I'm Finally Writing About My China Trip!!!

Hello patient possums!

It's been four months since I was in China on a professional development trip, so I've owed you a post about it for about 3 months and 3 weeks (giving myself a little jet-lag recovery). What I'm saying is, this is very late in coming, and my apologies.

I visited Beijing and Xi'an with two of my lovely colleagues from work to get a better understanding of the Chinese student experience. We spent most of the trip touring university campuses and talking to colleagues there. The campuses were lovely, and many included a water element.

Beautiful pagoda

Series of bridges

I snapped a picture of the library at Beijing Jiatong University, but sadly our schedule didn't allow for a visit.

University library that I didn't go into

Our schedule was pretty packed, but we did manage to visit some incredible sights.

Yup, that's me on the Great Wall of China. You better believe I rocked that fanny pack the WHOLE trip!

The Forbidden City

Breathtaking Buddha in the Lama Temple

Having a sit at the Summer Palace

Either the drum temple or the flower temple in Xi'an

But what, I hear you ask, about the libraries? I'm slightly ashamed to admit that, even though our hotel in Beijing was quite close to the National Library of China, I didn't make it inside. This omission was partly because we did have a very busy schedule, but I also found the entrance requirements to the library a little intimidating. Our lovely tour guide Jack (Tao) told me that I would need to bring my passport and exchange it for a temporary card before I could enter the building. I was a little concerned about navigating that process in a non-tourist destination where, in all likelihood, my lack of Chinese language skills would be a problem. So the closest I got was this shot of me in front of the building.

Fun fact, that umbrella was pretty flimsy, but made for very lovely pops of colour in photographs

I don't feel too badly, though, because it turns out that I found little libraries everywhere! In the lobby of our first hotel in Beijing, I found this.

Mystery library?

To be clear, I don't know what the sign says, so maybe this isn't a library at all, but I suspect it's a "need a book, take a book, leave a book" kind of arrangement for travelers. Because I wasn't sure I didn't take anything, although there were a few English books that were tempting.

We popped into a convenience store/bubble tea emporium close to our hotel, and bam! Another library.

Surprise library

People were working, parents reading with their kids, it was great! No English titles that I could find though, so I just soaked up the atmosphere.

Another library snuck up on me when we were getting some coffee and tea for the bullet train ride back to Beijing (and yes, the bullet train was very cool).

A few customers were reading while they sipped their coffee

We also visited an INCREDIBLE bookstore in Xi'an. 

So many books!

Look at all the books!

They had a small section of English books, mostly classics, so I picked up a copy of Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence as a souvenir.

That's some good reading right there

The bookstore featured, obviously, lots of books for purchase, but also had some library qualities, such as the children's area where staff members were reading books to the assembled little ones. (There was also, inexplicably, a substantial bulk popcorn area.)

Children being read to, not popcorn

And so I managed to find libraries throughout my travels, and got to spend some time among my beloved books.

Also, the food was pretty spectacular.

Everything in this meal was NOM NOM NOM!!!

Actual Pilgrimage!

Possums! I'm here to tell you that I went on an actual library pilgrimage! Well, a pilgrimage in the sense that I traveled a great distance, but in truth, only one library was visited. But it was lovely!

In June we went on a family vacation to Ponta Delgada in the Azores, a wee, picturesque island in the Atlantic.

The Azores are part of Portugal

Although our intention with this trip wasn't solely to visit a new (and European!) library, I will let you know that I confirmed there was a library in Ponta Delgada before I booked our Airbnb. I'm no fool.

Now I could go on and on about the views in the Azores,

or the natural wonders,

the interesting sights,

or the local flora,

but you're not here for all that (yawn!). You're here for the sweet, sweet library talk.

Conveniently, the library was about a fifteen minute walk  from our apartment, which we discovered our first night on the island when we went on a gelato mission. From our favourite gelato shop (we tried many) we could see the library. As it was after dinner, a plan was made to return the next day.

And return we did. The unassuming entrance to the library did not betray the beautiful design housed inside.

There was colour to be found in the library as well.

Tile art on the stairs

Since we had been out walking in the sun, the first stop was the library cafe which had a courtyard (how civilized!) where we enjoyed some cool beverages.

Then we were off to explore the children's area. My older daughter quickly found a book on her favourite topic - didn't matter that it was in Portuguese.

All cats, all the time

My younger daughter was interested in the board games and puzzles that they had, so we grabbed Guess Who and took it to our table.

As we were getting the game set up I noticed how many teenagers there were in the children's area (turned out the library was crawling with teens; I think they were preparing for end-of-the-year exams). "They probably find it so babyish in this section," I thought, hoping the sound of our playing wouldn't disturb them.

After we finished our game, as we were putting it away, one of the teens came over to us, and in broken English asked if she could have the game. She took it back to her table and set it up to begin playing with her friend. Not so babyish after all.

We made our way up to the second floor once the games were done and all the cat pictures had been observed. Here we found more teens, but also some beautiful natural light and wood flooring.

What a stunner!

All libraries should have a sky light

And as we were wrapping up our visit, I looked down to the floor below me and saw a man reading possibly the biggest and oldest book I had ever seen.

I don't know what he was looking for, but it was clear that the history that was being housed in the library was put to good use.

It was a beautiful trip, and a lovely library. I hope to return one day. If you're ever there, stop in and have a peek.

My Quest for a Pilgrimage

For a while now I’ve been enthralled with the idea of pilgrimage. I’m drawn to the notion of an overarching purpose that guides and shapes a journey. The problem is, I am completely unreligious, so all of the pre-made pilgrimages don’t hold a lot of appeal. I don’t know my saints from my relics, so a religious pilgrimage would lack meaning for me.

I am intrigued by the 500 mile Camino de Santiago pilgrimage in Spain because it sounds terribly romantic, but Spain is a long, expensive plane ride away, and also I think I might be developing a bunion. That kind of a walk could end up being very unpleasant if my big toe joint continues on its current trajectory.

So for a year or so I’ve been mulling different approaches to pilgrimage, trying to find one that both holds meaning for me and also fits with my life. I’ve got two young kids and a full-time job, so it’s not exactly viable for me to, say, hike every active volcano in the southern hemisphere. I love knitting, so I considered visiting sheep farms (which has the bonus of justifying a sweet trip to New Zealand), but what would I do once on the farm? Pet all the sheep? Snip a bit of fleece? The farmers might not find my pilgrimage charming, and at that point it's just trespassing.

And then it came to me, and I couldn’t believe I hadn’t thought of it right away - libraries. This part of the world is littered with them (aren’t we lucky?), they’re  great places for little people to visit, and I’ll be among the books which is something that always calms and grounds me. So now, when we travel, I make a point of finding out where the local library is, and insisting on a stop there so I can look around. I try to get a souvenir of the place (a pin, a bag, or a shirt) so I can remember each one. And if this does turn out to be a bunion on my foot, I’ll still be able to complete my pilgrimage, just with a bit more of a hobble in my step.

Relic from one of the greats

Now, I don’t travel all that much (remember the full-time job and small kids?), so don’t expect there to be frequent jet-setting to the oldest libraries in Europe, or the ancient Babylonian keepers of tomes. I do, however, have the advantage of living walking distance from an excellent local branch, as well as working at a university with a library and is also walking distance from another local branch. I am rich in the opportunity to borrow books. So mostly I’ll write about my trips and experiences there. But I’ll also probably lose focus (the working title of my, as of yet unwritten, autobiography is “I Got Distracted”), and write about other things I find interesting or amusing. And I’ll keep you posted about my bunion. I’ve named it Paul. Our relationship is deepening.

Impending bunion.