Last Conversation

Today Cheng and I met for the last time. We met up in the library and chatted about the year ending and finals. I asked him what his favorite part of TCU was, he said breaks. In other words, he likes NOT being at TCU. I laughed and asked him about his roommate, he said he was transferring to San Diego and that he was going to miss his roommate a lot. This surprised me, a chinese student and a brazilian playboy being close friends? I never considered their bond to be more than roommates. I asked about who he hangs out with and he said he didn't really like the middle eastern people in his classes, which was a bit uncomfortable, but that he really liked the Russian guy because he was wild. He said that he didn't like drinking with him though because he got "f**ked". I thought that phrasing was hilarious and we broke out in a fit of laughter. He didn't like the middle eastern students because it was hard to communicate with them and they are extremely religious. In China the government is against religion, they see people with strong faith as people who desire power, so they see them as a threat. Because of this, in China if you are buddhist you are not allowed to vote and have limited rights. I thought that was absolutely absurd and Cheng agreed, he thinks that people should have the freedom of religion like in America.

I asked him about his plans for the summer and he's being forced to come back at the beginning of july to complete the last month of the IEP program! I thought that was horrible! His only time to be back home and he only gets a month and a half? He complained a little more about that and then I asked him about Shanghai. He compared Shanghai to New York and I pictured dangerous mob men. I asked him about the mafia and he said it's an underground business but the "governmenters" are the heads of it. This got us on a government talk and he told me that in 2011 two politicians ran against each other and the one that won ended up accusing the other of murdering people long ago and had his wife and him put into jail so that they couldn't run against him ever again. I was shocked at how easy it was to destroy other people when you're in power in China. He said that was why everyone wanted to be in power. He also said it's really important to vote for the "right" person. Cheng told me he just found out about three years ago that his grandfather used to be a policeman in 1960 and he voted for the wrong guy in an election. The government took him away from his wife and no one knew where he went, he just showed up at home 10 years later a completely different man and the government forced him to be a farmer. All because he voted for the "wrong" guy. I was flabbergasted as he told me this story.

Cheng said that in China they don't teach students about Tiananmen Square Masscare. He only just found out about the event in recent years. He just kept emphasizing the fact that politicians in China are extremely dangerous. I was utterly shocked to discover all those crazy facts. I was sad when we had to say goodbye. I told Cheng that we should catch up when school resumes in the fall and he agreed.

Overall, I am really glad that this IEP partnership was a part of the class. I found it extremely interesting to learn about someone else's culture and I never would have know even a fraction of what I know about China if I hadn't met Cheng. It was a wonderful experience that I won't soon forget.

Stepping Outside Your Comfort Zone

This is about to get deep, so grab tissues before you read this. I'm listening to "Pep Talk from a Kid President" in preparation for this post. I recently tried something new and I proved how much I can accomplish and how far I can push myself. It was an amazing experience where I stepped out of my comfort zone and gave it my all.

I learned a lot about myself as a person. I was gearing up for an athletic event and I started training about two months ago. I started to work out every single day and cleaned up my eating habits. It was incredible the transformation that occurred. I suddenly had so much energy! I was loving every minute of it! It was a proud moment for me when I was able to workouts with ease that had previously been to hard for me. Unfortunately, that meant I had to push myself harder. It was in the "I can't go any further, lets quit now" moments where I really grew as a person because I refused to accept those limits and pushed myself even harder. I had done a sort of fit test at the beginning of the process where I did a bunch of exercises and timed them or counted how many I could do in a minute. At the end I repeated the test and it was so amazing to see my results quantified! I had bettered myself physically, and it also changed me mentally. I knew what I was capable of now, and that gave me so much more confidence.  

Through this process I relied heavily on inspirational quotes (cliché I know) and daily reminders of the goal I had in mind. One of my favorite quotes that I came across was,

"Success is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" -Winston Churchill

I read that quote and it blew my mind. That may seem dramatic, but I was raised on the belief that failure is not an option, so the mindset of Winston Churchill had my head spinning. It was a new way to look at the world and a new way to look at my life. I suddenly knew that no matter what happened, I was going to be proud of myself. It takes so much courage to try something new and allow yourself to be vulnerable in the process. Success isn't measured by how many times you win, but how many times you get back up and try again. I went through a lot of ups and downs throughout this process and I view it all as success because I never quit. It doesn't matter if you win the race or place 57th, the most important part is finishing. I am on a soap box, I know but it's just so important to step outside your comfort zone! I can't stress enough how life changing it is to push yourself past your limits and go outside your comfort zone. If you don't do things like that, you'll never change as a person, and without change there can't be growth. If everyone tried something new we could change the world! (Okay that might be a stretch, but you get my point).

It's like what Journey said, "Don't stop believing", in yourself, in the world, and in each other.

Funny Situations

There’s not a whole lot of funnier situations that a teacher looking up the definition of “biddy”

Some Superiority theory here…

Incongruity theory at it’s finest. Needless to say this is a bit embarrassing to post. I knocked on Ali's door and as she opened the door, much to her surprise, there I stood in a full outfit with a swimsuit on top. I put my goggles on and asked, "WHO WANTS TO GO SWIMMING?!" To say Ali was surprised is an understatement, she burst out laughing and I ended up sitting in their room eating their popcorn which is where this lovely picture came from.

Conversation: Number Five

Cheng and I met in our usual meeting space- Union Grounds. We started off talking about school work and he has another debate in his english class and his topic is the death penalty! I was surprised that they are making the IEP students debate such a controversial topic, but he thinks it should be banned. Well actually, he told me he didn't really care about it. He just thinks people should follow the rules.

We also chatted all about travel, I discovered some fascinating differences between Northern and Southern China. Apparently there is huge animosity between the people from Beijing and Shanghi. The people in the North eat more spicy, fried, unhealthy food while the people from the South eat bland, healthy, sweet food. Also, Cheng thinks that the people in the South are less intelligent. He compared the feud to be similar to the differences between North and South in the U.S.

I asked him if he's ever visited Europe, and he then explained to me all the trials and tribulations that come with being a Chinese citizen. Apparently the Chinese passport only gets you to a couple of the places around China (he said it was bulls***). Most other countries won't accept the Chinese passport because they think that the Chinese people are just going to move in and never leave. You have to apply for a Visa wherever you go, and even then it's hard to actually get one. You can't even visit Hong Kong or Taiwan without a Visa, that's like saying you can't go to New York without a Visa. That's absurd!! The Hong Kong government doesn't care about anyone or anything besides money, according to Cheng. So all these people want to move to Hong Kong to have a better life, but the government there won't help you, they just want your labor and profit. The government doesn't accept the Chinese passport because they think if they do accept it there will be a huge influx of people.

Overall I learned a LOT about Chinese culture today. Cheng explained to me that you won't find an unhappy Chinese person, which was shocking. He said people are always smiling and extremely polite.  They think Americans are rude because we just say everything straight, no talking around a problem. Chinese will not read a newspaper article if it just says exactly how you feel, you must be polite about it. An example he gave was a newspaper article reviewing bad food, an American could say: "The food was awful", while a Chinese reporter would say: "Maybe it will be better the next time". He also told me that it's impolite to laugh, cry, or make a scene in public. I asked then if people ever laugh, and he said "Of course! Just in the privacy of their rooms". I realized then I would never be able to visit China.