= Merry Christmas!First, thank you thank you thank you for all the emails, cards, and messages that kept me in the loop at Christmastime. Good news: my holiday homesickness has subsided and I can fully look forward to my post-holiday visit home.
So what did I do for my very first eastern-hemisphere Christmas?
1. Electronics market
The weather was beautiful - about 75 and sunny - so in the morning I took the subway downtown and shopped at the huge electronics market in Shenzhen. It was the same market I visited on my very first day in China, and I remember being completely overwhelmed by the endless sights, jumble of Chinese characters, and constant awareness of eyes watching me.
I would argue that the market is inherently disorienting - seven floors of electronic equipment, with different products and accessories on each floor, and endless booths jammed in together all selling more or less the same items. However, this time it hardly phased me. Instead I gloried in the perfect competition induced by having identical products in side-by-side shops. I was able to barter with several different sellers, leveraging their offers against each other, to get the best possible price on a camera (yes, in Chinese - I really am getting better at this!). I didn't even realize until I was walking out that I had been in the exact same place and setting exactly 3 months ago, in a totally different mindset. Realizing what an adjustment I have made to my new living conditions makes me a bit nervous to return to the United States. At this point, Best Buy and Circuit City seem part of a dream world.
2. Party prep
After returning got back to Bao'an, I spent the afternoon playing video games with Jaris. I was anxious to have my mind taken off of the whole Christmas thing, and Mario and Donkey Kong did a pretty good job of that. After a couple hours of vegetating, Jaris decided to organize a party for the ISS teachers at his place, so we spent the rest of the afternoon and evening getting supplies and food.
My most memorable moment from Christmas day may have been the return trip from Carrefour. Taxi drivers here are always reckless and often quite frightening, but this guy took "fast" to a whole new level. He tore around corners, pulled u-turns, crossed sidewalks, and weaved in and out of traffic as if the world were about to end - blasting American techno all the while. As my life flashed before my eyes, I gripped the headrest in front of me and begged Jaris to tell the man to slow down. He didn't. But amazingly we made it back safely... and covered a normally 15-minute drive in only 4.
3. Celebration!
The party with the ISS teachers was fun - they brought some Chinese food from a restaurant and also cooked a couple dishes to accompany them. Later we joined with a few of the LC teachers and headed to a club. The super-loud blasting music gave me the only push I needed to go home and call my family (who put me on speakerphone and then sang "We Wish You a Merry Christmas") before going to sleep with the relief of having survived a lonely holiday.
Jaris and I our kung fu dance at the Bao'an club
So what did I do for my very first eastern-hemisphere Christmas?
1. Electronics market
The weather was beautiful - about 75 and sunny - so in the morning I took the subway downtown and shopped at the huge electronics market in Shenzhen. It was the same market I visited on my very first day in China, and I remember being completely overwhelmed by the endless sights, jumble of Chinese characters, and constant awareness of eyes watching me.
I would argue that the market is inherently disorienting - seven floors of electronic equipment, with different products and accessories on each floor, and endless booths jammed in together all selling more or less the same items. However, this time it hardly phased me. Instead I gloried in the perfect competition induced by having identical products in side-by-side shops. I was able to barter with several different sellers, leveraging their offers against each other, to get the best possible price on a camera (yes, in Chinese - I really am getting better at this!). I didn't even realize until I was walking out that I had been in the exact same place and setting exactly 3 months ago, in a totally different mindset. Realizing what an adjustment I have made to my new living conditions makes me a bit nervous to return to the United States. At this point, Best Buy and Circuit City seem part of a dream world.
2. Party prep
After returning got back to Bao'an, I spent the afternoon playing video games with Jaris. I was anxious to have my mind taken off of the whole Christmas thing, and Mario and Donkey Kong did a pretty good job of that. After a couple hours of vegetating, Jaris decided to organize a party for the ISS teachers at his place, so we spent the rest of the afternoon and evening getting supplies and food.
My most memorable moment from Christmas day may have been the return trip from Carrefour. Taxi drivers here are always reckless and often quite frightening, but this guy took "fast" to a whole new level. He tore around corners, pulled u-turns, crossed sidewalks, and weaved in and out of traffic as if the world were about to end - blasting American techno all the while. As my life flashed before my eyes, I gripped the headrest in front of me and begged Jaris to tell the man to slow down. He didn't. But amazingly we made it back safely... and covered a normally 15-minute drive in only 4.
3. Celebration!
The party with the ISS teachers was fun - they brought some Chinese food from a restaurant and also cooked a couple dishes to accompany them. Later we joined with a few of the LC teachers and headed to a club. The super-loud blasting music gave me the only push I needed to go home and call my family (who put me on speakerphone and then sang "We Wish You a Merry Christmas") before going to sleep with the relief of having survived a lonely holiday.
Jaris and I our kung fu dance at the Bao'an club* * *
Disclaimer: I shouldn't make it sound like my teaching program steamrolled Christmas altogether; we did do a Secret Santa gift exchange and went to an all-you-can-eat Western buffet on the 26th. Quite a relief, actually, because it just wouldn't be Christmas without the ensuing food coma...
The CCs ("Chinese Contacts," or Chinese teachers at the LC) at our holiday gift exchange)
All-you-can-eat Christmas buffet
The CCs ("Chinese Contacts," or Chinese teachers at the LC) at our holiday gift exchange)
All-you-can-eat Christmas buffet
1 comment:
glad to hear you made it through (in record time, no less!) the holiday. we definitely missed you. 41 days!
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