Adventures in Guangzhou!

Part of the fun of being here in China is not only exploring the culture, learning the language, and expecting the unexpected, but also creating the familiar out of what's available. This can mean a number of things--it can mean rallying a group of people to take over a bar in order to watch baseball; it can mean using "Great Wall" wine in lieu of "Manischewitz" on Passover; it can mean improvising in order to cook Western delicacies. Kelly recently went out of her way to cook 7 layer bars, one of the ultimate American desserts. In the U.S. this would only entail a single trip to the supermarket. You could pick up everything you needed and pretty much dump it into a pan in the oven. Half an hour later, you're all set. In China, it's not so simple.

Kelly had to look up a recipe for butterscotch because butterscotch chips are nowhere to be found. She had to manually chop up some chocolate bars in order to create chocolate chips. She had to sample a few kinds of biscuits to find a suitable replacement for graham crackers. She had to consult the calculator on her computer to figure out the exact celcius equivelant for the mini-oven. It was a major success and certainly created a real sense of accomplishment, but it wasn't easy. It was a very "T.I.C." moment, as Anastasia would call it (This is China).

When I accepted the Guangzhou post a year ago, I was 100% excited. I accepted that I would have to leave certain things behind and adapt to a new environment--it was inevitable. However, I also knew that there would be at least one moment during the year when I would miss being in the States. This past weekend was the 25th Reunion Anniversary of the Wesleyan Spirits, my old singing group from college, and I was about as far away as I could have been.

My father surprised me by heading to the reunion concert in my absence and he called me up from his cellphone. At first I was a little confused since I couldn't hear him that well but then I realized why--his voice was being drowned out by music and applause. I got to listen to almost the entire concert over the phone which was an incredible feat of modern technology. I also got to talk with some of my best friends which was incredible. In a very weird way, though, it almost made this weekend even harder. I heard some of my closest friends singing together on a stage that I should have been on. I heard them sing one of my old arrangements. I heard someone else sing one of my old duets. I heard them laughing and goofing around just like I would have been.

For the rest of the day I was just downright sad for the first time since I left Boston last August. I wasn't at home with my family for Passover but I managed to hold my own seder here in GZ. I wasn't at the Siegel's house for Thanksgiving but we managed to rally an incredible feast here. I wasn't able to watch the Yankees playoff games with my dad but I managed to follow it online and get periodic updates from him over the phone. This was the first time that I could not at least improvise some sort of replication of the event and it was tough.

I felt a bit like Alexander right in the thick of his terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad day. After I got off the phone with my dad at the end of the concert, I headed out to tutor, only to be caught in a major downpour. Of course one of my kids didn't do his homework for the first time all year, thereby ruining my lesson plan and forcing me to make something else up on the spot... for an hour. After I finished that I went to Chinese class where my Chinese teacher asked me every single word that I did not know. I had memorized about a hundred phrases the day before but she didn't touch on any of those.

By the time class ended I was tired, hungry, and wet. Kelly and Diana heard about my day and invited me over for dinner. After waiting about thirty minutes for the bus that is scheduled to come every five minutes, I headed over the river to the university. Once I finally made it to their apartment, I couldn't believe my eyes. Inside there were balloons, a table covered in delicious-looking food, and a big ol' sign that said "Happy 25th Birthday, Spirits!" That's right, there was a celebration right here on the Pearl River Delta to celebrate 25 years of singing and brotherhood.

I guess the moral of the story is that there are certain things that are irreplaceable but that other things come along to make up for them. I missed a chance to see some of my good friends who are usually scattered across the globe, but I had a really fun night with two of my newer friends. I missed out on being a part of the 25th chapter of the Spirits story but I created some unforgettable memories of my own that will always be a part of my China experience.