Back at Site

After traveling to Lanzhou to visit a friend, Kaifeng to celebrate Chinese New Year's, then Chengdu for in service Peace Corps training I am back at site.  Classes, freshmen oral English and sophomore writing, start on Monday.

 

So much has happened over these past few weeks, I don't exactly know where to begin.

 

If I still have a Chinese visa after COS (close of service), then I've got at least one week planned for a bike trip using Kaifeng in Henan province as my hub.  I will buy a $200 bike, leave my stuff at my friend's flat, and go from there.  If anyone is interested in biking China, let me know.  This will likely happen July/August, rainy season.  But oh well... 

 

Spending Spring Festival (Chinese New Years) with friends was like getting a taste of what my life would have been like if I hadn't been adopted into an American family.  Instead of being raised in the Christian religion, I would likely be a subconscious thinker and follower of Confucius, Buddhist, and Taoist ideas with a bit of superstition mixed in.  Instead of being a person who needs and wants alone time, I would have become a person who wants social time whether it is just sitting with people or actually engaging people almost every minute of the day.

 

Family opinion and advice are extremely influential upon a person.  People keep secrets to try to prevent this influence so that they can lead their own lives.  I have heard several stories of husband and wives not telling their families that they got divorced keeping this secret for years while still pretending to be married during the holiday times.  Why?  So that they can make their own decisions about their future instead of facing the criticism and pressure to get married again as soon as possible.