Summer Vacation

It is day eleven of my summer vacation - the first summer I have had off since grammar school. It is a little difficult to readjust from routine and actually embrace the idea that I have two more weeks of absolutely nothing. Then I leave for China for 26 days. I picked up some Mandarin tapes and tried to use them on my morning run. That was somewhat unsuccessful. I think I remember "I want" and "where is...?" of the forty minutes I listened to. Hardly going to feel confident with two whole phrases. As a second language teacher, I find Mandarin most interesting. There are many words that, to me, sound strangely identical but mean two entirely different things. A slight nuance of accentuation that I just can't distinguish. Considering I spent a lifetime learning Spanish and English, I suppose this is normal. As with anything, it takes time.

I met with a friend/colleague and her sisiter-in-law for coffee today. The sister-in-law is Chinese and was a fantastic resource. I am certainly grateful to her for taking the time to meet with me and share her insights and knowledge. She said that the Chinese are very accomodating to people who doen't speak the language, which is a relief. However, I always detest coming across as the "stupid american" that makes no attempt to learn about the culture or language of the country I am visiting. This will be the first time I am travelling in a country where I can't navigate the language and culture. Regardless, I am immensely excited for this opportunity. The challenge is always making that first decision to leave ones' area of comfort and move into the unknown. Once the decision has been made, you can then prepare yourself for some of the other unknowns. And essentially, I am always received with a profound amount of respect by people when traveling. My experience is more of esteem for taking the time to explore another country and try to learn of its culture, language and people.

So, in 16 days I depart and will arrive in Shanghai. I will spend most of my time in Nanjing, which is northwest of Shanghai. We travel to Xi'an and Beijing for six days and then back to Shanghai to head home.

Before my last adventure, my mom gave me a card with a quote: "My favorite thing is to go where I've never been." (Diane Arbus) This certainly has become one of my favorite things. (Strangely, the card is of a person hiking where I currently reside and this was much before I even considered moving here...)