Christina in China

Yup, that’s right. No guilt about not blogging. I do, however, have some guilt about not emailing/writing more often. Maybe there will be letters written during my time in Yibin. Does this mean that I’m depraved and past the point of conviction? Maybe. Hugh said the other day that he had two months left in China, which means that I have about three.

I’ve been proctoring exams with Mrs. Lai, who’s taken every opportunity to teach me Chinese, asking me to describe students’ pencil cases, telling me about the college entrance exams here (which are big-time, that’s another post). As we walk back, I carry the umbrella to keep our faces from getting tanned (ah, China), and she links her arm with mine. I feel a sense of importance, walking with Lai Laoshi, who is a venerated presence around here. But the reason I admire her is because she treats everyone with this same sense of importance.

Amidst all this, the travel plans have been formed for my May holiday (a 7 1/2 day vacation we have). I’m going to the Bamboo Sea in Yibin, now not only with Joan but also with a girl named Alisa, who I barely know and who’s been calling me every day wanting to tell me new details about travel arrangements. She seems very nervous. The other day, Petrel found me and said that she wants to come, too, that she has enough money. At first I was taken aback, but then I thought this was a good idea. Petrel is usually anything but nervous with me and is this gloriously rare source of randomness. (“Do heaven and hell have ice?” she asked me yesterday during Sleepless in Seattle. “I don’t know,” I told her. “Probably not.”) But Petrel says she’s afraid of calling these girls and had been putting it off because she thinks they’ll say no. Meanwhile, I’m getting nagged by Yibin students about buying tickets.

The weather’s officially short-sleeved weather, with blue skies most every day. I shaved my legs and am wearing a skirt. It makes me feel pretty and feminine, even though I’m constantly being told to fold it up so that it won’t drag on the ground (by my auntie).

I just read an article on Yahoo news about how gas is now up to $2.93 in most cities in the U.S. (average price). Um, is it possible to express how much I don’t want to deal with the hassle of a car again? I swear, I’m buying a bike and taking buses or something when I get back. I hate the fact that I’m going to be chained to an expensive machine that always breaks and costs lots of money to maintain and keep up, etc. Not to mention stinking $3 for gas. I should be grateful. My students all dream of having cars, but I just don’t like it, except for convenience. “The car is an isolating capsule,” I read the other day in an article that I agree with.

I’ve decided that in a year, I am no expert on China. I don’t pretend to be, just like I’m not an expert on anything. But when I get home, I have to tell people something. I have to write something. So I am going to write stories, stories about the people here, about my impressions of them. Hopefully to be accompanied by pictures. That’s all I can pretend to know, I think, even a part of.

Tags: China, Jiangyou, Travel

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 29th, 2006 at 2:20 am and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.