China - Last Minute Thoughts
One day left in China, then back to the familiarity of Hong Kong for a couple of days, then off for Round 2 of my great adventure. These 12 months off have been the experience of a lifetime, and once again I'm confronted with the thought of leaving a place that in many ways I have grown to love. My love for Beijing has nothing to do with the overcrowded streets, the painfully depressing weather than fluctuates (in the spring) between numbing cold with freezing wind and stinky/hot/humid and stagnant. It also has nothing to do with the supposed "Chinese Miracle Economy" that has given people around the world China Fever as they flock to the perceived gold rush of opportunity. I have my own thoughts on this, but I just don't feel like sharing them now. My love of Beijing comes from the incredible hospitality and friendliness of the people I have met here. Despite their initial gruffness, the people I have met here a genuinely friendly, loving bunch. I have been shown incredible generosity by people I barely knew, and my bad attempts at speaking Chinese have been met with only support and excitement that a foreigner like me would want to learn Chinese. Sadly the same can't be said for my fellow language learners, many of whom are extremely critical of one another and very eager to correct someone else's mistakes. I guess a lot of people learning Chinese feel threatened by others doing the same thing?
As for Chinese itself, I have fallen in love with the harsh Beijing accent, with its gutteral "h" and the addition of "er" (pronounced "arrrgh", yes, like a pirate!). Some people hate the way it sounds, but I LOVE IT! I think perhaps part of the reason I love it is that the Beijingers seem so happy to say it! They also seem so happy when they get to explain that the "er" is a part of their local accent. The Chinese people I have met love talking about China, and they also LOVE talking about Chinese food! Don't get me started on that!
So thats it for my pre-nostalgia for Beijing. Over the "spring break" to XinJiang I spoke to my new "global superfriend" Lisa about the phenomenom of going to places and thinking to yourself "yeah, i'll definitely be coming back here". Sadly I don't know if this little promise I make to myself is actually true, although I have to say that I have been pretty decent about it in the past. China is definitely on the list, but some other places I'm not sure. The problem is that once you fall in love with a place, you really do have to come back, and I know some places are beckoning. Also once you make friends in a place, you owe it to them to come back. I really need to find a job that lets me take advantage of how small the world is. My old boss Richard Blackett (i'm sure he doesn't mind me using his name. Might I add that he might be my favorite person EVER) had the craziest job. He had to fly all over the world meeting with companies and bankers as sort of the "international guy" for years and years. He was a road warrior in the truest sense. However, I traveled with him a couple of times, mostly to Canada and the midwest of the US, and I'll never forget the things he said to me about it. For example, after waking up at 4am to cath a 6am flight to Montreal following a midnight night in the office, we then had meetings all day only to get back to the airport two hours before our return flight on the same day. I fell asleep in a chair at the gate, and when I woke up Blackett was there looking at me and said "Welcome to the Glamorous World of International Finance". I'll never forget that, but at the same time I think he was addicted to the travel and the work in the same way that I was/am. The real question is whether, as Blackett predicted to me over drinks on my last day with Citimonster, I'll try out other jobs and find that they just don't give me the same rush/energy as my capital markets gig. No idea what the answer is.
OK, this wasn't meant to turn into a self-reflection on my old job! It was meant to be a quickie on my final thoughts about China. OK, here is the synopsis, then I'll give you (of course) a LIST of my repeat destinations.
Synopsis from Beijing:
Good: People, food, trains, history, tea, exchange rate, cost of living, fake luxury goods
Bad: Wine/Baijiu, traffic, pollution, piracy (a problem i choose to contribute to), aggressive silk market merchants
So riduculous you MUST see it: Beijing Opera (runner up: Beijing frizzy mullet haircut)
Totally Overrated: Hot Pot
Exactly What You Expected: Great Wall
Surprisingly Awesome: Tiantan (temple of Heaven) park
Surprisingly Terrible: Foreign students overly obsessed with learning Chinese
Potentially Addictive Everyday Item: Bao ze
What I'll Miss Most: My host family and classmates
What I'll Miss Least: Walking over the stinky river
OK, here's the fun list that you've been waiting for: PLACES OUTSIDE THE US THAT I HAVE BEEN TO MORE THAN ONCE! Now I can actually fill this in with some decent results!
Hong Kong - 1983, 1999, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006
Australia - 2001/2 & 2005
Bangkok - 2002 & 2005
New Zealand - 2001, 2002, 2005
Singapore - 2005, soon to be 2006
London - 1990?, 2004, soon to be 2006
Paris - 1990?, 1998
Argentina - 2003, 2005
Canada - A lot
So its not a super duper list, but I feel like I'm doing a decent job of hitting places more than once, especially once I have friends there. China is definitely on that list, and actually most of these are places I'll like to see again. In fact, I'll
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