It feels hard to come back to winter in China after a beautiful tropical vacation. When autumn eases you into the misery of it, it's not so bad. You gradually add more layers to your wardrobe and put more hot water bottles in the bed. Soon, spending all your time in the only heated room in the house feels normal and you forget what it was like to eat dinner in the kitchen. When classes are over, you get to spend a few glorious weeks tromping around on beaches, hiking volcanoes and spending time with people who don't often spit on the floor.
Then there's the return to China: with the dreary weather and the human waste on the sidewalks, going back to work and getting your schedule at the last minute, the persistent coughs, sore throats and regular bouts of bowel distress. Another volunteer said her first re-entry shock moment coming back to China after vacation was when a woman sitting near her on the plane spit a wad of phlegm on the floor. You remember in those moments that it wasn't always like this, and that makes you unhappy. Some of our fellow volunteers haven't survived the post-vacation re-entry shock and decided to terminate their service soon after returning. I can see how it can be tempting.
But then, after a few rough weeks, you get used to it again, and things seem okay. Then the sun comes out again finally, and it's not too hot yet. The students get more comfortable with their classes and start participating. Things actually seem good. A month ago I was thinking, "I don't know if I can really make it until the summer." Now, I think, "Gee, I'm actually going to miss this place."
Our re-entry to China after our travels in Indonesia was tough, but being in Chengdu with friends at our in-service training softened the blow. It helped that my sister Kim came to visit too, after a few days in Hongkong after we saw her the first time in Bali. She even made it from Chongqing to Chengdu by herself by train (with only a few pages of detailed instructions). She also got to meet several of our close friends here, and I took her on kind of a whirlwind tour of Chongqing. Having family visit takes some of the edge off the homesickness factor. After she left, we had to turn our attention toward teaching, with unusually full schedules. This was because one of the other foreign English teachers quit and a communication snafu left him with a full schedule anyway, which we had to pick up. As volunteers we're supposed to be doing secondary projects and studying Chinese, not just teaching English full time. But we also don't want to leave our school in the lurch when it comes to teaching. This is when I was thinking, "I don't know if I can make it."
Then the weather warmed up. I stowed away the full body polar fleece pajamas and the hot water bottles. The bedroom heater went off. All just in time for the second annual Peace Corps volunteer gathering for the Chongqing Marathon. The planners in Chongqing know exactly when to plan the marathon, right in the spring time sweet spot when the days are bright and warm and an usual breeze blows through and drives away the smog for a little while. We had a bunch of friends come stay at our place for the weekend, and it. Was. Great. Having us all together, enjoying good food and good weather just felt right, almost like a family picnic. The weekend really made me realize how much my Peace Corps family means to me and how much we support each other. I know when the re-entry shock hits when we go back to the states, these people are going to be the ones who I can call. They are the only ones who will understand me if I start sobbing while reading labels in English at the grocery store. It's going to be great seeing all our friends and family again, but there are going to be bumps along the way and I'm glad to have made such wonderful friends here.
I'm still trying to find time in my schedule to study Chinese more, since I feel like this might be my last chance to really have a good immersion experience. However, planning for the future tends to take up more of my time these days: browsing teaching jobs, updating my resume, and thinking about how we're going to spend the few weeks between being done with Peace Corps and heading back to the states. Right now the plan is to close our service in mid-June after we're done teaching, spend a few weeks exploring the far NW province of Xinjiang, before heading back to the NW state of Washington in early to mid-July. It's all very exciting and a little overwhelming and panic-inducing. We created a life here with a house full of stuff that needs to be gotten rid of and friends that need to be bid farewell, all of which takes time and lots of energy. Luckily we have a bright light at the end of the tunnel that we're heading for.
~ Katie
PS. The one downside to the weather warming up? The whole kitchen is no longer a refrigerator and I have to actually remember to put the leftovers away.
