Snapshot

(Heather)

This will be a very brief blog post, as I’m quite tired at the moment. Nevertheless, I wanted to provide all of you a brief glimpse or snapshot of my life here in China. In particular, I want to write about my commute to school each day.

While Dareus, Max, Timmy, and Caitlin are all driven to school by their respective host parents, or take a bus with host siblings, I ride a bicycle that the school has graciously provided for me—it’s bright blue, and has a nifty basket on the front for all sorts of bags and odds and ends. Before I can reach the bicycle, however, I first have to leave my apartment, and venture to the first floor—I’m on the seventh—via the elevator. Quite honestly, the few minutes I spend in the elevator each day are the times when I feel *most* foreign and helpless. Because, you see, as I approach the elevator and press the button, doors inevitably open to reveal local residents of the apartment complex, who look at me skeptically, wondering what the heck I think I’m doing in their nice, peaceful building. These residents then inevitably start speaking to me in Chinese, to which I reply “wo shi laoshi” in my incredibly limited manner, while gesturing frantically in the direction of the high school. Then, of course, they proceed to ask me more questions in Chinese…all of which I am unable to answer.

After I unlock my bicycle (a process that might take longer than actually riding it to and from school), I spend a few minutes riding down the mannequin lined silk street, where various shop owners track me silently with their eyes and occasionally offer a happy “hello, hello!”, hoping the blonde foreigner will stop and spend her copious (hah!) amounts of money on their wares. Other locals, riding to their own jobs on mopeds and bicycles, just look at me in an annoyed manner—clearly, they want me to be more adept at dodging the fruit carts, stinky tofu stands (it is a POWERFUL smell), and other pedestrians. Side note/question—why are all the mannequins Caucasian and Western looking?

Shortly thereafter, I arrive at school, where I am greeted, welcomed, and once again can communicate with others!