Well, who’d a thunk? China? Really? When I was ten years old, I dreamed about all the places I’d go, maybe inspired by Doctor Seuss’s book, maybe not. But I was darn sure, I was going somewhere someday. I asked my dad if he ever imagined himself back in Ireland, if we’d ever go back there together. I can see him now, leaning on his rake, staring off into the trees, taking one breath in and then another. He’d then look down at me, waiting and hoping the answer would somehow be different each time. It was always the same, “Someday, Gaelie,” he’d say. “Someday.”

Eventually I did go to Ireland, France and England. I’ve traveled around this wonderful country of ours and have been to Canada, Mexico and a few of the island nations. But China? I’d never even dreamed I’d have a chance! Until one day, our schools forged a partnership with a sister school in Liaocheng. We experienced so many, many different adventures, sights and places within China. Starting out in Beijing, a bustling city, we traveled south and filled our eyes with the sprawling landscape there. Mostly new trees lined the roadside, China was then planting medium sized saplings to offset the effects of desertification that had robbed the land of all its topsoil and nutrients. As you can see, I was enthralled. That barren land had to feed millions upon millions of people! In the cities there were towering structures popping up all over the place housing all those people. The schools were packed, the streets were packed. But the people were amazingly kind and caring, honest, and true. It took me way out of my comfort zone. I didn’t speak the language, never used a pair of chopsticks, and hadn’t ever put myself in the mind or the lifestyles of people so far away.

The point of all this became crystal clear to me as I returned home. It made me realize that as little as I’d known about a people that lived so far away, I could put myself there, stretch myself and see their way of life and realize that their day-to-day ordinariness was much like mine. Their problems too, matched many of mine.
Yes, I have so much more freedom. My movements are not watched or managed by an outside force. But I, like them, have had friend problems, money problems, identity problems and many other problems that all humans have throughout their lives.

Exploring new places, trying new things out, are good for us as writers. I filled my journal, wrote articles about that trip, and talk and even now, still think about those my Chinese teaching friends, so many years later.

And then, as a writer, I snap back into my own reality and realize how much I do know about all the places I have loved. What would I want the world to know that may be common to me, but unique and interesting to others around the world? We open that window called setting and have to see it and experience it through the eyes of the onlookers that have lived similarly. But we also write to create a new understanding for people outside the bubble we know, so they explore and identify too!

Writers read! Here are a couple of great books to explore:

Home of the Brave, by Katherine Applegate
Sitti’s Secrets, by Naomi Shihab Nye
Listen Slowly, by Thanhha Lai