How does that happen? you might ask. I’ve been writing and saying so many negative things about China that I forgot that I could look on the bright side and say: I live in China!
So yes, some days I just wake up with a smile on my face and I remember how unhappy I was when I wasn’t travelling. On those days, I look around and I see everything that makes China China, and on those days, I see what I know I’m going to miss a year from now. Street stalls, temples, restaurants, beer, cigarettes, buses. Shouting, sleeping at work, breakfast, food poisoning, the little bridges on the parks.
On those days I like going out on a new adventure. I am lucky I live in Xi’an, only famous for its terracotta army and the city walls but that has, in fact, a huge amount of small pagodas and temples that no one- even the Chinese- know of. On those days, I like stopping and talking to people on the street, and laugh when they would scratch their heads saying “ayaaaa, it’s so difficult to talk to a foreigner” (understand: they have to speak slower and more importantly, they have to speak mandarin). On those days, I feel relief when I look at my friend’s pictures of Tahiti and I don’t feel jealous, I don’t even feel the urge to run away anymore.
I love those days, when I can enjoy the fact that I live in China. I love those days and I know they won’t last because soon I will be noticing all the staring and the dirt again. Soon I will be angry at the pollution and at all those people who use the air conditioning leaving windows and doors open. So let’s enjoy it while it lasts.
Finally the blue sky:
