A Tale Of Two Cities… And Two Girls

By Nancy K. Crevier

There cannot be two cities more different than quiet, rural Newtown and the bustling metropolis of Beijing, China. But not so different from each other are Newtown resident Ellen Binio, 17, and 16-year-old Ruiqi (Ree-chee) Deng of Beijing.

The two young women had the opportunity this summer to compare and contrast their hometowns and lifestyles, thanks to an exchange program for youth sponsored by their mothers’ employer. Glorianne Garvin and Yanhang Wang work for sanofi-avantis pharmaceutical company and took advantage of the program that allowed their daughters to travel halfway around the world for new adventures.

Ellen traveled to Beijing July 21 through August 4, staying with Ruiqi’s family.

“My mom saw that an exchange in China was available and wanted me to go. I hadn’t really thought about going there before,” said Ellen. “I kind of decided last minute, but I had my passport and it was pretty easy to get the visa.”

Ellen had traveled a fair amount prior to this trip, mostly in Europe, but found her experience in China to be “completely different. I expected the food to be different, but just everything about it was beyond what I expected,” said Ellen.

She found the city of Beijing to be remarkably cosmopolitan and similar to New York City. The food, however, was a new experience. “The food was not at all like the Chinese food I’ve eaten here in the States. I tried different foods at every meal,” said Ellen. She discovered some tasty favorites there, including Beijing duck, a Chinese cheese that she described as similar to yogurt, and a rice breakfast porridge called “zhou.” Her very favorite, though, was a meatless delicacy. “I loved the carrot balls. They were like a meatball but with no meat at all.”

Her host family kept her on the go the entire time, said Ellen, with visits to the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, the Ming tombs, and the Summer Palace. “The Summer Palace was where the emperor and his mother stayed in the summer months. It has a huge lake and gardens, and was just beautiful,” said Ellen.

The best place she visited, though, she said, was the Great Wall of China. “It sounds corny, but The Great Wall was really amazing. We went to the Badaring section of the Wall and the views were incredible. We walked up, but then we took a cable car down, and that was so fun,” she said.

The Beijing Opera was another wonderful experience, said Ellen. “There is a very rich culture in China. The music is unusual. I had never heard anything like the instrumental music. China really was an exotic country to me.”

For Ruiqi, who arrived in the United States on August 10 for a 15-day visit, “Everything here is really, really different from China.” It was also not clear for a while if the Garvin-Binio family would be able to reciprocate and host Ruiqi in Newtown. “They needed a long list of things from me. They are afraid I will not return,” said Ruiqi.

She was required to provide a picture of the Garvin-Binio family, a letter of recommendation from her own teacher, and a letter of invitation from the Garvin-Binios. After an interview at the US Embassy in Beijing, Ruiqi was finally granted her visa.

“I had hoped she could come home with me on August 4, but then I was worried she wouldn’t get to come at all,” said Ellen.

Ruiqi has been treated to a whirlwind tour of the region, from New York City to Boston, and many points in between. “Chinatown in New York was very different from Beijing,” she said. “It is more like south of Beijing. But I like New York City very much. New York City is very famous, so I was happy to visit.”

The New York City tour included not only Chinatown, but also a stop at Wall Street and Ground Zero, and shopping around the Times Square area. “The Hershey’s Chocolate store in Times Square was great,” said Ruiqi.

In Boston, the young women spent time in Harvard Square and walking the grounds of Harvard University, before doing some shopping on Newbury Street in Boston. Ruiqi quickly discovered that prices in the United States are far higher than in China. “In Beijing, it is very cheap. We have more markets, too, different than the shopping in Boston,” she said. Sturbridge Village, Mystic Seaport, and Six Flags in New Jersey have offered Ruiqi completely different insights into America.

Ellen has made sure, of course, to introduce Ruiqi to Newtown.

“Newtown is really beautiful,” said Ruiqi. “We don’t have the country in China like here. I have seen a lot of deer, and we would only see those in zoos in Beijing.” Also unusual, said Ruiqi, are the big dogs that people in Newtown own. Because the living spaces in Beijing are very compact, only very small dogs are usually seen there, she said.

A stop at Edmond Town Hall was a necessity, where Ruiqi enjoyed one of many movies she and Ellen have seen.

“Teenagers here seem to have more freedom than in China and more free time,” said Ruiqi. “Even on vacation in China we have homework and we do a lot of helping older people and things like that, volunteering. In Beijing, we don’t go out so much at night.”

That is definitely not true of Newtown teenagers, she has noticed. Every evening has been filled with visiting Ellen’s friends, sleeping over at girlfriend’s homes, and even midnight bowling.

“It is very fun, but I am very tired,” laughed Ruiqi.

Both girls agreed that visiting abroad is a wonderful experience, and both would love the opportunity to visit each other’s country once again.

“You never know,” said Ellen.