After arriving at the airport, I sat down and read my book, a first-hand account of life during the Cultural Revolution. Soon a massive tour group from Montreal sat next to me. I overheard some conversations and butchered Chinese so I decided to step in and help them out a bit. Surprisingly they were really grateful for my help. They told me a bit about their month-long trip across China and it seemed to be the same one my grandparents are going on in a month. Cool stuff. On the flight I ended up sitting next to a Beijing businessman and his daughter. We didn’t speak much but whenever I took out my Chinese book he would say to his daughter, “You should be studying so that you’ll be able to understand stuff.” I guess I’m a positive influence on people. The choice for lunch (or should I say a tasty midnight snack) was Salmon or Fillet Minion. Needless to say I chose the Fillet Minion. The ban of all fish imports from China, breaking news on CNN while I was waiting in the airport, didn’t help my choice. So guess what came with the Fillet Minion? A fortune cookie! Why would Continental put a fortune cookie in the meal? I’ll be pondering that question for the next month. I couldn’t stop myself from cracking up because Fortune Cookies don’t exist in China. Then the moment of truth came. I opened the cookie and these ominous words of wisdom appeared on a strip of paper: “The best are not only the happiest, but the happiest are usually the best.” [turn over fortune] “Learn Chinese” “Xiang-nian ni” [English translation] “Miss you.” And this is how my journey to China begins.
Sunday, July 1, 2007
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