Reflections on the First Month (coming soon)

I guess I never filled this in and now it is reflection on the first month and a few weeks.  

When I first got here I was pretty dubious about whether I would like China or not.  It was a actually very different than what I had been expecting.  It did not feel like a foreign country to me, but more like I was living in chinatown and knew the rest of the city was somewhere, but couldn't find my way back there. I think this is because there are so many american restaurants here, like Pizza Hut and KFC, that I still feel like I am somehow in the US. I really didn't like that at first, although on the flip side it is very fortunate because I can get any food I need, even cheetos, but not in-n-out. Another reason for this is that the architecture is not vastly different than it is in the US. Because industrial China has been built in the fast 30 years, it could be any city in the US. Once you start looking at the cultural sites this is clearly not true, but if you stay downtown you tend to forget this. It is very different from in a european city, where the architecture is so different that you are constantly reminded you are in a culturally different place.

I was also a little homesick, which I expected since in Prague I missed people for the first month. My parents are out sailing in BC (British Colombia for those of you who don't know Canadian lingo) and I would LOVE to be out there with them despite all the alternator and engine problems they are having. I haven't been able to spend a whole summer on the boat in years - the past summers its been a few weeks here and there between jobs and traveling. There in nothing better in the world that packing a bag and casting off from civilization* for a month or two. I had a completely different set of clothes that I would take with me, summer hippie clothes, but most of the time I just wore a swimsuit anyway, and no shoes, there is nothing better than dock planks and bare feet. I would pack a obscene quantity of books or just bank on the "take a book, leave a book" at Refuge Cove having something good and devour them at an alarming rate over the course of the trip, I would be Palin's nightmare. Actually, my whole family would be Palin's nightmare. I bet my sister, a librarian, my mom, an ex-Planned Parenthood volunteer, or my dad, a generally ridiculously well informed farmer (ha), would kill her with vicious rhetoric. Anyway, this is supposed to be about China, not about how I miss Desolation Sound, and hate Palin so i'll shut up.

* our boat is not roughing it, I have a door on my cabin, and we have two heads. BUT it still is a sailboat, so much better than all you noisy pig boaters with your trailer park dogs and outboard dingy motors that are larger than our engine.

I also miss everyone from CMC, and had a great flashback session looking at the 6:01 pictures people have already posted from last night. Some people I miss more than others, and strangely I miss a lot of people I didn't think I would, and the some people, who I was really tight with, I don't miss at all. Then there are all the outside CMC people that I know from home, abroad and SF. I miss all you guys too, luckily i'm coming back to The Rock for xmas so i'll get to see everyone; I'm pretty fucking excited for that.

Enough sap, unless you know me really well you probably didn't think I was capable of it. haha. I remember from freshman year I told Chels I was nervous since a bunch of the guys were coming to the dance show we were having, and she looked at me in shock and said: "Mundty... you have emotions???" haha, I guess I've changed a lot since then though. Many thanks to everyone who made me better at that..

Now that I have a bunch of friends here its much more fun. The pollution is back, so now the city isn't quite as nice as it was during the olympics, but the fact that I know my way around more now makes up for that. I could see myself spending definitely a year here, and maybe two, who knows, it all depends on the people I meet.

So I think that is a pretty good summary for now. My parents will be pleased at this post, as they said that they thought my blog was to party-heavy.

Anyone who wants to come visit, I would be ridiculously ecstatic to show you around my new home, maybe make sure you are one of the people I actually miss though first. (I'm kidding, I love everyone who flies across and ocean to see me). I know most of you are Ibanking and so won't have vacation until you die from muscle atrophy in your cubicle.... but if you ever do get vacation... asia is awesome, and cheap. I recommend it.

Peace