My mom just typed a really long email to our neighbor back in Akron, so I asked her if I could edit it a little and post it here. It’s kinda nice having another author in town … and I think that it’s fascinating to read about her impressions of China.

Dear Karen,

Yes, it’s your neighbor here! We are knee deep in the Chinese culture. It has been such an eye-opener for us! You cannot explain on an e-mail what it is like here … in most ways, the country is opposite from America.

We were in Beijing for a week and the people were literally body-to-body. May first was a holiday and people from everywhere traveled there to see the many important Chinese landmarks. We saw beautiful pagodas, gardens, ornate bridges, and important historical areas … I think that we hit most all of them. We stayed in a youth hostel that was located in the “Old China” region. The dwellings in this area were in an arrangement called a “hutong” … they were beyond interesting! We saw the real everyday life of the humble Chinese families and how they exist and provide for their families.

Since then, we have been on buses, trains, cabs, on foot (a lot!), and have been continually moving. Lance moves with great ease through the crowds and has taught us how to cross the street, a matter of life and death! Now we are in his hometown … there are old trucks, cabs, motorcycles, rickshaws, rickety buses, people pushing carts with trash in them or volumes of food, furniture, boxes of who knows what … on and on.

I think that it is really sad how the people live. They are poor and struggling. The towns are dirty and full of garbage and there is unfinished construction everywhere. I can’t understand how they live that way. Lance has explained that they are meticulous about their person but do not feel a responsibility towards their surroundings. There are little venues all along the street with every shop you could ever think of, and street food is a very common way to eat here. There are cheap jewelry shops, plumbing shops right next door, and then maybe a bridal shop, complete with a caucasian mannequin. Crazy!

Though this is their situation, they get an A+ for their kindness, smiling faces, and willingness to help out if you are lost. Here where Lance us located, he really is a “Rock Star” of sorts. For that matter, so are Adolf and I. We are the ONLY foreigners here. People just stare at us and come up and try to speak to us so they can tell their friends that they spoke to a foreigner. They gather in clusters and point or say “hello”, their favorite English word, by far.

The little children are beautiful and the young ladies are stunning! The men are hard-working and seem worn out. As they ride on a bus, you will see may times that they fall asleep, waking up abruptly when the bus jerks or stops. It is not uncommon to see a family of 3 or 4 riding across town on a motor bike. You are rich if you own a car and a car is a treasured posession.

Well, I can’t begin to tell you all that I am experiencing but thought you would enjoy a small part of it. We will attend Lance’s school on Tuesday and the rest of the week and he is threatening that we will have to teach his classes! His apartment is located right on campus and is quite comfortable and adequate.

Your Neighbor in China,
Linda

Posted to webeldotnet on Sunday, May 6th, 2007 at 10:44 pm EST in China & Family (comment feed). If you refer to this post on your blog, please trackback. Thanks!