“I mean, that’s why I can never really get a good night’s sleep anywhere else unless I take my pillow along. I admit it looks a bit funny walking in the door with a pillow under my arm, but oh well. See, what if I sleep over at your place and you toss me one those flimsy, sack-pillows that feel like they’re stuffed with fifty ripped-up handfuls of industrial-grade Styrofoam? And I’m not taking any chances with the hotel’s puffy, unsupportive cloud-pillows either, or those wacked-out, ergonomic jobs that make your head feel like it’s propped up on a wheelchair ramp.” – The Blog of http://1000awesomethings.com/2008/09/08/94-your-pillow/
There are some things that are just basic essentials that make you feel safe and secure, even if you are trying to survive in China. For me, it is my pillow, a penguin named Mio and Starbucks coffee. Throw in my iPhone, PJs and MacBook Pro and I can make myself at home anywhere quite comfortably. It is so vitally important to have these comforts to keep the balance during foreign life, as once you step out that door of your sanctuary, it can be a brutal war-field out there during daily absorption and adaptation.
Shark-fin soup. Live steamed turtle. Cooked baby pigeon. Grilled duck head. Butchered steamed frog. Boiled chicken feet. Thank you “Wonder-Mart” for vulgarly displaying the slaughter house to customers of massacred animals and caged tormented ‘alive’ ones so that I can solemnly vow to myself I will never again have a part of the remorseless-murder and disrespect to animals that countries without Animal Rights reveal. I don’t care “that’s how they do it in China” ; it doesn’t make it right.
At the stores, you can buy snake oil, dried human placenta, antlers or rhino horns, dried turtles, dried seahorses or starfish and larva/cocoons. All for it is from the ancient Chinese medicine beliefs. You can cure everything or enhance any quality by eating some obscure isolated animal segment. Most common is the Sparrow’s nest, made from bird saliva, which is believed to enhance beauty and increase youthfulness. The worst is the bear bile and blood they extract by locking them in small cages. I’m fine being old and ugly, thanks anyways!
Work is a safety net of both worlds colliding. Working in Asia with Westerns and foreign companies is a lot like blow drying your hair in the shower. Takes a lot of effort to focus on which side you should paying attention to and think about what you are doing. Different cultures require different responses, languages, actions and behaviour. It can be dynamic but confusing at times, especially when the room is filled with awkward silences from the wrong action. Whoops, dryer touched the water.
I booked a trip to Hong Kong for mandatory visa renewal and have been told its a blessing of a forced adventure and a beautiful city to be in. I leave on Saturday for 4 days to explore a small island of 7 million people, the most crowded place on earth. I also hear for breakfast they serve a bowl of macaroni in clear soup with shredded ham. Better pack my PJs..
