Juniper Armstrong

I just had a lovely 25th birthday weekend spent with my friend Sean in Beijing. One of the greatest things about Tianjin is that there is a bullet train that carries you at over 339 km/hr to arrive in less than 30 minutes in Beijing. Tianjin is a nice city, but it still is very isolated-- One of the fellow foreign teachers said it is "China's largest village." This is such a true statement because there is still that 'village mentality' that reigns in this city. It definitely is not as cultural as Beijing, even though its population is over 12 million.

It was so great this weekend being able to walk around and not constantly be stared at. Beijing is home to a ton of expats, so one more white chick walking around is nothing new. In Tianjin, however, I am always being pointed at and whispered about for they are none too subtle here. Most of my students say I am the first foreigner they have ever met-- oh joy, once again with the celebrity/pariah dichotomy going on haha. Hence, the reason the trip to Beijing was so refreshing was because I could blend in (not necessarily with the Chinese, but with the other expats hah).

Making this decision to come and live in China, was mainly because I was facing the quarter-century marker. I did not want to celebrate my 25th back home...no offense to friends and family, but I HAD to be somewhere other than Pennsylvania. It is just such a momentous occasion for me because I never really pictured my life past the age of 25. I did not want the reality to be that I was living at home and did not possess a real job hahah So now I am in China trying to come up with a 5 year plan (I have never planned longer than a few months in advance before) and this milestone birthday seems like a good time to start. Wish me luck or else my parents had better watch out-- for I will be moving back in! eeks hahahaha