Kyiv (left) and Ohio University (right) (Source: Google Maps – DigitalGlobe, GeoEye, USDA Farm Service Agency)

What is it like going back home after 15 months in the U.S.? I began looking forward to it the minute I booked my flight, which was three months in advance. I expected myself to be excited beyond all measure. I thought I would count down minutes for a car to get me to the airport, for my plane to take off, for me to see my dearest people in the world.

Immediately, I started thinking of all the possible gifts I could bring to different people back home. I even made a list to make sure that everyone would get a gift, at least a small thing (which I had to revise pretty significantly when I remembered the weight restriction on luggage – 50lb for a checked bag and 15lb for a carry-on).

But contrary to all my expectations, when the time came to travel home, I didn’t feel the overwhelming excitement I thought I would. I felt like an experienced business traveler who doesn’t easily get amazed at changing countries, but rather anticipates all inconveniences of a long distance flight. No strong emotions, just a fear of losing luggage (which has happened to me twice so far) and a wish to squeeze a 20 hour flight across 7 time zones into 2 short hours.

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“To butt or not to butt enhance, is the question,” screamed the headline on Zimbabwe’s Herald newspaper.

I gasped, and then slapped my forehead. Really, Herald?  Are you kidding me?

The article turned out to be about the allure and dangers of pills like Apetito tablets, appetite stimulants that claim to enhance the hips and butt, and cause general weight gain.  In Zimbabwe, as in many parts of Africa, a woman with a heavy behind, large rounded hips and a well-defined bust is the epitome of true beauty.

Reading about Apetito brought back memories of loved ones who, with my best interests at heart, urged me to take the tablets so that I would not look like a “typical emaciated African kid” when I got to America.

Weight gain, you see, is considered a good thing. It is a symbol of prosperity and a sign that in the prevalent harsh HIV climate, one has managed to not only be of good health, but even to gain weight. It is a sign that, in these days of food shortages, one has managed to sustain oneself so well that it shows through your general appearance. In men, weight is a sign of affluence, especially if one has a potbelly. My friend Bothwell often refers to the belly as a “success curve” – the steeper the gradient, the higher the level of affluence.

Creative Commons photo by Flickr user wokka

With all this in mind, you can imagine my shock when I came to the U.S. and found out that not only do people not make an effort to gain weight, they actually sweat and starve to stave off weight gain. Acai Berry weight loss tablets and not Apetito, are what women go for here.

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What's in your makeup bag? (Creative Commons photo by Flickr user Nikita Kashner)

I didn’t realize how easy it was to distinguish between real Chinese girls and ABC girls [American-born Chinese] until I came here—they don’t even have to speak a word, just from the appearance. ABC girls, most of them wear make-up like American girls do, and they dress differently from Chinese girls.

I heard American girls start doing make-up since high school, some as early as middle school; however, a lot of Chinese girls do not care about make-up until they realize they somehow have to, like to cover aging signs around 25.

Typical Chinese girls’ clothing: Hoodies, jeans, sneakers. Typical ABC/American girls’ clothing: Leather jackets, skirts, leggings, flip-flops/UGG boots. One interesting thing that I notice is that American girls can wear UGGs during summer weather and flip-flops under freezing temperature, as long as the shoes they choose fit the overall outlook. They look fantastic, but don’t they feel cold?

Well, Chinese girls’ take on fashion is changing, and I can see a lot of Chinese girls wearing more and more Americanized clothing – me included. But still, the line between Chinese girls and ABC/American girls is still distinctive. One thing I am sure about is that for Chinese girls, the utility of clothing hasn’t lost its meaning, yet.

A pair of high-heeled shoes is an irreplaceable accessory for almost every Russian woman. We wear heels to school, work, trips, restaurants, everywhere… We just love them, even though they hurt and make our feet get tired quickly…

When I came to the U.S., I continued to wear my favorite pair of high heels, even in my dorm. I noticed immediately people turning back at me. Once I heard something like this:
-“Do you know Anna?”
–“Oh, that girl that wears high heels?”

I realized that Americans do not wear high-heeled shoes every day, especially in small suburban towns, but they do so in big cities like Boston and New York. In Russia, I believe the trend is the opposite: the smaller the city, the more women will wear heels every day, while in big cities they do not, because it is not very convenient to get around a big city in heels, and by far not every Russian woman has a car.

However, I feel I am assimilating here in the U.S. When I was packing my baggage before coming to the U.S. for the second time, I decided to take 4 pairs of shoes, all of which were of course high-heels. But it’s been a few months since I came here to a small town, and I wore high heels only once since then.

When you see your old friends who came to the U.S. earlier than you, one big change you can spot immediately will be a change in their body. My college friend who went to the U.S. two years before me was totally changed into another person the next time I saw her – she had gained so much weight in her time there. Luckily, she was way too skinny before, and now she looks perfect, but not everyone has such a happy result.

My roommate used to weigh 100 lbs back in China; now she is almost 120 lbs, and complaining to me all day.

I had been always around 98 lbs when in China, but my weight went up to 110 lbs last year, which totally freaked me out. Thank goodness I figured out some quick and easy ways to save my body, and I’ve gone back to the “under 100 lbs group” – I will share how I did it later in this post.

It’s a common problem. Answers.com has a heated discussion on the topic of “Why do immigrants to the US gain weight?”  The Daily Mail, a British paper, reported that America is the “worst holiday spot for the waistline, with travellers gaining an average of 8lb in two weeks.”

Am I scaring you yet?

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It’s not as scientific a measure as most viewed or most commented, but here my top 5 favorite posts our bloggers wrote in 2010.  Although, let’s be clear, all the bloggers are amazing, and picking out just 5 feels really unfair.  As a bonus, I’m also including my top 5 favorite “Question of the Week”-style posts.

My top 5 favorite blogger posts:

# 5) On Colours of American Armour, or Why I Refuse to AmericaniSe my Spelling, by Nareg

I shall definitely “graduate” in May, and not “pass out”, as I would have in India. Although, the exhausting way we work here at St. John’s College, it may end up being a little of both.

# 4) Rethinking Democracy, by Sebastian

But something I found interesting is the fact that voting day here in Kansas is just like any other week day, and if someone doesn’t vote, there is no penalty for that.

# 3) A Personal Take on “Americanization,” by Nick

On my plate was a sizable cheese burger, sitting on top of a bunch of curly fries, accompanied by plenty of ketchup and pickle slices to round up the over-packed plate.

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After seven months of exploring, enjoying, adapting, torturing…. in the U.S., I finally went back to my home country, China! What was waiting for me there was the incredibly great city of Beijing, yummy Chinese food, old friends who I missed so much, my college, which is my favorite place in the world…and some CULTURE SHOCKS. Yes, I experienced the so-called reverse culture shock in the place where I lived for 20 years.

Renmin University in Beijing, by Flickr user chenyingphoto

Over-friendly

The first culture shock I got after landing in Beijing was about saying hi. In China, people seldom say hi to strangers like the airport clerk, waiters in restaurants or sale associates in shopping malls. That is very different from what it is like in the U.S.

I definitely forgot this tradition after I got out of the plane and said hello to the customs officer in the airport. What made things worse was that I said “hi” rather than “Ni Hao 你好” in Chinese. He stared at me weirdly for a few seconds until I suddenly knew what was going wrong. I just pretended nothing had happened and did not say anything later.

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My friend Amy Lee from USC and her sister. They were born in America, and have lived in CA since high school.

It is fairly easy to differentiate Asian students who have recently come to the US from American-born Asians by their skin tone. People may say “no way, they all have beige skin.” But the truth is that girls who have just come from Asia tend to have ivory skin while girls who are born and raised in California have tanned skin.

I have to say, girls in Southern California, no matter what their original skin color is, are crazy about getting tanned.  If you have heard the pop song by Katy Perry called “California Gurls,” she sings about how desirable California girls are with their “sun-kissed skin” and lives lived on the beach in bikinis.

It is indeed a revolution on the ideas that I have held for 23 years about beauty. Should I change my aesthetic taste a little bit and even try sun-kissed skin on myself?

It may not be a bad idea. The shared goal of international students studying in America is to harmonize western and eastern minds inside, so why don’t we try to get changed on the outside as well? If how you feel on the inside really is influenced by how you look on the outside, maybe we can feel better about adapting to the US if we get sun-tanned skin like the California girls.

Besides, let’s look at skin color from a practical perspective.  Even if you want to preserve a light skin tone, keeping fair and light skin in Southern California is not easy.

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