As I write this I’m watching TV in my room. I’ll post this tomorrow. Right now a Chinese boy is break dancing, on his head, to rock mixed Celtic music. It’s fabulous.
Chinese people my age are mostly obsessed with pop music, and there are dance competitions on TV every day, lots of male group break dancing and female hip hop dancers.
Tanner told me my blog needs some closure. I don’t really have any grand sweeping conclusions. I learned a lot about myself here. I keep thinking about how easy everything will seem in the U.S. I am convinced I will be more outgoing and braver in the states now, after having been here. I did learn some Chinese, and will be less afraid to speak it in the states when I get a chance. I learned a lot about Chinese culture, and I think it will help me in my studies in international studies at the UW. I liked it here. I didn’t like the loneliness, and spending money to fail classes. I’m going to come home and get good grades, among other accomplishments. I am already thinking about my next trip to China. I hope I can return often. I hope I make more Chinese friends in Seattle, and incorporate Chinese language into my everyday life there as well.
Chinese New Year was on the 6th and 7th. My entire city shut down. It wasn’t much fun for me actually. I’m already missing Chinese food, all my favorites place, and almost all places, have been closed for days. It was pretty special to see at midnight on the 6th the entire city around me explode in fireworks. We had a nice view from our rooftop, almost 360 degrees. There were huge fireworks too! Totally illegal even here. People were shooting them off their balconies, so even though everyone around me lives in condos there were a ton of fireworks. It was fantastic, very moving and fun. There have been families out together, walking to the grocery store, or playing ping pong on campus. It makes me very excited to see my family. Next year I’ll have to teach everyone about Chinese New Year and throw a big dinner.
I have stuck close to home, and have been sleeping in every day. Some people might say I should have really gotten more out of China in my last few weeks. It gets hard after a while to try and have by yourself though. I haven’t been buying gifts, I just did that for Christmas. And then everything shut down. But I really have had a nice time by myself and just relaxing. I won’t get to live in my own space at home, our house is crowded. I’ve appreciated this time.
About ten times a day something strikes me and I get really sad that I’m leaving. Everything at home is going to seem so boring. I really enjoy Chengdu. I’m really glad I got to come here.
I’ve got pictures from the past few days. I also finally took a bunch of photos of my dorm, so you can see where I have been living.
A friend also gave me photos of Yangjuan, the village I visited when I first got here. So I thought I would post those. When you read about the winter storms here, and people being without road access or power, you can picture these mud brick houses.
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