Chinese Animals

Animals in different contexts.

From the zoo:

Domestic life:



Restaurant window:

Skinker!

So a friend just found a lil skinker, probably on the street. Someone want to help ID it?

Cherry blossoms

So I’ve felt pretty restless the past month. I’ll admit that. Being in a large city that seems endless, boundary-less, is overwhelming at times. Disorientating. Even depressing.

I’m burning out pretty much. I’m done with academia. Done with group field trips. Done with a local who’s never been abroad but loves the US and doesn’t know why. Done with every person who thinks that way.

Unfortunately, that’s almost all young people here. Maybe I’m just sick of the gross romanticizing. People don’t realize that to earn money in the US, they have to be filthy rich to even get there. To even be able to live and eat there.

I’m ready for a change of pace and of scenery. I keep thinking about how much I want an easygoing lifestyle back. Everyday I watch my waistline grow as my host mother tries to get me to eat more and more. Normally, I wouldn’t care that much but here, I feel an insane amount of pressure to care about my self-image. To blend in. And while that sometimes happens, I don’t ever want that kind of blending in to happen. I never want to lose my own identity. I just don’t know how to keep it and not over-insist it. Sui bian. Sometimes I wonder what I’m doing with my life. Don’t we all?

Remember when your parents told you to look twice before crossing a road? Well, in China, you have an option. Either, you run for it and hope that that car speeding towards you doesn’t nick you at the last minute or, you check about five times each way. In any case, you have to be an opportunist if you ever want to get to the other side of the road.

Unlike in New England, drivers don’t stop for pedestrians. They don’t really care if you stand in the middle of the road, that is, with a whole row of other people. Cars will back up into a sidewalk, about a foot from where you’re sitting eating lunch, taxis will barely slow down if someone runs in front of them, and not to mention buses. Those buses, packed to the doorway with people, won’t break for anything. Everyone’s responsible for themselves and that goes for just about everything else you do in China. Certainly cuts down on the number of people suing each other.