Happy Updates

(This was published on November 17th, but I accidentally deleted it. This actually goes before the previous post.)

I had an extremely satisfying thing happen to me last week, and I've been walking on I-Love-Guiyang clouds ever since. :)

 

As I'm sure you can tell from my lack of blogs and lack of daily surprises to report, I really feel comfortable here now and honestly forget that this life is out-of-the-ordinary.  This place has become as much my home as Dubuque ever was, and it seems for the past few months not a day has gone by where I haven't felt profoundly grateful to be here and to be living this life and to be surrounded by such amazing people. Even the days that seem to never end and to have one bad thing after another pour on me, I am happy to be here. In the comforts of Longdongbao, there are days when I even forget I am foreign, and my neighbors seem to forget, too.  Everywhere I go I hear the melodious sounds of "Hey, FeiFei, what's up?" (slang that I taught my students, who taught everyone they know) replacing the old "Laowai, Hello!"  When I go to buy vegetables, stop in a restaurant, walk through town, take a taxi or bus to Guiyang, I meet local people who know me by name, don't hesitate to speak Chinese with me, talk to me as they would any neighbor, and treat me as a friend.   Often times, when I go to these places, I'll encounter a few individuals (in my little Longdongbao town of about 200,000 people) who are unfamiliar with me and will try to talk about me to whoever will listen, but they are instantly put in their place by my Longdongbao-Kinsman, who like to proudly say "She can understand. If you have something to say, say it to her" followed by the common "Her Chinese (or, on really good days, "her Guiyang dialect") is really good!" I've been feeling increasingly good about this for a while now, and proud of my ability to come so far, considering how much I thought I hated and struggled with life here at this time last year. 

 

Last week, though, I met an even more exciting moment: While out with some of the girls, I found myself talking to a random Chinese guy.  I'm not sure how the conversation went in this direction, but before I knew it we realized we shared a good mutual (Chinese) friend.  When he realized I was friends with the same person, my name apparently clicked in his memory and he announced "wait, you're FeiFei? The same FeiFei from such-and-such story? I didn't realize you were foreign!" It turns out our mutual friend had talked about me quite a bit, but never once referred to me as her "foreign friend," just as her "friend," to such a point that people listening to her stories couldn't distinguish the difference between me and any other common Chinese friend.  Perhaps readers will read this and think "So what? Big deal?" but when you have been nothing but laowai (foreigner), waiguoren (foreigner), waijiao (foreign teacher), waiguo pengyou (foreign friend) for 15 months, this sudden change in title was an incredibly heart-warming change.  It made a significant impact on me and was one of my favorite, moving, cross-cultural "aha!" moments that I've had during my Peace Corps service.  

 

And everything else is going well, too! Honestly, I feel like my blog must be turning into quite the bore!  Last weekend I went to the countryside and did some teacher training for a Chinese friend, which was a fun (and interestingly strange) experience.  In addition to the projects I've been working on all year, I started going to the LaoRen Yuan (old person's home) a few weeks ago and spending time with the special needs adults.  I love going there and have a great time with the people who live and work there. 

 

My students this year are beyond outstanding and never cease to amaze me with how eager they are to have a genuine friendship with me.  Every Tuesday, as previously mentioned as a idea, I let different groups (I allow 5 at a time) come and teach me how to cook (which I'm gradually getting good at!), have dinner together, etc., which has been a huge success; the only problem we've faced is that there are not enough Tuesdays left in the semester for all interested students to be able to come! I've been invited on quite a lot of weekend picnics, park outings, etc. by them, too!  In addition, I am making a lot of friends from other departments, including one guy who just moved here from just outside of Wenchuan, Sichuan (where the earthquake hit the worst) who loves to talk to me about his experience, and whose experience I appreciate hearing about. It's amazing how unafraid of me people have become.

 

Everyday I have a new reason and a new person to be grateful for and to. Life in Longdongbao/Guiyang is great, and I am super happy and pray that all of you are filled with (and able to notice your) equal blessings! :) As always you are loved and missed!!!