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Location: Bangkok, Thailand

Saturday, December 16, 2006

双喜临门

This marks the last post I'll be sending from China for quite awhile to come. Today, I both graduated from Washington State University (I believe, I'll have to call the registrar's office to confirm on Monday!) and from CET Academic Programs Chinese Language program. There is a saying in Chinese that I think is particularly appropriate-it goes "shuang xi lin men" in pinyin, and roughly means "a double blessing arrives." I feel like I've been richly blessed this year, despite many frustrations and days filled with angst since I've been in China. I had a great final semester at WSU, I've been able to travel to Turkey twice (my second trip starts...tomorrow!) and have had the opportunity to come to China and study for these last six months, under outstanding teachers and accompanied by classmates I'll never forget. I've learned a lot...and as always when you learn a lot, you realize you have so much more to learn! I'm going to spend months sorting this out, but when I'm through, I'll be ready for the next step, whatever it may be.

On another note, I have to report that I've fallen victim to the traveller's most commonly bemoaned petty crime. Yep, that's right-yesterday, my last day in Harbin, I was bereft of my wallet in a food market I go to every week. I was walking through these awkward hanging plastic/fabric doors that cover every doorway this time of year to keep the heat in, and felt a tug on my bag and heard my keys clink as my wallet was expertly and most definitely permanently removed from my possession. My first thought was: Shitcrap! My second was: And this was bound to happen at some point...but why today?? I had everything in my wallet since I'd been packing, pulling out money for travel, etc. The best part? I had to beg for a handout to get on the bus to go back to campus, since I didn't even have the one kuai. That was ironic, I couldn't help but be amused. On the way back, I weighed my assets. One bag of dried pineapple...two bananas...and an Odwalla bar my good friend Amy mailed me last week, to get me through until Sunday night. I thought of another expression as I was miserably hanging on to the handle at the bus, with my empty pockets turned out: 一无所有。(yiwusuoyou) That means, empty-handed and penniless. You know, I have a bank account of course, but really, it's just a figment of humanity's collective imagination: most of the money in it will never be physically manifested, it's just numbers in a computer, to be transferred and changed and sold electronically. And as I was contemplating this philosophical issue, I realized: does it really matter that I just had my wallet stolen? I didn't lose my passport or my plane ticket: I can still go home and see my family on time. I didn't get hurt: I just made a forced donation. I have great friends like Andy who didn't hesitate to say he'd be willing to cover anything I needed before we left. I have CET to back me up, which they did right away when I let Naomi know what had happened, and I realized that I'll never have nothing as long as I remember what's important and keep people like that in my life. Without these people around me, my bank account in the United States would be absolutely worthless to me, which makes me realize more clearly than ever that the most valuable assets in our life are truly not the things we own or the money we earn, but the networks and friendships we make and work to maintain from place to place and from year to year.

(sob sob, hug hug)

And so I embark on my next adventure: from East Asia to Central Asia! Look for my next update to come from Turkey, where I'm buying a purse with a zipper next week. Cheerio!

My new blog will be From Here to There, linkable off my profile, but here's the complete address: www.wherethewindblows-xiaodan.blogspot.com.

2 Comments:

Blogger Louie said...

I am just after reading every entry in your blog and I enjoyed it alot. I think my favorite is the chicken hell. Simply hilarious. Please continue writing.

9:05 PM  
Blogger Timbre said...

Louie, thanks. (five years later!) I basically stopped paying attention to this one right after I came back from Harbin...but have a new blog about Thailand now!

http://bangkokbybicycle.blogspot.com/

Thanks again for commenting:)

7:42 PM  

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