one year since china (by abraheme)

从abraheme的facebook上转过来的



2 months of Solitude,10 months of Nostalgia(One year since China)

Today at 1:37am

One year ago, June 10 2007 at 3 a.m., I received a call. In themiddle of the night I wondered, "Who the hell could that be?" Iremember not sleeping well that night, it was my first flight overseasand I haven't been to Florida or Rhode Island yet, and here I am flyingto China. My father got up and stomped to the telephone. His gallopingapproached my direction. He handed me the phone with his eyes closed.
"It's China." he says mumbling in Arabic.
"What!!??" I said with one eye open. I grabbed the phone next to my sweaty ear
"Hello? Is this Ring?"
"No, it's Kari, hi, when are you getting here? It's so rural here"
"Kari?? Oh..hi hi! Rural? …What do you mean?
"Make sure you get some mosquito sprays, I've been bitten a lot already"
"Oh, ok,,,what do you mean by rural? Isn't Wuhan a city not countryside? I chuckled nervously.
"Yea, it is a city. Did you get Anthony's number?
"Yeah, I got it from Ring, my flight leaves at 6:30 today, and I'msupposed to be in Shanghai by 1. And I might be in Wuhan by 4 to 6."
"Ok, well, we're waiting for you here, have a safe trip, see you then"
A heart-warming voice with a cold and sharp tone. "She was something" Isaid to myself. Her voice chilled me enough to make me oblivious to mysweat for a while.

Fast forward to the flight.

One year ago, I discovered you all in the Wonderful World ofWuchang, Wuhan. My first time overseas and getting on a plane full ofWong's, Liu's and Xiang's was the biggest chocolate factory Willy Wonkacould give me. There was a five hour delay for my 6:30 departure, andthe pilot decided to keep his mouthful of noodles and told us about thedelay at around 10 o'clock,
"There seems to be traffic on the runway, we will be moving shortly,looks like we got a bad fortune cookie!" He never said the fortunecookie joke, but I laughed and imagined it going well at that moment.The guy on my right, let's call him Han for convenience sake, slept assoon as he laid his ass on the seat at 6. He woke up; stretched andprobably said to himself, "I'm one third of the way to Zhong Guo." Thenhe noticed the same smoggy JFK sky outside the window. This thenentitled him to give me this look--beyond translation. One of thegorgeous flight attendants with her red and white served by and thattook my mind off of everything. Seventeen hours with these people willbe, in the words of Ben, "AMAZING." And soon, the elderly white coupleon my left broke their croissants and my nose hairs were filled withbuttery bliss. The old woman looked like a cross between Maria Espositoand Julia Childs, she probably baked them herself I thought.

I have pages and pages more of this, but I'll just stick to thepoint. If you want the full story, I'll email it to ya, or put it up onfacebook.
Anthony, you were the biggest relief my ass could have after being on 3Chinese flights for 22 hours. After talking with you on the phone atShanghai then contacting you at Wuhan to pick me up, your damn goodEnglish was a God-send. I will always remember standing near theentrance in the polluted Wuhan acid rain waiting for an "Anthony."After our ride through the slums between Wuhan airport and Hankou, Iwas shitting on myself, "Did Kari mean what she really meant?"
And so, on my first car ride through ZhongShan Road, and never havingseen so much pollution in my life, I was hungry and damn ecstatic to beled through Wuhan by an Anthony in a tanktop.

Nina! You were the first American face I saw in Wuchang, at LuXiangPlaza. And trust me, I wanted to hug you so hard and say "I'm alive!...Now feed me!" But our handshake was ok. Later on, I remember meetingother people from AIESEC, but I'm don't remember who.

And in another taxi we went, and short ride from LuXiang Plaza, waswhat Robert Pauley would say, HOONNNGGG FU JIA YUAN!! And getting onthat elevator one floor up to the second floor to our apartment, I wasgreeted by the most scrumptious and shimmering faces and smiles I'veseen for the past 2 days, Kari and Olga. But to my surprise, they weredrinking hot ass tea in that hot ass day, or I think Kari was drinkingcoffee, "What's the matter with these women? Am I gonna live with themfor 2 months?"

And so, after not sleeping and starving for 22 hours, Nina, Olga andKari took me out through a deserted HuaZhong KeJi Daxue the same nightI got to the apartment. The sights, the smells, the sorrow, and allthat good stuff invaded my senses and I was half conscious to talkabout myself whenever they asked me about anything.


And so I slept safely that night, but I got sick. Why? Because myroommate, decided to blast the A.C. on my face. And so, in my firstChinese morning, the first sight I saw was my white-ass roommate Ethan,across the room, in his blue boxers. And Z.O.Z. came to the rescue andgave me the funkiest Chinese medicine and food I've ever had.

I just want to say, those two months were as cheesy as it sounds, adream come true. Everybody in our apartment was perfectly handpicked byGod himself. The laughs, the worries, the starvation, the sweat, thedancing (crazy times at Queens), the singing( 36 hour marathon with NewOriental), the climbing(LuShan with Matt and Angie), the running, theskipping, the biking(Anthony, Rachel, Ben, Tim), and all thatpsychedelic Chinese goodness(Kari and Ben in GuiLin and Yingshuo) thatonly our crew(especially my apartment) had together, ( until added onby everybody else who came a week later, Rachel, both Roberts, Tim,Kelsey, Erin, Angie, Matt, Charlie, Jaclyn) Everything was priceless, Iwould say, the only, ONLY, "bad thing" about it all was me starving andyou all eating my food, especially Ben!

And AIESEC Wuhan, you guys took care of us despite having a mean andtender loving caring mother like Olga to handle things for us interns.Anthony, Z.O.Z., Ring, Sunny, Maggie, thank you all! I know it was abit hectic, but since it was your first exchange program, you took itpretty well.
And Doria, those 3 days that you stayed over were one of my last goodmemories of Wuhan, I'm glad we had them together when we snuck in theneighboring apartment buildings to get on their rooftops.
I know I wont have the same experience with you guys, but I hope to seeyou guys again in July and sometime soon afterwards. And if God wills,to see you all in China again.

I love you all!