You know what’s really big? China. You know what’s deceptively small? Maps of China. I mean, the Shanghai dot where I’ll be arriving, and the Ningbo dot where I’ll be meeting a friend, are right next to each other. But the cities they represent, as it turns out, are a 4-hour train ride apart. The Harbin dot on the other hand, where I plan to be living for a few months, is hanging out all alone way off in the top-right-hand corner, or the bottom-left-hand corner if you have one of those maps.

I’m going there (as opposed to somewhere else in China) for a few reasons. Firstly, the Mandarin spoken there is particularly ‘standard’, even more so than in Beijing. I’d be the last person to suggest that one language, dialect, or accent is somehow better than another, but there are practical reasons to learn to speak Standard Mandarin rather than a different regional variation. (Prestige dialects have that name for a reason; most second language learners of English understandably aim for a Standard American or British RP model rather than an Irish brogue.) Secondly, it’s a lot cheaper than Beijing or Shanghai- which, really, is a pretty solid reason as far as I’m concerned. Thirdly, it’s really very cold. I’m not quite crazy enough to think that I’ll enjoy living below freezing temperature, exactly, but it is an experience I’d like to have. Or to have had, maybe. Either way, I’ll be there in Spring and early Summer, which apparently won’t be as bone-chilling. Fourth, Harbin is different. It’s not the warm and beautiful South, it’s not a comfortable global city like Beijing or Shanghai. Everyone goes to those places. I’ll admit that doing something because most people don’t probably isn’t a particularly good kind of reasoning, but I’d be lying if I said it didn’t influence me a bit. One way or another, barring any unforeseen complications, Harbin is where I’m going… And I doubt that my expectations will bear too much resemblance to the actual experience, anyway.

(There are some people on Tumblr writing about more important things than an overseas trip right now. I’ve given up on writing about those things, because I’m not very good at it- but I should at least throw out a link to a couple of those people.)