Tianjin: Chapter 2 天津：第二次 Month 7

March 5^th, and the last of the scholars (a very jet-lagged Sam and I) arrive on Floor 7 greeted by the new faces of our new neighbours and the smiles of our scholars. Unlike our arrival to Tianjin in September there was no settling in needed, for me it was 10 minutes of hugs and catch-ups before I dumped my bags and headed with some scholars to the “Noodle Bar” (a favourite restaurant of ours, the actual name is “Zhang Liang” but Noodle Bar sounds so much better does it not?).

And then that night I wasn’t complaining about my hard mattress anymore, because it was my hard mattress in my room, that I live in with my roommate: it was my home.

That’s what was odd about coming back was… we were home. This is it now, we have a home here with memories and day-to-day life and a strong family bond with… 3 months left. Now, that, I have mixed feelings about…

Our first class was 2 days after returning, and this semester I was upgrading from 初级三班 (Beginner Class 3) to中级一班 (Intermediate Class 1), which was intimidating considering I hadn’t studied in 2 months, and had only got my first Chinese teacher 5 months before that. The work in my new classes is definitely more challenging with the jump to Intermediate, however because I have a good understanding of Chinese now the classes have felt easier. My listening and reading are at a good level now, although the writing and (definitely) speaking could use work. My issue with learning Chinese is still the confidence to speak to people, although already a couple of weeks in and I have made a friend in class from Japan so hopefully this will give my Chinese good practice and I can speak to more of my classmates.

Other than the class change, and the arrival of many new faces to the university, the day-to-day life in Tianjin has resumed to… well as close to normal as life in Tianjin can be, this is China after all. Things have definitely livened up here compared to the exam atmosphere we had during winter, with the combination of exam stress, homesickness around Christmas, and the -30 degree temperatures, less people were leaving their rooms, and even the Chinese people had retreated to wherever they hide when it’s cold. But now, it’s warmer, sunnier and the smog is…denser, but Tianjin is waking up again and it’s become more bearable to go outside. The atmosphere is somewhat similar to what we arrived to, now we actively see the major mix of nationalities on campus as people wander about, and socialisation is becoming a lot easier.

However one of my “New Semester’s” resolutions was to make life here more interesting: head out more and not stay in my room as much as last semester. So, so far I’ve looked for volunteering work (my language partner has helped me here) and started to go on more walks with my friends. So it looks like as the weather gets warmer and it gets sunnier I’m going to be more motivated in the coming months to get outside more. It’s been nice to be able to study outside or walk outside again without freezing to death.

Life in Tianjin isn’t all studying though, now that we were back Kevin, Calum and I (along with a few more scholars this time too!) headed to Poetish, a foreigners poetry slam at one of the western-run bars. The event is held every month and it’s been nice to socialise with people out-with the university, and also to meet people with similar creative passions as the 3 of us. Kevin and Calum did an ace job performing their poems at it again (who knows maybe in the next 3 months I’ll get onstage) and it’s interesting to see how popular Kevin has become with the Poetish community due to his creative talent with words.

My discovered love of Korean food when I was in Seoul hasn’t gone to waste since returning to China as a couple of friends and I discovered an amazing shopping centre on YingKou Road (营口道), containing an entire floor of amazingly cheap restaurants. So we won’t lie when we say our student allowance this month may have been stretched with a couple of cheeky trips for dinner out for Korean food. In the same shopping centre a couple of floors below we have also found an amazing arcade, which we’ve attempted to avoid, or our stipends could be swallowed down the drain. The arcade resembles the ones I found in Japan, large claw machines scattered everywhere (some included a Pikachu bigger than me), rhythm games, VR racing, POV shooters, and dance machines (which you will not be catching me on, considering all the Chinese people playing look like they’ve danced straight out of a Step Up film).

“Travelling the World”: Claire’s Brief Guide (Its back!)

Rule 11: Don’t go near arcades if you’re broke

Rule 12: If you’re going travelling for 2 months during semester break, don’t forget to look at a textbook (even once! It’ll save you when you go back)

Rule 13: You can’t miss home if you build a new one, live in the present.

After about a week or so of settling in, I did begin to feel a bit homesick. At this stage most of the scholars had gone home, or seen family members or friends in China/on travels, but I hadn’t, and to be honest my fingers were itching on Sky-scanner to just dash at a couple of points. When you realise you no longer want to be somewhere that you worked so hard to get to, but simultaneously know the second you’re where you want to go you’ll want to be away from it again, it’s a…. difficult scenario, to say the least. However no matter how alone I feel and how much I find myself longing for home it’s overtaken by sadness at the fact we have 3 months and a few days left… so emotionally I’m in a very tricky situation right now.

So coming back has shown me that no matter where you go in the world, anywhere can become home. This semester is feeling less like a holiday, especially now that I’ve started some hobbies from back home again and as the weather gets warmer I look to getting out more and more, it seems like the semester will (somehow) be better than the last.

But we’re gonna have to wait and see aren’t we?

‘Til then, 再见

-Claire 可兰