That feels so weird to say. it feels so weird to think about it: I'm back here. I may not recognize the neighborhood, but I'm in Beijing. The city air proves it.
I feel like such a noob, though: like I've regressed in my China-knowledge. I remember, sure, how bad the air was. But I marveled, during last night's drive, how no, that wasn't fog. (It looks, outside, like the haze of a bar an hour after the party's over. You can't get rid of all the smoke and it just kind of fills up the air lightly. But you can smell it.) I felt the need to comment on the driving - the driving! As though I were a first-time tourist, newly shocked by the "whatever works" style of driving they have here. I was !!! when our driver, at an intersection under two concrete bridges, opened his door - the car still running - and hawked a loogie out onto the street. Then proceeded to drink some tea and nearly run into two trucks, but he didn't run into them, right? so that was okay, right?
...right?
The scary part is, I know his driving was moderate. He was, for Beijing, an okay driver. He used his turn signal, if not his seat belt.
But man, Beijing. I am all over about being here. I'm surprised, I'm pleased, I'm amazed that I'm back, I am unsurprised that despite construction, it hasn't changed.
The plane trips were good. There were huge piles of setbacks, hang-ups, surprises, unforeseen delays, unexpected et ceteras. There is nothing to complain about, which rather shocks my Eastern European sensibilities.
I think that, did I feel the need to condense my 14-hour trip from DC to Seoul with Korean Airlines into 2 main points, they would be these:
1) Food.
2) Mountains.
I was seriously delighted by Korean Air's airplane food. They had bibimbap! Bibimbap! I couldn't take a picture, as my camera was way under my luggage under my feet and my tray on top and my knitting on my lap and untangling this would have been rather like untangling this, but:
Bibimbap on an airplane!
They served it so: there was a bowl with ground meat, sliced cukes, sprouts, pickles, and shroomies in it, and there was a little sealed packet of heated-up rice . You put the rice into the bowl, poured on the sachet of oil, squeezed on the tiny tube of Korean hot sauce, and then mixed everything all up with the spoon and ate it. Much like on-the-ground bibimbap, just with reversed proceedure and fewer ingrediants.
and SO GOOD.
The mountains, on the other hand? Well, I'll let the mountains speak for themselves.
The lights came on briefly around 8 hours into the flight. People woke up, pulled their windows open, and marveled: we were over the Kamkatcha Peninsula, and everywhere under us was just white-snow mountains and frozen water. The ice extended a few miles off-shore, and there were few clouds, so you could see perfectly.
(Dork that I am, I immediately thought of Caradhras.)
In short, though, those mountains were amazing. That geography was amazing. I zipped from one emergency-slide-window to the other, taking pictures. Only when the stewardesses shut the curtains for a Secret Important Stewardess Meeting did I stop and reluctantly sit back down.
Other than mountains and food, the 14-hour trip was pretty uneventful. Read, watched movies, slept. Knat about two shaftments of a scarf I'm making to go with my Big Harbin Coat. (God, that wool! 30% silk, 70% merino, softer than anything and with gorgeous colors! ♥!) Spoke sometimes to a friendly Philipino couple next to me. Watched the rest of the pasengers.
(On Korean Air, it seems that any time that is not turbulent and seatbelt-worthy is automatically Airplane Cocktail Party Time. That is, whenever we were not strictly required to be sitting and belted in, people were just standing about, among their seats, in the aisles, or in the bathroom-areas, just talking to each other. Like the plane was a great big mingle-party. Interesting for me to see, since on European flights people stay seated to talk, and don't get social with various people around the plane, just for the chance to talk. Interesting!)
We had 50-mph headwinds, and so despite having left on time, we got into Seoul a little late - two hours. Transit was fine: I'd had some sort of difficulty with my ticket back in DC, but the young man at Transfer Counter B just took my explanation note and passport, printed me up a ticket, and smiled me away. I got back to my gate just in time to board, and after that? After that it was a 2-hour flight with me sitting next to a particularly talkative vascular surgeon. Nice guy who told me all about Chinese schooling, what to expect from students, what they like doing, how they view Westerners. An absolute gold mine for a new teacher like me, and also a good person to talk two hours to.
(I got reacquainted with a tendency I noticed in China: people like to talk to Westerners. They are curious and interested, and when they find out you speak their language they become more curious and interested still. Sure, not everyone's exactly the best conversationalist, but people want to know about you, and how you see things. I know I'll be seeing a lot of that attitude again here.)
Note also that the vascular surgeon gave me a whole bunch of useful Chinese phrases, one set being "委婉" (wei wan - a complimentary word for talking indirectly), "话中有话" (hua zhong you hua, lit "speech in the middle of speech" - that is, nuanced speech) and one more I can't remember, which was the perjorative of nuanced speech. He talked a lot about how Chinese tend to be 委婉 - indirect speech - and how it Westerners are more zhishuan - (直拴? (maybe a different "shuan")), which he said meant "direct" and he noted was seen as a good thing. I have heard the opposite viewpoint expressed in the West (how "inscrutable" them Orientals are, etc), and so I found this very interesting. I shall make Chinese friends and try to understand the matter further.
So, this is an enormous entry. I can wrap up soon.
I'm in Beijing. I still haven't gotten over that. I'm still completely amazed. I mean, Beijing! Beijing.
I want to visit some places I remember. Maybe see my old school, look at Xidan, eat at an old favorite jiaozi place, maybe go by 798, the art district. We'll see!
So, here I am. Jet lagged but with six hours of sleep, in a friend's Beijing apartment, with a day of reacquaintance ahead of me.
Oh man, China. :)
