I Apologize for the Lateness of My Reply

Before beginning this post, I went back through my old entries to remind myself of the things I had already discussed. Two things: first, I regret that my last post was so political in nature. That’s not what I intended at all when Ryan convinced me to run a blog. In fact, I had hoped to avoid airing my personal views. This blog was supposed to be about experiences. The second thing I noticed was that two of the posts (the aforementioned political rant and the post about the schools) were unnecessarily critical of the Chinese system.

I really like China. I was having a series of small epiphanies (does such a thing exist?) on the bus home from work today. I’ve been trying to deal with all the conflicting emotions associated with winding down my stay here, and I think I’ve finally reached an understanding with myself. The opportunity to travel to the other side of the world and observe a culture so different from my own has been a great gift, but the value of a gift lies not so much in the thing itself, but in the memory of its receiving. I will always remember the good times I’ve had here and the people I’ve had the pleasure to meet. When something is good, you will always wish you could have a little more, but if wishes were rocket cars…well, you know how the saying goes.

And look what I do right after saying that I don’t want to air any more of my personal views.

I also want to apologize for the infrequency of my posts. Four entries in five months may qualify as an abysmal failure, but I’ll try to make it up to you. I’ve got lots of things to talk about: my trip to the countryside (spicy duck necks, anyone?), my failed expedition to Hong Kong (my advice: never travel with penny-pinching South Carolinians or French-Canadians who have conversations with snails), and my summer classes. I’ve also crunched some numbers concerning my expenses relative to my income, which I will try to organize into a sales pitch for anyone out there who thinks they might want to work abroad (Long story short: do it!).

I’ve got to get all this stuff out before I leave, because once I’m gone, inevitably it will start to fade. This will be the record, and sharing it with others will ensure that I won’t remember alone.