Another Saturday...

At this point in my stay, it can be tough to maintain a positive attitude.  Frequent stomach sicknesses, the lack of English speakers, the multitude of people who think they’re English speakers but aren’t, the cold weather, the slight but noticeable pollution in the air and the overall bleak attitude can start to feel not only depressing, but monotonous. 

The weekends, although they may lack a lot here in Jiamusi, are definitely something to look forward to.  This weekend started, as most do, on Saturday morning, when I was awakened by my host parents who wanted to go out to lunch (okay, I slept a little late).  I took a shower (with the usual crowd watching from neighboring apartment buildings, something I’ve grown accustomed to) and then got dressed.  We went to a typical Chinese restaurant, notable in my mind because it was the first place I was given the opportunity to indulge in cow eyes.  This time I didn’t have anything looking up at me, but I did eat a cow nose in a nice beef sauce (a first for me).  Following my encounter with the snouts, I decided it was time to check out the University, and my host father dropped me off at bai huo da lou, a supermarket of sorts, where I could find the other exchange students and then depart for our adventure. 

We hailed the nearest cab.  For some reason, I was expecting that upon my arrival, swarms of extremely attractive Chinese and Russian college students would rush the taxi.  Makes sense, right?  But nooo, all we found were a couple of dreary buildings, freezing cold streets and an occasional pedestrian.  The German exchange student and I then headed for a café, where I had some coffee (not the best I’ve ever had) and a peach pastry.  Just as we were finishing up, my cell phone rang.  My host brother wanted to go play pool with me.

I walked the two kilometers between the café and the pool hall in the cold air, with people occasionally stopping in their tracks upon seeing a foreigner in summer clothes treading through the snow.  I won every single game.  That is, until I played my host father.  He beat me four times in a row, until finally, in the last game when I was able to put a “W” down in the “PK” column.  Unfortunately, this being Jiamusi, that rounded out the night, at about nine o’clock, at which point I returned to the apartment, studied some Chinese, read some Clausewitz, and chatted with a few friends. 

If it weren’t for my interest in China, the amiability of my host family, the knowledge that I’m learning about China’s language and culture in the best way possible, and all of the things I have to look forward to, I feel that this trip would be near impossible.  I have a surprisingly little amount of time left in Jiamusi, and I plan to make the most of it.  In just over one week, I go to Shanghai for Christmastime, and then I only have two weeks in Jiamusi following my holiday travels.  After that, my adventure in Northeast China will come to a close, and I’ll be off to Washington DC, for a whole new adventure.  To have these two opportunities in a single year is an amazing stroke of luck.  There can be nothing more different between the two programs, yet in certain ways they complement each other so well. 

Although on some days here I look out my window and long for home as I feel dragged down by the monotony of an average Jiamusi day, I know that this will be an unforgettable year, and one that I will never regret.