 |
|
|
I Love Chinese We Fumble With Chopsticks Ödmjukaste tjänare! Liltricks' LJ Now It's Powm! Chinese Cuisine Svenska Dagbladet Aftonbladet BBC News Reuters Wikipedia Swedish-English Dictionary Beijing University Juridiska Institutionen, Uppsala University Västmanland-Dala Nation My Photos Postsecret Adventures With Chopsticks
This is how good Swedish chocolate is - Bokane 2006-10-15 Sunday alone. Dirt Market and 133t haggling skillz Shopping times Character fun A Pizza place, a pizza place.. WIKI!!!! Take Out Boxes July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 January 2007 February 2007 March 2007 Fortunes Can Be Funny Fortune Cookies  It's Chinese Take Out Time |
Sunday, October 22, 2006 - Here. Some times it’s the little things that do it. Like sweet potato chips, my new favourite snack here. Or that it’s always misty after raining. Or the constant factors I encounter every day; annoying perambulation (I like that word!) and bicycling, smoking everywhere, neighbours who stare, chuckle a little and occasionally greet me back when I utter a chirpy hello, liberal amounts of spitting (today I saw a man spit from the top of a stair case down on the ground. It’s so classy I started chuckling), and my beloved bicycle giving off merry clinking sounds going past every uneven patch on the ground – it no longer feels as if the parts are going to come off at any second, inexplicably, it feels like it’ll hold together against all odds, very Chinese. Me being able to read most of the menu in a Chinese restaurant, without spending half an hour scrutinizing it, face screwed up in intense concentration. Bicycling down empty streets at night. Reveling in the choice of tasty, cheap food at the numerous school cafeterias. Or being able to eat my fill of jiaozi for 5 RMB. All the cute stray cats around that I would never touch out of fear of rabies or the like. They’re such little things, but they make my day, even the annoying ones, because they remind me just of where I am. Life is more difficult here than in Sweden – I’m not in a near-constant state of content, I experience more problems here, but more joy and exhilaration as well. Maybe because of the presence or possibility of problems; or because nothing comes easy in this country. But when I think about where I am, I always smile – for all my complaints and sarcastic remarks, this is a country that teaches me the value of things, teaches me not to take anything for granted, and makes me happy all day if I see a squirrel, and make me feel like I’m treating myself when I get melon on a stick for 1 RMB. (a big piece of melon) And even though my complaints and sarcastic remarks will continue, it still won’t change the fact that right now, there’s nowhere else I’d rather be. |
without the light there can be no shadows, but without the shadows the world would be flat.
im glad to see that you are having such a educational time, i almost envy you and in all the dirt and smoke and spit... no joke.
for the home you knew before you left no longer exist. for now it is quite and dull and sterile.
and potentially you will seek the shadows again.
everytime i come home i relise how clean the water here is, and how my car doesnt feel grimy even after months of rain and being left outside.
and how i can see to the curve in the horizion.
but as soon as you settle back in... its like this place is so boring, even though i can choose what i want for dinner, be it mexican, turkish, italian, french, japanese, or even chinese, the choices still arent as grand or wild as those in china.
and the flavours arent as intense, and the people dont wear as many colours and despite that you see all faces of yellow and hair of black the variety is so much greater, the colour (not just the clothes) and the richness of thier heritage and individualism.
anyways blah blah blah.
im glad your enjoying it inspite of the contrast!
and what doesnt kill us makes us stranger :D
you are an angel
I'm so glad you understand what I mean lil. And really, you're right - there isn't a place in the world as intense as China. Even the fashion, which I've made so much fun of, is beginning to fascinate me more and more. The complete lack of Western, "conventional" style is a style in itself, and the freedom is quite exciting. I really like the fact that anything and everything goes - there aren't the same taboos and unspoken rules as in Western societies. I've been meaning to blog specifically about Chinese fashion some time, so I'll stop myself here =D
And thank you, anon. You've brightened my day =)
Post a Comment
<< Still hungry? Go back for a second helping