Anticipation

Hey folks,

I’m currently at a stop in Seattle right now waiting on my nonstop flight to Beijing. Adam Fishman and I have been flying since 9:00am CST from Chicago all the way to Beijing. We have an extensive layover in Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA-TAC for any of you planning trips to Seattle soon). It’s about seven hours to be exact. In the meantime, I’ve been searching the most random topics on Google and YouTube. I won’t be able to access them in China. Adam, on the other hand, is studying for his placement exam right now. As you can see, he's working hard already. For others of you who study Chinese, you know his pain.

Either way, taking such a long trip has been so much more fun and much more survivable with a friend along.

I’m excited to return to Beijing; it’s been two years since I was last in China. I still remember the delectable taste of Peking Duck, the unforgettable journey up the Great Wall, the crazy fun of bargaining for cheap products, and the awesomeness of Chinese karaoke. Beijing is also one of the best cities in China to practice Mandarin, the official dialect of mainland China, so I look forward to speaking to natives as often as possible. Regardless of how nervous I may feel, I think opening up and forcing myself to speak is the best way to attain fluency. The last time I was in China, I spoke a ton of English. Since then, I’ve spent two long years studying more of the language; I hope to be more comfortable when speaking and to eventually reach the point where I’m thinking in Chinese. Yes, that’s an ambitious goal, I know. But after reflecting on my previous summer in China, I want to let my guard down. I want to take full advantage of the fact that I’ll be living in Beijing to enhance my language skills.

What I remember the most about China is the stares. I studied at East China Normal University in Shanghai, and the Chinese are generally quite surprised to see me there, let alone speak Mandarin. I had some great cultural exchanges with the Chinese as an African-American in China. Many of my stereotypes about Chinese families were immediately withdrawn after I made Chinese friends. One of my friends, Matt Zhou, loves basketball and hiphop. When he first met me, all he wanted to do was shoot hoops and talk about Ludacris. Most Chinese people stared me down—all the time. While taking a photo of some friends at the Forbidden City, a really old guy stroked my arm. My teacher at the time told me he’d probably never seen a black person before and was checking to see whether my skin was paint. A couple hours before, I ran into a group of children from rural China who wanted to take pictures with me because their visit to Beijing was the first time outside of their villages. They welcomed me to their country with open arms. It was a great feeling. While issues of race in China are definitely not difficult to avoid, I see these issues not only as a way for the Chinese to satiate their curiosity with me, but also as a way for me to embrace my elevation to celebrity. J These encounters are some of the most memorable, and often the most humorous, cultural exchanges to me.

In anticipation for what is to come in Beijing, I am both nervous and excited about being back. I’m most worried about Chinese class every day; I hope I quickly catch-on to the material and enjoy my instructors. There’s one thing that I know for sure, however: that I will have another awesome China adventure. The food, the transportation, the people, the shopping, and the music are all things I’ve missed so dearly. I am certain that when I step off the plane, I’ll feel at home again.