At First

When I first thought about writing a blog, I considered entitling it The Space in Between because I could not logically explain my thought process for coming to China. Yet with today marking one month of time I've spent at my teaching placement in Qinhuangdao, I realize my experiences have become in fact more real.  My thinking is unmuffled by familiarities. I find everyday to be raw when stripped of modern comforts. Events are basic yet transparent. I find that I blend in much better than I expected and that I have the privilege of being an invisible foreigner; an unbothered observer.

In America I say I am Chinese. In China I say I am American, yet some Chinese people still receive me skeptically as a foreigner. As a culture, the Chinese are communal if not also extremely competitive, nosy, and crafty. These traits have apparently lent themselves to be good survival tactics for a culture that has endured for thousands of years.  Maybe one generation removed does not automatically earn you the title of foreigner, so now I simply say "I am not from these parts".

This will be my fifth time coming to China, but my longest and most independent stay. I wonder about the explorations this will allow and the perspectives I may absorb all the way. This will also be my first time truly living alone and being able to do whatever suits my fancy at work--well maybe not whatever, but unrestricted by curriculum or textbook. I share with the students whatever I think is relevant and might get them talking. I anticipated a challenge in finding common subjects, yet last week The Oscars, pet peeves and taboo subjects all struck a chord. Every person I've met reinforces my growing belief that people all have underlying similarities from a common humanity no matter how different the circumstances. I have traveled halfway across the world to find the last thing I was expecting: common ground.