Hello all,
My last week in Xi'an was particularly eventful, as I attempted to squeeze as many things as possible into the little time I had remaining, making that week especially meaningful among those I spent in Xi'an. I also apologize for the delay in getting this post up. After arriving in the United States, my immediate motivation to post, coupled with other obligations prevented me from being as punctual as usual. Thankfully though, that motivation along with a moderately rational sleep schedule is now coming back.
My last week started off with class, as usual. I continued sitting with the teachers at lunch, which was a great means of practicing Chinese conversation, something not gained by sitting with the other Americans on the program. This taught me many new Chinese words as well, and allowed me to teach the teachers much about American culture. After school that Monday, the program decided to bring us on another outing in Xi'an's Xiaozhai neighborhood, to the large bookstore there. I pointed out to our resident directors that Daxingshan Temple is a few blocks away from the bookstore, so they decided that it would be a good idea to go to the temple first, seeing as many of the program participants had still never been to a Buddhist temple in Xi'an before. I was promptly appointed 导游, or tour guide by the resident directors, and simultaneously given responsibility for the entire group. We then all took a bus together and walked to the temple, where I was asked many questions about proper behavior in a Buddhist temple and the roles of various structures. It was interesting to be considered such an expert on temples and Chinese Buddhism, something that I am not currently, and for a long time probably will not be. In what was perhaps the most coincidental happening from that temple excursion, I ran into my friend Laura, with whom I had previously gone to several temples, which was quite a surprise in a city of 8,000,000 people. If I were to find her anywhere though, a Buddhist temple would not be unexpected. We then walked probably a slight bit longer than I had anticipated to the bookstore, where I failed to find certain language books I need. Giving a Russian-Chinese dictionary to a friend as a joke definitely ended up being a good decision though, since I ended up having a very long conversation with the college student who asked me if I spoke Russian. This was a very unique conversation, since as a philosophy major, and history buff, he knew a lot about western and United States history unlike most Chinese people, but he only knew their Chinese names. This way, I was able to learn the Mandarin names of various Western historical figures, such as Thomas Paine, Alexander II, and Baruch Spinoza. The conversation also definitely improved my Chinese skills, since he talked very fast.
Tuesday was less eventful, with a usual walk home from school (I got to glimpse the mysterious monorail that has only a track, but rarely a train). That night however, my host brothers and I decided to walk to the mall. Finding nothing to do at the mall after walking around we decided to head back, though it was definitely fun to go out at night with my host siblings. I also learned what I had deemed were horrible whip noises were actually bianzi, men hitting tops with loud whips in public squares to make them spin.
Wednesday was another great day, possibly the most rewarding during my time in Xi'an. After going to a soup kitchen next to Xi'an's largest Catholic church two weeks prior and finding out we did not have any time to actually volunteer at the soup kitchen, I was determined to return independently. That day I told my host father I would not be going home for dinner, but instead would be volunteering at the soup kitchen. I decided to go early, so I took a bus at 4:00, and got there a half hour later, two hours before volunteers could start showing up. I spent that time in the courtyard instead, having many great conversations with churchgoers and employees, who were very interested in American culture, and very willing to teach me about Christian culture in Xi'an. Although I usually like to stay away from stereotypes, Chinese Christians are some of the most universally friendly people that I had met during my time in China, and I made many new friends that afternoon in the churchyard, even with the guards ( although their accent was particularly difficult to understand). There also was a small Christian school taking place at the church, and the children were very glad to chat with the mysterious foreigner who was speaking Chinese next to the church, before dancing for a long time in the middle of the churchyard. I even spent some time talking with an Italian intern, who was one of the few other foreigners in Xi'an able to speak Chinese. After waiting two hours, I went and bought some noodles for dinner to go. Unfortunately "to go" in this cafe meant placing all the noodles into a bag without a plate or bowl, and then giving the bag to me. Luckily one of the guards in the church let me eat in a guard shed with a bowl, so I didn't have to eat straight from a bag. Soon afterward the soup kitchen started, and after bringing supplies to the sidewalk, we began giving out food to many unable to afford food. The soup kitchen is China's first, and is run three days a week from a building next to the church. It was started by a British man named Tony, who also speaks Chinese, and arrived in China ten years ago for mysterious reasons, never planning to go to the country in the first place, planning to go to India instead. Nevertheless, he runs an amazing Charity, and I greatly enjoyed volunteering there, and passing out baozi at the kitchen. I also enjoyed talking with other more regular volunteers, particularly one high school student who showed me how to properly give out food at the kitchen, as well as her student life in China. After bringing in all the supplies, I went back to the church, and watched the service for fifteen minutes. Although I have not always understood many aspects of religion in the United States, I greatly understand the appeal of Christianity in China, especially in relation to other religions, due to its communal congregations and children's choirs, among many other things, far warmer than the environment provided by other religions in China. After leaving the church, I had one more conversation on the bus with three college students, a man and two women. The man introduced himself with "hey guys, where are you from!" Based on his English grammar, it was not difficult to switch to Chinese and talk about my Chinese experience, as well as their lives as Chinese college students. I ended up leaving the bus with his phone number. I also enjoyed getting to experience the city of Xi'an alone at night. The city has a much more cosmopolitan feel at that hour, much more reminiscent of American cities at night
On Thursday, I realized that there were still two museums in Qujiang, my local district of Xi'an that I had not yet visited. I decided to pay a visit to one. It was very similar in style to a modern art museum that we might see in the United States, a culture rare in China. Unfortunately, such modern exhibits were not there, and there was only one exhibit open. That exhibit was however, very interesting, featuring many antique Chinese paintings ranging from the Sui to Qing dynasties, covered with beautiful landscapes. I then walked to another museum, featuring many artifacts from China's history. Unfortunately the placards behind many artifacts read "in the style of," rather than stating a certain artifact was actually from a certain time period. The tour guide informed me however, that this was not the case, though I'm not entirely positive. The tour, nonetheless was very informative, and I wrote down all the words I did not know on my brochure. Another event of note from that day, was the cab driver, who was not only particularly willing to talk to me in a friendly manner, but also had an understandable accent unique among cab drivers, making for some unique conversation.
On Friday, after studying and taking our final, which thankfully was not as difficult as I thought it might be, instead turning out to be one of the easier tests I had taken, and a meeting with Heidi, I decided to go back to the old city of Xi'an to investigate one of the few remaining places I had not yet visited. I took a bus to the Eastern Gate, got off a stop too early, walked around a bit, got very wet in the rain, purchased an umbrella, circled the same block twice (It was a very interesting and Chinese block), before finally asking for directions and arriving at my destination, which happened to only be 100 meters away from where I was standing. I found myself in front of the Xi'an Incident museum. Although the Xi'an Incident is a relatively unknown historical event in the west, it is very well known in China, especially in Xi'an. It also has had a very important effect on history, especially compared to the event's prominence in the west. The Xi'an incident took place in 1936, and was carried out by Zhang Xueliang, a Manchurian warlord, who inherited Manchuria at age 27 from his father and decided to begin cooperating with Chiang Kai-Shek, and China's Guomindang government. Chiang Kai Shek, leader of China at the time, ordered Zhang to attack the communists, who he deemed a significant threat to China's stability. Zhang deemed the Japanese, who had begun their invasion of northern China the true Chinese threat.Chiang Kai-Shek came to Xi'an to observe Zhang's progress. Zhang then arrested Chiang-Kai Shek, and then brought him back to his house to begin negotiations with other Guomindang and Communist Chinese leaders The ruling Guomindang party eventually agreed to an alliance with the communists, a united front that would fight against Japan. Zhang spent over 50 years under house arrest for the incident, but is today revered in China as a hero, with an entire building in the museum dedicated to his life. The museum is today located in his former house, a large complex featuring meeting rooms where many important officials, such as Zhou Enlai met with officials from rival parties. The museum was also a nice break from ancient Chinese history, seeing as I am also very interested in modern Chinese history, something that is not too easily found in Xi'an. The museum was also great Chinese practice, since the descriptions did not feature English translation like those in most of Xi'an's other museums, leaving me to work out translation on my own. After visiting the museum, I took a bus to Xi'an's Muslim Quarter, where I still had some gifts left to buy. The street was very interesting in the middle of the rain, with several inches of water on the ground, and various bricks thrown all over the place too keep the water out of pedestrian's shoes. After purchasing some gifts, getting some neat bargains on souvenirs and running into my classmates, I took the subway home.
Saturday morning started out with a trip to a local convenience store to purchase gifts for my host family (I got them 6 large chocolate bars, one for each member of the family). I then went with my host brother and mom to the program graduation ceremony. Here we each received certificates, watched a slideshow and documentary one host brother had created, watched a variety of performances, including a skit from each Chinese class. Our class' skit was about the ten oddities of Shaanxi province, famously recounted in many folk stories. Although it was somewhat ridiculous, I nonetheless had a lot of fun playing the girl from Shaanxi province, wearing a dress, and playing Kan Guo Lai ( a popular Chinese song) on the guitar. We also received gifts from teachers. I told myself I wouldn't cry, and lasted through the entire ceremony, until I arrived home and read one of the letters a teacher had wrote me, that was especially kind and heartfelt. After packing at home for two hours, I then went with my host brothers to meet their cousin who I had seen many times helping my host parents out with their jade business. He and his girlfriend brought us to mount Li, a famous mountain an hour away from Shaanxi in what might have been one of the scariest car rides of my life. On the mountain, we visited two Daoist temples, which were very cool as usual and a small bird sanctuary. As we only had an hour on the mountain, this was all very rushed. We then went to Huaqingchi, a famous Tang Dynasty bath house, which ironically was the actual location of Chiang Kai-Shek's 1936 arrest, prior to his transport to Zhang Xueliang's house. It is also well known for a famous romance between emperor Xuanzong, a famous Tang emperor, and his concubine, one of China's favorite love stories. I then watched an incredibly extravagant two hour dance show depicting this romance, full of many vibrant displays of synchronized dance, and a lot of beautiful illumination at the base of the now dark Mount Li. Upon going home, I then finished packing, wondering how I would ever get my bags through check-in with today's weight limits and fees.
On Sunday, I spent the morning playing with Maomao, my three year old host brother, who did not quite understand that I was leaving for good the next day, so I was very glad I got to spend some last time with him. Afterward, I went with my host family, and grandparents to a very nice restaurant, in which each family receives a private room. Eating delicious food, I also was sad to be eating my final family style Chinese meal, complete with round table, and lazy susan. Following that meal, I accompanied my host brother to Xiaozhai's bookstore again, in order to look for some useful books to aid in learning Chinese once I arrive home. I ended up buying an additional useful textbook, as well as a Chinese copy of the first Harry Potter book that I can start reading once I have finished reading Charlotte's Web. I now have a full arsenal of Chinese books to keep me busy for this year while I study independently. In the bookstore, I located my host brother, who was talking to one of his classmates. His charismatic classmate enjoyed talking with me, and the three of us talked for a half hour in the middle of the bookstore, until another one of his classmates wandered into us. This led the four of us to start talking about various topics for another half hour, until we decided to leave the store. I told them I was looking for gifts, so my host brother's original classmate, a self proclaimed "gift expert" was determined to help me find something I was willing to buy. We went on a long walk from Xiaozhai all the way to the wild goose pagoda, where I bought several items, such as a Mao Poster that changes to the face of Zhu De depending on your viewing angle, as well as some other small gifts, however it was probably mostly to confirm to my friend that I had bought something. We were also five people at this point. My host brother and his two classmates ended up finding another person from their class, so the five of us walked and talked, while they tried to get me to partake in tasks such as singing Chinese songs. They were also obsessed with the usual questions, such as whether or not I have a girlfriend. Finding our way home, I gave the classmates my QQ number and ate dinner, while finishing letters to my host family and teachers in Chinese, in order to give my experience proper closure. (Those letters took a very long time!)
On Monday morning, I was dropped off at the school with all my classmates at 5:15 AM in order to board a bus with my classmates that would take us to the airport. I presented my teachers with gifts, and said my final goodbyes to my host family, (the part where I attempted to hug my host mother, who in turn attempted to give me a handshake was very awkward at first, but quickly resolved itself). Upon arriving at the airport, we all said our teary goodbyes to our teachers, before clearing security. Of worthy note is the world's greatest T-shirt deal, found in the Xi'an airport. One T-shirt sold for 68 RMB, or three T-shirts sold for 50 RMB total. Of course, two of my friends and I opted for the latter deal, giving us each 17 RMB T-shirts, less than three American dollars. We then road a seemingly endless (20 minute) bus across the runway to the plane, which then flew us to Beijing. I initially spent our eight hour Beijing layover going to Chinese bookstores with a friend for several hours and eating lunch. We then had our three hour re-entry workshop in a traditional Chinese pavilion near the gate, which was a surprisingly serene spot for an airport, and learned about dealing with post re-entry shock, which can cause depression in many returning exchange students. We then had the privilege of meeting back up with the Hangzhou and Nanjing students for the flight back, making Xi'an's the only NSLI-Y participants to get to meet people from every other American Councils city. I spent a lot of the flight talking with them, learning about their own unique NSLI-Y experience. Some I had even met previously, through facebook. The flight was definitely one of the more unique flights that I had been on, since a large portion of it was spent standing up talking to other NSLI-Y members in the aisles, often in Chinese, which might have driven the flight attendants insane, but they gave up on us after a short while. I also spent a while speaking with the passenger sitting next to me, a Chinese middle school student who was moving to the U.S. to live with his dad, who taught in a college in Conneticut. He spoke English very well, so I would speak to him in Chinese, and he would then respond in English. Thirteen hours later, we landed in Washington's Dulles airport, cleared customs all took a final picture together, and once again said our teary goodbyes. I then waited with two other NSLI-Y students for our flights, all of which were delayed at least two hours, before boarding a plane to Albany that arrived at 1:30 AM. Although my China experience for this summer is now over, I have already decided that I will return next year, and am very insistent on taking a gap year, so I'll be sure to keep you updated on my post high school Chinese plans as well.
Well goodbye Xi'an! You will be missed, you and China's wonderful history, culture, written and spoken language, religious diversity, and the opportunities you presented me with for learning your language, the various facets of your culture, having a fantastic time, having many great conversations, and making many fantastic friends.
Readers: Continue checking this blog, my China experiences are far from over, and my interest in Chinese culture and language has only increased. I hope to keep you guys updated on these pursuits albeit on a less routine basis.
Sorry for the long post length,
Ben Weinstein
My last week in Xi'an was particularly eventful, as I attempted to squeeze as many things as possible into the little time I had remaining, making that week especially meaningful among those I spent in Xi'an. I also apologize for the delay in getting this post up. After arriving in the United States, my immediate motivation to post, coupled with other obligations prevented me from being as punctual as usual. Thankfully though, that motivation along with a moderately rational sleep schedule is now coming back.
My last week started off with class, as usual. I continued sitting with the teachers at lunch, which was a great means of practicing Chinese conversation, something not gained by sitting with the other Americans on the program. This taught me many new Chinese words as well, and allowed me to teach the teachers much about American culture. After school that Monday, the program decided to bring us on another outing in Xi'an's Xiaozhai neighborhood, to the large bookstore there. I pointed out to our resident directors that Daxingshan Temple is a few blocks away from the bookstore, so they decided that it would be a good idea to go to the temple first, seeing as many of the program participants had still never been to a Buddhist temple in Xi'an before. I was promptly appointed 导游, or tour guide by the resident directors, and simultaneously given responsibility for the entire group. We then all took a bus together and walked to the temple, where I was asked many questions about proper behavior in a Buddhist temple and the roles of various structures. It was interesting to be considered such an expert on temples and Chinese Buddhism, something that I am not currently, and for a long time probably will not be. In what was perhaps the most coincidental happening from that temple excursion, I ran into my friend Laura, with whom I had previously gone to several temples, which was quite a surprise in a city of 8,000,000 people. If I were to find her anywhere though, a Buddhist temple would not be unexpected. We then walked probably a slight bit longer than I had anticipated to the bookstore, where I failed to find certain language books I need. Giving a Russian-Chinese dictionary to a friend as a joke definitely ended up being a good decision though, since I ended up having a very long conversation with the college student who asked me if I spoke Russian. This was a very unique conversation, since as a philosophy major, and history buff, he knew a lot about western and United States history unlike most Chinese people, but he only knew their Chinese names. This way, I was able to learn the Mandarin names of various Western historical figures, such as Thomas Paine, Alexander II, and Baruch Spinoza. The conversation also definitely improved my Chinese skills, since he talked very fast.
Tuesday was less eventful, with a usual walk home from school (I got to glimpse the mysterious monorail that has only a track, but rarely a train). That night however, my host brothers and I decided to walk to the mall. Finding nothing to do at the mall after walking around we decided to head back, though it was definitely fun to go out at night with my host siblings. I also learned what I had deemed were horrible whip noises were actually bianzi, men hitting tops with loud whips in public squares to make them spin.
Wednesday was another great day, possibly the most rewarding during my time in Xi'an. After going to a soup kitchen next to Xi'an's largest Catholic church two weeks prior and finding out we did not have any time to actually volunteer at the soup kitchen, I was determined to return independently. That day I told my host father I would not be going home for dinner, but instead would be volunteering at the soup kitchen. I decided to go early, so I took a bus at 4:00, and got there a half hour later, two hours before volunteers could start showing up. I spent that time in the courtyard instead, having many great conversations with churchgoers and employees, who were very interested in American culture, and very willing to teach me about Christian culture in Xi'an. Although I usually like to stay away from stereotypes, Chinese Christians are some of the most universally friendly people that I had met during my time in China, and I made many new friends that afternoon in the churchyard, even with the guards ( although their accent was particularly difficult to understand). There also was a small Christian school taking place at the church, and the children were very glad to chat with the mysterious foreigner who was speaking Chinese next to the church, before dancing for a long time in the middle of the churchyard. I even spent some time talking with an Italian intern, who was one of the few other foreigners in Xi'an able to speak Chinese. After waiting two hours, I went and bought some noodles for dinner to go. Unfortunately "to go" in this cafe meant placing all the noodles into a bag without a plate or bowl, and then giving the bag to me. Luckily one of the guards in the church let me eat in a guard shed with a bowl, so I didn't have to eat straight from a bag. Soon afterward the soup kitchen started, and after bringing supplies to the sidewalk, we began giving out food to many unable to afford food. The soup kitchen is China's first, and is run three days a week from a building next to the church. It was started by a British man named Tony, who also speaks Chinese, and arrived in China ten years ago for mysterious reasons, never planning to go to the country in the first place, planning to go to India instead. Nevertheless, he runs an amazing Charity, and I greatly enjoyed volunteering there, and passing out baozi at the kitchen. I also enjoyed talking with other more regular volunteers, particularly one high school student who showed me how to properly give out food at the kitchen, as well as her student life in China. After bringing in all the supplies, I went back to the church, and watched the service for fifteen minutes. Although I have not always understood many aspects of religion in the United States, I greatly understand the appeal of Christianity in China, especially in relation to other religions, due to its communal congregations and children's choirs, among many other things, far warmer than the environment provided by other religions in China. After leaving the church, I had one more conversation on the bus with three college students, a man and two women. The man introduced himself with "hey guys, where are you from!" Based on his English grammar, it was not difficult to switch to Chinese and talk about my Chinese experience, as well as their lives as Chinese college students. I ended up leaving the bus with his phone number. I also enjoyed getting to experience the city of Xi'an alone at night. The city has a much more cosmopolitan feel at that hour, much more reminiscent of American cities at night
On Thursday, I realized that there were still two museums in Qujiang, my local district of Xi'an that I had not yet visited. I decided to pay a visit to one. It was very similar in style to a modern art museum that we might see in the United States, a culture rare in China. Unfortunately, such modern exhibits were not there, and there was only one exhibit open. That exhibit was however, very interesting, featuring many antique Chinese paintings ranging from the Sui to Qing dynasties, covered with beautiful landscapes. I then walked to another museum, featuring many artifacts from China's history. Unfortunately the placards behind many artifacts read "in the style of," rather than stating a certain artifact was actually from a certain time period. The tour guide informed me however, that this was not the case, though I'm not entirely positive. The tour, nonetheless was very informative, and I wrote down all the words I did not know on my brochure. Another event of note from that day, was the cab driver, who was not only particularly willing to talk to me in a friendly manner, but also had an understandable accent unique among cab drivers, making for some unique conversation.
On Friday, after studying and taking our final, which thankfully was not as difficult as I thought it might be, instead turning out to be one of the easier tests I had taken, and a meeting with Heidi, I decided to go back to the old city of Xi'an to investigate one of the few remaining places I had not yet visited. I took a bus to the Eastern Gate, got off a stop too early, walked around a bit, got very wet in the rain, purchased an umbrella, circled the same block twice (It was a very interesting and Chinese block), before finally asking for directions and arriving at my destination, which happened to only be 100 meters away from where I was standing. I found myself in front of the Xi'an Incident museum. Although the Xi'an Incident is a relatively unknown historical event in the west, it is very well known in China, especially in Xi'an. It also has had a very important effect on history, especially compared to the event's prominence in the west. The Xi'an incident took place in 1936, and was carried out by Zhang Xueliang, a Manchurian warlord, who inherited Manchuria at age 27 from his father and decided to begin cooperating with Chiang Kai-Shek, and China's Guomindang government. Chiang Kai Shek, leader of China at the time, ordered Zhang to attack the communists, who he deemed a significant threat to China's stability. Zhang deemed the Japanese, who had begun their invasion of northern China the true Chinese threat.Chiang Kai-Shek came to Xi'an to observe Zhang's progress. Zhang then arrested Chiang-Kai Shek, and then brought him back to his house to begin negotiations with other Guomindang and Communist Chinese leaders The ruling Guomindang party eventually agreed to an alliance with the communists, a united front that would fight against Japan. Zhang spent over 50 years under house arrest for the incident, but is today revered in China as a hero, with an entire building in the museum dedicated to his life. The museum is today located in his former house, a large complex featuring meeting rooms where many important officials, such as Zhou Enlai met with officials from rival parties. The museum was also a nice break from ancient Chinese history, seeing as I am also very interested in modern Chinese history, something that is not too easily found in Xi'an. The museum was also great Chinese practice, since the descriptions did not feature English translation like those in most of Xi'an's other museums, leaving me to work out translation on my own. After visiting the museum, I took a bus to Xi'an's Muslim Quarter, where I still had some gifts left to buy. The street was very interesting in the middle of the rain, with several inches of water on the ground, and various bricks thrown all over the place too keep the water out of pedestrian's shoes. After purchasing some gifts, getting some neat bargains on souvenirs and running into my classmates, I took the subway home.
Saturday morning started out with a trip to a local convenience store to purchase gifts for my host family (I got them 6 large chocolate bars, one for each member of the family). I then went with my host brother and mom to the program graduation ceremony. Here we each received certificates, watched a slideshow and documentary one host brother had created, watched a variety of performances, including a skit from each Chinese class. Our class' skit was about the ten oddities of Shaanxi province, famously recounted in many folk stories. Although it was somewhat ridiculous, I nonetheless had a lot of fun playing the girl from Shaanxi province, wearing a dress, and playing Kan Guo Lai ( a popular Chinese song) on the guitar. We also received gifts from teachers. I told myself I wouldn't cry, and lasted through the entire ceremony, until I arrived home and read one of the letters a teacher had wrote me, that was especially kind and heartfelt. After packing at home for two hours, I then went with my host brothers to meet their cousin who I had seen many times helping my host parents out with their jade business. He and his girlfriend brought us to mount Li, a famous mountain an hour away from Shaanxi in what might have been one of the scariest car rides of my life. On the mountain, we visited two Daoist temples, which were very cool as usual and a small bird sanctuary. As we only had an hour on the mountain, this was all very rushed. We then went to Huaqingchi, a famous Tang Dynasty bath house, which ironically was the actual location of Chiang Kai-Shek's 1936 arrest, prior to his transport to Zhang Xueliang's house. It is also well known for a famous romance between emperor Xuanzong, a famous Tang emperor, and his concubine, one of China's favorite love stories. I then watched an incredibly extravagant two hour dance show depicting this romance, full of many vibrant displays of synchronized dance, and a lot of beautiful illumination at the base of the now dark Mount Li. Upon going home, I then finished packing, wondering how I would ever get my bags through check-in with today's weight limits and fees.
On Sunday, I spent the morning playing with Maomao, my three year old host brother, who did not quite understand that I was leaving for good the next day, so I was very glad I got to spend some last time with him. Afterward, I went with my host family, and grandparents to a very nice restaurant, in which each family receives a private room. Eating delicious food, I also was sad to be eating my final family style Chinese meal, complete with round table, and lazy susan. Following that meal, I accompanied my host brother to Xiaozhai's bookstore again, in order to look for some useful books to aid in learning Chinese once I arrive home. I ended up buying an additional useful textbook, as well as a Chinese copy of the first Harry Potter book that I can start reading once I have finished reading Charlotte's Web. I now have a full arsenal of Chinese books to keep me busy for this year while I study independently. In the bookstore, I located my host brother, who was talking to one of his classmates. His charismatic classmate enjoyed talking with me, and the three of us talked for a half hour in the middle of the bookstore, until another one of his classmates wandered into us. This led the four of us to start talking about various topics for another half hour, until we decided to leave the store. I told them I was looking for gifts, so my host brother's original classmate, a self proclaimed "gift expert" was determined to help me find something I was willing to buy. We went on a long walk from Xiaozhai all the way to the wild goose pagoda, where I bought several items, such as a Mao Poster that changes to the face of Zhu De depending on your viewing angle, as well as some other small gifts, however it was probably mostly to confirm to my friend that I had bought something. We were also five people at this point. My host brother and his two classmates ended up finding another person from their class, so the five of us walked and talked, while they tried to get me to partake in tasks such as singing Chinese songs. They were also obsessed with the usual questions, such as whether or not I have a girlfriend. Finding our way home, I gave the classmates my QQ number and ate dinner, while finishing letters to my host family and teachers in Chinese, in order to give my experience proper closure. (Those letters took a very long time!)
On Monday morning, I was dropped off at the school with all my classmates at 5:15 AM in order to board a bus with my classmates that would take us to the airport. I presented my teachers with gifts, and said my final goodbyes to my host family, (the part where I attempted to hug my host mother, who in turn attempted to give me a handshake was very awkward at first, but quickly resolved itself). Upon arriving at the airport, we all said our teary goodbyes to our teachers, before clearing security. Of worthy note is the world's greatest T-shirt deal, found in the Xi'an airport. One T-shirt sold for 68 RMB, or three T-shirts sold for 50 RMB total. Of course, two of my friends and I opted for the latter deal, giving us each 17 RMB T-shirts, less than three American dollars. We then road a seemingly endless (20 minute) bus across the runway to the plane, which then flew us to Beijing. I initially spent our eight hour Beijing layover going to Chinese bookstores with a friend for several hours and eating lunch. We then had our three hour re-entry workshop in a traditional Chinese pavilion near the gate, which was a surprisingly serene spot for an airport, and learned about dealing with post re-entry shock, which can cause depression in many returning exchange students. We then had the privilege of meeting back up with the Hangzhou and Nanjing students for the flight back, making Xi'an's the only NSLI-Y participants to get to meet people from every other American Councils city. I spent a lot of the flight talking with them, learning about their own unique NSLI-Y experience. Some I had even met previously, through facebook. The flight was definitely one of the more unique flights that I had been on, since a large portion of it was spent standing up talking to other NSLI-Y members in the aisles, often in Chinese, which might have driven the flight attendants insane, but they gave up on us after a short while. I also spent a while speaking with the passenger sitting next to me, a Chinese middle school student who was moving to the U.S. to live with his dad, who taught in a college in Conneticut. He spoke English very well, so I would speak to him in Chinese, and he would then respond in English. Thirteen hours later, we landed in Washington's Dulles airport, cleared customs all took a final picture together, and once again said our teary goodbyes. I then waited with two other NSLI-Y students for our flights, all of which were delayed at least two hours, before boarding a plane to Albany that arrived at 1:30 AM. Although my China experience for this summer is now over, I have already decided that I will return next year, and am very insistent on taking a gap year, so I'll be sure to keep you updated on my post high school Chinese plans as well.
Well goodbye Xi'an! You will be missed, you and China's wonderful history, culture, written and spoken language, religious diversity, and the opportunities you presented me with for learning your language, the various facets of your culture, having a fantastic time, having many great conversations, and making many fantastic friends.
Readers: Continue checking this blog, my China experiences are far from over, and my interest in Chinese culture and language has only increased. I hope to keep you guys updated on these pursuits albeit on a less routine basis.
Sorry for the long post length,
Ben Weinstein