Today’s Prompt: What’s one thing you’re proud of?
I’ll keep this one short because the liquor store closes soon and I’m out of wine.
I’m proud that I went to China by myself in 2015. It was my first solo trip, and also the first time I felt in control of my own life. Taking the leap to live in Beijing for 3 months was somehow easy, as if I was a superhero emerging from the ashes of a fallen building. In my case, the fallen building was the most recent semester. I was wickedly depressed, my grades were poor and I had so much late work*, and no desire to stay in college (though I had merely one semester left).
Then I was left stranded at the Beijing International Airport. Some miscommunication I still don’t understand left me without a chauffeur, and I had to take a taxi to my apartment. I had no idea where my apartment was, and neither did my driver.
We communicated in broken English, broken Chinese, and Google Translate. I got to my apartment. I waited, but my roommate wasn’t there. Instead I saw a man about my age, who motioned me to follow him. So I did (because why not), and it turns out he was roommate #2, whom I didn’t know even existed. He showed me around the apartment speaking both a little English and the easiest Chinese he could manage, which I still didn’t understand half of. Roommate #1, Lydia, arrived, and the three of us went to dinner. It’s a happy memory.
Sorry for not keeping this short. Essentially, I’m proud that I took the initiative to unhook myself from my tethers.
*On the way to the airport, just a few hours before my flight took off, my mom took me to school so I could drop off a late paper that I had finished that morning. Then I went to fucking China. My paper was a full summer late.
Eva Moe 