FSO

After two weeks of intense study and even more weeks of worrying, I took the FSO (Foreign Service Officer) Exam on Monday October 5th. This was the first step towards my dream of working for the State Department.
The State Department is crafty. They want to scare you pantless suggesting all the subjects you should be familiar with. The site tells you (more intelligently) that you will be tested on everything that ever happened in the history of ever. And yet I know I would never be asked about cartoons and comic books, which is knowledge discrimination. If you want to impress a Japanese official, you should know something about ガンダムor at least Miyazaki.
Despite these psychological attacks, I still took it. To my surprise, it was easier than I expected. Granted I took LSAT tests and exercises for two weeks.
Now I play the waiting game, 3-5 weeks to hear if I passed the test or not.

国庆60周年!

Let me start by saying Happy Birthday, China.
At 10pm on Sept. 30th, I watched CCTV 4’s broadcast of National Day. I witnessed organization that Americans are incapable of. The soldiers were lined up ever so nicely; they looked like clones. Soldiers were the same height, had the same clothes, and stood the same way. One of the interesting sections was the women’s militia (女兵) who wore magenta outfits with white go-go boots and berets.
The ceremony started, of course, with the national anthem and flag raising. Then Hu Jintao gave a speech full of Party buzzwords. After that, he gave the military review. Hu poked his upper body out of a sunroof of a Chinese Red Flag limo with four microphones in front. I kept expecting him to through a pie or start dancing; he looked too serious for his own good. As he was driven past the troops and tanks, he stoically greeted his comrades.
Once the military review ended, the military parade began where the tanks and troops marched past Tiananmen Square. It was amazingly frightening and frighteningly amazing. The soldiers marched in step, and even the vehicles were ‘in step.’
Floats for each province and region and ministerial department followed the military parade. I saw floats from Guangdong Province (广东加油), Macau, and Beijing. Other floats included energy, transportation, physical education, and the Olympics. Following the Olympics float was the 同一个世界 float, featuring foreigners. While the Chinese all looked, dressed, and acted the same, the foreigners looked disorganized and messy. Their costumes were different, as were their ethnicities and heights.
In Tiananmen Square was a crowd of people lined up holding various colored fans used to create phrases seen from above like “热爱人民,” “服务人民,” and “社会主义好.” I felt smart recognizing and translating the phrases, even though they were simple. The people changed the colored fans simultaneously. I found the fact that so many people moved as one without relaxing for hours amazing.
At 8am on October 1st, Americans could watch the evening concert. China’s national celebration lasted half a day! Of the singers, I only recognized Jackie Chan, who has a moustache that does not suit him. During the day I saw soldiers, people on floats, people by floats, fan people, dancers, singers, and musicians. At night there were even MORE people: singers and dancers. I half expected the participants equaled the population of Beijing.

Parent's Visit

I was back in Shenzhen for several days before Mom and Dad arrived. I officially left SZ2G (第二高级中学) and began my reentry to Western society. I stayed at a Western hotel, watched Western tv, and ate Western food. I still surrounded myself with Asians. The only culture shock I experienced was the discomfort being around Westerners and non-Asians. Even the Westerners in Hong Kong, the small number of them, made me uncomfortable; I was tempted to return to Shenzhen with all my Chinese friends.

Inner China Trip (Chengdu, Beijing)

To celebrate a year of living in China, Ben and I decided to see what China had to offer within its borders. With our backpacks we boarded a train from Guangzhou to Chengdu and experienced the wonder of sleeper cars. After the 37 hour hard seat(硬座) train trip, we made certain to purchase hard sleeper (硬床) tickets. Oh, the glorious comfort! We had a cot with a pillow and fluffy blanket. It made the 29 hour train bearable.
In Chengdu (成都), I never saw destruction or rebuilding even though it was barely a year after the devastating earthquake. The highlight of Chengdu was that I touched a giant panda (大熊猫). I wore booties and a glove on my right hand. Mr. Panda was more interested in eating an apple than in whatever I did.
We stayed only a few days before moving onto Beijing (北京). 35 hours - not the express, obviously. How I had missed Beijing! The accent and feel of the city were comforting. We stayed in a hostel in a hutong (胡同) near Qianmen (前门).
I experienced something in Beijing that proved why it is my favorite city in China: normalcy. I am not oblivious to the fact that being a Westerner who speaks Mandarin makes me an oddity worthy of staring. However, I am not shocked beyond words when Asians speak a Western language. Ben and I ate lunch at a small restaurant. To my delight, no one stared at us in shock or amazement. No one was startled when we spoke Chinese. At that instant, I was a normal individual in China; it felt like I was accepted.
This was my fourth time in Beijing, and hopefully not my last. So I acted as a guide for Ben at the typical tourist spots: Tiananmen （天安门），Forbidden City (故宫), Temple of Heaven (天坛), Beihai Park (北海公园), Lama Temple (雍和宫), Great Wall (长城). I could describe each place in detail, but there are tourist websites for that. However, I will give one story about the Great Wall. Ben and I haggled for a personal driver to take us to the Great Wall and only that. He picked up two other passengers, and instead of driving straight to the Great Wall we kept stopping or driving past small Ming Dynasty stuff. We complained to the driver. Unfortunately, we made a big foreigner stink, but it worked. Next stop 长城. We climbed for over an hour. In the parking lot was what I wanted to see, a camel. In 1993, my first trip I rode a camel by the Great Wall. It took me 16 years to reenact it. Little Li-Li got her picture taken on a camel. My year in China ended the way my first trip began.