Things I Miss About China

Okay let's be real...I've only been gone for a week, I don't actually miss China yet.  But eventually I will and here are some of the reasons:

 

Spending 5 hours getting my hair done.

 

 

七月七号 直到永远

July 7th was 37 hours long.  When it began I was in Yichang, China.  I was lying on the grass of the football field at Three Gorges University, trying to comprehend how two years was already over.  My two best friends were beside me, listening to Chinese pop music and making up a love story about the lonely star in the sky.

 

6 hours later I was frantically shoving my belongings into an over-burdened suitcase and holding back tears as my friends silently watched.  Together we greeted the dawn on my last morning in China.  With 45 minutes of sleep to strengthen me through the next 47 hours of travel I was feeling far from prepared.  We loaded into the car and I watched my home slip behind me through the rearview mirror.

 

Each hour imbedded itself in my memory with agonizing slowness.  Some were spent relishing the somewhat Western food in 广州's airport.  Some were spent praying for mercy from the airlines when they weighed my bags, and for strength to leave.  Others were spent in that place that's not sleep but not awareness, where we aren't sure what's real.  I spent a few of them flipping through the three channels on the TV provided by China Southern Airlines, trying to decide if I wanted to watch The Blind Side for the 4th time or the Chinese war movie I'd switched to after hour 7 on that flight.

 

When I landed in America it was 6:50pm on July 7th though more than 31 hours had passed since the day began.  I stumbled off the plane unable to comprehend I was finally in the land of internet freedom and horizontally challenged people.  An immigrations officer gruffly questioned me about the contents of my suitcase and I couldn't remember which language to answer him in.  After trying a sentence in Chinese I realized why he was looking at me like I'd lost my mind.  The next sentence seemed to pacify some of his inner anger and he waved me though the line.

 

I found a book store and subsequently remembered one more reason to be grateful for this transition.  July 7th mecifully ended with a chicken ceasar salad and Three Cups of Tea to comfort me.  I had 30 minutes before my flight to Houston and I was determined to enjoy every bite of food that didn't taste Chinese.

 

Descending from the plane in Houston at 5:40am, I envisioned meeting my parents at the airport in Oklahoma City.  I could picture their smiles and hugs and I felt like one more minute was too long to wait.  I approached the Continental Airlines desk hoping I could sweet talk my way onto an earlier flight.  What I heard seemed to come from far away.  "I'm sorry ma'am, your flight has been canceled due to the weather.  We've got you scheduled for a flight at 9 tonight."  Tears sprung unbidden to my eyes yet again and I angrily shook them away.  I implored the man to try something else.  He found a flight to Dallas/Fort Worth and told me I could try to get on standby for a flight from there to OKC.  I called my parents and they decided they'd rather drive the 3 hours to Dallas than wait for me to fly in late at night.  Thus began my transition back to American life.

 

 

"The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on on's own country as a foreign land."

-G.K. Chesterton

The end

It's 2am, and I'm still cleaning before my 6am departure.  I'm still cleaning because I had the perfect last day.  I didn't spend a minute of it at home.

Home is sweltering hot.  My air-conditioner's been broken since the day I switched it from heat, so when I'm here I feel like the main course of some cosmic barbecue.  I went downtown with Zhang XiaQing, my best friend here, to exchange money today and while we were shrinking my pile of cash we found the world's best dumpling shop.  I'm telling you, food doesn't get any better than that.  After running all my last-minute errands we went over to Zack's air-conditioned oasis.  Our sister Han Lu came over and taught us all how to make baozi.  When all of our appendages were sufficiently covered in flour the doorbell rang, and it was Zack's neighbor, bringing us cake in celebration of her birthday.  We went over and sang Happy Birthday and shared our fresh baozi.

When I couldn't eat another bite we watched the World Cup for a while, then XiaQing, Kuang Yu, and I went for a walk.  It was sufficiently cool enough outside to make it worth braving the prowling ground of the mosquito hordes, and we stayed out til 12:30, talking, singing, and laughing.  XiaQing has been staying with me for the last few weeks, and Han Lu for the last few nights, so we headed home for the evening.  Han Lu reached out, took my hand and XiaQings, and began to pray for us.  I was overwhelmed with gratefulness at the opportunity to know these amazing people.

I couldn't imagine a better way to end my time in China, than to spend it with my closest friends…my family.  I've been blessed.