R&R in the PRC

I have returned from my sojourn to Beijing. That said, I’ll give you a brief background on why I went there in the first place. Last week was the National Day Holiday, for which most people get two or three days off. Though I didn’t teach class during the week, I technically got three days off, since Monday and Tuesday classes were taught the weekend before. You don’t really see make-up classes on weekends in the US, but it works for them. Anyway, National Day comes every year on October 1st, the anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic in 1949. Basically, it’s Chinese 4th of July.

I had always intended on going somewhere for the week, and after some internal debate among the other Augustana teachers, who ultimately decided to explore Wuhan, I decided to buy a ticket to Beijing and meet up with a bunch of the other local foreigners. They were headed there for the Modern Sky Festival, which featured various hard rock/punk bands. I was out for some adventure and money-squandering, so I went to the ticket agency, where they eventually sold me a ticket.

I had thought that getting to the train station and boarding the right train would be complicated, and that everything after would be golden. On some level, I was correct. Getting there, finding my way on board, was a small victory. Then I remembered that the Chinese really have no concept of “personal space.” (It’s not uncommon to see arms around shoulders and hand-holding among friends, as well as people elbowing their way through crowds.) I paid for a hard sleeper, a bed in a compartment of six, but I really only paid for the privilege of sleeping in it. Passengers had no compunction about sitting down next to me, putting their feet up, etc. It’s just a different mindset. I got used to it, but the length of the ride was brutal. The linear distance between cities is roughly the same as Chicago to Philadelphia. Cori’s train took ten hours to get to Beijing. Mine took seventeen. She got in Wednesday at 7 AM, and I got in three hours later. They were only a couple of minutes from leaving when I showed up. It would’ve been a long ride back, but with a little patience from friends, we all made out just fine.


Highlights from the two or so days I spent there include two trips to the music festival, which was really cool, and a few notable Olympic landmarks. I couldn’t go without seeing the Bird’s Nest and the Water Cube, and judging from past conversations, I think everyone was expecting me to get there at some point. We got from place to place by taxi and subway. The subway was sort of confusing, so it was mostly taxi. The hotel was comfy, the food was good, and the city generally felt clean and modern. I spent about as much as I thought I would. Also, I finally broke down and went to McDonalds. Amazing how the Big Mac never changes.


I would’ve stayed longer, but there wasn’t much wiggle-room on tickets, since hundreds of millions of people travel during the holiday. Mercifully, the ride back took about twelve hours, but we were in seats this time, and it got a little cramped. Overall, it was an exhausting trip—the best kind, really—and it’s good to be back home in Wuhan. Even if I do have a full week of teaching ahead.

P.S.- I changed the blog settings to allow anyone to post comments.