Teesa

A postcard arrived for me from Hong Kong yesterday, which was a treat of enormous proportions on several levels. Sent by Aga, my brilliant scientifically minded roommate who introduced me to Polish culture, the minute gesture of sending cordial greetings on a unassuming 4 x 6 served as a hello, a treasure from Asia, and mostly as a comforting reminder that there is a vast world beyond the horizon visible on this pacific island.

Aga is an adventurist. Ever since our freshman dormitory days of nerdishly cool parties with unforgivably poor vodka and musings of star constellations, Aga consistently transformed the terrain of Berkeley into a land meant for exploring and a setting for memorable stories. And so Berkeley became; whether it was chasing people in banana suits into the sunset, witnessing deer battles that commenced on the hillsides, hammock lounging on rooftops, biking in a “tour de Franzia” competition. Recently, Aga elected to take a train ride across Siberia and experience the traveler’s life from Eastern Europe- all the way to Hong Kong, China.

Here, story comes to an abrupt halt, a place of blank space. I have no idea how her trip went. I’ve been to some of the places in Asia she has; like Yangshuo, the place on the postcard, China’s Yosemite. When Bill Clinton visited China during his presidency, Yangshuo was on the itinerary, so you can bet this location is one of China’s winners both culturally and aesthetically. Yet, traveling is not just about aesthetics and Lonely Planet culture excerpts. Well, at least, I don’t like to think that is what makes it addicting, and definitely not why someone would endure an uncomfortable inter-country train ride for.

Aga’s returned from her travels and back at Berk, continuing on an academic track I can only watch movies about. The semester’s started, and the Campanile bells on campus are ringing three times a day again. Somewhere in the Pacific, I lost my voice yelling across a flooded classroom what the word “mandatory” means, as in “it is mandatory that you turn in your homework!” Our days have gone from being synchronized daily rituals of dining commons meals with slight variations in class scheduling, to waking up in different regions of the world. The postcard shatters the distance, and for a brief while brings out that familiar feeling of connection that only a postcard in the hand can muster.