KennedysOnline

(”Much Very Different”, “Much Same”)

[In this post, we feature guest bloggers Michael & Amy Kennedy - Dan's brother and Sara's sister - who are wrapping up their visit from Richmond, Virginia, USA]

The Virginia Kennedys traveled from Richmond, Virginia, USA to Beijing and Tianjin in China – across 12 time zones, flying over the North Pole, as far as you can go “away” before you start coming back. We expected to be challenged and pushed outside of our quiet, comfortable “boxes”. We came expecting to encounter strangers, see a strange land, and be strange within it, unable to communicate.

We expected to be overwhelmed by the things we knew to be different in China – the language; the food – even the method of eating the food; the amount, nature (pedestrians, bikes, bike/cars, cars, buses, trucks and every combination of those), and rules (?) of Chinese traffic; and redefinitions of “personal space”, “comfort”, and “entertainment”. Even so, we were unprepared for the height, the breadth, and the depth of the differences in this land and people.

Despite being completely separated from our “boxes”, we were even more amazed at how comfortable it is to live out of the box here. Even without grasping the language, we recognized everything we love at home: friends laughing, people working together, children playing, families and friends eating together, parents and grandparents loving their children, women singing, shopkeepers transacting business.

We thought to find strangers; we found only neighbors.

We have so enjoyed being welcomed by the warm Chinese people. We look forward to returning to renew our friendships.