All in all, all is well

Before I first went abroad, I remember hearing that it is common to go through several different phases of adjustment. Generally, the first phase is excitement. You love everything about your new home and overall are enthralled with the new country. The second phase is disenchantment. The cool new aspects of the culture begin to lose their novelty, and you start seeing the negative differences between the new culture and your own. If you make it through phase two, phase three eventually is acceptance, as in accepting the differences you aren’t so crazy about while being able to focus on the wonderful aspects of the new culture.

Last week I found myself in phase two. I’m doing better with it now than I was a week ago, but wow. I take a lot of pride in being able to navigate my way around China in spite of the language barrier. Maybe it’s a comfort thing, maybe it’s an ego thing, maybe it’s both. Regardless of why, last week I had a 48 hour stretch where the language barrier felt larger than at any other time I’ve been here. Between having three consecutive taxi drivers take me on bogus routes so they could collect the extra fare, and being told by two different post-offices that I was not aloud to mail anything to my family that was wrapped in newspaper (something I know to be NOT TRUE,) and realizing that I really want to be home for Christmas, I was not having my best week. I may have also made same vague threats about setting things on fire, but luckily I was mostly ignored.

But like I said, I’m doing much better with it now. I knew it was not always going to be smooth sailing before I came here, and I have been pretty lucky that the worst troubles I’ve had in Changchun have involved taxi drivers and post office workers, rather than getting mugged or something like that. I have been trying to keep with my goal of exploring more in my free time. A couple weeks back I used my day off to just wander around for awhile and see what I could find (this is something I really like to do when I’m in a new city, but hadn’t yet done in Changchun.) I found a park (as pictured) but by far the most exciting discovery was a borderline passable Roofball roof! (pictured near the top of the page.) I was all excited to go back and maybe (if the owners of said roof were nice) give it a go… and then I remembered I have absolutely no clue how to get back to it. Oh, well. At least I have the picture.

I did make it back one more time to the KTV which again was a pretty good time. The picture is from the end of the night. My big KTV find was “Runaway Train” by Soul Asylum. Nothing like finding a song from a hometown band while you’re in a foreign country to bring up your spirits (no matter how depressing the song is!) Speaking of bringing up spirits, I saw this sign (pictured below, right) at a mall the other day and it totally made my day. You may have to click on it to read it clearly but it's worth it.

Oh man, I almost forgot. Today I taught a two hour night class for adults who want to brush up on the English language skills. The class was actually a lot of fun, despite the following occurrence: Before class, I was searching the office for a clean cup. Finding none, Tracey gave me an empty coffee pot to use for water. We filled it up and I brought it with me to class. The class of six was seated in a circle, and all of us were pretty close together. I was mid sentence and tried to do the “slick” ‘take a sip of water without breaking the rhythm of the conversation’ thing that teachers seem to be able to do. I was bringing the coffee pot down from my mouth and towards the ground when it clipped the side of my chair and absolutely SHATTERED. Keep in mind, just about all of these students were older than me, and it was still in the first half hour of class, so it is safe to call this their first impression of me. Oddly enough, three of the six students decided to leave during the break (boh.) The second half of class was much better (and less painful.)

I have a much lighter week than normal this week, so I’m getting a chance to catch up on many things I’ve been lagging on (i.e. blogging, sleep, laundry, reading, etc.) I’m not going to get very much time off while I’m here so I’m trying to use this to revitalize myself as much as possible. Also, I really don’t mean to make it sound like I am unhappy here, because I really am happy here. Being away from home for Christmas is far from ideal, but as Calvin’s dad would probably say “It builds character.” I hope the Holiday season is treating you all well, and know that you are in my thoughts often.