Update (sort of)

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It's funny. I've been in China 5 days. And although I'm still constantly being challenged by simple things such as buying a cell phone and operating a washing machine, already I'm forming routines and developing a lifestyle. I have favorite routes through campus and restaurants I'm already planning to visit again. New friends to make plans with. The track near my dormitory is great for morning runs, and the city streets conducive for evening walks. Somehow amid all the absolute and (previously) inconceivable experiences of the past few days, I'm settling down and living here.

I guess that's the idea--when you have to rush from a late dinner at a restaurant that's literally a shack with a Portugese guy who ditched the meal right after the order because of sudden stomach problems, leaving you to sit alone with and pay for two plates of food, two bowls of rice, a beer and a soy milk, leaving quickly partly out of embarrassment and partly because you're due to meet 8 other Americans to go to a Western-style upscale jazz lounge called "1/2 Dozen Mini," taking a taxi home late but the Chinese guard waves you in anyway, then saying up two more hours to talk comparative international politics with your German history major room mate, still waking up early for that morning run, for 12 laps striding past an old man practicing tai chi, then after showering, trying to figure out from Chinese characters which laundry detergent to buy and finally choosing by price, and then when you come BACK to the dorm ...

When this is what's happening, you really have no choice but to say, 'Okay, this is my life. At least it's exciting and weird.' Perpetually unusual blurs easily into usual life-state.

So, yeah, this isn't really much of an update, because I'm just bringing myself up to date, honestly. I barely realized those things had happened to and been done by me until I wrote them down. My life is becoming a story, something to be told about later but for now, just created.

I'm surrounded by incredible stories. Stories I'll have to wait until later to flesh out, but still, it's a near-perfect existence for me. I mean, come on, in just the past 5 days, I've met:

A 19-year-old small-town Utah boy flying to Shanghai to meet his Chinese girlfriend for the first time and live with her family for the year, learning Mandarin and hoping to make a living through English lessons

An American who studied as an exchange student here for one year, went on a backpacking tour through Mongolia for the summer, came back for another semester, went to learn Uigher for the next summer, and is now the program coordinator for over half the Americans at this university

The singer at a club didn't show, so a one-semester exchange student there that night who could sing took her place for the night. Instead of coming back to America, she is now studying the language here for another year, paying for herself by singing at lounge club for rich Chinese across the country

Three New Yorkers here on direct scholarship from the Chinese government, a reciprocation for their school system housing and educating 150 displaced college students during the 2008 Sichuan earthquake.

A Hungarian named Bruno who speaks Chinese better than I. He went alone in search of the Panda research zoo today, taking with him only a bag of peaches.

The extended family burning their trash together in the alley behind the soccer field, watching it burn as I watched them walking past at 8:30 p.m.

Those are just the stories off the top of my head. Not even that--just the ones I chose to tell. My proficiency test is Wednesday, but rather than concretely decide your class schedule, it's more of a recommendation to what level of Chinese you should probably take. I may not publish another entry for a while. Not unless something unusual happens.

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Comments

[Saili]

You are surrounded by inspiration and life experiences. That can't hurt your writing one little bit! Keep making wise decisions and be safe