There and back again.

This semester is ridiculous. It’s already over and I feel like I’m really becoming a part of Xiamen. In a perfect world, one would travel to China with the excuse of taking classes, and actually have 100% free time to live and explore around the country, meeting new people every day thanks to a giant population. All good things have to come to an end, I suppose.

I decided to go through a few random photos I took on my phone throughout my time here so as to try and give you a better picture.

We learned about reverse culture shock in a kind of “closure” class earlier this week. I had never thought about it. You would think that returning to American culture would be easy. It is what I grew up with after all. But this kind of “re-entry” culture shock tends to never be addressed.

For me, I have only been here for three and a half months, which isn’t nearly as dramatic as a couple years. We were told the reentry shock will be intensified, however, with China being the opposite of western culture. I can think of small reasons, good and bad, why I will feel different and maybe depressed while going through some shock:

1. Surplus of anything I could want within driving distance.
2. Drying clothes in a machine.
3. Not eating Chinese food all the time.
4. Knowing people can understand things I say.
5. All “hello’s” won’t be directed at me.
6. Not being “the guest” anywhere I go and treated accordingly.
7. Barging to the front of the line will not be acceptable.
8. Nothing will be smoky.
9. Suddenly zero application for the Chinese I learned.
10. US prices.
11. Seeing/hearing about all the things I missed while away.
12. Realizing it will be hard to maintain friendships made in China.
13. People won’t get things done as fast.
14. I won’t be by a beach 24/7.
15. Won’t have to regulate speed and difficulty with my speech.

I’m trying to prepare myself. I miss many aspects of America, but I will most definitely be missing China and what I’ve become accustomed to for the last 3.5 months.

The class ended reflecting on the fact that the more shock you feel on re-entry means the better and more dramatic experience you had in the foreign culture. We’ll see what happens, but I’m definitely planning for pure elation when seeing my family and friends!

I’m excited to see how this journey has shaped me in the context of my normal American life. I can already feel ways that I may be different, for the better, especially as God continues to give me opportunities that seem to inevitably bring me closer to who he truly designed me to be.

I found a lot of travel quotes, since this tangible experience has, in my mind, unlocked a door of the many doors of possible interests. Traveling is something I will be doing throughout my life, and I’ve just made that official by typing this.

I view these quotes in the context of my China experience.

“To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries.”

- Aldous Huxley (I couldn’t understand China until I went)

“The first condition in understanding a foreign country is to smell it.”

- Rudyard Kipling (in reference to the glory of Chinese food for me)

“A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.”

- Lao Tzu (Chinese philosopher and founder of Daoism!)

In closing, I’m looking forward to sharing my stories and perspectives. If you have more interest in my China experience, I’d love to grab a coffee and chat with you! But, I also definitely want to catch up with all the happenings in your lives while I was away. It’s time for me to return!

Thanks for reading!

Kevin

Journalism, eh?

After Shanghai, I flew back to Xiamen, Fujian. It felt like a trip to a completely different country getting off the airplane into beautiful and stunning tropical weather that wasn’t nearly as evident when I had left Xiamen earlier in the semester.

Now that I’m back, I’m actually finished with all of my classes and only have an internship left. This part of the trip has been great because I have much more free time than I did earlier. I feel like I’m really experiencing Xiamen now, and Xiamen at its finest. Just the other day I was reminded that I live in a tropical paradise when I got off the bus from work by the BaiCheng University gate, which is right by the ocean.

My internship just finished and it was a great experience, although short. I was an official journalist for Xiamen Daily, more specifically for the English section called Common Talk Weekly. I got paired up with this internship because the China Studies Program director supposedly thought I was a good writer based off of a single written assignment. It’s true that I enjoy writing though, and I personally believe that I got the best internship, with some bias of course.

I had the nicest coworkers ever. This picture is of Enid Chen, a coworker I ended up working with most of the time. I wrote five articles during the three weeks and attended events and art shows. During the day, I would mostly proofread for my coworkers and travel around town to eat and attend events. I would stay late on Wednesday nights, the day before Common Talk is published every week. This internship really gave me an opportunity to meet some really interesting people, ranging from crazy Dutch artists to Irish motorized skateboarders.

Jean Chen, another coworker, came with me to one event with her husband and son and I felt like the fourth member of the family, all while meeting super important people at press releases that I did not deserve to meet at all. One, in particular, was Matthew Bourne, a British experimental piano and cello musician. I have so many strange stories in relation to this internship because of the people I got to meet, like a time I interviewed a German artist that had a fascination with body parts. I feel very privileged having been able to do this internship with no journalism background except for one class at Taylor.

My third coworker, who was more of my boss, was Vivian Zhang. She had an aura about her that screamed she was a very important person. It was interesting for me, because I was the only student that got paired with a state-run enterprise. There’s an added dynamic in that kind of environment that I found unique. You never knew whom you worked with may have quite a lot more power than you know, or have ties with the government. She talked to me about the fact that if you had a government job, you were definitely only allowed one child under the Planned Birth Policy, which has fewer limitations on childbirth than previously. If you had a child as a government worker, you would lose your job, but also YOUR BOSS would lose their job. That reminded me of how “losing face” has ties to a lot of aspects of life in China.

So, I ended up getting a lot of journalism experience that I was not expecting at all. Also, with the help of Enid, managed to get “insider” prices (meaning, she could communicate with the sellers), on some things I’ve bought for friends and family that I cannot reveal at this time. What a fantastic way to finish up the academic side of my China experience.

Next up: more life in Xiamen, OR if I don’t have time to write, an “I’M HOME!” blog post.

- Kev

I could live in Shanghai.

After Beijing came another overnight train ride to Shanghai. I have been excited about traveling to Shanghai ever since I became interested in China!

The idea of beautiful skyscrapers in a city near the coast that lights up at night was incredible to me. This was our version of spring break. Click on this picture for a larger image.

I had free time to do whatever I pleased for our time in Shanghai, which meant that I had the opportunity to see a good friend of mine from freshman year who lives in Seoul, South Korea. She transferred from Taylor University and was now studying abroad in China as well, just south of Shanghai! In the previous blog post I was talking on the phone in the Summer Palace photo, and that was me making PLANS. After both of us getting lost in Shanghai’s metro system, Minyoung You (that’s her last name, I’m not talking about “you” although it would’ve been fun if “you” were there, I’m sure) and I got to spend the whole day together hitting up Shanghai!

We spent way too much time at the Apple store complaining about prices in Chinese.

There was something about the whole experience that made me feel independent. The fact that two college students who live abroad decided to meet up in one of the most famous cities in the world in a foreign country felt very… mature. Thinking about why I decided to go abroad to China for a semester got me wondering. Deep down I think I was seeking a tangible and challenging experience that represented my adulthood, my independence. The image of sitting at a coffee shop studying near the Xiamen coast was subconsciously idolized for me. This very trip represented a rite of passage for me, and I don’t think I realized that until about a month ago when these feelings were being experienced firsthand. I think a lot of people pray for big and influential experiences in their life that shape them, and it’s fun to eventually realize that you’re going through one.

What was planned to be a big touristy day, we mostly ended up talking about life at coffee shops. We also tried to hide under stranger’s umbrellas when it was raining.

Back to Xiamen now!

- Kev

Beijing!

After I took an intense history class in Xi’an and said goodbye to my Xi’an friends, I took off by overnight train to Beijing, the capital of the People’s Republic of China. It was great finishing that history class, but I can safely say that I have every dynasty and most important figures memorized in China’s 4000ish year history. I still keep in contact with the friends too.

I actually read the Analects of Confucious and gave a 25-minute presentation on him and his writings. I loved it. It was very interesting and I actually saw a lot of Confucian ideals in Christianity. There was a big difference though. Confucianism glorifies man and his ability to achieve greatness through his own effort, whereas Christianity emphasizes man’s inability to do anything without Christ.

He was actually 6’4” and was an expert at chariot driving and archery. Dispose of your preconceptions!

So my first overnight train ride was a fun experience. I ended up watching Airplane! with some friends and two Chinese men in our berth. They didn’t understand a lot of the humor, but when they did, they thought it was hilarious. We emphasized the fact that these aren’t the only kinds of movies we watch, so as not to further any American stereotype of bone-headedness. We then played Chinese chess, which the Chinese find very impressive that we know how to play. It was actually required in one of my culture classes to learn and play the game competently and it has definitely helped further some friendships with the Chinese! I then attempted to sleep amidst the bumping and rattling, but overall it was a calm and nice ride.

My experience in Beijing was similar to my previous experience I had a year earlier when I came to China in January 2011. The big difference was that when I saw the historical landmarks, they had more meaning to me since I had learned about them in class. I made more connections, felt more knowledgable and was able to appreciate much more of Beijing. For each of the places we went, I’ll give a small tidbit of historical context to show off my history skillz!

SUMMER PALACE

Fact: The first summer palace was SACKED in the second Opium Wars in 1856-1860. They made a new one. It’s too bad, because that place was really decked out.

GREAT WALL

Fact: It was built by the first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huangdi. Modern-day Chinese have mixed feelings about him because he successfully united China, but was gratuitously harsh.

TEMPLE OF HEAVEN

Fact: It was built during the Ming dynasty in the 1400s, which was also the time that China ruled the seas with the Treasure Fleet. It was epic.

SPIRIT WAY

Fact: I can provide zero facts because it was raining and I was starving. I faintly remember many statues on a pathway. It’s all a blur.

TIANENMEN SQUARE

Fact: Most known for the incident in 1989. It’s also most known for having some of the most intense government surveillance than anywhere else in China. They can hear any and every conversation! I bought a small Chinese flag so as to appease.

FORBIDDEN CITY

Fact: Also built during the Ming dynasty. There’s a whole building devoted to tea drinking for the old Emperor and his guests. I could get in on that.

Next up: SHANGHAI!

- Kev

Xi'an was nice.

So after my trip to Guizhou, we took a flight up to ancient capital city Xi’an in Shanxi province.

Xi’an is much different than Xiamen for a few reasons.

Noodles. Only noodles. If there was rice, it tasted slightly artificial. The noodles were good though! And Xi’an is known for a certain type of noodle that is the most complicated Chinese character, and only so for shock value I think. It’s like a lasagna noodle but beefier.

COLD and DRY. Good and bad. Good because when we hang up our clothes to dry, they’re ready-to-wear in less than a day, whereas it takes about three days in Xiamen. Bad because cold weather makes everything more difficult, especially for the Chinese students, who have to lug around giant thermos jugs filled with hot water in order to bathe. We got to stay in the international dorm on XISU’s (Xi’an International Studies University) campus that was more like a hotel room. It felt unfair, but I’m thankful!

Polluted. On a good day, there was some sun shining through, but for the two and a half weeks I was there, it was mostly smoggy. There’s a tall tower that can be seen from around the city, and we used it as a pollution meter. That means that if we could see it, then it was a relatively clean day.

Now it may sound like I’m definitely partial to Xiamen, which I definitely am. But at the same time, I met some of my favorite people in Xi’an.

After biking a giant wall that surrounds the city, and after accidently getting into a random film crew’s shot a few times, I met 雒康康, or Luo Kangkang. I decided to randomly talk to him while he was overseeing the production of a video for a local bank because they had cameras and I was curious what they were doing. We ended up talking about his studio and the fact that I study media and after trading contact information we ended up meeting again with his friends.

Throughout my time in Xi’an, they took me out to dinner a couple times and to a coffee bar. They also invited me to see the studio, which ended up being an apartment-turned-studio kind of thing, which was still awesome. They even drove me around town and offered to drop me off at the train station the day I left.

Kangkang is partnering with another film producer later this year to produce a full-length film and he promised to email me when it’s finished.

Here are my new friends from this experience. I don’t have a picture of the three guys I hung out with who are Kangkang’s friends, unfortunately.

So despite Xi’an being not quite Xiamen, I had one of the most amazing times there. Oh yeah, I also saw the TERRACOTTA SOLDIERS.

- Kev