It’s been a couple days since I returned to Beijing (Sat PM). I’m still cooked with a really nasty cold I caught in California. The combination of the jet lag, lack of sleep, 12 hours of shared-air on the plane, and bad pollution doesn’t exactly help either.
Other than getting sick, the trip to the US was pretty good. It surprised me how underwhelming it actually was in light of the cravings I was having in the weeks prior. I’m trying really hard to grasp this relationship between my desire to hang onto the status-quo versus immersing myself into this new culture. This isn’t just a case of being a Gemini, it’s more about managing the amount of “China” you let into your “blue bubble”. In China, I feel like I’m defending my “blue bubble” by being very selective about the Chinese stuff I expose myself to within a day. Just a taxi ride in the morning can fill my quota. Lisa uses the term “OC” like “OD” to describe this. By the end of the day, it’s hard to motivate yourself to do the language lessons or eat the food. But in America, I was much more motivated to eat Chinese food and learn the language…seems odd when just a week before, I would have killed for some mexican food. This lack of cravings tells me that I was really craving “the familiar” and once satisfied, I felt like venturing back into the exotic. I now see why psychologists talk about the “re- patriation” phase that people struggle with when they return from an overseas assignment.
Beyond this psycho-babble, it was great seeing the folks from Apple and the event was great. I was also able to stock up on a bunch of items that we needed here in Beijing and had a whole suitcase stuffed with contraband for our thanksgiving dinner. I better sign off…I’m sort of fuzzy with this cold.
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