when in rome...

As it appears that I have not been very diligent in updating my blog, I've decided to take some time sitting here today writing up a new post.

It's been exactly two months that I've been in China now; it seems like forever. My parents are here visiting at the moment. Ever since they've arrived, I've been noticing how much I have changed from being here for merely eight weeks. I used to be quite finicky about cleanliness; after being in China for a couple months, that stuff really doesn't matter anymore. Finding a huge fly in my plate of food no longer surprises me. Throwing garbage around on the streets to me now means creating more jobs for street cleaners. Public toilets in China are now useable. These couple days have been a whir of "fancy" dinners with Mom and Dad, because that's what they eat. To be honest, I actually prefer sitting on plastic stools on the garbage-chicken-bone-spit-barf ridden streets eating street food. People reading this now might be thinking, "Oh my gosh! China has totally de-civilized Hedy." What does this really mean though? It's just the way people live here. When in Rome...

Of course, if this keeps up for say, five or six years, I will probably feel like I'm suffering. Never before though, since I have come here, have I ever felt guilty of being in a middle-class family in North America. Interacting with Chinese staff every day at school makes me realize how excessively privileged we all are in Canada.

I'll be back in Vancouver for a couple weeks early February. I am anticipating a reverse culture shock of some sort.