As the Sun Comes up in TEDA

As the sun comes up in TEDA, Tianjin on what appears to be a lovely Sunday morning, I think to myself: this place is kind of livable.  Then my eyes adjust and focus on the window itself, instead of on the sun rising beyond it, and what do I see?  Soot.  Soot!  It literally covers everything here including myself.  

The other day I walked by a patch of flowers that resembled lilacs and was hilariously horrified to discover that they were in fact “silk” or fake flowers that had actually been planted in the ground.  I felt less bad for them knowing they weren’t real and that their leaves weren’t actually covered in the brown dust that seems to touch every corner possible here.  This begs the question: is it possible for anything to grow here?

Then I recall the 2 days last week when I had to wear my carpenters mask to school and was having mini panics about what the air was doing to my lungs.  Not that I haven't inflicted enough damage on them myself over the years…Still, when the nearby ocean blows away the pollution this is still a pretty pleasant place to be. 

We only discovered how close we were to having an ocean view a full week after we’d been living in the apartment.  We truly had no idea that we were surrounded by other buildings and close to the waters edge.  The only thing we had seen outside of our grimy windows was a fireworks display that one would usually witness over a lake.  The residents of the neighboring apartments were celebrating the end of Spring Festival and the debris from the explosions was actually bouncing off my window…only in China. 

As it turns out, I'm not actually in Tianjin, but in the economic zone outside of the 4th largest city in China.  In TEDA (Tianjin Economical Development Area) there are only 2 million people.  2 million people and I am more often than not confronted with an empty street versus the suffocating crowds and traffic that I have come to expect from the People's Republic.  The city is very walkable and I can make it to most places in about 20 minutes including the school, H&M, Starbucks, and a grocery store with imported cheese.  I was told that there is an area to avoid as it's kind of dodgy and a few women have been attacked there.  I won't make too much of a habit of strolling alone.  It's funny how bigger crowds feel a little bit safer than abandoned streets.

My roommate is a great big thug of a woman, so I feel safe with her: a salt of the earth girl from Ontario who loves country music and slugs beer on the daily.  Neither of us was interested in having a roommate but the prices we were being offered for apartments were a little outrageous by my China standards.  I think the proximity to Beijing has people feeling like they can up their expectations.

So far I am feeling settled and comfortable in my surroundings.  These next few months are going to fly by and I almost wish there was going to be more time.  I feel useful again and am afraid of coming back to Canada where my job situation is uncertain and where I may have to take on jobs that make me feel somewhat pathetic.  I am repeating a mantra that I have started to impart to my Planning 10 students: there is no shame in taking a job that is beneath you, there is only shame in not making an effort to support yourself.  I will try to remember this the next time I have to approach a table and tell them about the night’s specials.  For now, I will enjoy my role as someone of foreign interest and expertise and embrace the busy-ness as I know it is impermanent. 

Until next time, I’m still over here.

B.