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Showmanship
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Name: Matthew
Country: China
Metro: Changsha
Birthday: 1/1/1979
Gender: Male
Interests: Jesus, nostalgia, running, guitars, coffeeshops, discussion, moments of unexplainable interpersonal connection, photography, language learning theory, studying Chinese, Thai food, Steinbeck, PJ Harvey. Radiohead, the Detroit Pistons, Asia, exploring backalleys and sidestreets, public libraries
Expertise: mediocrity
Occupation: Education/training
Industry: Education/Research
Message: message meEmail: email me
Website: visit my website
MSN: mtshowman1979@hotmail.com
Member Since:
2/2/2006
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| Wikipedia states: "An egg is a body consisting of an ovum surrounded by layers of membranes and an outer casing of some type, which acts to nourish and protect a developing embryo."
So, this is okay to eat, but people look at me strange when I say in China I've eaten dog?! (...which only seems odd because of cultural convention, not because there's anything wrong with it.)
And so it goes as my two-culture life is left to interact with only one culture at a time... | | |
| Yeah, I haven't been here for a while. China blocked access to xanga, so I haven't been able to read or write a thing. I'm in the states now, so I can update for a month-ish.
I wish I could be all profound and such, but really I'm just writing that I'm homesick.
I'm
in Des Moines now visiting a myriad of friends. I had been in Wisconson
at Miriam's wedding. (It was really really cold there; I'm used to 100+
Changsha heat.) I miss China. I miss the food. I miss public
transportation. I miss the heat. I miss speaking Chinese. (I even
accidentally responded to a random man at the bus terminal in Chinese a
few days ago.) I miss friends. I miss the outdoor night markets. I miss
not spending huge amounts of money for food. I miss the culture.
I think Changsha's home now. | | |
| Sometimes when nothing seems to be happening, He's really just waiting until the most opportune moment. Sometimes, although remembering that we are in a process of being and becoming, we (I) forget that it's merely one of billions of processes all working within the ultimate process.
Some fog has lifted. | | |
| First entry in more than a week. Hmmm...
Another new semester has begun. I'm only teaching teaching computer majors this term. ...about 300 of them. It's not actually a bad schedule. I don't get the mid-week day off to which I've I've grown accustomed, and I have to teach both Monday at 8 a.m and Friday from 2:30-6:10, but all-in-all the schedule's not half bad. I'm freed up for a lot of lunches, so I'm already making appointments to cook for students. That's right: cook. I'm expanding my range of known dishes quite a bit, so it seems to be working.
I have to move soon. All but one foreign teacher has to move to different apartments within the next 10 days. Seems the university inspection team, scheduled to arrive in Spetember, will be housed in our apartments, so the university wants six months to make our current residences super posh. Schools don't actually pass inspections by teaching well, but by wining, dining, and otherwise pampering the inspectors while throwing up a got masquerade. According to my Chinese teacher friend, this is how every school passes. So, anyway, I'll be moving, which I'm a little excited about because the new place should have more light in the bedroom. On the downside, the new place in on the top floor, so it's gonna be blisteringly hot once May and June roll around.
I've been struggling with inner anger/angst for the past week or so. It's more out of frustration than anything else. I mean, I'm angry about something, but I don't know how to address it ("not letting the sun go down," and all that) in a way that will be constructive. So it's just kind of sitting there inside me, which is also not a good situation.~~~~~
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| Why is it that I'm never so alone as when I'm in a room full of people? | | |
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