They only come out at night...

They only come out at night…and weekends. As night falls and darkness begins to consume the sky, I start to see them come out - one by one. Families. They fill the parks and safe street corners – daddies and little babies; mommies and their kids. There is a place near my apartment – a simple safe space in front of a bakery shop. Parents and children gather together and – oddly enough - it seems to be about this heavenly bakery shop. A bakery shop filled with cookies and cakes. Its wonderful smells fill the night air, and just like moths to a flame – the little children come. I have seen them gather in front of this shop with their little faces pressed against the glass, staring hungrily at the yummy bakery goods. Laughing and giggling while inhaling the sweet heavenly aroma. They point to their favorite items and squeal with delight. Parents sit scattered among the few provided benches watching in amusement while their kids joyfully play and covet the bakery goods. All the while, the air smells so dang good that my mouth waters. But I cannot pull myself away from the picturesque scene of happy children just to avoid temptation. And I am not alone in this struggle - one by one, the parents fall victim to their child’s plea for sweets. And one by one, they are sucked into that little heavenly place.

I had made my way to an available bench and sat down. Although, I could not understand their language – I understood them. I had watched a father who was still dressed in his work suit, kneel before his infant daughter and play obsessively with her squeaky toy. The father was having more fun than the infant. His face had hard tired lines from working too hard and too long. I recognized the wariness in him; the same wariness I see in so many people, myself included; the same wariness from believing that if I work hard enough, I will have a good life. But sometimes I realize I lost part of a good life by working too hard.

The pendulum will shift for me when I get back to the United States. But I leave so many here who will never see the flip side.  

“To be human is to laugh and to play - play is natural to us and natural to the creative process. It's only through our formal education that we begin to doubt the "seriousness" of play. When this happens, we begin to lose a bit of ourselves, including our confidence and a bit of our humanity.” ~Garr Reynolds

Lovin' it!

I was standing at the edge of our building overlooking the city and out of nowhere a butterfly comes right up to the window. It was amazing. I’m on the fourteenth floor and here is this little yellow butterfly fascinated by Microsoft. And then I realized that I am equally fascinated by Microsoft and a little sad at the same time – sad because my time here is coming to an end. I suppose it’s only right that I start the mourning process since I only have three weeks left.

Below are some pictures of where I work. It certainly is a place of amazement and wonder. I am so happy to be a part of it. 

There is so much more than these pictures show – this place is filled with unique people and energy and life. Everybody is trying to be the next big thing and create the next big idea. Just being around them is contageous and extremely motivating! Suddenly, the most complicated tasks and challenging missions seem a reality! I am a better person having been exposed to this environment.

Lovin' it!

Three Seconds

I was thinking about “glance-media” and the idea that you must capture my attention in three seconds or you lose me. The cliché, you snooze you lose really plays a role in this case. Most people would cringe at the idea that you have only three seconds to do something amazing and capture someone’s attention – I mean three seconds?? Seriously? Cringe-not…and here’s why…

In boot camp, we were forced to do things that I thought were the dumbest things; things like, fold your underwear perfectly within 10 seconds or make your bed into a flawless board within 30 seconds. So in my first few days of boot camp, when our Company Commanders initially barked the underwear folding order – I laughed but – of course – folded my underwear in the fancy impeccably-lined-edges way. Proudly, I was done in six seconds – the first one done. I immediately stood up, let out an “ah” (so everyone else knew I was the first one done) and looked around at the other seventy-nine soldiers frantically struggling to fold their underwear. As they finished, one by one they popped up to stand at attention too. I made eye-contact with the other speed –demons and we smiled at each other knowingly. We were good and now we knew who the best were. I know I know – YES I AM TALKING ABOUT UNDERWEAR FOLDING – but I was proud of my skill as the faster underwear folder. So there we stood, smug and happy, watching the last girl battle with her briefs, and time – as predicted – ran out. That girl started to weep in fear. The worst thing she could have done because fear was like catnip to our Company Commanders. Honestly, I didn’t care. It wasn’t me after all and I really didn’t know her at all but I did have the best seat in the house to watch the wrath come down on her – she was my bunk neighbor and I had front row seating or in this case – standing - to watch the hell that was about to break loose on her for not folding her underwear in those 10 precious seconds.

Hopefully, now you are starting to understand the value of a few seconds as I discovered in boot camp. I discovered that you can change your entire world in four seconds. That in four seconds you can save not only a stranger’s life but your own life as well. How utterly significant is every second…

So there I stood with all the other soldiers who successfully finished the underwear folding exercise in time and there sat the girl who failed. She just sat wide-eyed and staring as the Company Commanders quietly approached her. It was in their quietness that I felt more afraid of them then when they were screaming and throwing things and acting like rabid animals. Rabid animals I could handle – the quiet calm was worse. Worse because I didn’t know what was going to happen. So they came and stood right next to the panicked girl and very gently said, “Stand on your feet soldier.” Then for the rest of the evening – they never addressed her again. I won’t go into too many details about what followed that evening because how do you describe a worst nightmare? But I will say they put us through hell. No sleeping, no eating just plain hell. It was hours and hours of torture until our brains and bodies shut down. But the girl – the girl that failed – she didn’t have to do a thing. She was rested and safe. She never left the barracks.

By the time we returned – none of us were functioning properly. I was a zombie. But instead of food or sleep we were called to another underwear folding exercise. Again, we had 10 seconds and despite my state of oblivion, I still folded my underwear in six seconds.  But instead of standing up, instead of gloating, instead of comparing myself with someone else, I rushed to my “failed” neighbor and folded the rest of her underwear. I could hardly move my legs, barely had function of my fingers, I was weak and dizzy, but another girl and I (and many others) helped every girl that still had unfolded underwear.  We completed the task in time and we never gloated again. The failure wasn’t that one girl- the failure was everyone. 

My attention was certainly captured in terms of seconds…

There is so much power to make a difference and it can be measured in seconds. I learned a long time ago the value of just a second. Even one second has the power to change someone and alter their destiny forever.

Letting loose

Some days you just have to let your hair down – so to speak – and let loose. When your entire world gets rearranged you need a play day – or in this case – a play week J I don’t have much to say this week except that I have been working hard, learning Chinese and enjoying my time off immensely. I have four weeks left. Four weeks until I am home again…but that’s still four whole weeks away to find new adventures and meet new people and – yes – let loose – responsibly J

Rise to it!

Consequences

I consider myself a warrior. I will rise to the occasion when the occasion demands it. I consider my options and weigh the consequences. If the shoe fits – I will rise.  I say ‘if the shoe fits’ because sometimes we fight out of pride or ignorance but many of those issues are irrelevant. A bruised ego does not deserve my attention. Don’t get me wrong I am just as easily snared by pride as the next victim, but hopefully wisdom wins out in the end and once I have considered my options and weighed the consequences – a bruised ego is lowest on my totem pole for a fight.

I consider myself a warrior – not by choice but by behavior. I hate injustice and have jumped at the chance to help fight a worthy fight. I have stood by loved ones and even strangers. I have come face to face with many hardships and deep sufferings but they were always mine to carry.

So here I am in this strange new land; a land where things don’t operate according to my outline on life; an outline that clearly states the person committing an action should be the main recipient of the negative consequences. The problem with negative consequences is that some people want to bear their own and some people do not. See I can fight these important battles when I know that I will be the one who deals with my own consequences – after all, they are my costs to pay. Newton’s law of motion – to every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction. I weigh the price, the costs and the consequences for myself. But what happens when the innocent suffer for my rebellion? The weak are punished for my anger? The poor are penalized for my protests? I find myself a coward. I can’t fight these fights of injustice for fear that the blameless receptionist will suffer for my actions when all liability belongs to the manager. I can’t take a stand when I know the clerk who graciously helped me will be the one to shoulder all responsibility. I have watched over and over again the wrong person suffer for my causes. What the heck am I supposed to do now? I hesitate to even complain for fear someone else will be left with my burdens. I dare not get angry at an injustice for fear the kind old man who guided me will be someone else’s scapegoat. I can’t do it, and such a righteous anger rises up in me because I am faced with a blaring truth - that I am a coward.  I just can’t do it anymore. I just can’t.

Nor will I play judge and jury to decide what social system is right or wrong. It is what it is…when I agreed to come here, I agreed to listen and learn. I made an unspoken agreement the day I bought my plane ticket.

However – when all is said and done – I am still a fighter. So what cause will this fighter take up now? How about the battle to better my behavior, to be mindful of my actions and to guard my mouth more carefully?  Maybe I will rise to the occasion of living instead of fighting - after all my life is an occasion. As Suzanne Weyn wrote in Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, “Your life is an occasion. Rise to it.” And so I shall…

Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear – not absence of fear. Mark Twain

Just enjoy the show.

Missing home.

Nothing makes you miss home more than when you are sick. In Indiana, when I was sick my mother always took care of me. Most of the time she insisted I stay at her house while she stayed busy making sure I ate and had more liquids coming in then going out. Food was plenty; the TV remote was handed to me like a princess and all my favorite things surrounded me.

Being sick in China…ugh. I guess the good news about my accommodations not being ideal is that I wanted to stay at work rather than stay at home. Staying at work means work getting done. The bad news is many of the interns are now sick L not sure I am totally responsible for that – after all someone else gave it to me first.  I know I know that sounds so blame…

Today I managed to make it to work again even though I still felt weak. I’m glad I did because our mentors had returned from TechFest and decided to take some of us out to lunch. Seriously, who can pass up a free lunch? It was a good lunch and it was nice to catch up with them and hear about their adventures at the conference.  In return, they got to hear about my weekend of sniffles and coughing.  But the best part of lunch was when I got a chance to tell our mentors about some of the interns I work with here - interns who have greatness written on their foreheads but who are too humble to see it themselves. I hope somehow I planted good seeds for their future with Microsoft. It felt good to cheer someone else on in their race of life and not be so caught up in my own – I took a mini-break from my own race.

I suppose my mini-break came and went too fast. Now I am back wondering what I am supposed to do with the rest of my life.  I know I know one step at a time and just enjoy the show J

Anything is possible!

It was one of my fellow HCI intern’s birthday. Eight of us gathered together at a restaurant around a round table where we ordered a ton of food. The food was brought out in packed plates and laid upon a round glass centerpiece that spun so all could partake of each entrée. Using our chopsticks we took bits and pieces from each dish and ate till our full. We talked and laughed and drank Chinese beer. As the night progressed our conversation turned from formal to informal. We started to open up and share the deeper parts of our struggles and hurts. I watched the Asian folk work the hardest at trying to open up and not feel shame. I watched the females bare their feminine sides – something that is hard to do in this field of mostly men. I watched the men become vulnerable before each other which I know must have been like pulling teeth. I watched something beautiful unfold – communication. Broken were the barriers that divided. Barriers like racism and chauvinism; barriers of mistrust and cultural relevance, formalities and social injustices. We were just MSRA interns – sharing our loneliness and longings for a better future. It was a perfect moment for me, like all of time suddenly stood still and the earth itself held its breath. I listened attentively to each tale and followed along on each of their sacred journeys. It truly was a perfect moment. Korean, Chinese, American, French…we found a way to communicate. I don’t just mean in English, I mean of the heart. We found that single bridge that all roads lead to…and we bonded over fish and Chinese beer.

If ever I look back over my life and wonder about my most significant moments - I will remember the little MSRA group. I will think fondly of the Chinese who were so brave to open up and be vulnerable, the French maiden who was living in an impossible situation and somehow surviving, the Korean who was desperate to find a bridge to communicate outside of 1 and 0’s, and the American - me - who just wanted to understand the way of things. By the end of the night we were stretched – not in a way that hurt but definitely in a way that changed us and somehow assured us we had a good future together. Maybe we won’t be presidents or nobles but the bond of friendship and connection that occurred was a loud declaration of an unspoken truth – that we would have peace together. A promise that somehow our countries could find a way to live together and forgive. We were flexible, adaptable and open to the truth of that moment. We were willing to accept each of our weaknesses and appreciate each of our strengths.

We didn’t solve the world’s problems that night. I didn’t try to convince anyone that my American ways were better, and they didn’t try to convince me of theirs but we found common ground where we met, ate and shared. And as each of us rise to power, I believe we will always have this time and these relationships to draw conclusions from and to build ideas upon.

By the end of the night, I just knew that we would make it –together and apart – we would be okay. I just knew that our countries could continue in peace, mutual respect and trust in one another. I just knew it was possible, because we were doing it. My little MSRA group was living proof that anything was possible.

Project: Success!

I was invited to China by Microsoft to work on a certain project – a project that complimented my research at school. However, my first week here I was reassigned to a new project. Not just new as in different from my initial project but new as in novelty – and we are literally starting from the ground level.

Alright – spirit of truth – I was a bit ticked off. Honestly, what we are doing has NOTHING to do with my career plans, desires and future choices. So after sulking for a day or two, I dove right in with both feet first. Suddenly everyone – myself included – began to see the enormous potential this project has to not only be successful in and of itself, but also to unite several teams within MSRA – something desired but with little fruition.

Turns out this project is a good order too (see last blog)…

My co-workers and I have started our own new tradition - one person chooses a restaurant representative of their culture. Naturally, we've had Chinese, Korean, Japanese and last night we had American. You can see from the below picture what I ordered :D  Definitely American...HA!

Not ordering at all

Wow…week 6 - how time flies. The first week it wouldn’t fly fast enough and now I feel like a cartoon character spinning my legs.

I saw a movie last night where a disillusioned girl asks her mother the reason she fell for and married the girl’s promiscuous father – even though they were already divorced at that time. The mother answered, “You know when you’re in a restaurant and you order something that looks really good off the menu and when it comes to the table, you realize you ordered badly? I ordered badly." Still appalled, the daughter replied with why’s, how could you and what were you thinking to order that? She topped it off with, “I won’t make that mistake!" Then the mother simply stated, “No, you will make the other one." Much of the movie was about the daughter trying to figure out what that other mistake was and then she had an epiphany.

I had an epiphany.

I work with intellectually inspiring and very diverse people who challenge me every single day. And they know how to work hard. They make me better and stronger. They test my resolve and my beliefs – after all if I believe something there must be some foundation from which I built it from, along with concrete evidence or support. There is no aimless idea or unsubstantiated preference. Who I am and what I am is built upon something definitive and they expose those scaffolds constructing me and reveal the essence of what makes me…me.

The friends I have made here are as wild as the wild flowers. They bloom in random and unpredictable spots and their fragrance and beauty are life-giving. And - wow - do they know how to have fun…

The room I rent, the bathrooms, playing real-life Frogger every time I cross the road, the food, the people, the parking, the walking, my work, my friends, the smells, the pollution…

So what was the epiphany? The mistake I could have made?

Not ordering at all.

I wouldn’t trade this time for all the tea in China! It has been an amazing experience thus far and I am only in week 6. I can’t imagine my life right now if I had not ordered at all…

Impossible Situations

Communication - Tuesday was my first presentation in front of the entire HCI team. Naturally, I felt pressure to do well but it was so very challenging! Challenging of course, because I am presenting in front of a group of people who are intellectually inspiring and define themselves by this - but also, because I had to constantly filter four things simultaneously. Imagine - I had just been switched to a new project that was in its infancy. My mentor and I had very basic ideas about where we saw this project going so we ended up completing the PowerPoint late the night before the actual presentation. I had only a few hours to decipher what in the world my mentor had in mind for me to say. Then, I was speaking to a large group of people all of whom are NOT Media Arts & Science people but HCI people and anyone who knows these two groups know the style of communication between them is as different as black is from white. Also, I was speaking to a group of people whom English is their second language and all the metaphors, euphemisms, analogies etc. that are American based are completely irrelevant! So ALL my points and jokes completely flop! I had to speak to the group using terms and words in their simplest form and speak extremely clearly because not all the people could speak English well. All the while – reading their faces and body language and trying to make the main points concerning our project (that I had very little knowledge about) make sense. Needless to say, I flopped - hard. It was brutal. My mentor was encouraging and supportive but there is a part of me that is truly upset about this. I know that I really did the best I could with what I had in the time I had – of that I have no doubt. But I wish I was not put in that position in the first place – like I was placed there as some initiation ritual or worse that because I seem confident and self-assured that it was okay to dump me in an impossible situation. Ah well – don’t mind my ramblings.

I am the only American - yet everyone speaks English - but to everyone else English is a second language. I find that intensely disconcerting. And as I said before, Americans don’t have the best reputation here. I hear jokes like,

“What do you call someone who speaks two languages?”
Answer, “Bi-lingual.”
“And what do you call someone who speaks three languages?”
Answer, “Tri-lingual.”
“Great. Now what do you call someone who speaks one language?”
Answer, “An American.”  

I suppose that is why I am upset and wish to avoid such impossible situations that add to their view of Americans. But – like I said – I absolutely did my best, whatever the result.

A moment in time...

This is my HCI group in Beijing. The people standing up behind us are the mentors. My mentor is the second guy from the right - Darren Edge. The mentors took us out for a welcome lunch as you can see from the table in front of us. They filled it with every sort of food imaginable. It was quite delicious. Then we walked to a local coffee shop and shared stories over a mocha. They are extremely friendly and very personable. During my initial interview for Microsoft, there was a warning from Desney. Desney is in charge of all the Microsoft Beijing employees. He said that his people worked hard but that they liked to have fun. He wasn't kidding. They are a great - fun bunch of hard workers and I am honored to be one of them, even if it is just for a moment in time.

Week Three - No Problem

There seems to be this underlying attitude that most foreigners have fallen into. It's a black cloud that follows you around - surrounds you and tries to consume you. I never knew how to label it or what to call it or even how to address it. It is just this thing always present and alive; like it was its own entity, living and breathing. It is the way most people of China treat foreigners and it is the way some foreigners start to behave as a result - like they are nobility, Hollywood stars or gods. Don’t get me wrong, I fully understand that when people treat you like a king you are bound to act like a king. And they do treat us like kings most of the time. But it’s the way of an ancient people to honor, respect and welcome a stranger – like the family that welcomed me, loved me and honored me because it was culturally correct to do so; to always make sure my glass is filled and to make sure that I have whatever I need no matter what the personal cost. A prime example is when I stopped a lady who was walking in the opposite direction of me and asked her for some directions to a shop. She was clearly headed somewhere because she was carrying a large suitcase. Instead of trying to explain to me where to go, she walked me three blocks in the opposite direction to personally show me how to get there. I did feel guilty…and grateful but my grasp of the Chinese language was not solid enough to stop her – not that she would have let me anyway.  It is selflessness that helps define such an ancient culture. But to a foreigner it is the equivalent to the treatment of nobility and it is so easy to walk around like you are a noble with the same expectations and behavior. When I confront some of the foreigners about such an attitude they all say the same thing - méi​yǒu​ wèn​tí​ (pronounced mayo enti) which means something like “no problem.” According to them, they can do anything and behave anyway because here they are kings.

Don’t get me wrong I am not immune to it. It is why I wrote about humility in my last blog – humility is the key and the very people who inspire my worst behavior are the very people who inspire my humility.

Alright – now I think the bathrooms in China deserve an honorable mention. I wasn’t sure I could handle the toilets here. They are simply holes in the ground and squatting is second nature, not to mention how much stronger your quads become as a resultJ Eventually, I grew accustomed to that strange commode and just as my adaptation reached its peak - I was stretched yet again. This time it was sharing a bathroom with someone else. I don’t mean we each have our own stall - I mean squatting right next to another person and staring like I have never stared before at a spot on the ground. It's kind of like "oh hi,.." and suddenly my eyes are laser locked on the ground. And then there are other people piling in the bathroom waiting their turn to do their business, so not only are you doing your business next to someone else doing their business but now you have the whole world watching you do your business. And oh yes - it’s not like I can hide my white behind because it just stands right out like a bright light on a rainy day. And it’s not like I can hide the fact that I am a foreigner -which already attracts attention - but now add that to using the bathroom. Wait there’s more - just when I adapted to this  and completely stretched past ALL my comfort levels. I now have to share a bathroom with a man - well that was beyond my ability to adapt to and I admit I would walk a few blocks to reach a "normal" bathroom. And there are the moments of having to walk through the men’s bathroom to get to the women’s bathroom. But ultimately, the worst was to walk in a small totally no private stall at the same time as a man walked into his. It was too much! Too much! However - in the end - when you gotta go you gotta go and once again I adapted and moved past what I thought I could do. In the end - we just simply nodded a casual hello, did our business and moved on.

méi​yǒu​ wèn​tí​

Week Two - A Lesson in Humility

Humility - something we need but hurts to receive...

Ever have one of those days where everything you say ends up sounding stupid or you end up with your foot in your mouth? Well that was me - all week. It seems no one finds my humor funny or my western confidence an asset. I am afraid Americans just don't have the best reputation at Microsoft in Beijing and unfortunately, I am not helping our cause. For example (only one so that I don't look too much like a moron in your eyes), I was trying to explain to my fellow workers/boss a message someone relayed to me about where he said he was from. I said, "he said somewhere like Yugoslavia." Now mind you this conversation followed one where they were making fun of Americans for not knowing places on the map. Needless to say, when they corrected me it was just horrific. I am surrounded by the best and brightest. But if I had to pick - I would rather be a student among kings then a king among students. Here, I am definitely among kings.

It is very lonely sometimes. I am surrounded by hundreds of people all the time and they are laughing and talking and I understand them not. My connection to loved ones has been down - the hotel's Internet stopped working and the maintenance man is on holiday for two weeks.

Sometimes I envision my life in three categories. These are three broad categories and definitely clustered with sub-categories. They are bondage, wilderness and freedom. For this particular journey to Beijing - bondage was the place of fear; I didn't think I could come here, I didn't think I could contribute and I didn't think I had enough money or time or whatever I had come up with. I left that place of fear and took of leap of faith. Right now, my life feels like the wilderness - the place where nothing makes much sense and I know I can't go back but neither do I know how to move forward. My attitude and willingness to change will determine the time I spend here. So what does freedom look like in Beijing? Accepting myself for all my strengths and weaknesses? Submitting to an authority who is a child prodigy? Appreciating what I have verses complaining over what I lack? I don't know - perhaps all these things or none of them.

Perhaps humility.

Oh yes, I can no longer call everyone "foreigner." :)

Survival 101

A very interesting first week...

I'll start with the horrid moments...

Things with my apartment were horrid and I almost bought my ticket home! NOT KIDDING. My friend who lives here - Dana - talked me out of it. Literally, talked me down from the proverbial ledge – so to speak.

It was so cold in Beijing and when I got to my assigned apartment I wanted warmth. But imagine wind - cold biting wind - blowing through your apartment. Literally, it was like 45 degrees in here. "Normal" according to the Chinese. I was wearing a t-shirt, a sweatshirt, another sweatshirt and my thick winter coat to bed. Plus two thick blankets. It was pure misery. Then to top it off - I thought to myself "Ha why not take a really hot shower?" So I strip - freezing - and put the hot water on. NO PRESSURE. It comes trickling out. Now I am even colder than before. So I start to putting my clothes back on when it starts flowing. I immediately jump into the hot shower only to discover it lasted only a minute. Then NO PRESSURE again only trickling. I was even colder than when I started. COLD AND WET. I put on all my layers again. By 3am I made up my mind to go home.

I called Dana around 6:30 am and she told me her first-days-in-china-apartment-horror stories. Stories like - her first apartment she could see her breath IN HER APARTMENT it was so cold. Her neighbor would wake at 4:30 am and yell at his family to have breakfast ready etc. She couldn’t stand it and cried herself to sleep. When I heard all her hellish nightmares, suddenly I didn’t feel so bad anymore. I actually felt pretty blessed.

The highest pollution rate that a city can reach – which is dangerous to your health – is 500. Weds it was 500. Everyone is coughing and wheezing. It can be kinda freaky but no one seems to mind. Like "oh ya, my lungs are on fire but that's normal..."

The flip side...

Although I cannot share details about my work or job duties, I will say my job is great. My boss is very funny and kind - exactly the type of person you would imagine working for such a cool organization as Microsoft. So far just getting to know everyone and figuring out where I fit in. I am just now figuring out my computer system. I embarrassed myself when I set up my computer but forgot to connect the Ethernet cable. So I went through 40 minutes of drama as the IT HELP tried to “fix” my problem. Of course, they actually sent someone to my desk, and it is at the exact moment my boss is standing by my desk talking with me. The guy “plugs” it in and then shows me why I wasn’t connected – well my cable wasn’t plugged in…very basic stuff. I was embarrassed but I said “Oh you plug them in over here…” my boss just laughed. That was day one. Who knows what great wonders will happen next week at my job.

AND Dana - feeling completely sorry for me - bought me a space heater, a heating blanket and some nuts for protein. Beijing Survival 101! I come home from work on my second day, entered my apartment and found these wonderful gifts waiting for me. Oh the joys of having heat! The joys of true friendship!

It is moments like this that I realize the unbelievable gift of friendship.

So aside from nearly losing it a few times - I survived my first week in China. YAY. I must say though that the most moving experience I had ( I know it should have been "YOU'RE WORKING FOR MICROSOFT!") but it was when my friend took me to her Chinese "family" for the grandpa's 70th birthday party. The entire family welcomed me into their home and adopted me as their new family member. But what truly moved me was the grandmother who was just lavishing me with love and hospitality - I found out her father was killed by an American soldier. She was actually from North Korea and moved to China many years ago. How do you top that on the forgiveness chart? What a precious and beautiful people...