When In Doubt, Always Buy the Cheese

OR HOW COPING MECHANISMS, WELL, HELP YOU COPE

Hi folks,

I have just completed week 2 of Chinese class. I could tell you all about it -- my 10 credit, 16 hours per week marathon; my 2 semesters of Chinese packed into less than 1/3 the time that it's taught during the school year. I could regale you with splendid details, but sometimes I doubt how interestingly I could spin it. Even with pretty pictures and witty text. Let's just say "consistently tough".

What's more interesting is how I am dealing with the class.


How does a recent college grad keep herself sane when she finds herself in one of the toughest classes of her life?

Buy the cheese. Anyone who has heard me tell stories about my Shansi Winter Term (where I took a TESOL class and was oriented into the Shansi fellowship) probably has heard the Cheese Story. The famous story that warns of the risks of living 100% native. Some people don't want to break the mold, do the things their new Asian neighbors don't (like eat cheese). But the smart fellows know that going to Beijing, filling a small suitcase of cheese, naturally only found in a handful of specialty shops in the city, and lugging to back to rural China to fill a fridge so as to savor it slowly. That this is the best way.

Honestly, I never understood this story when Deb told it during orientation. "Honestly, who needs cheese that badly?" I mused. Chinese class has taught me how silly it is to not treat yourself well. This fellowship is hard. Summer study is hard, living in a new country is hard, starting over is hard, leaving it all at the end is hard too. And cheese will see you through it.

My cheese is well not cheese in Berkeley. It is exploring. It's saying yes to crazy invitations, like going to Napa Valley with your new friends wine tasting. It is eating crazy food I have never tried, like finding out the web's advice on Indian restaurants is spot on, even if you don't recognize anything on the menu. It is eating the food I always crave in Oberlin but never find the restaurants to feed that craving, like dim sum, falafel, or shawarma. It's doing yoga or walking until the frustration melts away. It is meeting up with Obies and dancing the night away. It's making new friends, like during a Blues Dance jam where you, the newcomer, are passed from dancer to dancer being welcomed. It's getting a long phone call from someone you love and miss dearly.

This cheese makes Chinese -- my personal uphill battle with no plateaus in sight -- doable. I now know that it's important to have the extra suitcase for it, so when I pass that specialty shop I will be able to take some with me...wherever I may go.