There and Back Again: A Travelers Tale

It has been a week since we’ve been back, and it has taken me that long to recover enough to write a small blog post. Our whirlwind three-week trip back to the US was equal parts fun and exhausting.
Aside from the first couple hours at the Chicago airport, where my ears felt assaulted by the English language and I was shocked at how rude everyone was, I didn’t feel much reverse culture shock. In fact, everything felt normal.
Too normal.
We were in familiar places, seeing familiar places and everything seemed, well, just like we left it. People even looked the same and shoveling and dealing with two feet of snow felt way too normal. I began to feel like we had never left and living and teaching in China was the unreal thing. Like a really long and complex dream I had one night.
We are now back in the middle kingdom and it turns out that it was more than a dream. I do actually live here. But unlike America, everything has not stayed the same since we left. China is constantly growing and changing, and our little corner is no different. Many of the students got new haircuts (making them very hard to recognize) and we have a new schedule with new classes to teach.
Another big change is the stores. While we were home, China celebrated Spring Festival (the first day of which is known as Chinese New Year). During Spring Festival the country shuts down for more than a week. Everyone travels home to eat with their family and visit relatives. Outside of the major cities restaurants, shops, offices and supermarkets all close. When you’re an outsider the place can just feel a little, well, empty.
But we came back just as the festival was over and the shops were opening up back for business. Sort of. We kept walking by a few of our favorite places, with darkened interiors and metal shudders pulled down. Oh, there just taking their time coming back after the holiday, we said optimistically. But as school began, and everywhere else was open, we noticed the sign of death.

It’s a simple slip of paper, offering a space to buy or rent, but it means the shop keeper has packed up, shipped out and will no longer return. Spring Festival is a time for new beginnings, but for shops and restaurants it can be the time for an ending. (It is advised that you never give a shop a deposit for something, like a cake or photo shoot, before Spring Festival because afterwards they might not be there.)
This year we lost our favorite bakery (where I got Ryan’s birthday cake) and a restaurant that served the best beef noodles. Sigh. Many of the staff at the restaurants are new as well. Restaurants are filled with young female wait staff. I’ve heard that when they go home, many are pressured into marriage, or a different job close to their families, and they never return.
Breaking in a staff can be hard for us foreigners. We have to deal with a few nights of laughs and giggles and lots of staring. The other night the whole staff looked panicked as we walked into one new place. They immediately huddled together to see who spoke the most English to help us. They even tried to get a student, who was eating, to help them. They didn’t think we could read the menu ourselves. Fortunately this type of attention will abate as they get more used to seeing us.
But it’s good to be back. So good. Things are strange and awkward and confusing here. And yet I’ve never felt so comfortable and at ease.