I was too depressed/tired to write about Day 2 yesterday, but since I promised that I would chronicle my entire journey, here it goes.
Yesterday, my cousin Joanna (the English-speaking one) took me out with her group of friends. Actually, she didn't know everyone there - just about four or five of them - but basically it was a group of people who have all studied English and/or traveled abroad to English-speaking countries. I had agreed to go only because I expected to finally find company in a few English-speaking Chinese people.
Joanna picked me up around eleven in the morning and took me to her boyfriend Steve's home for lunch. Steve had studied four years in New Zealand so he could also speak English (though he's more reluctant to do so). I met Steve's mom and both his grandmothers. It was a very uncomfortable experience. I had never gone to someone's place who was not somehow related to me in China. What's more is that Steve's mom and grandmothers don't speak Mandarin very well - they speak mostly in Cantonese - so there was a more defined language barrier than what I was used to. Steve's mom spoke a little Mandarin, but she also kept looking at me strangely, as if she was not too happy to see a Chinese person who seemed so out-of-touch with the Chinese culture. That was the vibe I got from her, at least, since she kept asking me why I didn't eat this or why I couldn't read Chinese.
Backing up a bit. Steve's mom cooked a lot of food for all of us. I felt awkward sitting on the couch with his grandmothers while they talked about me and while everyone else was setting the table. This continued at the dinner table as everyone talked in Cantonese while I continued eating in silence. Steve's family was obviously asking about life in America, but I was miffed to see that Joanna took the liberty to answer for me without bothering to translate. It wasn't a big deal, and I'm certainly used to people answering for me, but I would've liked to the opportunity to clarify some things and/or clear up any misconceptions. Looking back on that, I realize I should've spoken up and asked Joanna what they were talking about. At least then I would've shown some interest in the conversation.
The food Steve's mom cooked was good. The flavor was similar to what my mom and dad cook back home. However, I had a bit of trouble eating as much as Steve's mom wanted me to. I think she thought I didn't like her cooking, even though I assured her again and again that I really liked the food and was just used to eating smaller portions. To make her feel better, I picked one dish - potato leaves - and kept spooning it into my bowl. It seemed to work because she smiled at me, but she also poured the entire dish into my bowl at the end. There was a dish of steamed potatoes that they pushed at me, but I politely declined it (I don't eat potatoes because of the starch content). I was amused to find that everyone at the table thought I didn't eat potatoes because I ate too many potatoes at home xD I didn't know America was known for their potatoes, but there you have it.
After eating, Joanna, Steve, and I piled into Steve's car, and we drove down to a parking lot where the rest of the group was waiting for us. There were about five or six cars total, each with about five people. Steve seemed to know a lot of them, but Joanna, who wasn't feeling too good, was more aloof. She introduced me to the few people she did know, and they seemed amused to see me tagging along. We drove for forty-five minutes to Maofeng Mountain on a very windy road. Steve's driving came me a headache, especially since I sat in the back, but the scenery was so beautiful, I couldn't help staring out the window. We drove up in our caravan to the furthest point you can reach by car and found out there that to reach the peak, you had to climb about a half-hour. Mind you, it was really hot and humid, so all of us decided to just wander around the area. Joanna's side was really hurting her, so we just took a short walk and sat by this small pond. I thoroughly enjoyed just taking in the scenery, especially when a cool breeze began to blow. I chatted with a couple of them about life in the U.S. They were very interested in knowing about the weather in Houston and California and about my studies. I secretly take a lot of pleasure in scaring them by telling them about how long medical school is.
Unfortunately, most of the people in the group decided to play poker. Since it was impossible to play poker with the wind, everyone moved under this makeshift tent. I sat down with them for about five minutes or so before I had to move. The mosquitoes were vicious; right now, I have about eight mosquito bites on my legs alone. I played a bit of monkey-in-the-middle with two of Joanna's friends and Steve and enjoyed that as well. Joanna then had to go back to the car to get her shoes, so Steve took her back to the car. I sat down in the grass and played my iPod while watching everyone else play hacky-sack.
It was then that I felt this wave of depression. I'm not usually a sad person, and I was really having a good time up until then, so the tears were very sudden and unexpected. But when "Lullaby for a Stormy Night" by Vienna Teng came on, combined with the laughter coming from that group of friends playing hacky-sack, I was suddenly reminded of how much I missed my own friends and my own family. The stress of feeling like a stranger for an entire afternoon got to me too. I lowered my head so others wouldn't see the tears in my eyes and pretended to be resting. I didn't cry, but my eyes were quite wet and shiny. And I was very careful to not close my eyes so the tears wouldn't actually come out. But unfortunately, I think one or two people noticed. One girl sat down next to me and told me she didn't know anyone here either. It gave me great comfort, and we talked for a while.
Soon everyone was gathering their things to head down the mountain for dinner. We piled into our cars again. Halfway down the mountain, we ate at a place on the side of the road. I'm not a germaphobe, but I'm not used to eating in restaurants that aren't clean. I have a great deal of trouble eating on park benches and picnic tables (really crazy, I know). So when we pulled up to that place, I suddenly lost my appetite.
Our car was the last to pull up in the parking lot, so when we got there, the entire group had already split themselves into three tables. Each table had only one or two seats available, and everyone had already settled into their separate groups. I felt incredibly awkward when Steve loudly asked to have three seats open at a table for the three of us to sit at. There it was again - the feeling of being a stranger and being an inconvenience. It took about two minutes to reorganize the seating arrangement to accomodate us, but to me it felt like forever. We finally took our seats and had dinner. Unsurprisingly, I ate even less than I usually do and finished a good deal earlier than everyone else. Because I didn't want anyone to feel obliged to speak to me as I sat there watching everyone else eat, I just pulled out my headphones and pretended to listen to music.
When everyone finished, Joanna asked me if I wanted to go with them to a karaoke bar afterwards. I couldn't take being a tag-along anymore, so I politely declined and asked them if they could drop me off at Guma #3's house on the way. Joanna insisted that I come with them and just relax and have fun, so I told her that I had to get home soon because it would be Saturday morning in Houston and my parents were definitely going to call (I had told them via email that I would be going out with Joanna today so they were going to ask me about the trip).
On the way back home, I cried a little in the back seat. I was upset by how pitiful I was, and by then, I missed my family terribly. I was thankful that the darkness made it hard for Joanna and Steve to see my tears in the mirror when they checked on me.
Steve dropped me off at Guma #3's building, and Joanna insisted that she take me up. Yet again, that feeling of being an inconvenience. By then, I was feeling horrible, so I decided to take a very long, hot shower. Around ten o'clock, my dad called. Guma #3 handed me the phone and went off to do something in the kitchen. My dad asked me how my day had gone, and I felt the tears coming again. However, I took big breaths between sentences and was able to control myself. Then he put my mom, whom I haven't spoken to verbally since the morning I left, on the phone. And I lost it baaaaad.
I was crying so hard as I told her that I didn't have a good time today (though I couldn't tell her why at the moment) and I told her I didn't think I could stay here all 80 days. I'm so grateful that she didn't point out how unreasonable I was. Instead, she said that once I have work to do that would take my mind off of home, I wouldn't have such a horrible time (which is true). She also said that my relatives here were so happy to see me and that they were being so nice to me (also true). My conversation with my mom made me feel a lot better, even though I still continued to cry for a while after handing the phone to my Guma. I went to the bathroom to clean up (and sob a little longer) but came out generally calm.
Guma #3 was very concerned since I never showed one hint of homesickness until now (this impresses even me). She didn't make me feel any better, though, since she kept saying how she would be just like my mom here.
So I went to bed generally feeling a hell of a lot worse than normal. I've always tried not to go to bed unhappy, but crying always makes me sleepy, and the day had been way too long. I was almost impatient to close my eyes and wake up to a new day.
Showing posts with label china. Show all posts
Showing posts with label china. Show all posts
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Friday, May 23, 2008
Day 1 - Arrival
So after surfing the Net for an hour, I finally found out that Blogspot, not Blogger, is blocked in China. Didn't know there was a difference...
Edit: Found the difference. Apparently, I am unable to actually see this post after I've posted it since my blog is at blogspot...Wow.
Anyway, it's been a little over a day since I first touched down in China. I landed yesterday at 10:12 PM here. The flight was terrible. I woke up around 6:20 AM CST, along with the rest of my family on Wednesday. My mom had to leave to drop my brother off at school at 6:50. I was very proud of myself in that I only teared up. I hung out with my dad for about half an hour before we left for the airport. I got a beautiful text message from my Canadian twin that, unfortunately, did make me tear up, despite her promise that it wouldn't :P
At the airport, I was able to hold it in very well...until we got to the point where non-ticket-holders could not go further. I started crying like a baby. I'm surprised they were able to match my face with my passport picture. I stumbled through security (I had two hidden laptops in my carry-on that I should've but forgot to put on the conveyer belt). I waved a quick good-bye to my dad and headed off to my gate. I didn't break down as much as I thought I would, so I treated myself to a vente frappucchino at Starbucks. Bad idea. If you're a nervous flyer, never have caffeine right before you board, especially if the flight's super long.
From Houston to Minneapolis, I listened to the same song ("Bleeding Love" - Leona Lewis version) over and over again for the duration of the two-and-a-half-hour flight. I was supposed to have an hour rest before boarding my next plane to Tokyo, but my boarding gate was on the other side of the international airport, so it took me about forty minutes just to get there. When I turned on my cell phone, I sent the thank-you text message I wasn't able to coherently make earlier. My flight to Tokyo was eleven hours and fourteen minutes long. Utter torture. I would drift off into sleep and wake up, expecting two hours to have passed and cursing when I realized only twenty minutes have passed -_- What's worse is I sat next to this Japanese teenager who gave off Unabomber vibes - he didn't speak a word throughout the entire trip, even when the Japanese flight attendant asked him what he wanted to eat for his meal. Instead, he just gave creepy smiles and pointed.
When I got off at Tokyo, I felt like crap. I could hardly move. The only thing that pushed me through customs and to my next gate was the fact that there would be seats there for me to lie on (just my luck, there were no seats for me to lie on when I got there). I was also upset to learn that despite T-mobile's promise that you can text from any country, I could not get signal in Japan.
I told the flight attendant that I didn't feel too well and wanted to lie down on an empty row of seats. She and the other flight attendants arranged for me to have an empty row to myself. Unfortunately, the row they gave me was the exit row with seats whose armrests don't lift up -___- So I had to lie in a very uncomfortable and awkward position from Tokyo to Guangzhou, which was about five hours of air-time. However, this time I managed to fall asleep for about four hours, so I felt quite awake when we finally landed.
I waited with the rest of the passengers for our luggage for about half an hour. When I finally got my stuff, I realized that everything inside was either frosted, frozen, wet, or cold. Oi. So I lugged both of my suitcases toward the exit where a huge group of people were waving at me. And despite spending the last thirty hours in an airport/airplane, I felt quite warm inside. They had all taken two cars over to pick me and my two measly suitcases up, so only one car ended up going with me to my aunt's house. They kept asking me if I wanted to eat something, drink something, wear something because it's so darn cold. Despite being a little bit chilly and despite having not eaten in the lasty thirty hours, I told them I was all right. Heck, all I wanted to do was to get in a bed.
So around midnight, I finally crawled into my bed, the first of eighty nights I'll be staying in China.
The next day, I ended up waking up at six in the morning. I don't know why I woke up so early, but I began to unpack my belongings and clean up. Around seven, my aunt, whom I call Guma #3 (she's the third-youngest of my dad's older sisters. Weird, I know, but that's how they differentiate relatives) woke up too, and decided to take me to a place to have breakfast with another aunt and uncle (Guma #2 and Guzhang #2). It was a huge breakfast (in English, you call it dimsum and usually have it for lunch, but in China, you have it for breakfast), and it was only 10 yuan (which is less than 1.50 USD). The hostess gave me a weird look when I asked for ice water since no one in China drinks ice water at a meal, certainly not at breakfast.
After we ate, Guma #3 took me to Beijing Street which is solely for shopping. I got about 60 USD worth of stuff. It's more than I've ever spent on a shopping trip, but I got SO much. About eight shirts and two pants and a pair of silver earrings. After just two hours (it was about eleven-thirty when we finished), we went to Guma and Guzhang #2's apartment since they wanted to take us out to lunch. I hung around my cousin Joanna's room while she prepared for lunch. I'm grateful I have her around; she speaks a lot of English so she can help me keep my sanity as well as serve as a translator xD The four of us went out to a restaurant nearby where we met Joanna's boyfriend (he was one of the people in the group that picked me last night). The meal was quite excellent, except at one point, I almost threw up. My relatives had ordered this worm soup that is supposedly really sweet and nutritious. I can handle watching heart surgery or hip replacements, but I CANNOT watch someone slurp down a giant white worm.
After a huge lunch, we were supposed to go back to a shopping center nearby. However, I just couldn't move after eating all that food, so Guma #3 and I decided to go back to our apartment where we rested a bit and I hung out on the Internet. At around 4:00 PM or so, my cousin-in-law (Saozi #2) and my cousin (...I don't know what to call him; thus far I've been successful in avoiding calling him by anything) came by with their son to take us out to - guess what - eat.
We got to the restaurant and met up with my other male cousin and Saozi #1 and my niece Kelly. We ate yet another hearty meal. Everyone kept pushing me to order something I liked off the menu, forgetting that I can't read a darn word. So I pointed to the pretty pictures that looked good and went with that. Luckily, everyone liked the dishes I picked out (even if I didn't). So after dinner, Kelly helped me waddle down two or three blocks to the second largest shopping mall in China where she took me ice-skating. I ice-skated for about an hour before I had to sit down - the food was weighing me down, and the sides of my skates were cutting into my skin. She decided to skate for about an hour more, so I left with Guma #3 to go back home.
My mom sent me an email telling me that she had been calling me all day but could never get to either me or Guma #3. As soon as I had replied, detailing everything I had done today (and signing it with "I'm a little homesick"), my dad calls. He asked if I'm okay, and I did start crying a little bit when I was talking to him. So after a very brief conversation, I gave it back to Guma#3. When I got back to the computer, I found that my mom had replied with a very loving but short note that made the tears really start coming.
Tomorrow will be an exciting day. Joanna's taking me along on an outing with her friends. All of her friends are English-speakers. Some have even stayed in the U.S. and other English-speaking countries for a prolonged period of time. We're all going up to this mountain about forty-five minutes away. I'm sure it will be an interesting trip.
Today, I learned a lot about the Chinese culture:
1. Chinese people like to eat. Joanna told me it's Chinese custom to eat a big breakfast, a big lunch, and a small dinner and that it's Western custom to eat a small breakfast, a small lunch, and a big dinner. I think Chinese custom is actually to eat a big everything. If you can walk after you just finished eating, you didn't eat enough.
2. Chinese people are frighteningly skinny. Nowadays you see a lot of criticism toward the Hilton sisters or the Olsen twins (I forget which one) for having thin legs. I now can see why my relatives think I'm a bit on the chubby side (even though I wear the smallest size available even in China).
3. Chinese people drive madly and don't like looking both ways before crossing a street. I don't know how many times I almost screamed when it looked like a pedestrian was about to get run over. Traffic here is worse than that in New York City around Times Square. Here, cars will high-beam pedestrians if they walk too slow and will only stop at the VERY last possible moment. Drivers will maneuver in ways you didn't think was possible. Taxi drivers cut everyone else off, even other taxi drivers. The lines on the street are strictly for decoration only. Pedestrians are encouraged to jay-walk; in fact, it's almost impossible to get to the other side of the street unless you run right in front of an oncoming car (though you have to keep in mind that traffic goes both ways). I honestly don't know if these drivers are considered really really good or really really bad.
4. People will suffocate their guests - lovingly. Everyone has asked me if I want to have breakfast/lunch/dinner with them tomorrow, if I'm getting used to the city, if I want to go to their house, if I want to go out with them tomorrow, if I want some water/food/money, if I want to use the bathroom, and/or if I am tired. I know they mean well, but at the end of the day, I'd really like them to stop.
5. In their minds you will always be a five-year-old. My aunt holds my hand when I go to the restroom and even asks me if I would like her to help me. She's gotten me these cute PJs that have a huge duck on the front. She has also shoveled dish after dish of food onto my plate. And everyone looks astonished when I tell them, yes, I am eighteen.
With these lessons in mind, I'm going off to bed :)
Edit: Found the difference. Apparently, I am unable to actually see this post after I've posted it since my blog is at blogspot...Wow.
Anyway, it's been a little over a day since I first touched down in China. I landed yesterday at 10:12 PM here. The flight was terrible. I woke up around 6:20 AM CST, along with the rest of my family on Wednesday. My mom had to leave to drop my brother off at school at 6:50. I was very proud of myself in that I only teared up. I hung out with my dad for about half an hour before we left for the airport. I got a beautiful text message from my Canadian twin that, unfortunately, did make me tear up, despite her promise that it wouldn't :P
At the airport, I was able to hold it in very well...until we got to the point where non-ticket-holders could not go further. I started crying like a baby. I'm surprised they were able to match my face with my passport picture. I stumbled through security (I had two hidden laptops in my carry-on that I should've but forgot to put on the conveyer belt). I waved a quick good-bye to my dad and headed off to my gate. I didn't break down as much as I thought I would, so I treated myself to a vente frappucchino at Starbucks. Bad idea. If you're a nervous flyer, never have caffeine right before you board, especially if the flight's super long.
From Houston to Minneapolis, I listened to the same song ("Bleeding Love" - Leona Lewis version) over and over again for the duration of the two-and-a-half-hour flight. I was supposed to have an hour rest before boarding my next plane to Tokyo, but my boarding gate was on the other side of the international airport, so it took me about forty minutes just to get there. When I turned on my cell phone, I sent the thank-you text message I wasn't able to coherently make earlier. My flight to Tokyo was eleven hours and fourteen minutes long. Utter torture. I would drift off into sleep and wake up, expecting two hours to have passed and cursing when I realized only twenty minutes have passed -_- What's worse is I sat next to this Japanese teenager who gave off Unabomber vibes - he didn't speak a word throughout the entire trip, even when the Japanese flight attendant asked him what he wanted to eat for his meal. Instead, he just gave creepy smiles and pointed.
When I got off at Tokyo, I felt like crap. I could hardly move. The only thing that pushed me through customs and to my next gate was the fact that there would be seats there for me to lie on (just my luck, there were no seats for me to lie on when I got there). I was also upset to learn that despite T-mobile's promise that you can text from any country, I could not get signal in Japan.
I told the flight attendant that I didn't feel too well and wanted to lie down on an empty row of seats. She and the other flight attendants arranged for me to have an empty row to myself. Unfortunately, the row they gave me was the exit row with seats whose armrests don't lift up -___- So I had to lie in a very uncomfortable and awkward position from Tokyo to Guangzhou, which was about five hours of air-time. However, this time I managed to fall asleep for about four hours, so I felt quite awake when we finally landed.
I waited with the rest of the passengers for our luggage for about half an hour. When I finally got my stuff, I realized that everything inside was either frosted, frozen, wet, or cold. Oi. So I lugged both of my suitcases toward the exit where a huge group of people were waving at me. And despite spending the last thirty hours in an airport/airplane, I felt quite warm inside. They had all taken two cars over to pick me and my two measly suitcases up, so only one car ended up going with me to my aunt's house. They kept asking me if I wanted to eat something, drink something, wear something because it's so darn cold. Despite being a little bit chilly and despite having not eaten in the lasty thirty hours, I told them I was all right. Heck, all I wanted to do was to get in a bed.
So around midnight, I finally crawled into my bed, the first of eighty nights I'll be staying in China.
The next day, I ended up waking up at six in the morning. I don't know why I woke up so early, but I began to unpack my belongings and clean up. Around seven, my aunt, whom I call Guma #3 (she's the third-youngest of my dad's older sisters. Weird, I know, but that's how they differentiate relatives) woke up too, and decided to take me to a place to have breakfast with another aunt and uncle (Guma #2 and Guzhang #2). It was a huge breakfast (in English, you call it dimsum and usually have it for lunch, but in China, you have it for breakfast), and it was only 10 yuan (which is less than 1.50 USD). The hostess gave me a weird look when I asked for ice water since no one in China drinks ice water at a meal, certainly not at breakfast.
After we ate, Guma #3 took me to Beijing Street which is solely for shopping. I got about 60 USD worth of stuff. It's more than I've ever spent on a shopping trip, but I got SO much. About eight shirts and two pants and a pair of silver earrings. After just two hours (it was about eleven-thirty when we finished), we went to Guma and Guzhang #2's apartment since they wanted to take us out to lunch. I hung around my cousin Joanna's room while she prepared for lunch. I'm grateful I have her around; she speaks a lot of English so she can help me keep my sanity as well as serve as a translator xD The four of us went out to a restaurant nearby where we met Joanna's boyfriend (he was one of the people in the group that picked me last night). The meal was quite excellent, except at one point, I almost threw up. My relatives had ordered this worm soup that is supposedly really sweet and nutritious. I can handle watching heart surgery or hip replacements, but I CANNOT watch someone slurp down a giant white worm.
After a huge lunch, we were supposed to go back to a shopping center nearby. However, I just couldn't move after eating all that food, so Guma #3 and I decided to go back to our apartment where we rested a bit and I hung out on the Internet. At around 4:00 PM or so, my cousin-in-law (Saozi #2) and my cousin (...I don't know what to call him; thus far I've been successful in avoiding calling him by anything) came by with their son to take us out to - guess what - eat.
We got to the restaurant and met up with my other male cousin and Saozi #1 and my niece Kelly. We ate yet another hearty meal. Everyone kept pushing me to order something I liked off the menu, forgetting that I can't read a darn word. So I pointed to the pretty pictures that looked good and went with that. Luckily, everyone liked the dishes I picked out (even if I didn't). So after dinner, Kelly helped me waddle down two or three blocks to the second largest shopping mall in China where she took me ice-skating. I ice-skated for about an hour before I had to sit down - the food was weighing me down, and the sides of my skates were cutting into my skin. She decided to skate for about an hour more, so I left with Guma #3 to go back home.
My mom sent me an email telling me that she had been calling me all day but could never get to either me or Guma #3. As soon as I had replied, detailing everything I had done today (and signing it with "I'm a little homesick"), my dad calls. He asked if I'm okay, and I did start crying a little bit when I was talking to him. So after a very brief conversation, I gave it back to Guma#3. When I got back to the computer, I found that my mom had replied with a very loving but short note that made the tears really start coming.
Tomorrow will be an exciting day. Joanna's taking me along on an outing with her friends. All of her friends are English-speakers. Some have even stayed in the U.S. and other English-speaking countries for a prolonged period of time. We're all going up to this mountain about forty-five minutes away. I'm sure it will be an interesting trip.
Today, I learned a lot about the Chinese culture:
1. Chinese people like to eat. Joanna told me it's Chinese custom to eat a big breakfast, a big lunch, and a small dinner and that it's Western custom to eat a small breakfast, a small lunch, and a big dinner. I think Chinese custom is actually to eat a big everything. If you can walk after you just finished eating, you didn't eat enough.
2. Chinese people are frighteningly skinny. Nowadays you see a lot of criticism toward the Hilton sisters or the Olsen twins (I forget which one) for having thin legs. I now can see why my relatives think I'm a bit on the chubby side (even though I wear the smallest size available even in China).
3. Chinese people drive madly and don't like looking both ways before crossing a street. I don't know how many times I almost screamed when it looked like a pedestrian was about to get run over. Traffic here is worse than that in New York City around Times Square. Here, cars will high-beam pedestrians if they walk too slow and will only stop at the VERY last possible moment. Drivers will maneuver in ways you didn't think was possible. Taxi drivers cut everyone else off, even other taxi drivers. The lines on the street are strictly for decoration only. Pedestrians are encouraged to jay-walk; in fact, it's almost impossible to get to the other side of the street unless you run right in front of an oncoming car (though you have to keep in mind that traffic goes both ways). I honestly don't know if these drivers are considered really really good or really really bad.
4. People will suffocate their guests - lovingly. Everyone has asked me if I want to have breakfast/lunch/dinner with them tomorrow, if I'm getting used to the city, if I want to go to their house, if I want to go out with them tomorrow, if I want some water/food/money, if I want to use the bathroom, and/or if I am tired. I know they mean well, but at the end of the day, I'd really like them to stop.
5. In their minds you will always be a five-year-old. My aunt holds my hand when I go to the restroom and even asks me if I would like her to help me. She's gotten me these cute PJs that have a huge duck on the front. She has also shoveled dish after dish of food onto my plate. And everyone looks astonished when I tell them, yes, I am eighteen.
With these lessons in mind, I'm going off to bed :)
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