I will be regularly posting entries from my personal Journal from my trip in China at the beginning of June. Here is the first journal entry.
*Throughout the journal comments made in real time, while on the ground in China, are designated in italics. Everything else was written after returning. Side notes are random thoughts I had that do now particularly fit in anywhere.
June 10, 2011
China seemed so far away for so long. I don’t mean literally, because it is half way around the world. I mean that it felt like that day to actually board a plane headed to China always seemed like a point on the horizon; a goal never to be reached or attained. All the meeting and all the preparation were for an experience I would never have, just plan to have. Even in the airport it didn’t feel like anything. I was just sitting in an airport.
There had been so much to do before leaving that I hadn’t had the time to let the fact that I was going to Shanghai and Beijing sink in. it wasn’t until I was on the plane lightly dozing listening to some music that I the reality came into focus.
As I started to drift off a dream started to materialize. I was walking into my hotel room in Shanghai, the city looming below outside the window. At that moment I immediately came out of my nap and it finally felt like I was going somewhere.
I had been saying earlier in the week that all I wanted to do was get on the plane; I was tired of work, of planning, or prep time, I just wanted to get there so I could enjoy it. When I snapped out of the nap I felt it. I felt the week slide off my shoulders, the pressure of home lift and state of excitement started. Now I’m sitting here anxious to get to San Francisco so that I can board a plane that will take me to a place that is totally foreign to me.
If there is one thing I wanted from the trip was to travel somewhere I could find no relation to home. Last summer I was fortunate enough to travel to Switzerland. It was an incredible experience, one that I will remember for the rest of my life, but Lucerne seemed familiar. Everyone spoke English and the city itself was small and inviting. I want to be uncomfortable and perhaps a little uneasy. I want to see places I’ve only seen in movies and read about in books.
This is trip is immense, in both scope and intention. There is a mountain to cover in 7 days on the ground. There will be cultural tours and business meetings, planned outings and absent wanderings. I want to better understand one of the current largest world powers.
It is an interesting time to head to China, especially with America’s current climate of uncertainty. So many people are continuously blaming China for our trouble, but I do not believe that is correct. What is the cause of our trouble? I’m not entirely sure, but it is unwise to blame external sources for internal trouble. I am a firm believer in helping to solve a problem instead of lament about it, but thats what politicians and talking heads do continuously blame the world with no intention of giving an answer. And its always the same thing “…its China’s fault.”
If a student comes to class without having done their homework with an elaborate story for the reason why they had not done is the teacher supposed to reward the student? Or rather, should the student be held accountable for his or her actions no matter how fast or how much homework the neighbor next door is doing theirs?
It will be interesting upon my return home to see if I have a better understanding and knowledge of these modern issues. I have read and heard so much second hand knowledge that I am eager to experience all of it for myself.
This is going to be one hell of a trip!
