As I’m writing this, it is my 43^rd day in Asia, and my 7^th day in China. Six of those days were spent in Shanxi Province, where I am currently staying. I wanted to write about my experiences in China as soon as I arrived here, but I decided to wait until I had more of a chance to adapt. (Note: This is my 3rd visit to China, but includes new cities and I will be staying much longer).

When I first arrived, I experienced a kind of culture shock. I missed Korea…I missed California…I missed Canada…my sense of belonging was mixed up. But I think this is what travel is all about. If there is no confusion…no feeling of homesickness or being out-of-place, then how can you call it “travel”?

Honestly speaking, China seemed like an unwelcoming, unclean, intimidating, and strange place to me when I first arrived. Despite my friends’ best efforts, I could not imagine myself staying here for more than 1 month. I wanted to love China, to be good at speaking Chinese (since that is what I’ve studied for the past 3 years), but both of these seemed impossible. My perspective was negative, so the things I saw were negative.

Now, however, I feel differently. Being surrounded by the language, my Chinese is gradually coming back. (I say gradually just in case my Chinese friends are reading this and want to test me). China is not the only country I love, and Chinese language and culture likewise are not my one and only favorites. But there are people, places, food, stories, martial arts, dance, and artwork here that I truly love.

In my upcoming blogs, I will share some funny stories, memorable experiences, and discuss whether or not certain stereotypes about China are true. Please look forward to them!

Peace from Taiyuan,

-A.Z.

This entry was posted by Andy on Sunday June 28, 2009 at 9:10 am, under travel.  
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.