I think I'm doing a pretty good job of assimilating back into Wisconsin life, but I suppose it will be a slow process. The good news is that I still have plenty of fun days in China and Taiwan to blog about! Before that fun-ness though I have a few observations I've made in the last week:
1. Wisconsin is FLAT! I'm not sure if the overwhelming, "holy crap I can see for miles!" feeling is because Wisconsin isn't a volcanic island where you're lucky to find a square meter of naturally even ground, or because Wisconsin isn't consumed by a fluid network of metropolises (metropoli?) and mini-metropolises. Either way, it's flat here. Weird thing for me to notice.
I know it is a little blurry but I was in a moving bamboo raft, forgive me. Yangshuo is not flat. Wisconsin is flat.
2. It smells good!! When we get to Beijing you are going to hear more than an earful from me about pollution, but suffice it to say I just love breathing here. Even the dairy air, I'll breathe that stuff in any day. Fill your lungs folks, it's good here. So good.
3. So gosh darn peaceful!!!!!!!!!! (Breath) !!!!!!!!!!! Last week I ventured to the grocery store on my own after a few days of recuperation. I'm not sure how to explain this, but the same grocery store I've gone to for the last decade, I remember shopping there with both of my parents, my aunt and uncle, my grandparents for many a moon...it just didn't look the same. I think in my Wisconsin mind the grocery store used to be a hub of hustle and bustle, everyone went at some point and it seemed to have a fair amount of life even late at night. It seriously does not look the same anymore. I caught myself thinking, "how the heck can they stay in business with so few customers?" Oh yeah, not every place in America has to be packed beyond capacity every moment of the day. I'm not sure how my Taiwanese friends would feel in an American grocery store, I think it would freak them out.
You know, just a typical day on the Beijing subway as an Amazon white woman.
I am sure there are more but the big thing I realized so far is this. When I landed in Taiwan back in May, I knew I was getting myself in over my head and that it would be on me to dig myself out. It was a challenge I was expecting and was, for the most part, prepared to face head on. I acclimated to the jet lag fast, I soaked up the culture, I put myself out there because that is what I knew I had to do. Despite fervent warnings of the dreaded "culture shock," I thrived with no clue what I was supposed to be afraid of. Now, I'm home and I actually think I know better what those warnings were about. I am not shocked by Asian culture, but by American culture. Somewhere on a bus in rural central China, I started admitting to myself that I was ready to go home. Don't get me wrong, I was extremely excited to be there, but when the time came to get on the plane I would be ready. I didn't prepare myself to come home like I had prepared myself to go to Taiwan. I was going home, what preparation would I need? I would be landing in an airport I've flown in and out of probably 100 times, I was going back to the home I have lived my entire life in, all my friends and family would still be right where I left them. Prepare? Psh. For three months I relied on myself and the few resources at my disposal. Every day was an active one, no matter how simple. Everything was so much thinking. I think that was the most exhausting. But, now that I am home, the transition from that mode of thought to the take-it-easy, calm, familiar environment one I am supposed to have is a lot harder than I expected. Oh believe me, it is nice not to have to ask myself 21 questions just to grab lunch, but the transition back to 'normal' is not as smooth as I had subconsciously assumed it would be. I suppose my transition has been complicated a smidge, but I didn't ever think I would have to remind myself that I'm not in Taiwan.
That's all for now. If the mechanic putting my new tires on takes much longer, you might even get a post about my time in Haining and Hangzhou with Grace. Lucky for you, but might not be so lucky for him. Bess no happy.
No comments:
Post a Comment