To Tianjin and Back, Pt 2

Read Part 1

One of the problems with low-end Chinese electronics is that they suck on a whole new level. They're cheap and there's a damn good reason why. Chinese phone chargers and electrical outlets top the list. Sure, you can buy a phone charger for under $2 but it gradually stops working. I'm no electrical engineer, but I don't understand how you can get diminishing results from a charger. It's not an engine or computer, it either works or it doesn't, right? There are no buttons, no switches, and no adjustment knobs. Wires touch wires touching my cell phones special place giving it the negatively charged juice of life.

The only reason I bring this up is because the day I left for Tianjin I had no juice in cell phone even though it spent all night on the charger. This was a double cell phone folly because I was having to use my old phone after dropping my new one in a waterfall whilst mountain climbing. I was having to turn it on once an hour to see if, as I suspected, I would receive my departure plans from the company. I was expecting a "you fly out tomorrow morning," not a "your train leaves 3 hours after you get home from classes," but hey... minor details, right?

I spent an hour searching for a charger in the neighborhood around my school during my [2.5 hour] lunch break. After scolding two businesses for selling Motorola phones but supposedly no chargers I found a guy selling phone accessories out of a cart. I charged up and napped while waiting for my next class

The phone was important because this was a homecoming of sorts. I had a few Chinese friends in Tianjin that I desperately wanted to see. There were two teachers from the Jixian retreat when I first came to China. The other was my "Tianjin girlfriend," a one-on-one student of mine who was in grad school at Tianjin University. My last night in Tianjin I became the second boy she ever kissed.

My biggest fear was that I was going to get to Tianjin, run through whatever process I needed to do and get flown right back down to Shenzhen perhaps even Wednesday night. We have a teacher shortage in Shenzhen and I was sure it was extremely difficult to cover my classes. That's why I had assumed they would spend the extra $60 and fly me instead of playing with 27 hour trains. I was afraid then I'd have to pick who I wanted to see and snub others, if I had time at all. It didn't wind up being an issue. I wound up staying up north till Thursday. Furthermore, my "Tianjin girlfriend" was in Shandong for a chemistry conference. Sad, sure, but definitely logistically convenient.

* * *
It was like a dream coming back to Tianjin. I didn't realize how much I missed the city. It seemed strange to be returning to a city I used to call home that's so far from Florida. It's all so relative now. I forgot how well I knew it in those two short months I was there. I knew where I wanted to go and what I wanted to do. I missed the street food, wide roads filled with cheap taxis, and massive bike-lanes. The things I hated most about the city had changed for my arrival - there wasn't a hint of smog in the air and the weather was perfect.

I began my day coming to the office. Coming up the marble steps into the company HQ, the first person I saw was my John LǎoShī [pronounced Laowsheer, Chinese for venerable/old teacher], my Chinese teacher. In a moment of instant recognition, we feigned a Hollywood reunion and ran towards each other for the bittersweet embrace of parted lovers. We went to Muslim noodles where I showed off my new-found Chinese skills and ordered for us and we traded stories of the past two months. I couldn't stop wondering wondering what it'd be like when I finally go back home to Jacksonville, how many lunches and dinners I'd have and with whom.

I spent the rest of the afternoon waiting for dinner with friends in my old hangout at the 4-story electronic store next to the company building looking for new headphones. I hadn't realized I missed playing with haggling over cheap electronics so much. I spent another two hours venting frustration with the local operation to the sympathetic ear of Brian.

Six O'Clock rolled around, it was time to catch a cab to He Xi District dinner with my two Chinese English teacher friends...