I have arrived in a new land far from the land of Bangalore, ayurvedic massages, and ashrams. This land is called Beijing. Beijing is a city of 17 million, however it feels less crowded than the 7 mill ppl city of Bangalore. Beijing is full of large postmodern architecture, bright neon signs, bars, restaurants, paved roads and sidewalks. The poverty that does exist has thus far been well hidden from my eyes. Traditional Chinese medicine is well woven into the city; acupuncture, reflexology, herbal massages. The youth are ultra-hip. Shaggy haircuts, tall boots, knock-off diesel jeans, the whole nine yards. Boys and girls walk hand in hand. My 26 year-old host sister does not live at my homestay, she lives with her boyfriend! This is not India anymore. But at the same time, it is not the United States of America either.
Tonight my American sister, Kit, and I went out to dinner on our own. THe first restaurant we went to had no pictures on the menu, definitely no english, and when we tried to use the phrasebook we couldn't get anything across. Humiliated we left and went to the next restaurant down that had pictures. We ended up getting the spiciest thing I have ever eaten (my lips are still burning) and some fried goo. It is tough being in China when the only things I can say are "hi my name is jessica" and "thank you" in chinese. My homestay parents speak not a word of english, so dinners tend to be a theatrical performance. But I feel very fortunate to be in my homestay, both my parents are foodworkers, my father a chef. We eat well! My host sister was there our first night, and she speaks broken english. My favorite exchange with her went like this:
me, "what should we do for breakfast tomorrow?"
her (after consulting her mom), "My mother will put out bread and jams. YOu can serve yourself and then you can put your dishes in the chicken.
I feel that a lot will be lost in translation while I am here. Luckily there are several mandarin speakers on the trip, one of which is my best friend. Without them, I would be lost.
We live with host families for two weeks and then live in a guesthosue for the next two weeks. It will be nice to have that autonomy especially since Beijing is a hopping city! I am definitely looking forward to my time in Beijing, and the many miscommunications that will accompany it. Hopefully, I will get some time later to write a bit more about my last week in India as there are some stories I would still love to share. Much love to all! I am doing acupuncture for my knee tomorrow!!
p.s. this is a shameless reminder. My 21st birthday is in a little less than a month. It occurs on my second day in south africa. if one would like to send me something and has not done so, you may want to send something to south africa kind of soon. Sorry, i know that is terrible of me to write, but I had to. I have no expectations.
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