Honestly, traveling to China messes with my days so much. We left DC on a Wednesday, but it was already Thursday in China. The flight from DC to Beijing was 12 hours, meaning by the time we got to China, it was now Friday, and the time I’m currently writing this is at 1:04 AM on a Saturday. I’m not sure how I managed to lose three days-worth of writing, but here we are.
The flight wasn’t too bad, but it wasn’t anything like the NSLI-Y flight. No one got up to go lay in each other’s seat, we didn’t walk around, and there wasn’t much chatter of any kind. I stayed bound to my seat to watch movies (Moonrise Kingdom (7/10), Emperor’s New Groove (10/10), Part of Mama Mia (great music, okay cinematography), and then parts of Coco and Myth Busters.) I also played some Fire Emblem (and forced Daniel to play some Birthright during the layover in Beijing) and read some books I downloaded onto my phone.
The flight was long, and my bone got still, but otherwise an uneventful flight. Although, one of the flight attendants did try to speak to me in Chinese, and I didn’t hear what she said, so she quickly switched over to English. This is not the first and will not be the last time I confuse someone with my utter lack of listening comprehension.
Making our way through the Beijing airport was interesting. We weren’t sure where to go because the sign said “Chinese Nationals” which we are not. We ended up having to scan our finger prints, and then made our way to the 外购人 line. The officer tried to talk to me in Chinese, and resorted to pointing. Again, I’m going to blame my poor listening comprehension skills, but in my defense, the airport was loud, and she had a soft voice.
The best part of customs was the reverse privilege. Hannah (also Asian) and I didn’t even need to get our bags screened; they just told us to exit. It was a strange feeling.
After everyone made it through, we had to get on a bus to take us 15 minutes away from the international airport and to the domestic terminal. We had to reclaim our bags, get boarding passes, and make our way back through security. This begins my downfall.
When I went to weight my luggage, the woman at the counter told me to turn my bag sideways, but I couldn’t catch what she was saying, so one of my friends translated “turn your bag over.” Yet somehow, I still did not understand what this was supposed to mean, so I ended up turning my bag around instead of on its side. I felt bad for the worker because of my incompetence.
The second mishap was at security. I somehow set off the metal detector, which meant I had to get wand-downed. I wasn’t sure which platform they wanted me to stand at, and the lady rolled her eyes. As she was scanning me she looks me dead in the eyes and says: “外国人吗？”, to which I had to lamely respond with “是的.”
And finally, because I am Chinese, I guess the woman check my boarding pass thought it would be a good idea to make conversation with me. Except for the fact I couldn’t understand her accent. I ended up tapping Hannah on the shoulder for help, but she didn’t know either. The woman ended up hitting her head on her head and laughed. I walked away.
The plane ride to Xi’an was uncomfortable. I only slept for maybe 40 minutes to an hour on the flight to Beijing because by the time I wanted to sleep, it was morning in China, so I forced myself to stay up. I was doing okay, but as soon as I sat down in the seat, I dozed off for 40 or so minutes. I was shocked to see we were still on the runway. We took of later than I expected, and I ended up dozing again, only to be awoken by a flight attendant asking me what I wanted to eat. I tried to tell her I wasn’t hungry, and I thought I was successful when she smiled at me, but then she handed me a box of food and left.
Good news: I can mostly understand what my classmates are saying when the talk in Chinese. Bad news: I’m still having trouble with native speakers.
We landed in Xi’an, met our RD, and then had an hour bus ride of 厦安师大. (Also, I think someone tried to ask me out for boba in Chinese, but they didn’t have my attention when they asked so I only heard part of the question, so I ended up nodding and walking away. I’m going to work on that.)
I had a really nice chat with Jason about Chinese goals, NSLIY, and what it means to be a heritage speaker. Maybe now he’ll remember my name (joking.)
When we got to the dorms, they handed us out some ID cards and a metro pass. Someone came up to me and asked if I had an older sister and then showed me I picture of my face. TBH, I’m operating at half-speed and I didn’t really process the fact that she didn’t recognize my face. The photo shows me with blonde hair, but it’s currently purple. She ended up walking over to another student asking if my picture was her’s and that’s when I finally realized my mistake.
The dorms at SSNU are super awesome. We have our own private bathroom, wifi, a private balcony, and A/C. Me, Korey, and Daniel took some aesthetic photos from my balcony because it overlooks a really pretty building. As for A/C, now I just have to hope I don’t accidently freeze my roommate. (She wrote me a letter, and while I could only ready 50% of it, she seems like a really lovely person.) I hope she likes me.
It’s nearing 1:30, and I don’t need to be jetlagged AF, so this is where I shall end this three-day adventure.
(Also bless, my VPN is working so far.)
