Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Preparing for Reentry



We leave for the States tomorrow. I don't know how much I'll blog when I get back-- in the past I have found there is less to blog about when I'm in the US, though I like to write about contacts with foreigners on campus in this blog which focuses on my contacts with China.
Though China is not noted for the freedom of its press, I have felt pretty free to write whatever I liked, if I did it tactfully. Being an outsider affords us a certain freedom. When I arrive home, things are different. I am not an outsider in the US, especially not at the university where I teach. I may write freely about my society and government, but about the inane bureacracy of my own institution, its silly committee meetings, its tempests in teapots, I have to be circumspect. And those are the things I like to write about, which is why I am often silent when in America.

I anticipate reentry, the inverted culture shock one experiences on re-encountering home. Things change in our absence, and we ourselves change through contact with a foreign language, people and culture. I will miss the contact with Chinese students in these very hopeful times. I will miss my friends. I will miss CHINESE, this elusive, difficult language which I am beginning to learn.

In a few minutes, we will have our final "field trip"-- a look at the Olympic stadium. There will be lunch with friends tomorrow, packing, and the surreptitious discarding of presents which will not fit in our luggage. There may be time for another entry or two before our departure.

Thanks for reading. Keep in touch.


5 comments:

JR's Thumbprints said...

I know a problem will never get solve if it's sent to committee. Too much coffee and donuts and passing the duties onto someone else.

quig said...

Hey Roz, Glad you are coming back state side....just take re-entry on day at a time and you will do fine... you are the only one who thinks there isn't anything interesting to blog about in the states...I bet the rest of us would rather hear about your life here in the states more than your trips to china.......see you next Wednesday for breakfast.. john

Roz Raymond Gann said...

John, it's not that there's nothing interesting to write about. It's just that it's unwise to say it :)

quig said...

why, you have tenure!!!!

Ruth W. said...

go for it Roz!!!

What does tomorrow mean? It is 5:30 pm here, but at home it’s 5:00 in the morning. I leave Weihai tomorrow and make a stop in Beijing. ...