Is it cheating if I am actually considering exploring Google services on the Android platform…? Must all love affairs come to an end…? Come on Apple, keep me unwisely addicted to you! Other’s ridicules are my own private pride and joy.
Is it cheating if I am actually considering exploring Google services on the Android platform…? Must all love affairs come to an end…? Come on Apple, keep me unwisely addicted to you! Other’s ridicules are my own private pride and joy.
ideas seem to be all the rage… I got tons new ideas everyday. I can tell you they are worthless because none of these ideas came into being. How about a TED forum for those doer…not just ideas!
Since my income has dwindle as of late, I cut back on some fancy stuff…namely Apple products. This allowed me rediscover and rekindle my love for a less technologically fancy but equally well designed product…namely Nokia. It has been years since I owned a Nokia phone. Particularly a simple call and text only phone. What simplicity and pleasure it is to know that my phone last 4-6 days on a charge and doesn’t do too much.
Falling in love again with simpler things. Will try to uncomplicated more gadgets in the coming months.
Without knowing, 14 months quietly sneaked pass my notice. So much has changed about my life. So many dreams and ideas that I held as truism only 14 months ago now seem childish and idealistic. Changing the world, an idea so prevalent only few months ago seems so far far away that I hardly believe I thought of those grandiose ideas. What I realized instead is that the world has changed me. China has changed me. I feel calm and more at peace with the knowledge that now I just want to make a living and enjoy living. I have much more friends now, from much more interesting tales that those I have encountered in America. All are lives incomplete somehow, yet have the bravery to toss caution aside to seek whatever may complete them. The journey may not begin here or end here, but it certain pick up pace right around here.
I don’t hold out idealistic hopes about relationships, a lesson that I keep having to relearn with each new affair. Love can not withstand the test of time. Perhaps that is why songs and movies of love move us so much. In those great stories, we imagine we can be just as strong, passionate, brave and patient as the characters. But then reality hit us like a brick when the lights are turned back on and the song ends. Promises broken, dreams shattered, like a house of card come tumbling down. But then there is the release. A moment of clarity follow by both fear and exciting of new possibilities. But I am only 32. How would I feel at 40 at 50 at 60. Would I become like those old people in Florida who can relive old memories and not create new ones? Scarry…
I am still gripping with the idea of being a chinese yet not chinese. But I feel at home here. Sure I complain about the air, the water, the food, and everything in between the troposphere like every other expat. But deep down there is a sense of belonging. I am no longer a minority. This is my turf. And it is beautiful! Even if this is not the greenest turf around, it is still my turf and my people’s turf. And this is something that no amount of organic food, facebook, instagram and all the other BS can give me. All that seems so shallow and superficial now. I realize now that we give all these trivals things great significance in America because we have nothing real we can held onto or call our own. For the longest time I could not figure out why people from ancient parts of world are so comfortable and secure with who they are. Why they don’t take such strong stance and points of view on every subject matter like Americans. Now I understand. Because they feel they are part of something that transcend themselves. So they don’t need harley gangs, and hipster friends, or multicultural exchange to feel complete.
So with great joy and sadness I begin and end each day, knowing what I have haven up and what I have gained by being here. Hoping that life will be kind to me, let me open my eyes without breaking my heart too many more times.
I love languages. I somehow knew that a person’s language is the key to unlock his mind. Being a child of two cultures, I reflected often how my manners and thoughts changed whenever I travel between the USA and China. However, I did not undergo these metamorphosis while visiting other parts of the world.
The 4 languages I can understand has shaped who I am today. Had I not learned German, I would never have lived in Europe and learned that the John Wayne way of running a society may not be in the best interest of everyone. Have I not learned Spanish, I would probably never have felt the turbulence of my heart, the feeling of being so alive.
So I cringe when I hear people in Shanghai say they learn Chinese so they are more employable. At the dawn of 21st century, you only really need to know English to conduct international business. As a foreigner in any country, even if you speak the local language, you are still an outsider because of your looks, your accent, you cloth, your smell, even the way you move. Cultural and genetic barriers will hinders a foreigner from climbing up, especially men. Simply mastering a local language will not give you access to the backroom where real action happens.
Conclusion: learn a language because you love it, not because it is useful, even if indeed it is useful in so many unimaginable ways. We can only keep learning something that we love.
How can we make best use of the goods of Western Individualism and Eastern Communalism to create a better society? I feel the pull of both idealisms within me. A struggle perhaps every westernized Asian has to confront.
It is ironic that in reality, westerners are more communal than easterners in their private lives. They are much more apt to crowd source, share information, pool resources for basic daily activities. There is less barriers to socialize with westerners than easterners. However, on a society level, when business and politics are concerned, Easterners are much more communal in their actions and decision. The longevity of organization and civilizations trumps individual rights and the pursuit of happiness.
