The People That You Meet

With Liu Liu on the Sichuan University Medical Campus

I can't believe I've been home for over two weeks already, which is half the time I was gone.  I have had two different versions of this post started, but I couldn't quite articulate what I wanted to say. But it's only going to get more difficult the farther away from the experience I get, so here it is.

Two years ago we had a personality assessment done at work aimed to help you understand yourself and your coworkers better.  Ultimately we were all separated into colors, which somehow explained a set of traits you possessed.  Unsurprisingly my color, blue, is the one that is described as caring most about relationships and people.  That matches with the work that I do, both internally and externally.  People are what matter to me, and that is the filter with which I see my world.

So when looking back at my month in China it isn't the sights that I saw, the food that I ate or the work that I did that resonates with me.  When I'm asked if I had a good time, or if I want to go back, I'm always thinking of the people who made such an impact on me.  I genuinely felt that some of them were my friends, and others had definite friend potential.  However, they live half a world away, in an environment where we can't even be Facebook friends.  That to me is bittersweet.  

I've talked a lot about the things I did, saw, ate and purchased while I was in China.  So I thought it is important to share something about the people who made such an impact on me.

With Wu Tingzhao on the Sichuan University Medical Campus

Wu Tingzhao is the librarian who visited ASU last fall, and whose presentation about the Sichuan University Libraries first inspired me to consider applying for this exchange program.  Mr Wu and I share similar enthusiasm about customer service, and he was very interested in learning about our Library Minute video series.  I was most touched by his thoughtfulness in taking me to lunch at a restaurant near his campus that specializes in steak, as he was sure I was missing western food at that time (I was - what a relief to use a fork!).  

Hu Lin standing in front of his childhood home in Luodai Ancient Town

Hu Lin also visited ASU, in 2010.  Lin took me to his hometown, Luodai Ancient Town, which made a big impact on me.  His family lived in this house until 2000, and it is now a shop that sells souvenirs   Literally just steps off the tourist laden path was another of his family's homes, as well as his middle school and high school.  It was interesting to walk around this tourist attraction and consider how not that long ago this was just a small town.  I was grateful that he took the time to show it to me.

Zhang Chen and Karen at East Music Park

Zhang Chen and her friend Karen took me to the East Music Park in Chengdu, which was created from an abandoned factory.  While I enjoyed walking around and seeing how the factory was transformed to a vibrant community center, what was much more enjoyable was vistiing with these two women who have been friends since college.  We sat and drank tea for a long time and compared stories about life in our respective countries.  Oh and we were fascinated by this company where people can make their own movies, with costumes, makeup and sets provided.  

Merry on the grounds of the Jinshu Archaelogical Site

"Merry" and her husband "Stone" graciously invited me into their home when I told her I was interested in seeing how regular people lived in China.  We sat on the balcony of their 5th floor apartment (everyone lives in high rises - it's just a matter of what floor you are on), drank tea and talked for hours.  Stone is a computer scientist, and one of my favorite stories they shared was how Merry, a librarian, translated one of his scholarly journal articles into English.  I saw a copy of it and was amazed at her ability to understand the science/math of the article enough to translate it into English!  Merry and Stone also introduced me to Sichuan specialty foods: snacks.  This type of food reminds me of tapas:  they order many small plates of things like dumplings, noodles, fish and soup and share among a group.  I found that I like all types of dumplings, and most kinds of noodles.  (I love carbs from all countries).

Sun Shi on the grounds of Du Fu's Thatched Cottage

Sun Shi and I had a great time on two consecutive Fridays.  We did some work, visiting the Chengdu Public Library, but she also indulged my curiosity about the retail experience in China.  We went to a mall just outside of town (on Ring Road 3), and then to IKEA.  Shi loves IKEA as much as I do, but cautioned me not to visit on a weekend, as they are really crowded.  She also told me that people love to go to IKEA and literally sleep on the sample beds (sadly I have no photo of that).  Plus we had a few laughs guessing if foreigners we saw were American or European (I think we were 100% accurate on it).  But Shi will be forever remembered as my sidekick in the miraculous iPhone recovery incident. 

Josiah and Amelia with Josiah's schematic on a flying classroom. He was sad to find out aerodynamics wouldn't allow it to happen

Becky, William, Josiah, Amelia, Hannah and Bethany (William's sister), are the family I met in McDonalds.  I ended up spending a bit of time with them, and enjoyed every bit of it.  They were so kind and generous with their time, I was truly touched by them.  Making actual friends outside the libraries made me feel much more connected with the place I was visiting, and also gave my time a little more meaning.  Through them  I got to see how an American family is adapting to their life in a foreign country (they've been in China for 9 years).  Also important:  they own a bagel and smoothie shop called Aloha just down the street from the West gate of the university, and at the end I got my breakfast from there a lot.  I also enjoyed exercising my "Aunt Jennie" kid skills.  I love talking with kids of all ages, and find it easy to engage with them about things that are important to them.  Josiah, in particular, had a very fun and unusual interest in airplanes.  He not only has plans for developing new aircraft, but he also has plans to start and run his own airline (I've been promised permanent VIP status with access to my own private plane).

Liu Liu, her husband and Jake

Liu Liu and Jake at the movies

Really, any post I make about the people I met in China must begin and end with Liu Liu.  Liu Liu is truly one of the most wonderful people I've met in my life.  Yes, she was a lifeline to me when I was nervous and worried, and I knew she could empathize with me because she too was an exchange librarian before (she spent 4 months in Pittsburgh in 2008).  But over the course of the month I was there, she generously invited me into her home and to spend time with her husband and son ("Jake" and I got to be good friends).  We had fun conversations about entertainment as we shared similar interests in tv and movies (she even convinced me to watch "Cougartown" and loaned me her DVDs when I was there).  We also talked extensively about library spaces and services.  I did feel sorry for her, however, as she had to translate for me in almost all of my meetings.  My jokes are kind of lame the first time you hear them - imagine having to translate them 10 times!  

I will never forget the day I spent with Liu Liu and her family on the day of the earthquake.  While I did text her almost immediately afterwards, I left the area in search of Starbucks to calm my nerves.  I was surprised and touched to find out she and her family came to campus looking for me, as they were worried that I might be scared.  They collected me, got us all breakfast at our favorite cafe and we walked to the bamboo park for the morning.  Later that day we drove out to the Jiang'an campus and hung out by the lake, skipping rocks and walking around.  Jake even tried teaching me a few Chinese words (I'm a terrible learner).  I felt honored that they included me that day, when I knew they too were unsettled by the earthquake and nervous about potential aftershocks.  When I told Liu Liu goodbye at the airport a few days later, I almost cried as I felt like I was saying goodbye forever to a true friend.

So now I'm left back in my life, wishing that I could just text or call my friends and see how they are doing, and invite them to lunch or dinner or a movie.  But they live on the other side of the world and I need to be grateful for the time I did have them in my life.  I can hope, as well, for the opportunity to see them again in the future.  

Up on the Great Wall

Winding wall at Mutianyu

I have another blog post in the works, about leaving Chengdu and saying goodbye to my new friends there, but I’m having trouble putting that in perspective at this point.  So I’m skipping that for the moment to move on to what I did today:  visited the Great Wall.  Despite the fact that I specifically chose to route myself through Beijing in order to make this visit, it has been in doubt for the past several weeks.

Ever since I arrived in China, every single person I’ve spoken with has warned me about how crowded Beijing is, and also how incredibly crowded the Great Wall is.  They warned me about pickpockets, told me not to wear any jewelry,  and basically made it sound like an altogether unpleasant experience.  I’m not big on crowds (what do you expect from someone who grew up in small towns in Alaska and Montana), and I have been on the fence for at least two weeks as a result.  I have seen some pretty impressive things in the past month, especially the Grand Buddha and the DujiangyanIrrigation System, and I was afraid that I wouldn’t be impressed by the Wall, and more importantly be oppressed by the crowds.  When I mentioned this to Liu Liu on Tuesday, she very wisely advised me to go.  She told me that it was possible I would be disappointed when I got there, but that I would regret it if I didn’t.  I’m so happy I listened to her, because what I experienced today was amazing.

First of all, it only took a little bit of searching to find that there is more than one option to visit the Great Wall.  The place that everyone says is really crowded is called Badaling, and it is about an hour’s drive from Beijing.  But there’s another place called Mutianyu that is only 90 minutes away.  That extra 30 minutes makes all the difference in the world.  I found a tour via my hotel that only went to that section, didn’t include an “authentic Chinese lunch” (I’ve had enough of those), and came back with only one stop at a “silk museum” (aka sales pitch).  While it was slightly overpriced compared to others, it was convenient and was exactly what I wanted so I booked it.

Do I look nervous?  I don't like heights!

We arrived at Mutianyu a little after noon and took a gondola ride up to the ride.  I’m not big on heights, but it was essential to not have to hike an hour just to get to the wall.  There was plenty of hiking to do once you got to the top.  We had about 90 minutes to hike around, and I set off to the left see how far up the hill I could get.  It was promised to have the best view, and I figured that all my hiking would prepare me just fine for this trek.  That didn’t exactly work out as I thought it would as this section was incredibly steep.  I had to break it up into 50 steps – every 50 steps I would stop and take a breather and then set off to the next one.  I didn’t make it up as far as I wanted to go, but I did make up ¾ of a visible hill (the top was my original goal).  If I didn’t have to get back to meet the group, I would have kept on going.  However, it would have been better if I had my hiking supplies from home (hat, camelback, hiking friends).

Steep stairs leading to the highest tower landing I made it to.  There were more!

Can you see how red my face is?  That was a tough hike!

At this tower, there was a woman there selling water, soda, snacks and postcards.  She somehow hikes these things up there every day.  One of my fellow tourists pointed out she must have some sort of shortcut, but there's no way she doesn't have to haul it up the portion of the hill right before the tower.  I can't imagine doing that every day, but it also made me think about how they got the materials to build the original wall up there to begin with.  The scope of that is just mind-blowing.  The entire wall is over 6000 kilometers, which is an awful lot of stone, brick and mortar to haul around with primitive technology.

On the way back down I had the gondola all to myself (no crowds, no lines, no sharing), and I almost overcame my fear of heights.  It was actually a fairly smooth ride down, and the views were gorgeous.  This area must be absolutely spectacular in the fall, as the trees turn all gold and red.  

On the gondola ride back down the mountain.

I'm so glad I didn't let myself be scared away from the Great Wall.  I will happily remember my time up there for the rest of my life.  

See all my Great Wall pictures on Flickr

Earthquake Story

Me and my friend Jake hanging out at the bamboo park.

There was an earthquake in the Sichuan Province yesterday, which was somehow not on the list of things that I anticipated needing to deal with on this trip.  Many people died and many many more were injured in the quake that was centered about 70km from Chengdu, the capital of the province, and where I am staying.  Perhaps I should have considered an earthquake as a possibility as this area was hit by a major quake on the same fault line in 2008, when 90,000 people died and entire towns were destroyed.  But I don’t consider earthquake risks before I go to California, so why would I consider that here?

I’m not sure when you know an earthquake is starting (someone mentioned a specific rumbling noise that she heard), but for me I was glued to my computer following the news of the Boston marathon bombing suspect being captured when I started to feel the building shake.  At first I stopped to consider if a truck was merely going by, or if there was a train somewhere near (there’s not), when I realized it was shaking much harder and much longer than anything I’ve ever experienced.  My mind registered that it was indeed an earthquake and I jumped up trying to remember what to do.  It’s been many many years since my grade school earthquake drills, and I couldn’t remember what the proper response was.  Hide under a desk?  Go into the bathroom?  Stop, drop and roll?  I saw people outside and realized that must be it – get the heck out of the building. I threw on some clothes, grabbed a phone and dashed out the door.

Ultimately no additional quakes were felt immediately, and I briefly went back inside to get my purse, Chinese cell phone and brush my teeth before heading out again.  I still didn’t know how big the earthquake was but I decided to quickly Skype call my mom so that she wouldn’t worry if she saw a news blurb about an earthquake in China.  I basically am cut off from the outside world once I leave my hotel room (my Chinese cell phone is pretty much local use only) and I didn’t know when I would return to the room. 

I headed off to the haven where I knew I would feel comforted and I could assess the situation:  Starbucks.  During the 20 minute walk to the mall, I scoured the landscape trying to see any evidence of any damage, but found none.  There were people milling about different residential buildings, but other than that, there was no visible damage and there were people going about their business like nothing happened.  By the time I was ordering my grande vanilla latte, I had calmed down and reconnected with my host friend Liu Liu.  She was worried about me, and in fact was on campus looking for me.  Yet again, I was struck by the kindness of the people here.  Liu Liu invited me to spend the day with her family, and I headed off to meet her.  Before the end of the day her 11 year old son “Jake” and I were great friends, and I was the beneficiary of Jake’s encyclopedia knowledge of all things automotive.

In fact, I had almost forgotten how the day began, with a major earthquake.   I’ve been reminded, of course, many times since then.  Sometimes by the news, that announces that the death and injury toll keeps rising.  Then there was the large crack in the wall of my friends’ 17^th story apartment I saw this morning, but wasn’t there when I visited them on Friday night.  And finally I’m reminded, ever so strongly, by the aftershocks that continue on more than 24 hours after the original earthquake (one woke me up at 5am).  Each time I hear a small rumble and the building shake, I feel my heart race again and I wonder if this is the one where I need to escape quickly.  Thankfully they all pass quickly, and all I’m left with is an adrenaline hangover.  I’ve decided that earthquakes and I just aren’t meant to be BFF.

Do You Believe in Miracles?

What was once lost has now been found.

Do you believe in miracles?  I know I do.  This week started with a miracle for me, and then ended with another one.  I almost can’t believe my good fortune.

First of all, let me preface this story by saying that despite my lack of international traveling experience, I’m really not a travel novice.  I’ve been in almost every major American city, tons of small ones, more airports than I can count, more miles of interstate than I’d like to remember and I did make it to London and back with only a lost bag of hand sanitizer and lip gloss as casualties.  Yet this week I made not one but two rookie traveling mistakes, but was saved both times by the kindness of strangers.

First off on Monday, I went with a lovely librarian from Sichuan University named Yongmei to the Wenshu Buddhist temple.  We took a taxi across town at the tail end of rush hour, so we had plenty of time to chat with our friendly taxi driver.  He was the best driver I’ve had since I’ve been here, but I’m grading on how scary the ride is (he didn’t drive very fast).  He had a few questions for me about traffic in the United States, and we had a nice ride across town.  As I got out of the taxi, I heard a robotic voice say in English to be sure to take all your belongings with you when you leave.  I thought to myself, of course I have everything, but you know some people are stupid and leave stuff behind all the time.  Well that day I was the stupid one. 

An hour after strolling around the temple trying to figure out various Buddhist mysteries like why are the statues of the gods by the entrance so darn scary, we left to go to our next destination.  It was getting sunny so I opened my purse to get my sunglasses on only to find them gone.  I knew in an instant that I was the idiot who left their prescription sunglasses in a taxi in a major foreign metropolitan city, and that was that.   I had already mentally spent the $600 to replace them as soon as I got back to Phoenix (you can’t live through a summer there without sunglasses) by the time I mentioned to Yongmei what I did.  She immediately found the taxi receipt, called the dispatch office who confirmed that the super nice taxi driver had found them and would bring them to the office as soon as he had a break.  Yongmei then arranged a driver from the library to go get them (the office was very far away) and I had them back in my hands by Tuesday night.  Thank you travel miracle #1.

So fast forward to Friday.  I was spending a lovely day with a young library staff member named Shi, which included a stop at Du Fu’s Thatched Cottage, lunch of Sichuan snacks (although I didn’t eat this one), and then the Sichuan Provincial Museum.  We enjoyed seeing the sites but also comparing notes about life in our respective countries.  Shi is the awesome young woman who took me to the mall, Starbucks and Ikea last week because I  wanted to see where normal people liked to shop.  Anyway, we left the museum and took yet another scary taxi drive across town to a nice café.  We were just getting settled when I went to fetch my iPhone out of my purse so I could hook up to wifi when I realized it wasn’t in my purse.  I knew it immediately – I had left it on a bench in the museum. 

What a ridiculously stupid rookie move this was and I felt sick.  You don’t leave your phone anywhere, but certainly not in a fairly public space with lots of tourists.  Plus it was a needless loss because I didn’t even need to have it with me today. I’ve been carrying it around primarily so I could use the Chinese/English dictionary app.  However Shi’s English is practically perfect so I didn’t need it,  except when I was telling her about a café I found that had smoothies and bagels.  She didn’t know what a bagel was, so I tried looking it up in the dictionary app.  And then I somehow left the phone on the bench.  Major. Rookie. Mistake.

After emptying my purse to ensure it wasn’t hiding somewhere, I knew we had to go back to the museum.  We immediately dashed out of the café and down the street to try to hail a cab, which of course wasn’t as easy as we thought.  Taxi after taxi passed us, without their magic “available” light on.  While we were waiting, Shi called the museum office, but they told her they didn’t have any phones turned in.  We finally got a cab, and I endured yet another eyes-closed-pray-for-my-life ride across town.  Only this time it was eyes-closed-pray-for-my-iphone-to-not-be-gone-for-good ride.

When we arrived at the museum we ran up the stairs, through security and quickly went to the spot near the gift shop where we had sat earlier.  When we turned the corner we found three museum employees sitting on a bench who immediately flagged us down, one of them waving my iphone. I nearly wept with relief. I had been dreading not having a phone when I got back, not to mention paying hundreds of dollars to replace it (I’m pretty sure Apple Care doesn’t cover lost phones).   The museum workers told Shi that they remembered seeing me earlier sitting with Shi on the bench, as they don’t get many foreign visitors to their museum.  When they found the phone and it was in English they knew it was mine.  They thought I would call it to find it, but someone noted that it didn’t have service, so they decided to wait for us to come back, knowing that we would.  Miracle number two.

Shi and I marveled at my good fortune this week as we went back outside to hail yet another cab.  What were the chances that I would recover not one but two expensive lost items in one week?  And in such a huge city?  What I’m going to take away from this is that this is a wonderful reminder that people are basically good, no matter where they are.  Sometimes I lose track of my core belief that people are basically good, no matter where they are from.  From now on, I will be reminded of the goodness of people every time I put on my sunglasses or pull out my phone.  And we all know that that will be hundreds of times a day.  People are good.

Power of Packaging

You don't have to read Chinese to know exactly what this is.

At home I do my best to eat whole foods: fruits, vegetables, eggs, meat, things that don’t come in a package with food labels.  I’m not perfect, but I try.  However, since I’ve been in China my diet has been very laden with packaged food.  It’s not that I can’t get regular food here, I can, and do.  It’s that when I go to the market to pick up groceries for my room I can’t seem to help myself and the incredible feeling of “home” that overcomes me when I recognize something.

If I wasn’t so lazy, I would go look some information up on the psychological aspects of packaging design.  But let’s face it, my internet connection is very reminiscent of dial up circa 1995, and I’m just not that motivated.  Instead let me tell you what the outcome is:  I’m wandering through the stores here, and I’m overwhelmed with stiumuli.  Not only are there packages of familiar things that I don’t recognize, but there are unfamiliar products as well:

File Spicy Duck Tongue under "Things I won't find in the Tempe WalMart"

I can’t read any of the writing on the packaging, and I can’t understand the words to the songs playing in the store.  On top of that, clerks will approach me asking to help me but I can’t understand a word they are saying.  If I’m truly motivated to find something (like when I wanted to buy a spoon) I will whip out my iphone and consult the Chinese/English dictionary app.  But most often I just smile and walk on. 

So my head is spinning, and I start to feel stressed.  I just want to pick up whatever the minimum items I need (sometimes just water for drinking and teeth brushing) and get out as soon as possible.  But I turn down an aisle and all of a sudden my eyes fall upon something that I recognize.  It doesn’t even have to have visible English on it – colors, packaging shapes, cartoon characters, etc all make up packaging elements that bring about a sense of recognition that happens before I know it.  The first product that did that for me here was coke and coke zero, but soon thereafter I found this section

Oreos!  I see the package, I recognize it as something I know , and I feel happy.  It’s like my brain can take a breather and say, finally, something that makes sense, even if it is cookies.   I can’t tell you the last time I bought Oreos at home, but I’ve eaten them here.  I’ve also gotten my fill of these

Now I’ve also seen and recognized these:

But just as at home I think that Pringles are just a little overpriced here.  You pay a premium for the non-broken chip can design.  Also, who wants to eat seaweed chips? 

Cheese isn’t a big favorite here, so it took some scouring the dairy aisles, but I finally found this somewhat familiar gem:

I’ve eaten several wheels of this stuff.  I’m not sure it’s real cheese, but I’ve seen it in the refrigerator cases at my local Safeway at home, and it’s all I can get here, so I bought it.

I have the same response to fast food brands.  I recognized the Pizza Hut “Hut” logo before I ever saw the English words.  Interestingly enough, Pizza Hut is very upscale here with fancy dining rooms and everything (I’m supposed to eat there Sunday and I hope to report on that experience). 

My heart leapt when I saw the Subway branding on the side of the mall.  The experience of ordering was slightly different (the line moved from left to right instead of right to left and the workers didn’t understand English.  There were lots of pointing), but I was so happy just looking down at the “Subway “ logo on my sandwich bag I didn’t care that the concoction wasn’t quite delicious when I ate it.  I accompanied it with that mini Snickers bar. from the local market.

The professional lesson that I’m taking away from these observations is that the branding elements the university provides really can evoke strong powerful emotions in our audience, even unintended ones and hopefully they are all positive.  But we have to continue to use them consistently so that they are recognizable and representative of “home” even if found in another country, in another language.

Rules of the Road

I have no documentation of the worst of the traffic because I'm usually so scared I have my eyes closed.

For the past two weeks I’ve tried to figure out how to explain the traffic here.  Sichuan University’s main campus, where I’m staying, is situated in the middle of Chengdu, a large city.  It is bounded by several major roads, and so any time I need to go to a bigger market or a restaurant or café, I have to face the traffic.  I’ve also ridden in a variety of vehicles including small cars, minivans, and taxis.  From a distance the traffic flow seems to be normal, but up close, it is more like terrifying.  On Friday I was so scared during 20 minute taxi ride out to Ikea I spent the entire ride with my eyes closed.  At one point the driver passed two cars who were in adjoining lanes, complete with lane lines, by squeezing BETWEEN the two vehicles, riding the dotted white line.  Ugh.

Finally yesterday my friend Olivia, a veteran world traveler, offered this description of the traffic phenomenon:

When you're in a car, does it feel like everyone is just trying to make space for themselves? Kinda like a swirling school of fish?

I think this is an excellent description.  Imagine a school of fish that is all clumped together swirling around, but somehow manages to move forward.  You never quite know how they figure out how they fit together, but somehow they do.  That is how it feels, especially in the middle of an intersection.  There is a kind of order that makes sense, but out of nowhere someone will back up, or go around someone else, and abruptly change direction.  Occasionally a vehicle will just decide to go against traffic.  And in the midst of all of this are a billion motorcycles, scooters, bicycles, pedi-cabs, and pedestrians of all ages and agility levels.  To add to all of this visual sensation are the endless  din of car horns going off all the time.  Drivers honk all the time – not just to jar someone in front of you to move when the light is green.  No, they honk to tell all the cars, bikes, that they are there and to watch out. 

The only rule of the road I have successfully figured out is this:  pedestrians never, never, never, never have the right of way.  Never.  At the same time, it was also described to me that everyone, drivers and pedestrians alike, has to be selfish, or they will never get anywhere.  Waiting patiently to take your turn will not pay off.  It will just leave you motionless forever. 

When I’m on my own trying to get places, my strategy has been to find some other pedestrians crossing an intersection and follow closely behind them.  I’m betting on two things:  that they are natives and understand the rules of the road that I can’t  figure out; and that if I keep just behind them if an accident happens they’ll get hit but I’ll have time to move out of the way.  Remember – the key is to be selfish and think only about your survival.  I guess I learned something.

Camping and China: Things in Common

At the Dujiangyan Irrigation System

People who have known me for a long time are well aware of my stance on camping.  I’m against it.  Totally against it.  It’s not that I don’t like nature.  I love nature.  I can spend all day outside, hiking, walking around, napping in a hammock (who’s kidding who – the nap is an important outdoor activity).  But at the end of the day, I want to go home, take a shower in my own bathroom and sleep in my own bed.  I think I came about this philosophy honestly:  when I was a kid I lived in Alaska, and that’s what we did all the time.  We did stuff outside, went to the rec areas for picnics and ran on the beach, but we always came home at night. 

This morning I was Skyping with my friend Priscilla and she asked me what I liked about China.  I thought for a minute, and then responded honestly that I have enjoyed almost everything about it.  The people I’ve met have all be wonderful and interesting, and I am enjoying seeing the sites and learning new things.  But, after over two weeks on the road, I feel about China the way I do about camping.  I’m happy to be out in it all day long, but I really wish at the end of the day I was going to my own home instead of my hotel.

Today was a good example of this.  I went on a day trip with a very nice man named Lai Wei, who will actually be coming to Arizona on this same exchange next year.  We went to see the  Dujiangyan Irrigation System, an irrigation project that was created 2300 years ago.  It was truly fascinating to hear how this engineering feat made it possible for the city of Chengdu to grow and thrive, since it provides basically all the water for this area.  Also at this site there is a beautiful bonsai garden which was so peaceful – it made me want to sit and read for a while (impossible for a variety of reasons, including it was cold and rainy) .  After a short break for lunch we headed to the Qingchen Mountain, the site of several Taoist temples.  We hiked for an hour, pretty much straight up.  Lai Wei said it was very easy, but my legs say it was a workout, and my FitBit said it was 97 flights of stairs.  We met our goal and found one of the major Taoist temples up on the hill.  We took a break and visited, and Lai Wei broke out a small pack of Chips Ahoy cookies he brought for us, which touched me.  Maybe they like Chips Ahoy in China, but I’m going to believe that he (or his wife) thought it would be nice to bring an American snack for me to enjoy.  Then we headed back down the mountain, very very carefully.

It was a good day, a day spent out appreciating nature.  I learned new things, and tried new things, and got a great workout.  And all I could think about on the very long drive back to Chengdu was this:  I really want to sleep in my bed tonight.  That doesn’t mean I won’t be happy to go out and explore again tomorrow, it just means that tonight, as tired as I am, I wish my bed was a little less hard and a little more familiar.