China... the country that let me be me
When most think of China, they think of communism and bicycles... When I think of China, I think freedom and comfort. That's a rather different perspective that I have, eh? If you spent your adolescent days in Beijing during the early 90s, I think you could probably relate to that. I don't know about kids that live there now... It seems though things have changed rather dramatically... China's attempt to turn Beijing and ShangHai into the next HongKong, I think, makes it more difficult for one to feel what people felt way back when...
My father was stationed in Dalian, China in 1990, and our family as a whole decided to follow him. That, I guess, started everything off. I got into the International School of Beijing, leaving home, Seoul, Corea for this alien nation of mainland China. Since then China has virtually been my second home; the place where I spent my adolescnet days. I think that's why feel so attached to the place: the fact that I was an adolescent dork ^^ . Although I 've been living in the states for almost 6 years now, I constantly think back to the days I was in China.
When I first got there, the relationship between Corea and China wasn't even settled down. So, there were a lot of tension between South and North Corean people in China. You can see that it was somewhat of a surreal experience for a South Corean to be living in a nation where North Coreans were prevalent. I even got to meet and talk with North Corean students at a local foreign high school where a lot of my friends were studying at. Simply surreal... ^^ ... and pretty darn cool.
Living in China gave me a lot of freedom as to what I was able to accomplish during my highschool days. Like starting up a hard rock band and throwing a concert as if it were a real school band. ^^ Majority of my friends are still in Beijing studying either at Beijing University or Qing Hua University (Worldy renowned schools). They're all studying and partying really hard to keep it real. I miss them all very much, and pray that they will succeed. If you get to go to China, lemme know and I'll give you a verbal tour of the place and warn you of the things you may find weird. ^^
