The China trip is all organised and the many stopover hotels are now booked. We are being a little more adventurous this time - so the trip will see us on an overnight sleeper train and cycle through old city walls away from the hustle and bustle of Beijing with a side trip to the Venice of China.
It will be different this time around and I am hard at work brushing up on my Mandarin. Nicholas can do the reading and I can do the talking. This arrangement seems to have worked the last time so I am crossing my fingers - some parts of the countryside will speak no English at all and not being around native speakers will take some time to get used to the lingo.
The Adelaide Festival is in full swing though and I have gone to a couple including sitting through VESPERS @ St Peters, FRENTE, the Mad and Ugly show yesterday - but this weekend will be in Melbourne for work and some retail therapy. The fringe can draw some real mediocre stuff but that's the beauty of it all -keeping it real.
I miss my bed desperately tonight - the comfort of the hotel room has never been attractive and I am never keen on travelling for work but the people today was exceptional and training them felt more didactic than mere indulgence. It's good to know that you can make a difference no matter how small your contribution is. At least the linen is Egyptian and I get to choose the hardness of my pillow, wagyu beef, oysters and Cabernet Sauvignon to ease the separation anxiety.
This year's other goal is to be less judgemental but alas it is hard to trust anyone especially when what they say is never what they mean or seeing them become the person that they detest so detest as they get older. If you really love someone move, make a change - it is not a compromise but a commitment. That's the trouble with Asians - we are so gullible and westerners are just too selfish - so who's going to make the 1st move in the end?
2 comments:
Well, like you said, "it is not a compromise but a commitment".
People do change and sometimes they get confused by the person they were and the person they're becoming. Some want to hold onto what was because it's safe. Especially, for us in our thirties with 40 on the horizon. Is that where the mid life crisis comes into play.
Yeah, Westerners can be selfish! We are a me society. I don't think I'm as bad. I just have huge boundaries! Too huge infact.
I think the sad thing is that the more you live within a culture, subconsciously you embrace some of the bad habits without knowing it.
I need to learn about reducing my big threshold for Pride - the negative sort and work at it till I die...it is like skin; it is an integral part of you - fragile and easily damaged but repairs itself and leave scars. How depressing it that?!
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