Reflection On My Journey Through China

So, I have returned from my epic journey through China.  You know if someone would have told me when I was a child that I would someday live in China I probably would have had no clue where the hell they were talking about. All I can say is that it was quite possibly the best thing I have ever done in my life.  I won’t say it is the best thing I will ever do because who knows what tomorrow may bring, but, for now China holds the top spot in my heart.  For those that don’t know here is a brief (but not so brief) reflection of my journey.

It all started a year and a half ago when I was informed that I needed to meet my foreign language requirement at my university.  I lived in South and Central America most of my life and took 6 years of Spanish and judging by my current level of Spanglish I knew Spanish was a waste of my time.  For a long time I have always wanted to travel to Tokyo so I thought to myself, “I’ll take Japanese!”  Unfortunately, beginning Japanese was already full.  Well, I wasn’t going to take Italian because look at how well I did in Spanish.  I kept going down the list and French just seems too romantic for my taste.  But then, I came across beginning Chinese.  I contemplated taking the course for three weeks.  I signed up last minute and filled the final spot left in the class.  I went into the class thinking I would just take two semesters, fulfill my foreign language requirement, and then move on with my life.  I never, in my wildest dreams, would of guessed that this class, this class alone would change my life. 

I remember entering the classroom on the first day and there were only fourteen of us in the class.  I sat next to this girl Debbie, who turned to me and said, “I have no clue what the hell Chinese sounds like but here I go!”  Debbie and I were partners the whole semester and at the end of the semester she loudly proclaimed, “I HATE CHINESE!”  That was the last I saw of Debbie.  The second semester of Chinese things started clicking for me.  I realized if I wanted to actually carry on a conversation I was going to have to bust my ass.  I don’t care if it met not spending nights out and literally staring at index cards with characters on it for countless hours.  Then, it came time to register for my final semester.  I wanted to move up and take intermediate Chinese with my eyes set on a certification in Asian Studies.  Then, I noticed that the professor of Chinese history was no longer going to be teaching at my university and everything I had been working towards was lost.  My Chinese language professor suggested studying abroad to me.  Studying abroad?  Ugh, I wanted to go to China but on my own terms.  I was worried that I was going to end up in some study abroad program that would later become my greatest regret.  Of course since I can’t get money for anything I really had to think this massive expense over.  I finally agreed to do it after about two months of sitting on a pile of packets. 

The next couple of months were a complete headache.  The study abroad office at my school was/is worthless and failed to mention some important things to me, which caused me to have to run out of my way to get things done (and large overnighting fees).  Time seemed to move slow back then but all of sudden August came around and the next thing you know I am packing up my life into a suitcase to go to a country that I had only ever read about.  I booked my flight through Orbitz (as requested by the program) and I will never book anything through them ever again.  They switched my itinerary and then failed to reissue the ticket leaving me stranded at the Delta counter with no connecting flight from Atlanta to New York.  What the hell???  The Orbitz customer service rep had no clue about anything and honestly it’s not his fault.  He probably gets paid slightly above minimum wage and sits in a cubicle all day listening to people complain about Orbitz’s constant failing while the CEO sits in his fancy office with a view dreaming about his next golf game. 

After much delay I ended up getting a flight out of Fort Lauderdale and just when the day can’t get any better (sarcasm) my flight lands in New York at the exact moment an earthquake hits the area.  After much annoyance I make it to the international terminal and found myself contemplating once again if this was a good idea.  All signs so far point to “NO”.  I am sure if I had a magic eight ball and asked it if going to China was good idea that thing would pop up with, “HEEEELLLLLL NOOOOOO.”  I boarded the 18-hour flight from New York to Shanghai and couldn’t sleep.  My mind refused to shut down.  I thought about my parents, my dog, my home, and all that I would miss by being in China.  Everything was about what I would miss.  I even told myself, “I can’t believe I am going to China instead of seeing Imperative Reaction.”  Never once did I think about all that I was going to gain from this trip.

Eventually I arrived in Shanghai and caught my connector to Nanjing.  At that point my Chinese was nowhere as good as I had once perceived it to be, so I could not communicate with anyone.  I would literally say things and they would all just stare at me.  I felt like a complete and total idiot.  It was 1am by the time I arrived to my apartment and I literally just put my stuff down and passed out in my comfy wood bed.  The next day I awoke and met one of my roommates, Liz, and we went out into the city.  Four hours later our other roommate, Ryann, arrived.  We all went out again to see what Nanjing had to offer.  This place seemed so big and everything was confusing.  Every time we left the apartment we would end up spending more time trying to figure out how to get home then doing anything.  Then after the first two weeks things started clicking for me and everything made sense.  Actually, it was better than making sense, I just plain got it and from that moment on every day made me a better person.   

There are so many fond memories it is hard to really narrow them all down but I will do my best.  Of course one of my fondest memories was traveling to Suzhou, Tongli, Shanghai, and Beijing with my program.  I got to see all the things I had read about and it really put everything in perspective for me.  Then there were the fond moments that were not the fondest moments for others in the program or as I like to refer to it, “Best Drunken Battles Ending in a Fatality.”  Some of those include the following:

The Two Ryan(n)’s vs. KTV mirror

Matt vs. The Mirror at Ellen’s

Anthony vs. The Faucet at Motel 168 in Beijing

Mario vs. Everything

Since I quit drinking completely while in China I was the only sober person on this trip so I was gifted with the memory of everyone else being a hot mess.  Then of course there was my music career while in China.  Who would of thought I, Chantal Cheri, would ever be a paid singer?  I didn’t say I was great, I said I was paid and that’s all that matters in my book.  I think it is safe to say that I was the greatest singer of the best fake band of 2011.  Most importantly, all of the people that I encountered on my journey will forever be in my heart.  I don’t know how I would of made it through those months without my awesome roommates Liz and Ryann.  Not to mention all the amazing Chinese people that entered my life and changed it forever. 

I learned a lot about while China but even more about myself.  I now know that I can actually do anything I want as long as I work hard at it.  It may not come to me right away but eventually it will come.  I am so humbled by this experience and like I’ve said many times before it will be one of the greatest things I have ever done.  And now it is time for some of my favorite photos/memories:

At the top of Purple Mountain (Nanjing, China) (left to right): Liz, Ryann, and me.

Beijing duck dinner (me, Liz, and Ryann)

Broken KTV mirror

Presidential Palace (Nanjing, China)

Epic coaster at Hongshan Forest Zoo 

Tiger Hill (Suzhou, China)

Tiger Hill (Suzhou, China)

Stealing silk from a cacoon at No. 1 Silk Factory (Suzhou, China)

The bird man (Tongli, China)

The Bund (Shanghai, China)

A Thousand Years of Tea Art (Shanghai, China)

The Bund (Shanghai, China)

The Pudong skyline (Shanghai, China)

Forbidden City (Me, Ryann, and Liz) (Beijing, China)

The Great Wall

The Great Wall

Bird Nest Stadium (Beijing, China)

Eating Scorpions at Donghuamen Street Market (Beijing, China)

Donghuamen Street Market (Bejing, China)

The Summer Palace (Bejing, China)

The Summer Palace (Beijing, China)

Marble ship at the Summer Palace (Beijing, China)

The Summer Palace (Beijing, China)

Open grave at the Nanjing Massacre Memorial (Nanjing, China)

The Nanjing Massacre Memorial (Nanjing, China)

The Nanjing Massacre Memorial (Nanjing, China)

Halloween Teddy Bears

Making my singing debut (Yinli, China)

Shanghai Planning Center model (Shanghai, China) 

Model of Shanghai (Shanghai, China)

Yu Gardens (Shanghai, China)

Busiest Apple store in the world (Shanghai, China)

Sitting in gum (Shanghai, China)

Fireball at the final dinner (Nanjing, China)

The last dinner (Ryann, me, and Liz) (Nanjing, China)

Nanjing Normal University (Nanjing, China)

Nanjing Normal University (Nanjing, China)

Laoshi Longmei Ci (Nanjing, China)

Parking (Nanjing, China)

Home at Wu Tai Hua Yuan (Nanjing, China)

Wu Tai Clan at the Nanjing City Wall (Nanjing, China)

Wu Tai Clan at Purple Mountain with Chinese tourists (Nanjing, China)

Wu Tai Clan at the Forbidden City (Beijing, China)

Posing with Chinese people at the Forbidden City (Beijing, China)

Posing with Chinese people at the Forbidden City (Beijing, China)

My room (Nanjing, China)

Dragonboat Racing (Nanjing, China)

Singing Katy Perry "Hot N Cold" at KTV with Ryann (Nanjing, China)

Sharing a table at KFC (Nanjing, China)

Getting massaged (Me, Ryann, and Liz) (Nanjing China)

Dancing at the DJ booth at a club in 1912 (Liz and me) (Nanjing, China)

Cooking in a kitchen made for a child (Nanjing, China)

Completed tattoo of my mother and myself done by Zhuo Dan Ting from Shanghai Tattoo (Shanghai, China)

Now, on a sad note.  I returned from China on December 10th and due to a family emergency I was forced to travel up north for some time.  Things are now much better, however, while I was in China my dog, Memphis, was diagnosed with terminal cancer.  By the time I returned she could barely breathe due to large turmors that had formed on her lungs.  After watching her struggle for air I knew that I could no longer let her suffer so I had to make the hard decision to put her down.  My vet confirmed to me that she was indeed suffering and it was the right thing to do.  I am very saddened by the loss of Memphis as she was and will always be the greatest dog I have ever had.  She was kind, loving, and always there.  She was like my child and will forever be missed.  I picked her remains up from the vet this week.

R.I.P. Memphis 

Now I am stuck with the struggle of finding employment.....ugh!  Let me just say this is so hard.  I don't even know where to begin or what to do with myself. 

@Chantalcheri