BEIJING - The last few days I've rushing between preparing for
midterms, last minute gatherings and other things that always seem to
pop up just before a vacation. One of them is a looming writing
project, which I've been putting off for some time. The assignment is
to talk about my study plan in China. I wound up going with a
straight-forward approach, but not before going through several drafts
where I found myself writing in the language of this blog. Here's one
opening paragraph that I decided not to use:
"As I prepared to sit down, the old woman smiled at me. I showed her
my train ticket, just to make sure I was in the correct row. She
nodded, and I took my place in the carriage bound for Guangzhou. I had
many questions for my cabin mate: Did she have any children? Where did
she buy her crisp blue shirt? Who was her best friend? On this, my
first trip to China, I wanted to know everything about the country I
had studied for so long back home. But I had no Chinese to ask this
woman my questions, no way to know the thoughts, feelings and hopes of
the people around me. I felt as if I was exploring the country with
only one eye, half-blind to my surroundings. When I returned to
America, I decided to enroll in a Putonghua course."
