China Trip 2006
It’s been 6 years since I visited China and this past trip has had a profound affect on me. First, I can’t believe it’s already been 6 years. Where did the time go? I seem to remember having just finished freshman year of college. The last time I spent 2 weeks with the Hope Education Foundation tour and then 2 more weeks visiting my grandfather in Hangzhou. I seem to remember feeling relieved to be back in to the US at the end of that trip. Maybe it was because I was in a foreign country for a whole month, or maybe I just didn’t understand China too well…
Well, this past trip has really opened up my eyes to the different cities in China. I found myself actively trying to learn how to read and write better and to understand how each city came about. I am still in amazement at how fast China’s growing and how many construction projects are underway. I can’t even imagine what the place will look like in another 6 years.
I experienced a lot of conflicting thoughts on this trip. I am, first of all, an Asian American; a US citizen. I love the US with all it’s conveniences and luxuries but I couldn’t help but feel a connection with the Chinese people there. Perhaps it was the fact that I was on a tour full of Americans who didn’t have an idea what the Chinese were really like and I felt a certain obligation to describe it to them. Being bilingual allowed me the opportunity to explain and clarify misunderstandings between the American and Chinese cultures. But I think it on a deeper level, I woke up to the fact that I can speak the language as well as appreciate the culture. Thoughts of all those Saturday mornings attending Chinese school for half a day came back all of a sudden. I remembered learning vocabulary words and Chinese grammar through textbooks and workbooks. After class, we would attend different extra-curricular activities such as the Chinese yo-yo, Chess, the abacus, Kicking “jian zhi” (hackey-sack), and caligraphy. I didn’t know it then, but I was being molded to be more Chinese. All the time, I just thought I was hanging out with my friends there.
Fast forward to where I am now. I can speak and understand the language, although vocabulary words are still a problem. But my reading and writing skills are abyssmal; probably the level of a first grader. All the Saturday morning school classes and college courses didn’t really help because I never practiced what I learned or wrote. I doubt that even now, I’d get the chance to reinforce anything new I learn, but at least this trip allowed me to experience 9 consecutive days of Chinese. And I was lucky enough to have tour guides that were willing to help me and just hang out and talk. It was fun. If I were to spend 3 or so months in Taiwan or China, I think I’d be able to hold my own reading signs, menus, the newspaper, etc.
Things are a little different now… a part of me wishes I can have the opportunity to stay abroad for longer than 9 days. Maybe I’m just thinking “What if I had never come to America and I grew up in that environment?” Interesting… Well, maybe I’ll get the chance to return sooner than 6 years from now.
