Departure... mine

08/28/10
10:57 PM

So the program is over and oh, it hurts. I was going to write a sweet entry about how Beijing seems to have molded, gelatinously, to my shape such that I feel comfortable here, but I’m far too distressed. I leave for Guangzhou tomorrow to meet my father, oldest brother, and other family, for a week and a half of traveling before going back to the US.

To cheer you up, here's a photo of Zang riding her bike:

Drew and Cunning left yesterday night to Shanghai while Sophia, Katherine, Shirley, and I had dinner with Shirley’s uncle. They nearly missed the train (they called us because they were confused about an hour before their train left, and texted 20 minutes before the train left saying they were stuck in traffic), but boarded minutes before it left. I'm glad they made it, or I would have felt rather guilty, since Drew and Shirley and I had gone to Jingshan Park that afternoon to sightsee. We had a bit of trouble finding a taxi home, so took rickshaws to the subway station. Which is another story. Shirley and I woke up, went to buy gifts for our lab which we delivered, ate a ridiculously decadent bao bing at a fancy restaurant called Bellagio.

Then we met Drew at Lingjing Hutong station to go to Jingshan Park, a site famous for being where a decadent emperor hung himself, ending the Ming dynasty. It’s gorgeous- heavily wooded, but full of paths, and with a large mountain in the center made from the dirt excavated from the moats around the Forbidden City many centuries ago. It’s adjacent to the Forbidden City, and the view is amazing. We, amazingly enough, ran into Katherine at the pagoda at the top of the mountain. Is Beijing too small for us, if we run into each other while exploring? We then took goofy tourist photos together wearing fake traditional ‘emperor’ and ‘empress’ wedding outfits. We did go to see that tree where the emperor hung himself. It’s not that impressive. Judge for yourself:

The park was heartachingly beautiful though. And the weather was clear and autumnal and gorgeous... we all spent entirely too much time photographing the sky.

Today, Katherine left early in the morning, and Shirley went to hang out with family. I went to the zoo to shop with Lei Lei and Zang. Afterwards I met up with Shirley and her family to go to the airport to see Shirley off, and because my father brought American treats for my labmates to share. This was an enormous hassle, mostly because my father and brother speak no Chinese and were unable to dial my cell phone number using the public phones.

Afterwards, I took the train and subway back alone, which took over an hour. It was depressing. I realized there are only three* (*six) people in the country who know and could dial my cell phone number, which is depressing* (six isn’t too bad*) (Drew, Zang, Sophia, (John, Peter I guess), and my friend Yi from Shanghai). I went and got my (broken, but rideable) bike from PKU, which was depressing. I gave some American candy and popcorn to the man at the convenience store who we’ve made friends with and said good-bye, which was depressing. But the most depressing of all was riding my bike home in the dark to Zhongguanxinyuan and realizing this was probably the ultimate or penultimate time of ever doing that. And realizing I was coming home to an empty dorm. And realizing that really the last time I rode home was a while ago, since this isn’t really home without the program kids here.

Not to get all heavy on you. I’m too sad to be flippant!

Another reminder of the passage of the seasons: the vendors which formerly sold apricots, melons, peaches, and cherries all switched seemingly overnight. They’re now selling fresh walnuts, roasted sweet potatoes, pomegranates, and roasted chestnuts. Even more distressingly, a walk into any grocery store reveals a freshly constructed wall of boxes of yue bing for sale (moon cakes, for the Autumn Festival).

Tomorrow I leave for Guangzhou at 12:30pm, which is terrifying, because I now have to switch my two months of Mandarin back to a lifetime of Cantoengrish. I have an impossible list of things to do between now and then (finish packing, buy my dad a phone card, exchange money for my brother, give my bike and the candy to Lei Lei, take the hourlong trip to the airport AND arrive maybe two hours before my flight… as well as a few other miscellaneous errands I already finished while sitting here typing.) I am going go out and get something to eat by myself, maybe bike to Wudaokou and buy some skewers from Bike Skewer Homie. Then I’m going to take a deep breath. And finish packing. The rest, who knows how I’m going to do it? I guess I’ll get up at 8 tomorrow and check out, then take my stuff to lab at 8:30 or so, then leave at 9:30 and catch the airport express line.

I don’t think there’s any way I can buy the phone card and exchange the money until I get to Guangzhou. Whoops. The bank doesn’t open until 9 or 9:30, and the only place I know to buy this type of phone card is at Beiyi, and doesn’t open until afternoon.On to the next stage of my travels! I’m realizing Beijing wasn’t really my motherland after all: the vegetables, the food, the candy, the culture and language were all unfamiliar because Cantonese people eat and talk differently.

Also, I apparently have several generations of family in Guangdong, who are coming to the airport to pick me up. Shirley’s uncle ordered a plate of gai lan yesterday and Sophia asked what it was. Gai lan! Which I’ve eaten from the womb! And Shirley’s uncle said, oh it’s a Guangdong vegetable… not so common here in Beijing.
I’m ready to go!