Moving Too Fast

Once in a while, I get someone from home saying to me, “we haven’t heard much from you – tell me every detail!” There is, however, a problem this idea. I’m not really doing much at all, and most people won’t happily accept “I’m working.” No other way to explain it, though. Monday through Friday I get up between 7 and 7:30 (7:50 on a late day) and I’m usually in the office by 8:05. I have three to five periods a day, I spend the rest of my time walking around or in my office grading papers. School’s over at 4. Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays I tutor for an hour after. Then Tuesdays and Thursdays I have my new Chinese class with me and two other coworkers, which is a lot of fun. My goal is to be conversationally fluent by the time I leave China. Wednesday evenings I have Kung Fu. Friday afternoons we have a staff meeting. On the weekends, I usually have one night where I go out with my “girl crush” Lauren, we have dinner, we drink wine, we eat chocolate. I’ll usually have another night where I go out dancing or to a bar. My weekend mornings are typically spent online skyping with people; my afternoons, grading or exploring Shanghai. Teaching has good moments and bad; for the most part I really like my kids, even though they can be a handful. I had a week or so when I was really down and missing home, but I fully blame a crazy hormonal period for this, as well as 10 weeks with no break, stress from finals, and pressure from the administration. I’m happy here, I’ve hit four months away from home (now breaking records), and I’m going strong.

For Christmas, I got (lovingly) away from my students, my friends, and Shanghai and went to Tokyo to see my brother for Christmas. It was fantastic, to say the least. I loved the city, it had a certain life and sparkle that Shanghai lacks. On Thursday I got up bright and early (AKA 4am) to head to the airport and hop on a plane. My brother picked me up and we headed straight into the city, seeing palaces, gardens, and Akihabara, including a maid café. Even though I didn’t take pictures, that one was an experience I’ll remember. Friday we got wonderfully lost going to Tokyo Tower, but the Tower itself was cool. Not as cool as ma chère Tour Eiffel, but still pretty neat. After, my brother (who was on a night-shift schedule) passed out and I wandered Shinjuku, amazed by the lights and the spirit, finding temples and red light districts and really really confusing udon shops that have eyeballs staring at you. Saturday was the Day of Walking – we went from Shinjuku down to Harajuku to Shibuya, seeing parks, shrines, shopping, lights, and lots and lots of people. I bought my brother some scarves and a fancy hat. Then for Christmas Eve dinner we got (very expensive) Brazilian BBQ, which was all you can eat and drink, which I made the most of before my brother again passed out. Then Christmas we made breakfast, opened presents, hung out, then he slept while I hung out. It was an overall chill day as I played lots of video games, as Steve had work. Then Monday morning we grabbed breakfast, drove around, waved to Fuji-san, and played with Charley, an energetic choco-lab who chewed up my hands and scarves and anything else he could find. Finally, my brother kicked me out (lovingly) so he could sleep so I headed to the ancient temples in Asakusa, did some shopping, then walked over to Ueno and saw some more parks before heading to the airport. My trip back was long, but uninteresting. I went from metro to train to plane to bus to taxi. I got back to campus around 11:30 at night (not bad considering I landed at 10) and crashed. And now here I am!

Overall, I really really enjoyed Tokyo. It was expensive as hell, especially contrasted with the cheapness of China, but it was worth every cent. It was also cold, but I think I’m finally starting to get used to it. You can drink the water! The biggest difference was the Japanese people, though; the soul of the city. In Shanghai, it’s really different but it’s also somewhat western, architecture-wise. The second you get on the train in Tokyo, though, you’re seeing all these adorable little Japanese houses plucked straight from a movie. The people were actually polite – on the metro if a seat opened up, people would spend five minutes trying to force other people to sit down, or it would just remain empty while ten people stood around it, each too polite to sit down. In Shanghai that seat would be gone in less than a second. People were courteous; if they bump into you, or if they’re squeezing through a crowd, there’s a nonstop flow of “gomen nasai – sumimasen – gomen nasai!” The Chinese just shove you and move on in their lives. There was one incident in particular that I remember; I was walking to Ueno on a fairly busy street, and an elderly woman on her bike fell over after swerving to avoid something. In China, maybe one person would stop, but most would move on; in Tokyo, about ten people, myself included, rushed over to help her up, gather her groceries, make sure she’s alright. It just really shocked me. That’s not to say that the Chinese are rude, necessarily. They just have different priorities. If they know you they will be some of the kindest people in the world. Strangers, however, are outside of their sphere of caring, so they push without even realizing they’re being impolite.

So what’s ahead right now? New Years, for one. Originally I wanted to go to Hong Kong, but then I figured I ought to stay in Shanghai with all my friends. So hopefully we’ll find something fun to do; maybe a fancy party on the Bund where we can watch the fireworks. This week in school is review week, working Tuesday-Saturday, then next week is finals, followed by a week of sitting around and twiddling our thumbs. Then, I get to go to Lao and Cambodia! Super, super excited. It’s going to be amazing. Something like seventeen days down in warm weather, traveling, seeing things unlike anything I’ve ever seen before, with a fun, yet interesting social dynamic. I just hope I don’t die, I’ve never travelled for such a long period before, especially backpacking. It’ll be fun.

So there’s my life. Miss home, miss friends, but as is life. I’ll keep you guys updated if anything interesting happens. Peace out.