Feeling my fingers again
Trip Start
Aug 24, 2007
1
41
42
Trip End
Jul 04, 2008
Kaifeng,
China
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
My first day of spring and the beginning of a new chapter in my life in China was the first day I stopped wearing my thermal underwear. It was the best day of my life and the most self-conscious. After wearing my thermals religiously for several months, I was happy to shimmy out of the now perpetually smelly and tattered things and bid them adieu. But throughout the whole day, I kept suddenly looking down. I had to make sure that I was actually wearing pants because it felt like I was wearing nothing. Teaching was awkward as 'Oh god, my pants!' suddenly flashed through my head while speaking mid-sentence.
Maybe it's Stockholm syndrome, maybe it's the euphoria of finally being released from my apartment and being able to explore Kaifeng again, or maybe it's legitimate, but Kaifeng is really beautiful in spring. Max and I have started riding our bikes with our boombox in tow, etching out new boundaries, neighborhoods, and areas in our mental maps of the city. We've unearthed new parks, markets, and favorite places as we scandalize and delight Chinese people with our music and a bottle of pijiou or two. I'm falling in love with Kaifeng again and it makes teaching seem even more worthless. I'm as distracted and apathetic about school and learning as my students are, which in a way helps. It doesn't make me feel so bad that I would rather be outside than teaching business memos. And based on the listless attitudes and faraway stares every HeDa student has, I guess I'm not the only one.
Comments
from GoatGirl
Fun and simple and lively update.
Kaifeng, even in the dusty cold that I saw it in, was a beautiful city.
Miss you! It is 80 F and muggy. Unbelievable.