Christina in China

Is it sad when you log on the computer, check your email, and ten minutes later are just too exhausted to write anything? Somehow, reading isn’t tiring, but lately writing seems like it takes about as much effort as lifting a car. Granted, it’s easier at Eunice’s house (where I am right now) on her new laptop, not on my computer, where I have to keep moving the mouse to keep it from freezing up.

Today, I stayed in my house. I had an American breakfast (chocolate milk, an orange, and cinnamon-sugar toast), a Chinese lunch (loose leaf green tea, dry spicy tofu, and rice), and an American dinner (scrambled eggs and some fried potatoes with Italian seasoning and Parmesan cheese that Eunice gave me).

Things I miss about the U.S.:
Friends, family, and a certain boyfriend
Long talks and movies with Josh at Parlett House or in Ashland, goofy/serious conversation and coffee with Rachel I. in the writing lab or Walldorf or East or wherever
Feeling a part of church…and having church in my own language, whether Menno Group or Huntington First
Speaking English whenever I want to
Giving hugs–not something that Chinese people do, really
Looking like everyone else and not being stared/laughed at
Not feeling like I’m being cheated whenever I buy anything
Pizza, good Italian pasta, cereal, Mom’s West Virginia cookin’, macaroni and cheese, cookies/brownies/other baked goods, big pieces of grilled chicken, broccoli (surprisingly, I haven’t seen any here at all), cheese (and I don’t even like it that much)
Heated rooms–I’m starting to wear my coat and my long underwear when I teach
A bunch of wonderful CDs that I somehow managed to leave at home and that my mom can’t find (The Normals, Patty Griffin, Nickel Creek, Caedmon’s Call, Norah Jones, Nichole Nordeman, and others–sad)
Having more than one English channel on the TV
Hanging out with people without it being some elaborate cross-cultural communication exercise
Being able to see movies like Harry Potter and the Chronicles of Narnia when they come out (in a theater, not from a bootleg)
Whole grains
Drinking water from the tap
Spending Thanksgiving with family
…and last, but certainly not least…COFFEE. Lately, in a fit of desperation, having six bags of Starbucks ground coffee but no way to make it, Eunice soaked a washcloth in boiling water and then used it as a coffee filter. In another fit of desperation, I googled “Starbucks” and found out that there are not one but TWO Starbucks stores in Chengdu, about 2.5 hours away, where I have a few newly made friends. Can we say weekend trip?

Things I would miss if I wasn’t in China:
My students (well, most of them), their smiles, and their enthusiasm
Chinese food…fried rice, dry-fried green beans, tiger skin peppers (just green peppers fried in soy sauce and vinegar), fried noodles, dumpling soup, spicy noodles, spicy cabbage, turnip soup, tofu and vegetable soup, spinach, pea greens
Green tea, flower tea, and chrysanthemum tea
Sweet potato chips, chewy sweet potato strips, amazing sunflower seeds, little waffle bites (my name for them), little crunchy rice snacks, noodle pitas, slightly sweet popcorn, Chinese bread
Tang yuan, sticky rice flower balls with sweet insides
Eunice’s homemade bread and granola
Eating with chopsticks
Friday night movie nights–hearing the students gasp, ooh, and aahh over the funniest things
Watching students do Tibetan dances on the square
Seeing bamboo and palm trees
Getting to know my coworkers
Getting my hair dry-washed and straightened (only done this once, but I’ve gotta do it again)
The library in my apartment
Public transportation (I actually like this)
Riding on trains
Only having to change clothes a couple times a week
Learning and speaking Chinese when I have the chance
Traveling to cool places
Being a role model and a confidant
Laowai time with Eunice and Hugh and sometimes other CEEers
Feeling like I really do have to have faith, even just to go outside and go shopping or talk to someone
Teaching (though it vacillates, depending on the day)
Feeling a huge thrill whenever I get mail, whether from China or the U.S.
Appreciating simple things more
Listening to people play the erhu or the guzheng (instruments)
Looking forward to new experiences

So yes. The realism has set in, but I enjoy being here, I truly do. It’s becoming less like a thrill ride and more like home. And I like that.

A public service announcement:
If there’s anyone out there still reading this, don’t stop! I know that I’ve been delinquent at posting and that the past couple have been serious, but there’s more crazy junk coming. Right now, I have 10 hours a week (plus homework and character learning) of Chinese study, good conversations to be had in the evening, 12 hours of week of teaching/papers to read/lesson prep during the day, etc., plus trying to hopefully edit some pieces of writing for a writing contest, which may or may not get done. Oh, and trying not to lose all of my friends back in the U.S. because of lack of communication.

But the moral of the story is…hang in there. Soon to come, I have long-overdue entries on the celebrity-esque visit to a middle school, me almost falling off a cliff on a horse, me traveling by myself and making a friend in Chinese, what church is like in Jiangyou, my quasi-Thanksgiving near the Yangtze River, culture shock and things that suck, more about students and friends, karaoke with other teachers in Jiangyou, more pictures, and some amusing Chinglish.

And now off to read homework and study Chinese.