Dad and China

Last month, my dad made the long trek over from America. He was in Asia for 13 days, and we spent the first 6 in Chiang Mai. I hate to use a tired, clichéd phrase, but its really was a lot of fun. We did some of the touristy stuff that I've never done around here because I have been waiting for visitors (hint hint). We rode a zip-line course through the jungle, saw a traditional Thai show, took a cooking class at the cooking school next door, and even got up early to watch the Bears lose to the Giants. And while we had a great time doing it, I think the thing I enjoyed the most was getting to show off my life to my dad. I'm only 24, but I have to imagine that no matter how old you get, the desire to make your parents proud never really goes away. And while I stopped looking for their (or anyone's) approval a long time ago, I will admit that just being able to show my dad that I was making it over here brought me a unique sense of pleasure that cant really be equaled by anyone else's praise. He got to see where I teach and meet most of my kids, and their adoring shrieks of 'TEACHER MIKE! TEACHER MIKE!' when we walked up couldn't have been better than if we had practiced it for week and I had bribed them with candy. He got to walk around my neighborhood, eat at the places I eat at, and meet my friends, both fellow teachers at the school, and the numerous Thai's I have come to know on my street. He even got a ride a bicycle with me along the same route I go to school! (Highway and all.) And talking with him while we were here, it made me see my home again with new eyes. I've been here almost a year, I don't notice the difference or strangeness of Asia, but being with him allowed me to realize just how different it is from where we come from. He also made a statement about how he didn't think he could have done what I did. And I know that doing something like this certainly isn't for everyone, but just the way he phrased it when talking about how different it was and how crazy it is to come to a country where you don't speak the language, are unemployed, and know literally 1 person within 1,000 miles (and you just met them three weeks ago)... Like I said, I came over here for myself, but to have someone acknowledge all that, and to be here and realize what exactly it entailed, and to praise you for it...and then to have that person be your dad...well, I can admit that selfishly, it felt pretty good. :)

Anyways, after a few days in Chiang Mai, we flew to China, which was awesome. (Man, my positive adjectives need work.) I mean, OK, it is very polluted (I didn't even see the sun till the morning I left the country...literally 4 straight days of smog), the average person is loud, aggressive, and not very friendly, and it was crowded and a pain to get around. BUT, we walked around Tiananmen Square, saw the site of the Beijing Olympics, visited the Forbidden Palace, saw to entombed body of Mao, visited a jade factory and climbed the Great Wall. I mean, who cares how polluted it was, we climbed the Great Wall! It's one of the 7 wonders of the world! We were in China! You know when you are a kid, and you go dig a hole in your backyard? You know where you say the hole is going to? CHINA! You know why? Because its the farthest and most exotic place in the world for a kid growing up in America! And I was there! I climbed the Great Wall! Its 2600 years old! Thats 11 times as old as our country!

I will say, as cool as it was to do all of those things (and it was very cool), I was very glad that things worked out the way they did and I ended up in Thailand as opposed to China. After 4 days there, I had a cough and constant eye irritation from the pollution. Not to mention Thai people and Chinese people are night and day. Thai people have got to be the nicest people in the world. If I am walking down the street and I pass someone and they don't smile and say hello, it is an uncommon occurrence. (I was talking with Adam the other day, it is just so different here, you talk to everyone. And its such a communal culture that everyone knows everyone else, and they all stop to chat and say hello...just very friendly. I brought up that its going to be weird being home over break and having people look at me like I'm crazy when I try and stop and say hello to them on the street.) Chinese people on the other hand, not so much. Not rude exactly, but definitely nothing like as friendly and welcoming as I'm used to. And granted, I should not have been surprised by this revelation. All week my dad was confusing China and Thailand and Taiwan and god knows where else. 'Let's go get some Taiwanese food.' 'Well dad, we might be pretty hungry by the time we get to Taiwan.' (Admittedly, my knowledge of Asian geography and distance relationships when I got here was probably as bad as his was, but as a much more informed American at present, I was working hard to bring him up to speed.) I mean, Chiang Mai and Beijing are a little over 4000 miles apart, or just 200 miles closer than Chicago and London. So for me to expect Thai and Chinese people to be similar just because they were Asian is pretty ridiculous. But I think it was more that it never occurred to me that the culture here is Thai and not Asian. And considering that grief I gave my dad all week for being an ignorant America, I would be remiss if I didn't admit it when I did it myself.

Overall it was a great break. I talked in my last post about loneliness and missing my family, and I was curious as to the effect my dad's visit would have on me. I figured that it would either help a lot with those feelings (filling up that 'hole' I was talking about), or else make me even more lonely and homesick. And I'm pretty happy to say that it was the former. Still very excited to visit home in December (and I'm sure that will only increase as it gets closer and closer - less than 2 months!), but even just seeing one person in my family made me feel a lot better. If as humans, we are have this innate need to occasionally see those we love and have close relationships with, seeing my dad was a nice family fix. It's almost like it will tide me over for a while. Hopefully right until the holidays hit - which is perfect because that's a tough time to be away from home. Anyways, its probably time for bed. Hope everyone is doing well back in the States. Enjoy fall (so sad I'm going to miss it) and stay warm. Winter is coming on here too, it got down to 75 the other night - a real cold front!

TPWWLT - Blues Traveler - 'Run Around'