Structure, Discipline, and Routine Sets Me Free!

For the past two weeks I have attempted to implement a structured schedule to my life here in China. Over the past couple years, I have become aware that I am the kind of person who needs to know what is coming next, or at least what is possible to make plans for. That's why I like going on trips. I like the planning process, the fantasy day-dreaming about what my experience will be like (even though, looking back, I have never been right), and the actual execution of the well-thought out itinerary. It keeps me hoping for the future. For the future to come and teach me something new. Yes, planning keeps hope alive.
So now that I have settled into teaching, Jiaxing, commuting to Shanghai, and portions of Chinese culture, I can, or rather, need to start planning my life in more detail. In other words, I can now schedule my days and build a routine that feeds my soul with a sense of accomplishment, as well as giving me a foundation from which to jump. So, Monday thru Thursday I teach in the afternoon. The mornings are for lesson planning and general reflection/meditation. I go to the gym Monday and Wednesday nights. Thursday nights I play badmitton with Kelly and 7 (her boyfriend). Fridays I go into Shanghai and hang out with my friends until Sunday, when I take the train home and have dinner with some of the other foreign teachers. My schedule not too strict, and it does allow me freedom to change and flow with the wind, especially in Shanghai where anything goes. Woo hoo!! It is flexible.
Chinese scaffoldings are made of bamboo - not just two story homes, the skyscrapers, as well. It is really a sight to behold to see 80 stories of bamboo sticks holding up a new skyscraper, with all the construction workers, and their tools. It is unbelieveable, yet total reality. Bamboo is strong like steel, but it can bend when need be - like during a storm of change and uncertainty. It is strong enough to withstand both nature's and the train ticket clerk's wrath, over which I have no control. It is not tight and brittle. It is flexible and can bend so that it need not break. I aspire to be like chinese bamboo. So I model my daily schedule after the chinese bamboo scaffolding I see all around me - my new schedule is strong yet flexible.
I also have recently purchased a dian ping che - electric bike. Part moped, part Vespa - all fun! I was inspired by my friend in New York, Danny, who got a sweet classic Vespa before I left. It is so cool and getting errands done takes half the time. As some of you know, I rode a bicycle in NYC for the past year and totally loved it. It changed my life considerably - no aching feet, more clients, more money and the breeze blowing thru my hair. Ahh, freedom! So it only seemed natural for me to acquire a new chinese set of wheels ASAP. I have had it only a week yet it has helped me keep to my new schedule. I get the funniest looks fom people on the street. As I pass them by I notice they always look twice - first in awe and then (when they see my white, foreign devil face on a chinese mode of transport smiling with glee) the smile that I love so much: big, wide and sometimes toothless, but always genuine. It is really fun, really! Maybe seeing me on my dian ping che will plant the seed that us whiteys are not all evil capitalist pigs and that we think some chinese ways are just as effective, and maybe even better than some western constructs of doing things. I mean, it must be the case; they have a billion more people then the US. Somehow they are being fed and surviving, some even think they are driving the new millenium's challenges of global economies and anti-western hegemony.
So in short, riding my little electric bike through the streets of little ole Jiaxing is encouraging China to believe in itself and emerge as a world super power. Being a teacher is more than imparting knowledge - it is instilling confidence and courage to go forth and change the world for the better. Now all I have to do is practice what I preach - one day at a time. Wish me luck!

Beijing Photos

Bob Marley and I representing One Love and No Woman, No Cry on The Great Wall. Oh, and then there's Mao.

Jiaxing - Funky Town!

So, its been a long time since I blogged. That because I have been feeling blue, isolating, and uninspired to share my woes with anyone. But things have shifted and now I feel that I have something to say. I guess what I went through was a funk. It was the 4-6 week point in my trip. It really sunk in that I am away from all that I know for a very long time, longer than first imaginable. So, it was a slightly subtle evolution, but I eventually became less willing to deal with my surroundings and a little cranky. Yeah, that's what I was - cranky. Change will do that to me. I was cranky for the last couple of weeks.
Fortunately for the entire country of China, believe me!, they celebrated Mid-Autumn Festival from October 1 - 8, and I got a week off of work! Wow, a vacation inside my vacation! Cool. Well, maybe teaching here in Jiaxing isn't really a vacation, but it is different than walking dogs, and isn't a vacation really just an experience different from the norm? Whatever Heather! Anyway, I went to Beijing and had a blast. I saw more people than I have ever seen in one place - Tiananmen Square on China's National Holiday. There must have been at least 2 million people buzzing around the square. I could only go about two seconds at a time without someone touching or rubbing up against me - in some situations that's groovy, but this was just plain crowded! But it was part of my Chinese experience. I went through the Forbidden City and, alas, I no longer believe it was my former residence in a past life. I just didn't get the rush of familiarity I expected. Oh well, guess I am truly a worker among workers, and not an Emperor in search of a throne. I got my obliatory "I climbed the Great Wall" t-shirt because I actually climbed the Great Wall. I went on a four hour hike and met some German tourists who were funny and so cool to hang out with. Back in the city, I saw a chinese punk rock band - hot! and hung out with some new and old-ish friends. Here's a "shout out" to En-Wei and Nai-Wei for putting me up - your flat is amazing!
I walked around alot and saw some pretty cool places and iconic monuments, but I couldn't shake the feeling that I was alone on my journey and that I really want a travelling companion. I miss you Sam, so much. I guess that's what sent me into my funk. I want to be able to say "Wow, look at that!" or "Could you hold this while I go pee?" but being alone I couldn't really say that without causing strangers to run the other way, fast. So, let's all hope that Sam's citizenship goes through quickly and that he gets over here this winter so we can go snowboarding together in NE China. Which would be so friggen cool its pipin' hot!
So, now that I am back in Jiaxing and have broken out of my funk, I have decided to get out more and start experiencing this funky town - the good and bad food, the kids' and old people's constant staring, the language barrier (which is another great wall), and my fear of being found out (for what, I don't know) and ran out of town (unfounded, true, but I have it nonetheless). Whatever happens I will be taken care of and I will be grateful for the experience. I just gotta keep my sense of humor and my cool. Love you and miss you all.