Home Sweet Home

While I haven't posted as to the final events of the trip, I am home and will probably back track and recall highlights post return. It is so wonderful to be home. I came home to the news that my best friend's father had passed away and immediately drove with mom to our hometown. A sadness I can't and won't describe. One can only hope to touch the lives of others the way this human being did. I am fortunate to have known him and even more fortunate to have the continued friendship of his two daughters and son. They are also exceptional people, each wonderful and unique in their own way. My own relationship with my parents is very strong and I can't even imagine losing them, even though I am quite aware and think about its inevitability. I never once pretended to know what they were going through, I tried only to come and support when I seemed needed and leave when it was apparent I wasn't.

It is really the first death I have dealt with on this level. He was known, he was a unique spirit, he was loved and he will be terribly missed. But he is also a reminder as to how precious, wonderful and short life is. While suffering, pain, regret, happiness, joy, love, and all those other things are inevitable pieces of this thing called human existance; we can not let so much get in the way of the things that are really important. Whatever that means for each person.

I digress. I hope to piece by piece get back to my final adventures in China. Overall I would have to say it was an amazing (and to be repeated) experience. One can hardly imagine, living in the United States, what thousands of years of history and tradition can create. Actually, it creates a Starbucks inside the Forbidden City...but that's just the cynic in me. Yes, I had a cup, it was raining and I wore a sundress that day...and I like my coffee - OKAY!?! To my credit, I do not drink Starbucks in California (cost and taste preference, actually.) It costs less than a dollar to make it at home and pour it in my reusable mug.

Starbucks, KFC, Pizza Hut, McDonalds. It goes without saying. It is no longer strange, nor do I become hateful upon seeing these things. However, I will say this: the cheapest McDonalds in the world is in Hong Kong. I read an article in Newsweek about a Chinese-American woman who was raised on American fast food. Her mother, having grown up in communist China, essentially wanted her daughter to become plump to show that they were doing well financially. The mother would parade the daughter around to the neighbors who would nod approvingly. Stopping in McDonalds in Shanghai to use the bathroom, it was the first instance of obesity in Chinese children I witnessed. I didn't really want to get into a diatribe about whether fast food and the diet of America is bad or good...We all make choices in life about diet, exercise, where to live, how to live, etc., but for those (like myself) who has never lived at or below the poverty line, how might those choices change when the need to meet basic necessities is almost life threatening?

I won't pretend to have the answers for any of this at the moment.

It was 90 degrees where I live today. I wasn't particularly happy about this. This is not typical for where I live. I actually broke down and bought a fan. I don't have A/C and the sun beats on my tiny apartment from about 2pm until 6pm. Its like a sauna. It was, however, nice to fall into the routine of daily life - to school to pick up materials so I can plan at home, then the dentist, house clean-up and a run. However mundane, sometimes its nice just to do without thinking. I am now in the process of thinking about how I will get a presentation together to show both staff and students my trip. I am not sure I would want to sit through someone's boring power point presentation. Will continue to back post, so keep reading!