Orientation Week

Well, I’m in Beijing… I’m sure you can imagine that today, day 2, I’ve found myself a little park with some lilly pad filled pools of water and a slight breeze, so slight in the cicada filled humid air that you must watch carefully to see even the mere whisper of a leaf do its afternoon dance.

Needless to say Beijing, the very little I’ve seen of it, is a ‘city’ in a whole different way to what I’ve ever experienced, maybe more of the traditional sense, and therefore I needed to take a short nature respite!

Another droplet of sweat slips from my brown, across my lips and drips directly on the letter ‘B’ – its bloody humid! I did think last night, ‘wow… so that’s probably shed me a good two kilos!’.

After an anxious goodbye to my father, mother and sister – and a huge breath of relief whenI finally had confirmation that my bag was under the ma 22 kilos allocated (although I must say I wish I had of brought that Lonley Planet Guide to China book, already I know it would have come in handy!

I find that the most stressful aspect of travel, the travelling bit… the ‘you can only have this amout’, ‘any liquids?’, ‘shoes off, belt off’… ‘oh, you had earings? Back through the beeper’. When you get to customs and they stare you down as if the face displayed on your passport will suddenly not reflect the one the officer is staring at.. I imagine that guy off the first X-Men, the politician who became a kind-of frog like creature and then dissolved… or for a previous reference, three men and a little girl when ### is pretending to be a priest then takes off his mask… or the mask all things considered – enough of the face falling off references. Point is, that even though you know you’re not carrying any bombs, illegal drugs or have anything turtling in your rectum, you feel guilt and can see yourself imminently thrown into a jail with a long drop and… god forbid.. porridge!

So I finally get myself on the plane, I ensure that the conduit to emotions is still securely trapped behind the cement grey-matter wall of my mind, take out National Geographics ‘Sranger Things’ edition and pretend… NOTHING IS HAPPENING!

That was until I read the letter my sister gave me the night before with the strict instruction to read on the plane… when (although she didn’t stipulate this) I was by myself heading off on an to an asian country with only two words in my back pocket (oh, and thankyou is not pronounced SHIT SHIT – pitty, I’d have been able to pronounce that). So thank you Tiff for your heart warming words and for the general embarrassment of me hiccupping next to a woman who looked exceptionally unimpressed to be sat next to me the whole flight.

Do you know what I have discovered though? I find take-off much more relaxing when I don’t have to watch the land slowing falling furthing and further from my feet. I just pretended I was on a bumpy bus with a pot hole here and there.

Next… FOOD! I pre-ordered a meal… unfortunately I got the legs of my flights incorrect, at 8am I was chowing down on chicken roast, 14 hours later… at 8pm I was helping myself to omelette, baked beans and goodness-knows-what-kind-of sausage (it was white… that’s all I can say about that).

So six hours in 30 degree Kuala Lumpa, lovely airport as air ports go, my only suggestion would be non-sqattable toilets… fortunately I have a reasonable amount of camping experienced so just closed my eyes and pretended there was grass tickling my thighs.

Then off on another seven hour flight to Beijing. Trying to get a spot of shut eye I infact lay across three seats calming myself by advising that if the plane were to drop out the sky, the oxygen would cut off so I’d go into quick unconsciousness then be dead b the time we hit ocean or land, so nothing to worry about, at any rate, what can you do about it? Ask the pilot to pop the plan down a little, blow up some raptar sized floaties and hovercradt across the ocean to China instead? I’ll speak to Cousin RB to identify whether he might be interested in working on such a contraption.

Two final concerning moments:

1.    

I had my headphones on when an announcement came over the speakers, I missed the first part and was fortunate to hear only “this action is punishable by death” and hope they’re not referring to the ownership of finger puppets and pink socks

2.       “We apoogise for any inconvenience but we must now fumigate the plane. Please cover your mouth and nose for your comfort…” my comfort? IM BEING FUMIGATED!

1am… Beijing! 2am post bag collection and staring competition at customers I’m at Starbucks realising that a black tea latte is not just a tea with bubbly milk… it is something completely different which I shall avoid in the immediate to long term future.

I ignored about four people between 2am and 6.30am who were obviously part of the internship group, I thought it best not to expend my sociable energy until necessity required. Then  suddenly, my ignored six had disappeared from sight! I turned this way and that and through the window saw a purple IMMERQI flag… I lumped my 22kg rucksack one arms, laptop under the arm, heely connected to me by my pinky and laptop bag dragging up the rear held on only by a clip of the rucksack…

“HI”! I announced my arrival, puffing with delight that I’d caught them… the Coordinator looked at me like, indeed, she had been caught, by an Australian lunatic. She made a quick ‘please don’t come any closer’ smile and started away waving her flag.

Immediately the group of about 20 of us started chatting away, no one knowing the others names, but then, what is a name between friends. I was disappointed to discover our ;bus band’ was not necessarily the group we’d be allocated to. There are about 90 of us all up in this internship program, but I notice that we all still tend to keep to our bus bands (I shall need to let the others know I’ve come up with a name).

We are from across Australia, America, India, England and South America. We are male and female, single and coupled and of all ages and backgrounds… from teachers to nurses, engineers and sports people. We’re all looking for similar and different things from this experience.

I had a moment the other day, sitting in the canteen (yes by myself, I had just woken up from a post travel nanny nap and my front ccortex was not in any condition to be exerting itself) and looking around at my fellow travellers thought… “yeah, I made the right choice”.

Now sitting here, the breeze has finally increased so my internal temperature seems to be finally coming down to its natural rate, I look aroudnd again and think, “yeah, I made the right choice”.

To be comfortable with oneself, to be open to all possibilities, to know there will be struggles and challenges (like squatting toilets for example, and not being able to have your morning dilmah!), but that those struggles and challenges will be countered by experiencing new cultures, landscaspes and… can you believe she-who-does-not-like-people, friends.

You’ll have to forgive me… for the last two years I’ve been in Albany, where if you even hear about the possibility of a 30 degree day one quivers with fear. Prior to this, Melbourne, where four days of 26 degrees is a heat wave. In Albany, my mother and I went swimming in 19 degrees! Here, its not so much the heat, it’s the humitdty.

When I was deciding where to go for my internship I did look up weather, I decided definitel not Veitnam without even that amount of reseach, thinking it would be too sticky for me – for some reason I imagined China was, ok, Asia… but not… island Asia – not that makes sense. I thought a) it was primarily always a reasonable temperate and b) no no no humidity. I was WRONG.

I cant really say much of Beijing or China yet, I’ve only been at the Uni, went to a mall (I hate shopping at the best of times… I have a feelling beazlebub was checking me out at this point and thinking ‘if she’s naughty, I’ll have her spend an eternity in a buzy mall! Mrraahhh har har). I’ve NEVER seen so many people in a supermarket and puchaisng so many things in my life. 

Queing is not a thing… I was stood with my mere three items wwhile teams of people marched infront, to the side and pushing from behind with trollys upon trollys of items. The thing is, this is just their way, its not rude, you just get your job done as quick as you can, its not seen as rude, I think its such a fast paced environment that these guys are just in their zone.

Isnt it strange that queing would be a culture shock?

Also, I didn’t expect it to be so hard to get a cup of normal tea! This morning a couple and I went on a march to StarBucks (about a 20 minute walk, although I forgot to get us to turn off at one point so it actually took us an hour… eep), I went to the counter, my Dilmah Extra Strength at hand… “hot water”, I said as a pointed at a cup and jiggling my tea bag with a look of desperation on my face. The attendant looked at me with a somewhat trepidatious stare… but then, seeing my pleading puppy dog eyes, took my tea bag and popped it in a cup of steaming hot water… “Milk?”, I tried, before accepting the cup. Now came a look of “seriously?”, nevertheless he poured a little, then a little more… then… a lot. But I was thankful for small mercys! I dunked that tea bag like a tea bag has never been dunked.

I sat back with the couple and took my first sip of good tea in two days, and may I say… I was once again at one with the world.

I have never felt more… lost, not in a personal or spiritual sense, but in a …. How the heck do I do this / get that / find there? Having no Google – especially Google, I’ve never appreciated Google more – we are all having Google withdrawals! I am using a physical map to see how to get where, using sign language to communicate with the locals. I called my sister and my father from Montserat in Barcelona and that was so many years ago, I’ll not be able to do that from here.

It’s not that the technology isn’t here, I mean, likelihood is that it was invented here, its just China has its own versions of everything from Youtube to Facebook.I don’t know if it’s a hangover from when China was primarily closed to the rest of the world, or whether it’s a way to protect their culture. When I compare China to Bali, Bali is so Westernised and I don’t know if that’s a good thing, I mean for the local community, for their culture. An hour or so ago I was at the shops getting some new pens and a little Chinese girl could not stop staring at me, one of the guys I’m getting on with is British of African decent and was saying when he was in the centre of Beijing people were tring to take sneaky selfies of him. Haivng thought of it, I’m kind of glad we are the exception to the rule, kinda feels like this is an authentic display of a Chinese city and the people therein.

I think maybe I’m glad its so far been difficult to find my way here, and likely to be more difficult, and may it stay difficult. Who wants a primarily Western friendly world? Where’s the adventure in that?

Although… traffic rules leave something to be desired, when the cross road sign pops up, cars and bikes will still pop past, you don’t know whose going where and when, and pedestrians do not have right of way. Each time I cross the road I feel like I’ve won an Olympic hurdles race, or at the very least gotten to the next stage of Mario Brothers. A little piece of me wants to do the Rocky ‘yay I got to the top of the steps’ dance!

The Chinese associate debit and credit cards with debt… so its all cash based, so that’s something else to get used to (not to mention what money is what, for all I know the three apples I bought this morning cost me an arm and a leg! But then, they were good apples and two of the girls hadn’t had breakfast so I gave them each one J )

We’re off to a group dinner tonight, all 90 of us plus the coordinators! I hope they booked out the whole restaurant. What’s great is that I’m not anxious about this, or spending time with people, or sharing a room! My 20 year old self is looking at me going, “man… wish I was like that”, don’t worry, I say… you’ll get here!

Tomorrow we start classes and I think I’ll try and get to the Forbidden City, but for now its adieu.

Needless to say, I’m happy, right now, in this moment. When they say “Life is a Jouney”, I figure, “Why not make journeying your life”.