7/17/05. I just had a tiny catastrophe where my 3L water bottle (or my grapefruit juice) leaked all over my Chumash and my other books. This was not supposed to happen. The taxi driver was so excited looking at me shuffle around that he not only missed hitting a bus by an inch (on my side), but he caused two cars and another bus to swerve into oncoming traffic on one side of us and onto the grass on the other side. Now he's talking on the cell phone going 40 km/h in a 100 km/h zone.
One thing I neglected to say in my last post last night (actually a few hours ago this morning) was that I felt that the community in Beijing rubbed off on me and it had an effect on me. The interesting part was that I realized that I could (and would) enjoy actually living there as what people call an ex-patriot. Finding a wife that would also be open to this kind of lifstyle (in theory) would be a nice plus.
What I found most humorous was that I was able to learn the language so quickly (of course in a very limited way), and how I was able to blend in with the locals. It felt nice that I was able to integrate into another culture & another country should the political, economic, or social environment of the United States turn unfriendly to my kind.
1 comment:
i have only visited quebec once, but i was the only person i went with that could speak the language. contrary to popular belief, canadians for the most part, do not speak french anymore than most americans speak spanish. at any rate, one i think the natives were more willing to converse with me when i spoke (or attempted) to speak their tongue, and two, I think i enjoyed the culture all the more for it, if that makes sense. i would love to go again.
Post a Comment