My kind of town
I've spent the last week in my ancestral lands, visiting my family and Chicagoland friends. Except for periodic moments of gluttony, it's been a relaxing experience. I've been so relaxed that the thought of blogging really hasn't appealed to me. Maybe that's what vacation should be.
I've had a hankering to visit Chicago throughout our China venture. For the past decade or so we've been blessed with the means to visit my hometown at least once a year. In 2005, our finances and schedule required us to forgo the trip home. The situation in 2006 was the same, if not worse. Fortunately, my folks and siblings managed to head out to Seattle to visit us each year. As this summer rolled around, it looked like we'd have to skip a Chicago trip once again. While we had a month to kill before we could move back into our house, we didn't really have the finances. We were heading into unemployment and a big chunk of our bank account was destined to be sunk into a car. (Note to self: remember we have to buy a car one of these days.) As things stood in May, it would have been foolish to pay for a vacation to the windy suburbs.
Thankfully, things didn't stand still. First off, I had miscalculated our finances. Yau Neih's salary from the college was stretched out over the year, so we had two month's pay above what I had calculated. Then we were gifted with some money towards buying a car. The influx of cash convinced us to go ahead and make some last minute travel plans. We were still taking a risk that we were spending money we'd be needing in the months to come, but we figured it would be worth it.
At this point I can say it was. We've all been having a good time, but I've really felt a sense of peace and comfort here that I haven't felt in awhile. I've been away too long. It's also been a bit jarring, too. I don't know if it's been the three year stretch since my last visit or my time in China, but I've really been noticing how much Chicagoland has changed in the last twenty years. There's more childhood haunts that I
can't point out to the kids than those I can. Still, there's an aura, a spirit of...Chicago-ness that hasn't gone away. I'm thankful I can soak it in before I return to Seattle and try to make a new life there.
Deep travel
Now that we're home we have a lot of sorting ahead of us. Not only do we need to arrange all our stuff back into our house (in August, when we can get back into our house), but we also have to do some mental rearranging as we figure out where to go from here. I'm thinking that I might bring this blog, which is focused on a "hapless husband living overseas", to a close rather than try and repackage it. I'll probably end it once we get settled and have finished with the repercussions of the venture. (Whether I attempt to start another blog or not will depend on how life goes.) But for now I'm still committed to documenting the end of our China venture as well as posting a few flashbacks that I never got around to writing up.
Today's post falls in the latter category. Our train ride to Maoming afforded a lot of writing time and I filled up many pages in my steno book. Most of it is not worth posting online at this late date, but there was one bit of musing I did want to share:
I had a thought last night about traveling. It seems to me that one has a choice when traveling. (Assuming one can afford choices, that is.) One can travel quickly or slowly. You can take a plane or a train across country, a taxi or a bus across town. For the right fee you can spend less time traveling and more time at your destination.
But I think there is another dimension to travel. Slow travel also lets one travel more deeply. For example, our trip to Kunming takes 35 minutes by plane or 12 hours by bus. That's over eleven hours that I could be spending at home or in Kunming. But it's also eleven hours I could be spending in contemplation, discussion or just watching the scenery go by. (I can't spend it reading because reading on the bus gives me a headache.) Even when I'm just looking out the window, I get a much greater feel for the countryside through which I'm passing. I can slowly note the contours of the land, watch the people going on with their daily lives and simply ruminate over the panorama passing before me.
In part, our China venture is another example of traveling deeply. We're visitors here, not immigrants, but we've signed on for the long tour--two years rather than two weeks. I've gotten plenty of pictures and plenty of stories out of the trip. But I've also received the experience of living in a place that's beyond my ability to describe. It'll be interesting to see how these past two years will fit into my life.
Of course, when you think about it, life is the longest and deepest journey of all....
Brother can you spare a job?
The haze of jet-lag has faded and a new week has started. Time to work. I made my first attempt at finding employment today, namely calling my old boss. Actually, I should be honest. I tried to call him last Thursday, but was informed that he was out until today. Today he was in the office, but not at his phone. I left a voice mail and then hung around the house avoiding using the phone line so I could be ready to answer the phone if he called back. As of 5 pm, he hasn't. I tried calling twice more during the day, but got the same voice mail message. sigh. I hate job searching. No matter how many times I read about being proactive and using good sales techniques to sell myself I feel like a nuisance. Maybe that's why I've gotten the two major jobs of my career through the want ads. Ah, well. At least I had time to tweak the resume and do some budgeting. Now I know how small a salary I can accept when I get desperate.
Swamped
Where has the time gone? I've been back in America for three days now, our China venture finished, and nary a blog post. Not one word about Yau Neih attending the dance show and being drafted into performing with our dance group. No detailed account of our luggage hassles. No mention of being in Hong Kong for the 10th anniversary of the handover. No musings on reverse culture shock. Just silence.
Hey, what can I say? Life is busy and I'm jet lagged. I suppose I could go back and write all those posts retroactively, but judging from past experience, that ain't gonna happen. I wonder if Wil Wheaton has this problem?
