The Beiyuan Fortune

I found a Chinese fortune from a dinner I had with my Mom before I left for China last year today while going through my jewelry bag. It says, “You will make a change for the better within the year.” Truer words were never read out of a fortune cookie before.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the community that I have lived in this year. I am going to miss my Beiyuan suburbia. I am going to miss having mangled Mandarin small talk in the elevators. I am going to miss the funny security guards that sing to themselves. I am going to miss the women exercising out in the square and the old men playing card games and drinking beer on the street corners. I am going to miss running into EF families in the grocery stores and on the streets. I am going to miss my late evening walks home from the gym and the quietness of feeling that I am the only one up on my early Sunday morning walks to work. I am going to miss the security of having good friends living a few complexes away. I am going to miss buying fruit off the street and the sweet couple that run the store on the first floor.

I am going to miss my studio apartment. In the beginning, it felt like my only sanctuary from all the smoke and Mandarin. I had an instant feeling that this could be my new home when I first walked into it with Jason, the crazy EF relator guy. It wasn’t as nice as most of my friends’ apartments in the neighborhood, but they were just a little too posh for my style. I am glad I listened to that little voice when I was making my decision between where to live. Now, I recognize it as the place where I did lots of growing up, a quiet place where I could work on me. For that, it will always have a warm place in my heart. I am going to miss it, weird elephant pointing to the bathroom light and all.

Whenever I have met new people and the conversation turns to asking where do you live, everyone is surprised that a single girl like me new to Beijing would want to live in suburbia. Honestly, I can answer that I didn’t really know much about the layout of the city before I had to pick a place to live. My only real request was that I wanted to live within walking distance of my school. I was pretty naïve about neighborhoods and the “cool” places to live in Beijing.

I like to think that just like with most of the other parts of my adventure, it was just meant to be. I might not have lived in a trendy part of town, but I think it was the perfect neighborhood for me to grow in this year.

I can never explain how much character Beiyuan has, or describe the appreciation I have of this neighborhood in words. It’s just going to have to live in my soul, along with all the special moments I’ve had here.

Thank you for helping me make a change for the better, Beiyuan.