I arrived in Xi’an on Friday night when most all of my loved ones back home were getting their Friday mornings started.
After 20 hours of travel time, all you want to do is sleep and take a shower, maybe brush your teeth. It took nearly an hour to get from the airport to the apartment I’m temporarily staying in.
I was met by a rather adorable pair of local girls working for EF Xi’an. They were so sweet and pleasantly surprised at how much I already knew about living in China. They almost seemed relieved they didn’t have to show me the ropes.
Getting Settled In Xi’an
When I got to the apartment, I was too tired to go downstairs to get something to eat. The young lady who picked me up from the airport put together the sweetest little welcome package for me. She had it laid out neatly on the intensely pink bedspread she picked out for me.
It was complete with a wok, dishes for two, cutlery, cutting utensils, cooking utensils, detergent, shampoo, soap, bread, milk, a little can of Nescafe coffee. It was so incredibly thoughtful of her.
After my roommate left to go eat, I took a shower and went to lay down, forgetting one thing that I should have never forgotten.
The beds are, no joke, the firmest things on the face of the earth. Like, I should have been preparing for these beds by sleeping on the kitchen floor for three weeks prior to my arrival. I had to remind myself that I would eventually get used to sleeping on a tabletop again.
Beef Noodles and Feeling at Home in Xi’an
After a good night’s sleep, I got up this morning and went on the search for my first meal in Xi’an. For weeks, I’ve been talking about sucking down a huge bowl of noodles. I have missed them terribly for the last three years.
I walked downstairs and past the many many people staring at me as I tried to find a noodle place. Ahhh, home.
When I found a noodle place, I walked in, asking for beef noodles in Chinese. Surprisingly, they understood – thank goodness. Maybe my Chinese language skills weren’t so bad after all.
Sitting there waiting for my hot steaming bowl of noodle soup to come out, I looked around at the dining area. It was a small space, a defined hole in the wall for those back in the states. Walls are lined with an off-white tile and 8 tables were squished up against the walls making an aisle down the middle. The tables were a beautiful wood with abstract carvings around the edges.
The sense of belonging I feel in China is something strange. In so many ways I was just destined to be in China, live here. Although I am nothing like the natives in the area, China feels like home and has always felt like home.
Everything around me is worth smiling at, thankful to be back in a country I love so much. I hoped I would pick the language up again, sort of like riding a bicycle, and that my listening skills would perk back up.
A New Beginning and New Experiences
I have the wisdom to know that this experience in Xi’an will be nothing like my last experience in China. That it’s not reasonable to compare what I will be experiencing next to my time in Chongqing. It’s two different places and those are two different people. But I can’t even begin to explain how exciting that is to me.
What feels different, is that I know the language, I know how to use things like WeChat, Alipay, VPNs and all that. I know how to navigate bus systems, I can read most everything. I know not to drink water from the tap and to put slippers on when I’m at home, each region has a different dialect. I am comfortable with traveling in a country that is nothing like my own because I’ve done it before.
Regardless of what province I am in, I have the confidence.
The confidence alone gives me a leg up in this next journey. I remember my first time in China and how scared, vulnerable and illiterate I felt. I have high hopes that I will spend the next year getting better at the Chinese language, seeing the places I didn’t get to see last time, and singing KTV with locals. Then there is getting back in shape and eating healthy food and making an impact on at least one little kiddo at EF Xi’an.
Plus! People will have more of an opportunity to come visit, a thought that makes being away from home not so daunting. It’s not like being a volunteer living on a small stipend that barely affords you a cup of Starbucks once a month.
This is just the beginning of this exciting journey. I look forward to capturing my experience here better than the last time. That means getting better pictures and videos, going to more places, spending more time experiencing the culture and encouraging people to visit China.
Stay tuned for more on my journey in China. Posts come out every week!
