot peppers until I feel more full.
I’m trying very hard to explain myself, but to me, not knowing what something will be like, learning the feeling of new sensation or experience, this is enough reason for me to fly across the world. This is why I am to travel to China in 8 days.

I don't know what, or how often, I'll write entries for this travel journal. But hopefully, something meaningful, and as often as i can.

And pictures. Always pictures.

Cheers!
-Tye

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Photos

...after!
I'm ready! ...are you, females of China?

Comments

[Saili]

Bon Voyage
I dread taking you to the airport as much as I look forward to it. I'll miss you so much, but hey a free stay in China is too good to pass up. What an adventure for my son with wander lust. We'll send plenty of care packages.

[Dad]

smiles from Arizona
Your blog entry for your latest adventure brought a proud Dad's smile to my face Tye. Hope the first few hours of your time there have been less than chaotic and that you can quickly get your living arrangements and class schedule in order. Thank you so much for a special summer, especially all the time you spent with Hannah. Enjoy everything and write as often as you can.