May I say it again without being overly redundant?
I LOVE my host family!! They are SUCH great people and our language barrier is not only helping both of us to excel at the language, but it's also helping to build us closer.
This morning I woke up feeling sooooo homesick. I don't know why it struck this early in my journey, considering I never had true homesickness on any of my other long trips before (although I can speculate that dehydration, change in diet/exercise, and simply a very different travel experience than I'm used to certainly contributed), but regardless, it struck, and it struck hard. I laid in my room with silent tears (because I was too embarrassed to let the family know) and felt sorry for myself for a little while. Then, as it is Sunday, I opened up the Misellette (no idea how to spell that) I was given and, naturally, was struck with today's appropriate reading about how we are faced with obstacles for a reason and that it is God's will. This is relevant because it did help to pick me back up, which was soooo important because I had the best day of my Chinese experience thus far.
After an amazing lunch with my family and with HaoHao (or so I'm told to call her because it's easier), Li Xiao's 7 year old niece who staid the night with us, my family took me on a "fieldtrip" to see a rural part of Chendgu which was flooded with lotus flowers. It was so beautiful!!!! We were joined by Terrie and her family, which made it all the more fun. :) After we couldn't stand walking amongst the flowers because of the heat, we made our way to an area that is kind of like an outdoor restaurant except you don't have to buy anything to hang out there . . . they simply serve you free tea and provide you with fans and a table and shade. :) We rested ("take a restie" as Li Xiao calls it) for a while, and then Terrie's family brought out a deck of cards, which was maybe the greatest idea anyone has ever had since I've come to China! They taught us an amazing game which brought us ALL closer together! It also helped my Chinese immensely, I think.
Following hours (literally) of cards, we all went out to dinner, and then Terrie and I were dropped off so that we could take a long walk and explore the area. The walk just added to our good fortune (wen chihao—good luck) because Terrie and I got to see a lot of neat things, practice our Chinese (we met many women—they flooded to us—and one woman expressed her disbelief that we had only been here 5 days…she thought we had been here for years because our pronunciation and vocabulary were so good!!!!!!), and get to experience being the first wagoren many Chinese had ever seen outside of TV, which is always an exciting thing to encounter. :) DanDan (Terrie's host mom) told us that, while she was very sorry that Chinese people stare, it is because they cannot believe they are seeing real wagoren. At the lotus flower place we even had women bringing us their children and asking us to take pictures with them!!
While on the walk, I had my first "I am home" moment . . . Terrie and I walked for almost 2 hours and I was beginning to feel very tired. Rather than simply thinking "I'm excited for sleep," I thought "I can't wait to climb up to the 5th floor of C complex and slip into my 'indoor' slipper-shoes and then sit on the couch and hear more about the Japanese invasion with Wang Tang Jian (who is maybe the neatest person I've ever met, even though he doesn't speak a lick of English) on his translator and then climb into my wonderfully hard bed with a fan blowing at me." And that is exactly what I did. And it was exactly what it should have been like. And I even got to throw in a bit of explaining that I was a teacher in the states, showing pictures of my students, discussing the differences in classroom management between our countries, and eat grapes. And I am happy.
Now I will take a restie and go to bed. Good night, Loved Ones!! I wish you the best!
No comments:
Post a Comment