I had my first overseas trip in 2008. I was really excited, especially since I thought I was going to have my first white Christmas, television really should stop selling us this idea of what the ‘perfect Christmas’ looks like. We’re more likely to appreciate our own no Santa, no stocking, no snow, no mistletoe Christmases if we aren’t sold these dreams of the perfect Christmas being white.
So yes, it was my first time flying and I was really excited, but also really nervous because I have a fear of heights and thought this would make me afraid to fly, it didn’t. I had a ‘get Mimi safely to Beijing’ team comprising of my cousin Sydney, who’s a cabin attendant so he would know the ‘ins and outs’ of my route; my cousin James, who was my designated ride to the airport, and my big brother, who I would be visiting in Beijing and apparently just didn’t trust me not to get lost. In their bid to get me to Beijing safely, those three seemed intent on thwarting my excitement and fueling my fear. All the way to the airport, James kept drilling me not to be too afraid or stubborn to ask for help and/or directions. Sydney actually told me to tell a flight attendant that I was a first time flyer so they’d pay special attention to me. Ha, those people wanted me to die of mortification! I think they would have very much liked me to have it tattooed across my forehead that I was a first time flyer! The big bro had constantly been calling to tell me to be careful with my luggage so I didn’t lose it, or get it stolen. He cautioned me not to talk to strangers (I kid you not!) and to be wary of people slipping illegal substances into my luggage.
So I went from Windhoek to Jo’burg, Jo’burg to Dubai and Dubai to Beijing, too scared to even glance sideways. I held on to all my belongings for dear life, I didn’t talk to anyone, and I didn’t dare look anyone in the eye, for fear they’d see I was a first-time flyer. I got through the trip without mishap, thinking the ‘get me there safe’ team had obviously had very little faith in my reading skills as they must have thought me incapable of reading airport signs.
Then I got to Beijing International Airport, one of my connecting flights had been delayed, so I was late and I guess the big bro had grown weary of waiting and gone back into the city, instead of waiting for me at the airport as discussed. So I needed to call him. To call him, I needed to buy a phone card, to buy a phone card, I needed to talk to someone. And that was when the real predicament of my trip hit me: What the big bro had really needed to prepare me for, and abysmally neglected to, was navigation in a city where hardly anyone spoke English. How was it that he’d lived in Beijing for over a decade and the only Mandarin I had picked up from him was ‘Ni hao’(hello) and ‘Mafan’(trouble)? Oh, actually I can see how, I can hear him saying “Mimilo, ni hao” and “Ok Mimilo, I’ll talk to you soon, be good. Stay out of mafan.” A fat lot of good that did me though, I was in some deep mafan!
I took a deep breath and walked into a shop that looked like it could have phone cards, the attendant smiled and said a pressed ‘hello’, it gave me some hope. I asked her if she had any phone cards, she said she did. I took out a US$ 10 note and asked if I could pay for one with that, she told me I needed to change my money into ‘Rmb’s. RMB? What the hell was that? I thought Chinese currency was the Yuan! She didn’t understand my confusion and just pointed me to a bureau de change, where I was able to get these Rmbs she spoke of. For the US$ 28 I had on me, I was able to get about 350rmb, which is not too different from what I would have gotten in Namibian dollars. I went back to the little kiosk and was able to get a phone card for 30rmb. Next hurdle: The instructions on the phone card were in Mandarin. *sigh* I went to the phone booth, I found an old man there, I said ‘ni hao’, he smiled, nodded and said ‘ni hao’. I told him I need help (in English) and he looked at me blankly. I want to say ‘he looked at me like I was speaking Chinese, but given the situation, I think it would be more apt to say he looked at me like he wished I was speaking Chinese. So I pointed to the phone card, then to the phone, then I showed him the big bro’s number. It worked like a charm He dialed, waited for it to ring, and handed me the phone. I smiled gratefully at him and said ‘xi xi ni’ which I had picked up from Chris Tucker in Rush Hour.
My brother picked up and I told him I had arrived. He asked if I was okay and had all my luggage with me, I told him I did and he told me he was on his way. I hung up and went back to sit down and took out a book to read. So as far as he was concerned, the only hiccup in my trip had been my delayed flight, instead of not panicking when I didn’t find him waiting for me at the airport, I had calmly called him and sat back reading as I waited for him, like I had been flying all my life. He was so pleasantly surprised and proud! He asked me if I was jet lagged, I told him “I’m black, we don’t get jet lag,it’s a muzungu concept!” I was deeply mistaken, of course, you don’t fly in and out of time zones and come out unscathed.
My lessons from that trip;
- No one really says ‘xi xi ni’, it’s just ‘xie xie’, I learnt that on my second day there. Xie xie for nothing, Chris Tucker!
- Being able to eat with chopsticks is a very handy skill, and in China, an absolute necessary one.
- Know where you come from,because the people you meet when you travel, will want to know EVERYTHING!
- Time zones are real, guys. It’s almost like time travel. Coming back, I left Beijing at 8pm on the 11th of February, I was in Dubai from the 12th to the 13th, and arrived in Windhoek on the 12th. What sorcery?!
- Munukayumbwa Mwiya, commonly known as ‘Mimi’ do not quite consider herself a writer but love to write because writing is her escape and refuge, where she runs to find herself and it is how she best express her innermost thoughts. Writing is very personal for her which is why she journal a whole lot more than she writes on any other platform including sharing a lot of her thoughts on Facebook, and sometimes blogging at ramblingsofapotentiallycrazyperson.com. She also loves travelling and try to do so whenever and wherever possible.