I remembered this song while I was writing this post :D 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fyN4tBGAhc

I just came back from China filled with joy and happiness- after spending one week there. This was my second visit to China, I stayed only for 4 days during the first visit and it was for study purposes (I was attending a conference in which I published one of my papers). But this time it was different, I was visiting my girlfriend’s family. Even though I didn’t visit the Great Wall this time too or been to shanghai or visit other tourism places It was a great experience for me, an experience that I would never forget.

My girlfriend and I arrived at Hubei (Her hometown) in Wuhan province in China on July 15.  At Wuhan Airport, my girlfriend’s father, sister, cousin and her boyfriend were waiting for us. I was nervous honestly, I don’t know so much about the tradition and culture and of course, there was the language barrier. After greetings from her father (in the Chinese language, which I practised during the flight) my fear starts to fade away slowly, I honestly don’t know why but I suddenly felt relax and comfortable after arriving at their home and saw my girlfriend’s mother. I had a very nice sleep that day.

Back when I was living in Egypt, whenever we saw an Asian (whom we usually call “The Chinese” regardless of his/her nationality and identity ), or European, American or ….., We always refer to them as the “Foreigner“, but this time the situation was reversed. I was the “Foreigner”, a strange dark skin, tall African guy in a small town in China. But I didn’t feel I am a Foreigner at all (Except when we went to the market ^_^), my girlfriend’s family are so kind and generous and I enjoyed and watch from near a new culture and traditions.

My girlfriend's father doesn't speak much (same with me), but I felt he really has a big heart, he and my future mother in law spend a great effort to makes me feel comfortable (and I did). The nicest thing in my opinion that sometimes he cooked for us the meals, maybe it is not so much an amazing thing for others, but from where I came from this is really a rare thing and appreciate and enjoyed his cooking so much. My girlfriend's mother is also a very kind woman, I enjoyed being with her even though we don't speak the same language. She provided me with a lot of Mango :D (which I like very much and I miss so much, I didn't eat it since I came to Korea in 2008 heheheh).

One of the most amazing things for me was when we take a trip to their smaller hometown where they grow up to meet their grandparents, I lost mine before I can remember. I felt they are also my grandparents after the warm welcome and the invitations from the grandmother to visit them again.

It was really a great one week vacation for me, I enjoyed so many things there like the kindness my girlfriend's sisters, playing football and basketball with HawGaw (The elder sister's husband), having so much fun with their daughter the amazing beautiful 5 years old "Menshe" whom I think would make a great actress. I was touched by very small things, like a beautiful smile from the grandmothers, a huge from the kids "Menshe" and "Shawshedo" -I don't know how to write his name-, a tenderness look from my girlfriend's mother, a worry from my girlfriend's father about me being bored and his effort to teach me how to use the TV, the care about my girlfriend's second sister about washing my cloth, and her elder sister feeding us food while I and her husband played some computer game.

I had the chance to learn so much about being the "Foreigner" this time, and think about so many things there. I thought about Chimamanda Adichie and "The Danger of a Single Story", stereotyping, how we miss-understand and fear each other without giving our self a chance to understand each other. I thought about the "similarities" between our "different" cultures and backgrounds, how much we share so many things like the sense of family, generosity toward others, food taste and even music. I "saw" that no matter how different our skin colour, hair shape, or the difference in the language ….. we are the same humans.

It was a really great vacation. Thank you so much for giving me this chance, my dear Zhang He.

Hubei, Wuhan, China

July 15 ~ July 24 2011

A.B.O.L.K.O.G. Just Speaking!

Shawde "小德" (a.k.a Khalid Elshafie)