Landing

Between our delay at ORD, immigration, currency exchange, and bag pick-up, it was nearly 7 pm by the time I left Beijing Capital Airport. (In transit from Monday morning at 8 am until Tuesday evening at 7 pm – good thing I gained 13 hours!) My driver was waiting for me with a sign, and we walked together to the underground parking lot. It was a smoggy evening, and we hit traffic almost immediately. I was in a daze, and my confidence in my Chinese was nonexistent.

I started to – somewhat – recognize buildings and road names for sure on the way in, which was a relief. Finally near  we turned down a long, quiet hutong, and then at the end we were on a bustling pedestrian street, Nanluoguxiang. It happens all the time, but it’s so narrow and so busy that cars should definitely not be going down this street.

The driver ushered me to the hostel, and I got all set up. Most of my first currency exchange went toward my room – but the neat part is that I lived on about $65 the first week.

That night I didn’t go out again, but the next morning I ventured out to the crowded pedestrian street, a very famous touristy street in Beijing. I was immediately on total sensory overload – the people, the Chinese, the food smells, oh my. I was back.

http://www.meiguoxing.com/Features/Nanluoguxiang.html

takeoff: the action of becoming airborne

I think one of peoples’ first reservations about visiting Asia is the flight – an obvious concern. My personal belief is that a flight (financial or duration) should not stand in the way from a potentially life-changing adventure. To the best of one’s ability, anyway. I’m sure there are plenty of exceptions, but I don’t personally want it to be a thing that stops me.

But seriously, I’m more than halfway through my 13+ hour flight and I’m still not really sure what you do – in the lowly serf seats – to stay sane during that time. Here’s what I’ve done so far since arriving at the Chicago airport.

Find your gate and get your visa checked. Everyone actually lines up to board on this flight. It’s the last line you’ll see until your return to the States. It’s also the moment when people start noticing you for being one of a few foreigners, you start wondering what the others are doing but feel weird asking, and you realize you’ve forgotten pretty much all of your Chinese.

But this is it, so you board anyway, but then you’re usually delayed. Board the plane an hour early, and then wait another hour for some reason or another. This time it was a mechanical issue with the door. I had just started talking to the woman next to me when the sleepy girl plopped down between us. She keeps leaning forward and bumping her head on the seat in front of her, which turns on the TV, then waking up in a daze wondering why her mini TV is on. It’s cracking me up.

So you sit in silence browsing the movie options, read during takeoff (Mao’s Last Dancer on my Kindle!), and once you’re at a proper cruising altitude and start to doze, give in.

That nap that you think is going to take you at least to northern Canada ends before the tip of the UP. You’ve waited as long as you can to check the flight map, because you want to be really far, but no, you’re barely past the starting point.

Time for a movie! Tons of new releases! But, man, The Internship could not hold my attention for anything. Take turns between dozing and the movie until you can’t stand it. When lunch comes, pick a real movie that you’ll devote your time to. I got pretty attached to the characters in The Descendants, and also questioned why I’m not en route to Hawaii. It’s over, it’s nap time.

Now read a bit more. Journal some, browse movies and watch a French film starring Audrey Tautou. This actually has become tradition for me, I think it’s the third time I’ve watched one of her movies on this flight.

At this point, we’re six hours in and in need of a bathroom break, but seat B is still passed out. She’s a miracle. Eventually you give in because the awkwardness is so much more bearable than an exploding bladder.

Did I mention that you’re continually checking outside for anything interesting out the window? The flight attendants get upset when you keep the shade open, but what are they going to say if you only open it for a few seconds every couple of minutes? I paid a month’s salary, week’s vacation in Florida, a cheap used car, some serious credit hours at a college, my life savings, call it what you want, enough to be able to open my window shade whenever I please, as far as I’m concerned (as my knees bump the seat back ahead of me).

You’re starving and parched between naps because you’ve missed the flight attendants going by with water. They’re grumpy as they pass out cheap little sandwiches and melted ice cream (fly American), and you start another movie and a blog. Five hours and thirteen minutes, 2583 miles, to Beijing; we’re almost over Russia.

1

My last 24 hours in Grand Rapids couldn’t have been much closer to the perfect end for my time there – the only exception being how much stuff I had accumulated. I want to be able to pack my life into two suitcases (preferably one) and just go. I’m working on it, but I’m not there yet. I ended up with two checked bags and two carry-ons… in addition to the trailer full of stuff that went home.

Hassle though it may be, I’m glad I brought the second checked bag; just that much more of my personal stuff that I get to keep with me.

Moving things from the apartment to the U-Haul trailer took a bit longer than I had hoped or expected, but it got done with only one slip down the snowy painted steps. Sierra came to lunch with us at Logan’s Roadhouse – per my request because steak is pretty tough to find in China. I mean, picture eating a filet with chopsticks. We were done moving stuff out by 5 and Mom and Tim headed home in the daylight, we said our goodbyes then.

After picking up a few more last-minute items, Sierra and I grabbed a drink at Monarch’s, said goodbye to a few other friends, and I dropped her off at what seemed like a super fun Sunday evening. It was difficult though, I couldn’t have asked for a better person to help me through this fall. We’ve gotten so close; I’m not looking forward to being so far apart.

From there I headed to Rockford in a snowstorm. The weather knows when I’m going to Rockford, because there’s always a major snowstorm. Zero visibility, cars in the ditch, the whole shebang. I moved everything into Uncle Jeff and Aunt Sarah’s, and reorganized a bit. It was overwhelming. Especially when Anna asked if that was my last time driving my car; it’s been my other best friend this fall.

Some people pack weeks in advance, but I can only think about it for so long before I begin to go crazy, and that was starting to happen. I tied up a few loose ends – called the bank, got a VPN, etc. Before bed, I finally got nervous. There’s a lot of open-ended leap of faith goin’ on in this plan. I’m okay with it, but I have waves of nerves and the tide was rising as I went to bed.

This morning all four of my cousins came to the airport (with a stop at Panera for one last bagel!), and Aunt Sarah braved terrible roads to get me there safely. Despite the slow traffic on the Beltline, everything went smoothly once I got in the airport –and the bags I had been worried about for days were 49.5 and 40.5 lbs. Win.

I’m on my way.

2

On t-minus day two, I packed up my personal effects in our apartment as our new roommate was moving in. What do you take when you move to the other side of the planet?

Honestly, I thought it would be easier to narrow down my clothes. They are an outward expression of what’s going on in your head, I think. (Maybe that was why it was tough – I’ve got a lot going on in there right now.) I had wanted to take more personal stuff, like framed photos and knick-knacks. But then again moving to China is kind of like hitting a “reset” button on who you are, so maybe that stuff isn’t all that important.

In my past experience, I became a more independent, outgoing, and assertive version of myself – someone that my middle school or high school self would have never dreamed of becoming. I liked it, but I reverted when I came home because I no longer aligned properly with a Midwestern way of doing things (as evidenced by crossing the street to get from my apartment to K’s campus).

Of course I still have the same background, which gives me the same basic values and outlooks on life, but a lot has changed in the past year and I’m ready to move on. I’ll take my memories of the past with me, but some of my goals for the future have changed lately, and that might lend to a very different outcome of this move to China. Stay tuned.

Biking the city wall in Xi’an, June 2012

3

This is why I’m heading to Beijing now, in the dead of winter, to celebrate Chinese New Year and start my adventure with a bang.