Homecoming Part 2: the delightful surprises

the language, the clothes, and the weather.

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This is Part 2 of my Homecoming series where I write about my first trip back to Fuzhou, China in six years.

"How was your trip back to China?" Friends and colleagues asked immediately upon our return.

"It was so, so good," I’ve been saying.

I felt trepidation and fear before embarking on our first trip home in six years—to my husband’s and my hometown, Fuzhou. We were afraid of the hot, humid summer air, the often chaotic crowds at airports and train stations, the familiarity and the unfamiliarity after so much time away, and the passage of time. All of that turned out to be the case but with many delightful surprises along the way.

The language

After leaving China right after high school, my husband and I often joke about how our Mandarin Chinese skills have permanently stayed at the 12th-grade level. It’s true. We are native speakers; we talk to each other daily in Mandarin, with English words sprinkled in. As soon as we start discussing work, politics, or more complex topics, we immediately switch to English. Whenever I speak with my mom on the phone, I find myself pausing every other sentence, trying to think of the right Chinese word to describe what happened at work. It’s embarrassing, and my mom knows.

“You sound like elementary school children,” she once remarked.

I know - it’s bad.

To our surprise, as soon as we returned to Fuzhou, our native tongue took over, as if a force had been hibernating deep inside us all these years, waiting for the right moment to come out. With each passing hour, words and sentences flowed more smoothly from our mouths.

I firmly spoke with the front desk at the hotel where we stayed for our make-up wedding banquet (more on that later), making it clear that the tape residue on the wall was from the previous guest, not us. It was a long conversation, but I was articulate. When I hung up, I looked at my husband, smiling triumphantly, and he met my gaze with approval. I wasn’t sure if I should feel proud for speaking my native language so fluently, but at that moment, I did.

Everything fits.

We returned to Fuzhou via Hong Kong to take care of our visa business. While in Hong Kong, we went on a shopping spree - buying the much-needed summer clothes - something we don’t own a lot in Northern California where it’s rarely humid and hot. Like many Asian women, I have a longer torso and shorter legs for people of my height. I am very privileged to be able to easily find clothes in the US that fit my body type, but the pants and dresses are usually just a tad too long for my inseam. Even Asian brands like Uniqlo tend to have longer inseams here. I fall between regular and petite sizing, sometimes neither fits me perfectly.

The cost of buying pants or jeans for me in the States typically includes the price of the item, hemming fees (around $15 for a basic hem in the Bay Area), plus the time and gas spent dropping them off and picking them up.

In Hong Kong, pants and dresses in my size fit my short legs perfectly, falling right at my ankles. That moment reminded me that I am actually from this part of the world, things fit me naturally, with no extra trips to the tailor needed.

In Fuzhou, I went shopping for shoes for the wedding banquet, and the experience was delightful. The shoes felt like they were molded to my feet. Is it because I rarely buy heels in the U.S., the brands I bought in the States are “too cheap“, or did I just get lucky that day? Or do the shoes in China simply fit better? Everything I tried, regardless of style, fit comfortably, like a glove. Even in heels, I felt like I was walking on clouds. The arch support was incredible, and the extra padding, even under the front of the shoes, was unlike everything I’ve experienced before.

I started wondering: is there such a thing as an “Asian fit” for shoes? It turns out, there is. Asians generally have flatter feet and lower instep height, so extra arch support can help alleviate discomfort.

My husband encouraged me to buy a few pairs since they fit so well, so I did.

Here is a pair of patent leather Mary Jane I bought from Fuzhou. The cushioning and the arch support are phenomenal.

The weather

Booking a trip in mid-August, we expected rough weather. Oppressively hot and humid, to be specific. During the hottest summer days, the temperature rarely dips below 35°C (95°F) and often exceeds 40°C (104°F). Along with extreme humidity, sweat pours out the moment you step outside, quickly penetrating whatever you wear. We call these “sauna days”(桑拿天), and global warming only makes it worse and worse each year.

In my early twenties, I often complained during summer visits home from college: “People don’t wait in lines, the traffic is terrible, it’s too hot, and the AC isn’t cold enough.” Given my weather-related grumpiness, my mom advised against traveling home during this time of year. Unfortunately, working at a university means summer is the only time I can take two weeks off.

To our surprise, after six years away, I embraced almost everything, including the weather. It didn’t seem like a huge issue this time. During my longer stays in the past and when I was still a frugal student, I’d take the city buses around town. This option is the cheapest (only 2 RMB per trip, approximately 30 cents in USD), but also the slowest and most uncomfortable, as the waiting and walking expose you to the “sauna weather” in the most brutal way.

This time, we were mostly chauffeured around by family members. We used local rideshares a few times and took the subway for convenience. The subway trains surprised us in the most delightful way.

As we waited for the subway, a screen above the closed glass door displayed the air conditioning level for each car and indicated our relative position with a red heart. The incoming subway has two options: “slightly cold” with one turquoise bar and “medium cold” with two blue bars. I heard some subway trains even offer “strong cold” if you're lucky. Without hesitation, we stayed where we were and stepped onto the medium-cold car when the train arrived.

This is the screen in the subway train waiting area that shows the level of AC of each car and your current location.

It was not very cold inside the subway car, but it was cold enough to shut me up from complaining about the heat.

My mom thinks turning 30 has made me more mellow. I insisted that avoiding the buses and taking the air-conditioned subway made all the difference, especially the one that lets you choose how cold you want.

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Thank you for reading Part 2 of my Homecoming series.

Update: all five parts are out now:

• Part 1: the before

• Part 2: the delightful surprises

• Part 3: it’s always about the food

• Part 4: the wedding banquet

• Part 5: the after

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