Thanksgiving Away From Home

Some things I'm thankful for (I have a lot!).

• My whole family, but particularly my parents, who worked and worked and worked to create a secure home life for me so that I didn't have to worry about anything other than myself as I was growing up. Having that peace of mind let me pursue my passions to the fullest, and even do well in things I maybe wasn't as passionate about (here's looking at you, AP calculus).
• My health! I've never had any serious illnesses, and as far as dancers go, my body is astonishingly injury-free! This has been a particular boon now that I'm living abroad and getting healthcare would be a huge hassle, haha.
• I'm daily grateful for the education I received. Much as I complained, I had the chance to really critically engage with so many ideas that allowed me to formulate a fact-based, comprehensive worldview. It's been so enriching to travel on top of this education, because living in a different society really lets me see the truth behind my history lessons and drives home that what we chose today will affect tomorrow.
• My job! Again, much as I may complain...the chance to live and work in China has been truly incredible, and I'm so glad I'm here.
• Going back to my education, I'd like to specifically thank my professors at Randolph College for being so amazingly dedicated to me (and to all the students).
• I'm thankful, of course, for my friends. It's been hard and little lonely sometimes living in a country with a 12-13 hour time difference, but they've stayed in touch. <3
• Speaking of my friends, I'm so grateful to have been born when I was. Rail against millennials all you like, but I am constantly inspired by the energy and passion of my peers. I'm really proud to be part of a generation facing global issues with such determination.
• I'm thankful for all the dancers and musicians and other artists in the world who continue to make art that reminds me life is better when you're creating.
• I'm grateful to the protesters, water protectors, and everyone in my country and abroad who fights for their beliefs instead of laying down and hoping for the best. That's a hard thing to do, but it's necessary for the success of self-governance.
• I'm thankful that I was born in America, in Virginia, where I was given access to so many privileges that have allowed me to see and understand so much of the world. It might be one of the most aggravating, contentious, and divisive countries, but I have faith we'll fight it out for the better (but we are going to have to literally fight, it seems).

There's more, there's so many more, but it's late and I'm tired. So, I'll turn off my computer (I am SO BEYOND THANKFUL for the internet, saving my life every day), and go to bed (so, so grateful for beds).

Happy Thanksgiving. <3

The More Things Stay the Same

In my experience, I've always found that no matter where I go, people are mostly the same. This has remained true, but there are still some things that surprised me in China!

The first and biggest thing I encountered was restaurant culture. Living in a hotel for the first month, I ate out a lot. Here's what I learned:

In most restaurants, you seat yourself. A server will follow you to provide the menu and whatnot, but you're allowed to chose where you sit. When it's time to pay, you have to go to the register yourself, even in high-end places. Conversely, in fast-food chains, there aren't trash cans because you're expected to leave your trash on the table, as if you were in a sit-down restaurant! (This makes me PHYSICALLY UNCOMFORTABLE haha, but there is physically no place for me to throw anything away, so I have to do deal with it...)

Another thing about China is that there is no sales tax! At all! Anywhere!* And you don't tip servers, so going out to eat is actually quite affordable.

*China has a value added tax (VAT) in place of a sales tax, so everything is already calculated into the price you see instead of being added at the end.

The next thing that really stood out to me was this:

There's a couple of these in various metro stations.

At first I wasn't quite sure what I was looking at (some kind of hospital ad?), but then I noticed that the blue characters on the left are the same two that appeared on my complementary breakfast ticket: "avoid payment." Then in a rush I realized that it's been about 25 years since China's one policy was fully implemented, and that the mother in this ad is saying "The second child is also free of charge!"
I was definitely a little dumbstruck. Shenzhen is an extremely new city, so it doesn't carry much of a sense of history with it. In my daily life, it's quite easy to forget about the realities and repercussions of China's political situation. This was the most vivid example I've seen so far.

There's also a level of intensity in children's education that I can't decide if is uniquely Chinese, or  something I never really experienced in America because I didn't work in the field.

This is where I work two days out of the week. "Shenzhen's Inaugural One-stop Center for Child Development." And it's no exaggeration. It's four floors of various educational centers mixed up with some restaurants and little shops where mom can buy clothes or get her nails done (plus a supermarket on the first floor for all your home-supply needs).

Still related to children, I was chatting with some of my students as I got to know them, as one does, and they were very impressed that I was all the way from America (most white foreigners being from Russia around here). One student told me that she really wanted to visit America, but her father told her that she couldn't because there were too many guns, and that it would be dangerous.

Which brings me to probably the biggest thing I notice on a daily basis. I feel incredibly safe. Shenzhen is a massive city with a massive population, and, by accounts from my local friends, with a very lax police force. Yet there seems to be minimal homelessness, no gang violence, and low crime. Now, of course, I live and work in a part of town where there's clearly a lot of money being moved around. I don't spend any time in the areas where migrant workers live, so my perception is skewed. But even considering all those that, the city doesn't seem threatening at all.

Maybe an example will help. In America, convenience stores--like the ubiquitous 7/11--have a cultural perception of being places where trouble starts; if you stay in or near one you're "skulking." The convenience store next to my apartment, by contrast, has two picnic tables set up outside to allow customers to relax as they drink their tea or eat their breakfast. Spending time outside a convenience store isn't a sign that you're a punk youth up to no good; you're more likely to be middle-aged and relaxing for a bit.
There's a lot more to this particular difference that's difficult to quantify, and I don't think I can unpack it all right here. Suffice it to say that I'm quite content in this new and slightly different atmosphere (even if I do get tired of being stared at).

<3

BONUS, check out the unholy spawn of communist propaganda posters and sex appeal in capitalist advertising: