“I live in Hangzhou!”

At school, there is a short speech that we have students memorize and recite almost every day. The longer you study with us, the more sentences you add to the speech, but the most basic form goes like this:

“Hello, my name is ________. I am a boy/girl. I am ___ years old. I live in Hangzhou. I come from China/England/America (etc.).”

Seems straightforward enough, right? When I first arrived and began shadowing fellow teachers, I was introduced to the kids and many of them asked me questions. One of these was “Where do you live?” At first, I wasn’t sure what to answer. I was living in a hotel and looking for an apartment. I looked at the fellow teacher, and they mouthed “Hangzhou”, so that’s what I answered. It didn’t feel like that was true- at least not yet.

However, about a week ago a Chinese friend of ours helped me and my roommate find an apartment! It has been wonderful so far (except for the occasional cockroach sighting…) Here are some pictures!

Some of these are pre-move in and some are post-move in, and some of them may not have the best lighting, but you get the idea!

This is our living room! Behind those curtains is our balcony, where we can hang and dry our clothes because we don’t have a dryer! On the left side of the photo you can see someone entering from our front door, and to my back is the kitchen. To the right are the two bedrooms and bathroom!

This is our small dining area, and the kitchen beyond. I don’t know why it has glass doors, but I am thankful for the ability to avoid cockroaches…

This is our lovely bathroom, off to the right is the shower and our small washing machine.

Here is the shower and washing machine. And yes, the shower does not have a curtain or even a contained area. It’s a little strange to get used to but it’s been working just fine so far! Our washing machine is all in Chinese, which posed a small challenge, but we’ve figured it out.

Off to the right of the bathroom is my bedroom! I would love to have a small desk in here eventually, but I do have some nice big closets.

Plenty of room for all my clothes! And I love the corner shelves, too.

Last but not least, CJ’s room! (This is a pre-move in picture). It’s off to the left of the bathroom.

His closets! He has three sets of doors but no corner shelves.

That’s our whole apartment! We live on the first floor (thankfully) of a building in a nice big complex that many of the other teachers live in. So now, when someone asks me where I live I can honestly say “I live in Hangzhou!”

Let me know what you think!

Keys

 

At some point during my college career, my mom sent me this key necklace with a note that said “remember, you hold the key to your own happiness.” I wear this necklace often, and as cute or as dorky as it sounds, I always think of the note that came with it. I have been in Hangzhou for exactly one week now, and the message has never been more true.

Culture shock is a strange and very real process, and even in the past week I’ve had several ups and downs. I am constantly reminding myself of the positives in every situation. Early in the morning, I have to smile when I hear the street cleaning trucks from my window playing “It’s a Small World” over and over (like an ice cream truck but without the ice cream). When I’m walking down the street, I have to laugh at how people will blatantly, without shame, stare at me as I pass them on my way to work. On my way home from a friend’s apartment or restaurant, I continue to find confidence in the fact that when the cab driver is confused, I can tell him “Take a left, continue straight, and you’ll see the hotel”. 

Although it’s only been a week, and although it has been difficult or stressful at times, I can say with the utmost certainty that I am going to love living in this city. For now, I just have to keep wearing my key necklace, and keep reminding myself that there is a bright side in every situation.

 

First, a goodbye

A few months ago, I auditioned to be the student speaker at William and Mary’s commencement. I wasn’t ultimately chosen, but leaving part of it here seems like the best way to say goodbye to the wonderful last four years.

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From the moment Dorothy landed in the wonderful world of Oz, all she wanted to do was go home. Luckily for her, “home” was a farm in Kansas- a place she could return to without the terrors of wicked witches or flying monkeys. When I say the word “home”, what is the first thing you think of? Is it a place, a person, or maybe William and Mary?

When people ask me where I’m from, I don’t really have an answer. In fact, when a form asked for my hometown so that it could be printed in the commencement book, I had to call my Dad and ask him what he thought I should write down. Growing up in a military family, I had an understanding that home was “where the army sent you”, and that anywhere could be a home. I eventually decided the most logical thing to do was choose the place where I was born since, technically, that is where I’m from. Home had never been a specific place for me until one hot, sticky August afternoon when I arrived in Williamsburg, VA.

 From the moment we walked onto campus, William and Mary showered all of us with shared experiences- from ones as traditional and important as Convocation, to ones as simple and delicious as nacho Friday at the Caf. Through these experiences we have made many memories and created countless connections. We have tripped over broken bricks and we have streaked the sunken gardens. We have savored the warmth of Wawa coffee at midnight, and listened for the echo of our words in the Tyler Garden. Perhaps most importantly, we ensured that we graduate today not as Wrens, not as Pugs, but as Griffins. William and Mary has become our home.

As we celebrate the end of our William and Mary careers, we are reaching the end of that broken brick road and are ready to take the next step. While it is alarming to think that our time here has finished, we know that William and Mary will always be a home to us. But remember that home is not just a place, or a group of people, it is a community created by shared ideas and interests, and a collection of experiences we will never forget. As we search for and create new homes, there is comfort in knowing we need only to close our eyes and click our heels to come back. After all, there’s no community like our tribe, and there’s no place like our home.

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 See you soon, China!