yeowch

well, so much for a travel log..

20 days overseas is not enough time to update anywhere on the net, especially when the only pc available was slow, crap and old. But to sum up: I had a really fantastic time. Which doesn't tell anybody anything, which i'm perfectly ok with. But i had such an awesome time with my family that i plan to go back in 2 years and spend 3 months instead of 3 weeks which is a VERY substantial amount -esp. in such a polluted environment. Oh, I shouldn't advertise China like that>.< Oh well i love it all the same.

When i went over there, I could see a LOT has changed in 7 years. What surprised me the most was how quickly i submerged into the culture, picking up the dialogue almost without effort and beginning to understand how the chinese think [complex with many hidden layers]. I have the best of both worlds, being able to observe a chinese from the comparatively positive, free spirited western view and in the process, lace the aussie flavour into my chinese aura. My favourite moments were spent with aunt linda, her husband and couz whom i haven't seen for 13 yrs. Despite that, we're closer than ever before which is the thing i love best about chinese culture. Family is such a central concept it's almost omnipotent. Time and space do not diminish love despite no contact (physical that is) for a bugger number of years. As long as there's memories and photos and the knowledge that your values & principles parallel one another, it ticks on merrily away.

Semester 2 promises to be more interesting than sem 1- it'd better be anyway. I've now scrapped stats in favour of english [a more-than-welcomed breath of fresh air; being only 1 lecture a week it should be ey :D].. chem and bio are continued along with anth so all in all i'm pretty pleased. My timetable has also being significantly downsized to just 18 hours a week which means no excuses for not getting credits and above this sem:< I'm also looking forward to getting more work hours as i'd love to save for future overseas trips after i graduate. I simply cannot picture myself staying in Oz for too long, tho I will call it home for life. Only today i was looking at a mini ad for international volunteers and i sped read through the passages to see what's on offer. Nothing seems so appealing as spending a few months/years in a developing country teaching english or building houses or doing a spot of farming or getting to know the beautiful local children. Then return after those years for a job long enough to pay off the mortgage then back around the world again:) Sounds like a plan:D Tho it means settling down will be a remote idea..hmm. Well there are billions of fish in the sea.. maybe i can find myself as adventurous a hubby along the way then. Problemo solved!

posted by "/umin @ 11:00 AM