Give Yourself a Break!

Lesson #4:  Take a Daycation

One of the first things I learned about teaching English in China is that there are certain inalienable truths.  The first truth is that you will get screwed on your first teaching job in China.  Call it a rite of passage.  Call it Naiveté.  Call it what you will; the bottom line is that this truth held begrudgingly strong for my experience.  In the beginning of my time in China I suffered from an acute bout of disbelief and frustration regarding my lack of free time.  I had signed up for a 20 hour a week contract, so naturally assumed I would have more time on my hands than I would know what to do with.  Without going into particulars, the bottom line is the “20 hour” line was a crock of bull.  My teaching planning, traveling to and from and between classes, and actual classroom time wound up occupying far more than 20 hours.  During the weekdays I teach at different public schools on any given week.  During the weekends I have a set schedule that consists of teaching 7 classes every Saturday and 11-12 every Sunday.  Most of the kids are under the age of 10.  I only get two days off a week and they are not consecutive; so much for weekend trips.  At first I was forlorn.  I thought it appropriate that the walls of our apartment are made of cold hard cement.   They would lend a much more authentic feel to the notion of being stashed away in a cave somewhere. 

After my initial shock and infection of negativity, I started looking for some antidotes.  Some remedies included spending time with my new friends, exploring the city and laughing at all the funny things people wear, and stuffing my face with authentic Chinese food (though this can backfire, literally . . . ahem. . . if you eat too much too quickly).  One of the most effective treatments I found to battle discontentedness turned out to be quite simple.  Take a daycation.  Correction: take lots of daycations. 

I am lucky because Hefei is in a fantastic location.  The Anhui province is home to some of the most famous mountains in all of China, and possibly the world.  If you’ve seen Avatar and can recall the picturesque floating mountains, just keep in mind that those were inspired by the mountain ranges in Anhui.  Furthermore, because it has always been a relatively poor province, many of the ancient cities and sites survived the destructive Cultural Revolution.  Since Hefei is the capital of the Anhui province, it is the hub of various lines of transportation.  Thus, it is easy to take a bullet train to Nanjing or Shanghai, or to take a bus to virtually any tourist site within a six hour driving radius. 

My first daytrip was during the National Day break, and my roomies and I ventured out to Zipongshan.  This is a small mountain about an hour and a half bus ride from Hefei.  What is notable about this mountain is that it demonstrates what the new Chinese mentality is for tourist sites: the rise of the new ‘ancient’ cities and temples.  Most of the buildings we saw here were only about halfway complete, and they were impressive structures that were built in a very traditional style.  Interestingly, half of the funding for these new temples was from the Japanese.  This is ironic because most of the Chinese people I know do not like the Japanese, and I think that has a lot to do with Hefei’s close proximity to Nanjing.  The war memories do not fade so quickly. 

Another daycation that I mentioned in an earlier lesson was my roomies’ and my outing with our new Chinese friends.  They took us to Egret Island and Liangyashan and gave us our first taste of how sweet and fulfilling Chinese generosity can be.  We feasted our eyes on beautiful landscapes and authentic ancient temples, and stuffed our hearts and souls with laughter and happy memories.

 

And then there was Nanjing.  My roommate George and I dedicated one of our days off to exploring this vibrant and booming city.  It was the first time since coming to China that I felt like I found somewhere that was up to speed on modern thinking.  Cars stay in their lanes when they drive, there is a subway system that is timely and has English translations, and there is a Starbucks.  Actually, I counted two.  And a Seattle Café.  Aside from being comforted by modernity, we were also welcomed with a beautiful sunny day and a city-scape with the trees in full fall color.  After being in Hefei where trees are almost as uncommon as foreigners, it was like a dream coming to Nanjing and seeing the foliage filled hills that surround it. 

Our timing couldn’t have been better; it was like Mother Nature had been hiding this day in her back pocket, waiting for us to arrive.  When we finally got there she greeted us with a hug and a kiss, handed us this small gift and whispered in our ears, “I saved the brightest colors for you, I hope you enjoy!”

Of course, when I traveled to Jiuhuashan a few weeks later I had a suspicion that Mother Nature may have been missing me as much as I had been missing her.  Every time I traveled out of the city, she would treat me with marvelous sunny days and stunning vistas.  I could almost hear the trees murmuring, “See how majestic we are, don’t you miss us?”  And the crisp leaves that fluttered on the branches and danced in the breeze rasped out “Buildings can’t move the way we do.  Buildings don’t change colors.  Do you really like looking at them more than us?”  Each step I took on the time worn path that wound through the bamboo forests and up the mountain sides was both a reminder to me of how much I missed the ‘Great Outdoors’ and was also a small prayer of thanks to whatever forces on Earth conspired to bring me to this magical place and bless me with this wonderful day.

Summary: Travel an hour or travel six hours.  It will be worth it.  Once you are out of your immediate surroundings you will feel like a tourist again, and you will start to look at things through a different filter.  This filter has a way of sifting out a lot of the bad energy and toxins you may have been inhaling in your ‘home city’.  It will bring back into focus what your motive was for coming to China, and will make you thankful for both the good and the bad; the yin and the yang.