We've been in China for over a week now and I couldn't be happier with how this trip is going. Not only because this country is my passion, but because it's testing me with far from easy challenges. One above all? speaking Chinese.
I studied Chinese at university but haven't practiced for long. Every now and then I try to get back into it using app, but I'm not consistent. I rarely start watching TV series in Chinese, and I often choose something not really inspiring, so I never see the end. Luckily, I have my favorite playlist: thanks to a friend who's a fan of Chinese indie music, I always discover new songs enjoy reading and translating the lyrics.
My Chinese level isn't very advanced, but I can still have short conversations, which helps me get by in a country where they don't even speak a word outside of their own language. I find it stimulating I try to interact with the locals and in one way or another I always manage to interact. Compared to November, when I was in Yunnan ( Here is the article ), I feel like I have improved a lot, and I am proud.
Maybe today I challenge more myself. I feel much more at peace. After all, I have two more months to spend in China… if not now, when?
As I always say, I am grateful for this trip that help me growing facing new situation so different from my life in Colleferro, the small provincial town where I come from.
There, it seems that nothing ever changes. Or at least, people seem to remain anchored to that reality, physically and mentally. Shortly before leaving, I met an acquaintance who told me about an episode that happened between us fifteen years ago. Honestly, I didn't remember it at all.
In these fifteen years, I feel I have lived at least three different lives, while for him it seemed it had only happened yesterday. As if everything had remained the same.
But the truth is that it is not like that.
I have changed a lot, and thanks to this trip I feel I am constantly evolving, looking at the future. While he is still remembering the past. And not only he told it to me, but he repeated the same story to my sister. And who knows how many more times he will tell it again.
Maybe, going beyond our comfort zone, we will be able to collect new memories, live a thousand other adventures, overcome our limits. But some people choose not to do it. I do not judge them, but this static world simply does not belong to me anymore.
And yet, despite everything, I always feel a great desire to return to my little village. I am grateful to have been born and to have lived there for most of my life. And thanks to this trip, I understood even better what belongs to me and what does not, I understood the many facets of living in a small provincial reality. And I will certainly treasure it.
Meantime, here in China days pass quickly visiting the giant and red pandas, or jumping into the futuristic Chongqing.
We are still organizing the second part of our itinerary in China, but I am sure that it will be exciting and captivating, like all the choices I have made by leaving my comfort zone!
Follow us