Ah page one. One thing I love about my journal or my
computer or most notepads is that I can always count on there being an empty
page. It is my canvas. Although I can’t fit 1000 words on one page, I can
certainly paint a picture with 1000 words. Writers are always depicted as
staring at their blank page in horror, stuck with writers block and no ideas.
But whenever I see a blank page, I see an opportunity to make something great,
something that no one has ever created before, something new. And to me, new
has always meant exciting. But exciting does not always mean good.
 |
I didn't take this beautiful picture, but I did stand in this
exact spot and take a similar picture in the rain. |
I have been in China for 10 days now, although it seems
like, no, it has seemed like 10 days. I arrived early on a Friday morning in
yet another brand new city. I had my two bags and 50 yuan, which is about
$8. I had very vague directions on how to get to the Shanghai Zoo via subway.
But most importantly, I had my adventurous spirit—something that has shaped my
way of thinking in more than one way during this oversees adventure to inspiring
Asia.
After I exchanged my Cambodian Riel for the yuans, I headed
in the direction of nowhere, looking for this subway. I found it, bought my
little ticket, and tried to find something resembling a map that could tell me
where this zoo was. Now, China is different from other southeastern Asian
countries in that no one here really needs to speak English, so not many of
them do. Like in the United States, we don’t rely on our knowledge of other
languages to help us speak to tourists because tourists rely on their knowledge
of English to speak to us. (It’s ok, I would have had to reread that sentence
too.) So it kind of is in China, well at least in Shanghai, that people don’t
speak English because there isn’t a raging tourist business. This is not helpful
for the English speaking foreigner, but I’ve braved other foreign cities and
I’ve done just fine. The details are very boring, but I made it to the zoo
without having to go backwards at all! I did have to get off a couple times to
make sure I was going the right way, but I was proud that I had made it
essentially across the entire city of Shanghai on my own. I wish I could have
seen it, but I was underground the whole time.
So, mission accomplished, I made
it to the zoo! Not really though, because I had to contact my contact in
Shanghai, and to do that I needed that thing that makes our worlds go ‘round,
wifi! That is not an easy thing to find for free in Shanghai, so I literally
wondered around the zoo area with my bags in one hand and my phone in the other,
desperately looking for wifi so I could message this woman, named Jane. I
enjoyed walking though, first, because the weather was so nice! It was cloudy
but not raining, and there was a light breeze so I was almost a bit chilly.
Another thing I immediately noticed was how clean the streets were! Of course,
compared to the US, the streets are dirty, but compared to Thailand and
Cambodia, it spotless. I really enjoyed that unnecessarily long walk.
Suddenly, I found something very
settling and familiar: FamilyMart. It just felt good to see one of those again
after leaving Thailand. And believe it or not, that’s where I found my wifi. So
I called Jane on this app she told me to get that apparently everyone in China
uses. I tried to explain where I was and she told me to meet her back at the
zoo. So bags in hand, I headed for the zoo when oddly enough, I heard my name.
Very confused, I turned around and saw a woman standing at the bank I had just
passes wearing a black and white polka dot blouse with jeans and a green vest
and sunglasses. Even after seeing this person, I was utterly confused because I
had never seen her before and she knew who I was. So I started quickly
searching my mind to see if I knew of anyone who would be in Shanghai…nothing.
Finally she took her sunglasses off and it was, in fact, Jane. Relieved, I gave
her a hug and told her how happy I was to see her after having wondered the
streets of Shanghai for a good two hours. We had already been introduced on
skype, so we dispensed with the pleasantries and got right to business: lunch
and the hotel.
We walked about a block and we
arrived at the hotel. Jane said it was the only hotel with a license to accept
foreign guests and she used the word “special” to describe this establishment’s
decorations. We went inside and did the usual passport exchange with the front
desk and walked to the room. Her description was indeed accurate. And the words
I would use to describe it wouldn’t truly do it any justice, but I will say
there was a mirror over the bed and the silhouette of a girl dancing on a pole on
the wall. After getting everything settled, we headed out for lunch. Jane asked
me what I wanted to eat and I just blurted out McDonalds. I don’t even think I
knew what I was saying. Immediately I corrected myself and asked what kinds of
restaurants were around. We ended up going to a noodle place and I got some
fried noodles with pork. I was so hungry though I think I would have eaten
anything. It was either delicious because I was starving, or because it was
actually delicious. I think that’s the only time in my adult life I ate so
sloppily I got food all over my shirt. Jane had to leave before I finished for
a meeting, so partly embarrassed by my shirt, and partly from exhaustion, I
trekked back to the hotel for a long post travel nap. (I would just like to
point out that ‘nap’ is the 999th word in this post, so I almost
painted the picture of day 1 in 1000 words, and it did take longer than one
Microsoft Word page.)
I woke from my very peaceful nap
in the high class brothel with mirrors over my bed at around 4pm. Rested and
happy, I prepared for my evening with Jane. We were going out to dinner and
then she was taking me to her favorite bar run by a Californian. We ate at what
looked like a really nice restaurant to me, and we ordered a bunch of food and
just picked what we liked. I like that style of ordering at a restaurant, but
if there’s a lot of people, it becomes crowded and messy. My favorite was the
fried pork dumplings dipped in vinegar. I thought it sounded strange too, but
it was the perfect complement to the moist, but slightly crunchy dumplings.
SIDEBAR: When I was in Cambodia,
I got my Netflix working and I solely watched cooking shows. One thing I picked
up from one of them was the challenge to describe food without using words like
delicious, yummy, amazing, fantastic, and other words like that. Top chefs from
around the world told me through Netflix that those words do not describe the
taste of food and should not be used! So I challenge you to describe foods you
eat without using those words. It’s a lot harder than you think sometimes!
Anyway, back to the story. We
finished dinner and headed to “The 60’s Bar.” I really wanted a dirty vodka
martini, but they had no idea what that was so I just got a margarita. And
here’s a picture of me taking a sip and looking like it tastes very strange.
Photo cred to Jane. And then I went back to the fancy hotel for some more
sleep. The next morning Jane and I got breakfast and headed to the train
station, which is conveniently located next to the airport, and looks almost
exactly like an airport. It was also even more crowded than an airport. So we
waited in line and got my ticket and some free water and said our goodbyes. I
feel like people are always leaving me places with little direction. But it’s
ok because it’s always an adventure.
So I waited for my train with all
my luggage, a little confused as to why I hadn’t checked it anywhere, but I
found out later that’s not necessary because the train is lightning fast! I
think the fastest we were going was 150mph. It showed the speed on a ticker at
the front of the car, but it was in kph so I had to convert it. What would have
taken a two hour drive took us 30 minutes to the small town outside of Hangzhou
called (I can’t remember the name). When I got off the train and walked out of
the station, Jonathan and Joanna were standing there holding a sign with my
name on it. Jonathan ran up and hugged me and I knew immediately that this was
going to work out.
We went back to the car and drove
to Joanna’s brother-in-law’s house in a smallish town 30 minutes outside the
city. The house looked regular, but the inside was spectacular! Huge glass
chandeliers hanging from the tiered ceilings, exquisite marble floors, and…a
piano! I was so happy I could have cried. I had told Joanna before that I
played piano, but that I hadn’t even seen one in 7 months. I sat down on the
velvet bench and my fingers just went. All the songs I had ever learned, and
some that I even forgot, came back to me and it was like I had never stopped playing.
That may have been that happiest I’d been in a long, long time. I don’t even
remember anything else that happened that day.
That’s a lie because I actually
do remember dinner. I was told earlier that day that we’d be eating outside,
and I thought, great! It’s such a nice day outside; that will be nice! But they
meant we would be eating OUT. We went to a very fancy restaurant that was like
an old hotel that had been converted into a restaurant. You booked a room that
had a big table and then in the “lobby” we looked at samples of all the dishes
and marked which ones we wanted. In China, it’s traditional to order a bunch of
food and share it all. That way I got to try a little bit of everything! Some
things were very good and others were not. I’ve gotten pretty used to sitting
with a bunch of people that are not conversing in English. I’ve also gotten
pretty good at knowing when they’re talking about me. Which means I also had to
get good at being ok with the fact that people are talking about me right in
front of me, and not in English. It’s uncomfortable at first, but you start to
not care after a while. It’s a great lesson in self-esteem!
After dinner, we drove back to
the house where I’d be staying. It was magnificent. The epitome of a modern
mansion plus the elegance of the traditional chandeliers and marble floors made
it feel modern, but homey. I was then introduced to Ayi, the maid. Ayi is
Chinese for either maid, aunt, or what you would call a strange old woman. So
she’s a maid called maid. All the cool people in China have an Ayi. My family
had this Ayi for the last two months. And at that moment we met, I had no
opinion of her, but that changed as the weeks went by. I could probably write a
whole book on how to deal with your Ayi after all the encounters and situations
I had been in with her even in the first ten days. Anyways, I was shown to my
room that had a nice big closet and a floor to ceiling window that covered a
whole wall! I love those! I settled in a little and went downstairs to talk to
Joanna and Jonathan for a bit before we went to bed.
The next week was smooth and
easy. Matthew, the youngest, was still at the grandparents’ house and Jonathan
and Joanna were spending the week at their apartment in the city. So it was
just good quality time in the giant house with Ayi. My opinion of her still
changes daily. It’s an emotional roller coaster. But the thing that kept me
sane was my open mind. This is by far the most important thing to equip
yourself with when visiting another country, whether it’s drab and disgusting
or mighty and magnificent, you must
have an open mind, because things are always different when you’re not at home.
Thankfully, my new family also
had this open mind, and tried to accommodate as much of my own culture and daily
life as I transitioned into this new environment. For example, Chinese people
do not traditionally have drinks during meals, because there’s almost always
soup. But as an American, I gotta have my cold drink during my meals. In my
American and family culture, I grew up drinking cold milk with breakfast, water
or sweat tea for lunch, and one of either of those for dinner! So the options
of hot water or nothing didn’t really appeal to me. But my open mind told me to
play along and just drink the hot water. Even though the only reason I would
have drunken hot water in America would be nothing. I just thought, “Hey, I’m
in a different country, in someone else’s house eating at their table, so the
polite thing to do is just go with it!” I mean, if someone visiting from China
in the US asked me for some chop sticks when we sat down for dinner, I would be
a little confused. Especially if we were eating something as American as
grilled chicken and mashed potatoes! So it’s always important to remember that
you’re in a FIREIGN place, and they do FOREIGN things. Plus, who knows? You
might enjoy potatoes cut in the shape of fries, but boiled instead of fried,
and sloppily eating them with chop sticks!
The great thing about time is
that you get very used to all the things you’ve been doing differently.
Sometimes so much so, that it takes you a second to remember how you used to do
things. But that’s all part of settling in, and it’s nice to normalize some of
the non-normal habits I’ve picked up since I got here. So household habits,
check! Language is still on the to-do list. I have two Chinese classes per
week. On Tuesday I have grammar and structure, and Friday I have speaking. I’ve
always been told that English is the hardest language to learn—then I started
learning Chinese. English may have more rules and exceptions, but Chinese is
much more complicated. The hardest thing for me is remembering how to position
my tongue in my mouth to make the correct pronunciation, because many of the
sounds are very similar. I’ve taken English, French, and Spanish, but Chinese
is, by far, the most difficult. But I have a whole year to learn, so who knows
how proficient I’ll be at it after a few months. Again, I have to remember to
have an open mind.
So far, these ten days have been
great, and I’ve enjoyed myself immensely. I’ve already learned more than I
thought I would have in ten days. And I already feel like I’m part of this new
family and I’m excited to see where this adventure takes all of us! And
although it pains me to do so, this paragraph will only have four sentences.
Now five. Now it’s a real paragraph! Sorry about that, but it’s against English
writing to have a paragraph with less than five sentences.
