I have an aching, throbbing pain in my chest that can not be dulled. It is in my heart, where there is a piece missing. That piece is in China, and I will not feel better till I am too.
Even though I only lived in China for two years, I fell completely head over heels in love with it. I felt so happy, so free, and so accepted there. It wasn't until I was in China, that I truly found myself. My friends there became like a family to me, and my life there was just too good to be true! I can't even explain it fully, but there is just a magic about China. It is such a wonderfully strange, and different, and MAGICAL place.
At the beginning of 2010, I moved back to Ohio. I had been away from my family for too long, and I just knew it was what I needed to do at that time. That first year back, I had such an amazing time. I reconnected with my family so wonderfully, and (despite a bit of reverse culture shock), I LOVED being back in America.
My second year being back (2011), was probably one of the toughest years of my life. It was just a very bad year. A lot of good things happened, but it was just a year full of questions with no answers, and a general feeling of being stuck, and not knowing what to do about it.
Now I have been back for three years, and I have this feeling that I am not meant to just sit here for the rest of my life. I don't know exactly what that means for me, or what it will look like. But I am grateful that I am getting a clearer look at what I want to do with my future. I still have waaay more questions than answers, but at least I'm not as in the dark as I was a year ago. So I will keep on searching, asking questions, and making plans, hoping that I will find what I am looking for. In the meantime, I just want to share with you a little bit more about the country that has turned my world completely upside-down.
Even though I only lived in China for two years, I fell completely head over heels in love with it. I felt so happy, so free, and so accepted there. It wasn't until I was in China, that I truly found myself. My friends there became like a family to me, and my life there was just too good to be true! I can't even explain it fully, but there is just a magic about China. It is such a wonderfully strange, and different, and MAGICAL place.
At the beginning of 2010, I moved back to Ohio. I had been away from my family for too long, and I just knew it was what I needed to do at that time. That first year back, I had such an amazing time. I reconnected with my family so wonderfully, and (despite a bit of reverse culture shock), I LOVED being back in America.
My second year being back (2011), was probably one of the toughest years of my life. It was just a very bad year. A lot of good things happened, but it was just a year full of questions with no answers, and a general feeling of being stuck, and not knowing what to do about it.
Now I have been back for three years, and I have this feeling that I am not meant to just sit here for the rest of my life. I don't know exactly what that means for me, or what it will look like. But I am grateful that I am getting a clearer look at what I want to do with my future. I still have waaay more questions than answers, but at least I'm not as in the dark as I was a year ago. So I will keep on searching, asking questions, and making plans, hoping that I will find what I am looking for. In the meantime, I just want to share with you a little bit more about the country that has turned my world completely upside-down.
I will start with 王力宏 (Wang Li Hong). A Chinese heartthrob. When I was there, I called him the Justin Timberlake of China. He is a pop artist, who at different times plays piano, raps, dances, and usually throws in a couple words or phrases in English. His music is INCREDIBLE, an there is no doubt that he is super talented. When I was in China, I bought 3 of his cds, watched his music videos (mv's), sang his songs at KTV (Chinese Karaoke), and I even learned one of his songs on the piano. Here is a mv of one of my favorite songs by him (this is the one I learned on the piano). Check him out, he is INCREDIBLE!
One big topic of debate going on now, is the issue of China "stealing" jobs from America. This is one issue that I get so fired up about! For those of you who are friends with me on facebook, you probably saw a post that I wrote about the Presidential campaigns and China a couple weeks ago. This pretty much sums up what I think about it:
'I wasn't in america last time the presidential campaigns were happening, so i forgot how
ANNOYING they are! o, and i am SO sick of them saying, "were going to stand up to China for stealing our jobs" ! umm, america is GIVING china jobs! i've been to China, and they have SO much worse unemployment rates than us! There are college graduates selling dvds on the side of the road cuz they can't get another job. There are too many people and not enough jobs, so if america wants to give them jobs OF COURSE they're going to take them! Wow, I am so embarassed of America.'
So just know, that there are always two sides to every story. Just because America is your country, dosen't mean that they are always right. Instead of getting mad at China, why not get mad at the American companies that are SENDING all the American jobs to another country?!
'I wasn't in america last time the presidential campaigns were happening, so i forgot how
ANNOYING they are! o, and i am SO sick of them saying, "were going to stand up to China for stealing our jobs" ! umm, america is GIVING china jobs! i've been to China, and they have SO much worse unemployment rates than us! There are college graduates selling dvds on the side of the road cuz they can't get another job. There are too many people and not enough jobs, so if america wants to give them jobs OF COURSE they're going to take them! Wow, I am so embarassed of America.'
So just know, that there are always two sides to every story. Just because America is your country, dosen't mean that they are always right. Instead of getting mad at China, why not get mad at the American companies that are SENDING all the American jobs to another country?!
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My first apartment! It was pink and purple, and the bottom level had a bakery! Could it get any more perfect?!!
The living room, and my bedroom (with a window seat!). I was in loooove with my bathroom...taking a shower right in the open?! Toooo fun! :p |
Complete breath-taking beauty.
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Believe me, I could definitely keep going all day, and post THOUSANDS of pictures, but I won't. This reminiscing was really good for me, and hopefully it opened your eyes a bit to China, that it's not just some horrible communist country (that's usually what I get. Along with, "You want to go to CHINA?!! WHY?!!) that's stealing our jobs. It's a great place, with people just like you and me, just trying to live life.
Here's a couple other articles that I've done on China. Check them out!
Here's a couple other articles that I've done on China. Check them out!
Peace Love and China
Jess <3
