Parents.

I have been getting exponentially worse and worse about updating the blog. I guess it’s because China has lost its luster. I don’t necessarily mean that in a negative way, but my everyday experiences have become “the norm.” When you move to a new city or even country the beginning is so exciting. Everything is new and interesting.  After six months or so it is no longer intriguing, and in the case of China it’s actually just rather annoying. I remember my first few bus experiences here. I was laughing to myself all the time. The pushing, shoving, yelling and staring; it was all so amusing. Now it’s straight up obnoxious! In fact, I convinced my parents to get on a city bus with me. At first I thought this was a great idea; cheap and convenient travel. But when about 30 people piled in at the first stop I instantly regretted the decision. I didn’t feel right subjecting them to that kind of situation. I only wish I had gotten a picture.

“You’re parents” you ask? Why yes, I am so lucky to have parents that wanted to come visit me half way around the world! Let alone parents that booked the trip before I even had my flights booked. My parents spent the first leg of their trip in Hong Kong. I thought this was great warmer before they crossed into mainland China (that’s where shit gets real). I have a dear friend from High School that lives in HK, and they were lucky enough to get together with her. They really enjoyed Hong Kong, though it’s pretty hard not to enjoy HK.

From Hong Kong they flew into Shanghai on a Monday morning. I took the train into Shanghai and stayed with a friend Sunday night so that I could pick them up at the airport on Monday. The International Arrivals area at the Airport is easily one of my favorite places in China. Seeing them just filled my heart with joy. We had four whole days together in Shanghai. We had a two-bedroom apartment in an area I’m quite familiar with, so it was just perfect. Us Clark’s aren’t necessarily the earliest worms though; we didn’t start our day before noon most days. But when you are with family I guess it doesn’t matter what we are doing, as long as we are together.  I know…. How sweet am I.

Shanghai offers those double decker sightseeing buses around the city, which I think are just fantastic! You are given a tour of everything you want to see in a comfortable bus with an audio guide. It’s the best way to see a city. We had a 48-hour pass on the bus. It was fun to see my parent’s reaction to things that have become standard to me. I think the biggest shock to them was the lack of rights pedestrians have here. When you have the “green” to cross the street, cars will still be making right hand turns. In China cars always have the right of way. As an American, the green light gives you power, not here. Dan kicked a few cars as they nearly ran him over.

My other favorite experience with them was our family massage. I’ve grown accustomed to a cheap massage weekly here. The hour long Chinese massage costs me about ten US dollars. There was a massage parlor right across from our apartment so we decided to get a massage one night. Don’t worry y’all, it wasn’t one of those “happy ending” kind of places (sicko, get your head out of the gutter). I actually still have yet to see one of those places. We upped for the oil massage (Dan’s a big spender). It was just funny that we were all in the same room. Family bonding at it’s finest.

We took a day trip to a neighboring city on Thursday. This region of China has many rivers, and many “water towns.” The one we chose is called Suzhou. It’s the only water town with a train station. Train being the most convenient form of travel we went to Suzhou. The weather was a little crummy and this “Venice of China” probably shouldn’t be compared to Venice.

We arrived at the train station and were hounded by drivers offering personal guides/tours. As we contemplated our day we finally accepted an offer by a nice man whose name I cannot pronounce. Tourism is a rather new industry in China, and isn’t really efficient or convenient. Our driver took us fist to a pagoda that if anything was worthwhile for this photo (inappropriate father!) From there we went to a garden. Suzhou has many gardens. Emporers liked building gardens. And our last stop was a quaint canal street. Again, I don’t think we can compare this area to Venice. The driver had offered to drop us off at the city center and complete the tour at 6:30. We would then have dinner and get back to the train station on our own. But after all we had seen we decided to just hop on the train and get dinner in Shanghai.

The following morning we took the train to Hangzhou (were I live). I would have to work Friday from 1-9pm and Saturday and Sunday from 9am-5pm. This was stressful for me. Having my parents so close and missing precious time with them because of work. I was even more worried about them because it was raining Saturday and Sunday! What would they do? I’ll tell you what they did: relaxed. MY roommate works at a five star Sheraton in an amazing and conveniently close area to where I live. The hotel is fantastic! I think my parents were quite happy to just relax and enjoy the luxury of the hotel especially after our somewhat janky apartment in Shanghai. My standards have definitely lowered when it comes to comfort and cleanliness here.

Saturday evening we went to dinner with my closest friends. My mom put it greatly in an email “Carrie is surrounding herself with great people.” I really do feel lucky to have such a great group of friends here. My levels of life satisfaction would be waayyyy lower if it weren’t for these people. Sunday after work the rain had finally subsided. I took them downtown to a very traditional/touristy area of town. We walked around the lake a bit and called it a night. Monday was my day off so we had a lot of time to explore more of Hangzhou. Though I realized after having my parents here, there really isn’t a whole lot to do in Hangzhou. It’s an absolutely beautiful city (mainly because of the lake), but once you’ve strolled around the lake for a few hours there really isn’t much else to see. It isn’t a big city like Shanghai, nor do we have a subway. Like I said, not much of a tourism infrastructure.

We parted ways around 5:30 as they had to fly to Beijing for the last leg of their trip. It was extremely hard/emotional to say goodbye to them. I have now been in China for eight months and though it hasn’t been that long I’m definitely learning a lot. There are a few ideas/questions/notions that have been resolved during my time here. One, I don’t enjoy teaching in China (I don’t think teaching at an English training center in China is comparable to teaching at a school in the US. Either way, glad I’ve had this experience to confirm things I don’t want to do). Two, California may be one of the greatest places to live. I’m living in a communist, collectivist society. It’s a lifestyle I do not find attractive. Three, I don’t see myself living the expat lifestyle much longer. When I moved here I was always being asked “how long will you live abroad?” My answer was “indefinitely” as I had no idea what the future would hold. I still don’t know what the future holds (if you do, please let me know!) but I do know I will be returning to the US sooner than I had expected.

The sadness of my parents leaving was quickly replaced by the excitement of my sister coming to China! Anna will be here on June 11^th! Hangzhou is just a short stop on her 5 weeks of backpacking in Southeast Asia. But I am so excited to be going to the Philippines with them and seeing one of my best friends in the whole world! I am also very excited to be getting a little break from China. Many expats will tell you “you need to get out of the country every few months, even if for just a few days” I’m overdue!