yin & yang

It has been 2 months and 2 days since my arrival in Shanghai. During that time I have toured the city many times over, visiting sites seen over a decade ago, eating street foods that should by all rights not be sitting as well with me as they have been, and bargaining so hard I've got shopkeepers still running to catch me so they can make that last sale. I've traveled to Chengdu, Zhouzhuang, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Kuala Lumpur and Sabah - sometimes alone, other times not. I've met some of the coolest people imaginable. I've been to some of the "dopest" bars and clubs in town. I've experienced the most romantic and relaxing week of my life.


I've learned that, when it comes to academics, the locals have all the brains and conceptual knowledge and the foreign students have all the communication skills and ability to draw conclusions. It seems there is always a shortcut to getting the work done, and scheduling a group meeting that might conflict with any mealtime is considered a grave offense. I know now that there really is only so much you can fit into a 3-week-long course, and it isn't much. Despite this fact, finals worth 60-70% of the total grade are no laughing matter. I am continually frustrated by the fact that my school is the only one among all the exchange programs represented here that insists on transferring not only credits, but grades.

Today I saw a taxi driver peeing on the outer wall of the school. I was passed by a man on a bike wearing house slippers. I saw a baby wearing "poopy-pants" - pants with a strategically-placed, very revealing slit to facilitate what we in b-school term "ease of doing business." As I pedaled home into the sunset I breathed in deep lungfuls of air that smelled like burning dirt.

This morning I began feeling increasingly frustrated about a long-distance relationship that in some very slight ways reminds me of the last one I was in. Again, with the pushing, and I don't know how to stop. I am So In Love With This Man, which is why I experience waves of incredible sadness when I find myself directing my irritation his way*. It was inevitable, with the staggering number of Skype minutes that have been logged, that the bar would be set too high and parties would ultimately be disappointed. So expectations will be recalibrated and life will go on - still, it's disappointing - or, depending on your point of view, reassuring? - to find that no relationship is exempt from the occasional bumpiness.

I have 2 more months in this country. While I'm absolutely looking forward to experiencing whatever they may bring, at the end of the day it will be nice to come home.

* In that sense, this relationship is very much UNlike any other relationship I've been in!!