HAPPY NATIONAL DAY!

Today was China's National Day, the day that marks and celebrates the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st, 1949. This is the second National Day that I've in China for, and I can't help but notice a sharp contrast between the two experiences.

On October 1, 2005, I was a couple weeks into my first trip to China and had only studied Chinese for about a year. Since we had the day off classes (or maybe it was a weekend, I don't really remember) my classmates and I thought it'd be a good idea to tour one of the parks in Beijing, go out to eat at a nice restaurant, and visit Tian'anmen square at night. It was so busy that day in Beijing that when we were trying to get from the park to the restaurant, we couldn't find a real taxi and had to squeeze into the back of a pedicab (a seat built onto the back of a motorcycle/tricycle). And then visiting Tian'anmen at night, I don't think I'd ever seen such a huge place so packed and so noisy with people!

Today, October 1, 2008, was probably one of the quietest day I've ever had in China. I stayed on my university's campus, here in Harbin, while it seems that most everyone else, students, and other teachers, have gone home or elsewhere. There were plenty of other people out and about when I took a walk through the forest near my campus, but things just felt quieter. Maybe it felt quieter today, too, because there wasn't a high school sports competition and marching exercises on the track and field stadium that's next to my apartment at 6:50 AM to wake me up (the past two days before this there was).

Knowing that quiet is hard to find in this place, and remember my first National Day experience (which was a fun adventure, but also quite tiring), I decided not to venture far away from campus today. Rather, I stayed near home and began planning my lessons! Countdown until first class: 5 days!!! I think I'll be really eager to teach then ... having this week the prep has been good, but waiting also makes me more anxious about the first class.