Last week a member of my Changchun family came back "home" for a visit. I've been in his shoes, returning to a place that made me feel independent, loved, and cared for in a lot of new ways. The feeling is extraordinary. On the one hand, you know how to get everywhere. You remember buildings, locations, and all your old haunts. On every street corner you see apparitions of past events and people. On the other hand, however, lives have moved on, including your own, and you become keenly aware that the place you're visiting belongs to your past. It is time travel in the most literal sense.
Xiaolin arrives from Tokyo on a Thursday evening. Bi yue, DA3, and I take him to one of the last restaurants he had eaten at before he left a year and a half ago. I'm sure that's the main reason he makes it his first stop. We order old favorites, some with new twists that Xiaolin hasn't tried. We chat and laugh. I introduce Xiaolin to DA3 and they hit it off. I can't say it feels like no time has passed. We spend most of the evening catching up on each other's lives. It just feels easy and natural. It's clear we are old friends with kindred spirits who are happy to be seeing each other face-to-face again.
Xiaolin and I
DA3, me, Bi yue, and Xiaolin
The old classmates, Bi yue, Xiaolin, and I
Xiaolin only has a week in Changchun and he makes the most of it by planning all his dates before his arrival. He meets friends and teachers throughout the week, which means Bi yue and I get to see him almost every other day. Our dates fall perfectly at mealtimes, a testiment to Xiaolin's efficiency. I tell Xiaolin about the Arabic restaurant in a list of choices for the evening's dinner. He's never had Arabic food, so he chooses that immediately. DA3 and I meet him near the restaurant's location. There we introduce Xiaolin to DA3's friend, Salah, who also helps out at the restaurant. Salah and our waitress surprise everyone with phrase after phrase of Japanese. Xiaolin enjoys the food, the music, the atmosphere, and the waitress' enthusiasm for his language.
Salah, Xiaolin, me, and DA3
The next day I meet Bi yue, Xiaolin, and our former Chinese teacher, Shen Laoshi, for lunch at a very posh dumpling restaurant. In that DA3 doesn't eat pork, I don't eat it very often these days either. At this restaurant we end up ordering a lot of pork, however, and I unceremoniously eat like a pig--if pigs were cannibals. Shen Laoshi is fun to catch up with as well. I don't see her often now that I've started my major. She's still fantastic about listening to us and talks in a way that makes it easy to understand. We talk for three hours!
Bi yue, Xiaolin, and I with our former teacher, the beautiful Shen Laoshi
After lunch, Xiaolin and I go shopping for the dinner I'm going to make him in a couple of days. It's Sunday, so he doesn't have much planned with other friends. He decides to come with me to visit DA3 after shopping. The three of us sit and relax, talking about nothing in particular. We tell stories and reminisce. I suddenly realize that this is what my family did on Sundays growing up. I remember sitting in my grandparents' living room with the TV on, but on one paying attention to it. My dad would sit on the couch, my grandma in her armchair halfway between the front door and the wood stove. Grandpa took whatever other seat was available. They would say things like, "Well, you remember so-and-so, don't you? You know! That Guy's kid! Remember that time we went to such-and-such place to do this or that? We saw That Guy and we talked about whatchamacallit?---Well, it's That Guy's son I'm talking about." My conversation with Xiaolin follows a similar pattern. The hours pass. It feels like home and Xiaolin like family. Xiaolin announces an appointment with another friend. I see him to the bus station.
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