The Smell of Burning Coal

Check out this video about "the dirtiest city in the world." The images in the video from Linfen, China are so familiar to me and remind me most of my two trips to Fugu, China to stay with a friend and her family.

The gray skies, the trash everywhere, the cars... what sticks with me most, though, is the smell of burning coal. As I watched that video sitting in my living room, I had one of those strange experiences where I smelled burning coal as if I were in my friend's home in Fugu by their furnace. And that isn't the first time that has happened to me. When I first returned home from China, sometimes I would wake up in my dorm room and completely forget where I was. And then I would smell burning coal. I wasn't actually smelling it, of course, but I was remembering the entire experience of waking up in a strange world- one of pollution and gray skies and trash and cars- and smelling burning coal.

And yet, the people of Linfen- and Fugu and Lanzhou and the thousands of other polluted cities in China and around the world, still lead happy and normal lives.

At Bei's House

Right now I am in Fugu, Shaanxi, China at the home of my friend Bei. In just a few days, I hope to travel to Yulin, just south of Fugu, and see a few things there. Yulin has some unreconstructed sections of the Great Wall as well as some Buddhist caves. From Yulin I want to take a train back to Xi'an so that I can take a train to my friend Lei's hometown.

Fugu is not quite as I remembered it from when I came in February. The local government has been working hard to improve the conditions here. Fugu has new parks along the Yellow River, new apartment buildings, plans to build a bridge, and the city seems a little cleaner.

It is great to be with Bei's family again. They are so kind to me. The last time I was here, I of course could not speak any Chinese. But even though I can now, they won't let me speak it. I understand when her mother says to Bei, "Tell Caiti in English that..." and Bei tells me in English. It's slightly frustrating. Bei's family does speak a local dialect, but it is similar enough to standard speech for me to understand.

When I leave Bei's home, I hope it's not the last time I see her and her family.

International Students

I can't say for sure what it's like at other American colleges and universities, but at my home college, the international students stick together. It's not that they don't want to meet Americans or that none of their friends are Americans. But they spent their first days in America together, they live together, they go to class together, etc.

Well now I'm one of “them."

I have made several Chinese friends, but I spend much more time with the other international students. We all live in the same building and are so different from those around us that we have much in common. We talk about learning Chinese, traveling in China, our impressions of the country, missing our family and friends, and what it is like in our home countries.

Also, the way Chinese language classes are set up isolates us from the other students. Most of my classes are in a classroom on the floor where I live. The other students in my class are beginning Chinese international students as well. My roommate and the other girls we hang out with took the beginning courses last semester, so are taking the intermediate courses together now.

And, finally, many of the Chinese students are too shy to speak to me. Many stare at me and laugh if I say hi to them, but not nearly to the degree I experienced while in Fugu.

Hopefully I will get to spend more time with the Chinese students as the semester moves along. But honestly, I enjoy learning about Korea, Africa, Russia, Kazakhstan, Japan, Mongolia, Australia, and Uzbekistan while enjoying the culture and customs of China. It's the best of both worlds, or should I say, the whole world?

Trains

Trains are a common form of transportation in China. I took a train from Bei’s hometown of Fugu to the capital of the same province, Xi’an. The train ride lasted 15.5 hours. That’s two hours longer than my flight from Chicago to Beijing!

Not only was the train ride long, it was also crowded and dirty. When we found our row of three seats and a small table between another row of three seats, there were sunflower seed shells all over the table and floor, as well as some orange peels. Then, instead of six of us sitting in one section, there were eight.

At least we had seats; you can get a ticket for the train but not have a seat. People were standing, sitting and sleeping in the aisles, in between cars, and on the steps between the upper and lower cars. There was no room to move. We had no choice but to step on people to get to the dining car.

Speaking of the dining car, I thought the food was good. I had beef and potatoes with rice. It tasted slightly like a roast. The Chinese people I was with thought it was horrible, though.

I was able to get some sleep on the train because I was against the window and could rest my head. Of course, my sleep was often interrupted because the train was so noisy and would often stop abruptly. My neck hurt when we got off the train as well.

I tell you all of these things, but I don’t want anyone to think that I am complaining. It was a new experience for me to ride a train this way, and I want to honestly describe it to you. I had fun on the train, getting to know those I was with and learning about train travel in China. Honestly, it was a good experience. I tell all of these negative aspects because want everyone who reads this, presumably from America, to know how fortunate we are!

Pollution

The pollution here is awful. Fugu and the surrounding region have many coal mines and plants, so the sky is a weird gray color. Also, the soil is dusty, so after even a short walk outside, my shoes are covered in dirt. And to add to all of this, people throw their trash anywhere and everywhere. The ground it completely littered with everything imaginable.

I have a sore throat and a cough, and sometimes it is hard for me to breathe. A logical guess would be that this is due to the pollution, but I may have caught a cold while traveling.

After my third day here, I am used to the smell of burning coal in kitchens, bathrooms, and restaurants. It’s inescapable.

I do want to say, however, that I don’t hate it here. Sure, it’s dirty, but that doesn’t matter to me. It’s kind of fun to wash my hands and watch the sink turn black. Haha, but really, millions of people live this way. I see how fortunate I am to live in America, and the least I can do is live alongside them with a positive attitude.

Chinese Lantern Festival

Bei’s family took me to the Chinese Lantern Festival in Fugu. This celebration is part of the Spring Festival and the Chinese New Year. For the past month or so, most people have had off work and school. At the Lantern Festival, everyone from the surrounding area comes to the city and has a celebration in the streets. There is a parade, people selling food and trinkets, a maze to walk through for good luck the rest of the year, and of course, lost of Chinese lanterns. There are many types of lanterns at the festival, but the most common ones look exactly the same as the ones you might find at a Chinese restaurant in America. I was expecting more elaborate or ones of higher quality, but they are the same thin fabric or paper.

In China, almost every single person in the area comes to festivals like this. In America, in contrast, not everyone goes to the 4th of July parade or county fair. In China, there is nearly 100% participation. The streets of Fugu were so crowded and noisy and dirty.



I may have been the only foreigner there. I might even be the only foreigner that has been in the area for some time. Everyone stared at me, and many pointed and laughed. Some even came up to me and touched my face. They laughed and said the Chinese word for American, and they laughed even harder when I said hello to them in Chinese. It is strange to be in the minority!

Bei's House

I flew from Beijing to the Yulin airport where my friend Bei and her father met me. A friend of theirs with a car drove us three hours to Bei’s home in Fugu.

Fugu is a very small town, but it is still crowded and full of people. Bei lives in a house on a hill. The outside of her home looks old and run-down, but inside it is decorated with large mirrors, murals, Chinese wall hangings, and plenty of furniture.

Bei's home is heated with coal and is rustic as far as the bathroom is concerned, but her family has a television, a computer with an internet connection, a refrigerator, and a kitchen.

Her family has been so wonderful. They want me to feel at home and at the same time experience Chinese life. Bei speaks English very well and her sister Miou has a smaller vocabulary, but none of her other family members speak English at all. It is difficult for me to express to them how grateful I am, but I am learning some Chinese words from Bei so she doesn't have to translate as much.