SCHOOL’S NOT SO OUT

Yesterday was the first day of school. This week, I’m going to work seven days straight and, to be totally honest, I’m perfectly fine with that. I mean, I’m not FINE with that but I’ve come to a grudging but peaceful resolution with my time here in China. I came home from work yesterday thinking about the fact that I did nothing but sob big, heaving sobs this time last year. I was so overwhelmed by the enormity of what I had done that I was completely wrecked.

However, this year, the worst that happened was that I was mildly annoyed at all the 35-year-old housewives who lectured me on the value of “young people working” when I told them why I couldn’t join in on their weekend plans. Women who’ve never known a day of work in their life feel that they can lecture me on the value of working hard at my young age. You know, because being thirty seconds older than me and never having had to do it themselves makes them infinitely wise in the area of work. Frankly, women who feel that having a child will “intrude” on their relationship rarely have little more than patience to teach me.

Desperate, foreign housewives aside, I’m quite content with my relationship with Xi'An. I came here in crisis over the politics of my homeland and I have come to see how truly not-bad things are at home. Yes, never before have we needed vaster improvements in our political shenanigans but the sentence “America is my home country” no longer strikes a disturbing array of “He’s my ex husband and she’s the mistress he left me for” emotions. In fact, I now occasionally introduce myself as “American” and not always “New Yorker.”

Last year, I was shrieking at the top of my lungs in each class, to no avail. This year, I merely need to look at my students and they quiet up. Last year I was trying to sort out how to get the airport every night; wondering what I could leave behind because I couldn’t manage getting all my stuff to the airport. This year, I’m trying to sort out how to fit Chinese and Gu Zheng (the 21-stringed Chinese lap harp/piano) lessons and their requisite studying into my gym routine. Last year I was afraid of most of the people I lived around; dreading their gossip and prying eyes. This year, they seem to be intimidated by me. Last year, I was quickly in love with China and her men. This year, I seem to have grown and affinity for French men. I’ve come to see just how well they do romance and how poorly they do reality here. This year, I’m relieved to be a foreigner. Yeah, this year will be infinitely easier.