Going Back to School From 7,000 Kilometers Away

Back in late January, school was out for Chinese New Year, so I flew from China to Israel to visit my mother. Merely a few days after I arrived, COVID-19 in China grew serious and all flights back were canceled. Little did I know, over half a year later, I would still be stranded here in Israel.
Back to school has always been clear cut for me, but this year, there’s nothing but uncertainty. Fortunately, being in an international school (Beijing City International School) means there’s bound to be another teacher or student facing the same issue as me. At the moment, most teachers at my school have already received a visa and completed the arduous journey back to Beijing. And most of the students didn’t leave China in the first place, so it will only be a matter of time before I’m the only one left abroad.

Usually, we kick off the school year in early August. However, due to COVID-19, we’ve pushed our schedule back by a couple of weeks. Local restrictions say schools can’t be in person until September, so our first week will be online. This is both reassuring and unnerving for me. On the bright side, I won’t be missing out on the opening assembly and icebreaking activities. But I dread the moment when everyone returns to campus and I’ll just be a computer screen at the side of the classroom.

There’s a 5-hour time difference between the two countries, so I will have to wake up at 4 am for classes and tiptoe around the house. If there are still no flights by the end of October once daylight savings ends, that number will rise to 6 hours. I usually take my first class of the day in my bedroom because I’m still half awake and it’s too dark to head anywhere else. After that, I get dressed and take my notebooks outside in time to watch the sunrise. Since I spent nearly 3 years living here previously, I’m quite familiar with the city, and sometimes make my way to parks or hilltops to watch the sunrise and take the rest of my classes.
Beneath putting on a smile for the Zoom calls, last semester, I struggled intensely with handing work in on time and taking tests while I’m still drowsy. It’s crossed my mind more than once to ask for excused absences, but then I was inspired by some of my teachers stranded in the same timezone as me, still carrying on with lessons as usual. I realised I was completely capable, as long as I got into the habit of sleeping earlier, which tends to be every teenager’s worst nightmare.

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In previous years, every September started with a week-long trip to a different province in China. Last year was Zhejiang, the year before was Liaoning, the year before that was Inner Mongolia, and so on. These trips were always the highlight of the school year, but this year it’s been postponed all the way to March.
Nonetheless, the thought of watching my friends through a screen and seeing my favourite school events pass by without me playing a song onstage is saddening. My biggest fear is losing touch with friends in Beijing because we’re so used to seeing each other in person that texting and calling just aren’t the same. I remember at the end of last semester when schools reopened, my English class was playing a game of Uno and I watched for an entire hour on Zoom, trying to feel like I’m a part of the fun.
At the same time, a huge part of me tears up at the thought of leaving Israel. In the past 7 months, I’ve made so many unexpected memories with unexpected people that I’m torn between these two places I call home. Since my classes will all be in the morning, I’ll have the entire afternoon to go out with friends, something that wouldn’t be possible if I wasn’t 7,000 kilometers away from school.
In the upcoming week, I’ll be taking my first step into the IB DP program, a curriculum I’ve been told is highly rigorous and demanding. Naturally, I’m nervous about falling behind in my courses, but even more so because the only guidance I can receive will be virtual. This is definitely not how I pictured my junior year of high school. Despite this, there are some silver linings to studying from home this year: I’ll have a distraction-free environment, more time at hand, and most importantly, I won’t have to squeeze myself onto the crowded Beijing subways.

Qinglan Duis a 16-year-old student from Beijing City International School. She's originally from Beijing but is currently living in Jerusalem with her mother due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Aside from her passion for writing, she enjoys singing, spending time with friends and family, and experiencing new cultures.

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Photos: Qinglan Du, Unsplash

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