For some reason, my senses are heightened here….maybe it’s the unfamiliar smells, or my subconscious telling me to be aware of my surroundings more…I seem to notice all sorts of things I wouldn’t necessarily notice at home. I am just so used to the comforts there, that it no longer registers with me…There are so many beautiful things about Asia and Beijing, in particular. I think probably my favorite thing is to go to the Great Wall. It is so peaceful there. I look out over the hills and am amazed that I am standing in a spot that someone was standing – many hundreds of years ago during the Ming Dynasty…There are 10 famous spots on the over 13,000 miles of Wall and I have been to 5 of them. It never gets old. I found a book at school, called “Beijing Then and Now”. It is a book filled with famous landmarks, The Bell Tower, Fox Tower, the old Wall of the city, Summer Palace, the Forbidden City and more. Side by side photos of these places in “their heyday” and what it looks like now. It just blows my mind that I am living in the same place that look SO very different during the Boxer Rebellion or when the Empress Dowager Cixi was alive.
There are other things….my girlfriend’s gem and custom made jewellery shop…when I was little, I used to stare at the beautiful tutus in my ballet school. Rows and rows of beautiful silk dresses in all colors- pale blues, pinks, mint greens….now, these tutus dance as morganites, prasiolites and aquamarines. Other favorites? The Dirt Market…always a treasure if you look…beautiful embroidered silks, unending foot massages and body massages with oil, ladies who lunch and blue skies that make you appreciate the clean air and the day outside.
Then, there is the BAD and the UGLY. The pollution in the fall and winter. Having to know the meaning of “AQI” and the sad reality of sending your children to school wearing masks so they can breathe. The every day occurrence of people peeing by the side of the road. I finally had to convince myself that seeing these people meant you would have good luck for the day. Along with these gentlemen who can’t seem to go before leaving the house in the morning, are the children wearing split pants. There are no diapers – too expensive. Children wear pants that are literally split up the middle…when they get the urge, they simply squat – where ever they are. If their parents are involved, they usually form a “toilet” with their arms, and the child “sits” on the “toilet” and does his business. No matter where. I have seen this in parks, where the child squats in the grass and my favorite, over a trash can at IKEA’s food court. No one noticed.
Blowing one’s nose….where no tissue is required to empty each nostril of its contents – onto the ground. People do it all the time and just keep going…But it is the GOD awful cringeworthy sound of the loogie hawking that people do constantly – to clear their throat of all the nasty pollution. This, too, is hawked onto the ground..and the people keep going. One of the reasons why I always look like I have been camping. Who wants their beautiful patent leather sandals to be ruined in this minefield of bodily fluids? My mind always goes to the line in one of my boys’ favorite movies…Pet Detective- where Ace Ventura travels to Africa to find a missing bat. There is a scene where the tribal members all hawk loogies on each other and Jim Carrey says, “It is the mucus that binds us.” When I hear the sound, I go to the happy place.
There are others….Chinese Opera. It sounds like an animal is being killed and everyone knows the words. The constant honking of horns in dead stopped traffic. This literally means, “I warned you- I am not stopping for you and if I hit you, it is your fault.” The mosquitoes that can drink 10 times their body weight in your blood, and the given that “rules” are just suggestions- especially at traffic lights and any place where standing in line for your turn is required.
Would I change my mind about moving half way around the world? Do I wish I had made another decision? Never. I get to see something many people never do. Perspective. I get to see how this side of the Earth lives. What is important to them; what they value. I also get to see how they view the rest of the world- especially Americans. My children get to ask, “Where do you come from?” and listen to other children speak in their mother tongue. I get the humility of children not knowing where Chicago or Illinois actually is. Some don’t know where America is – It doesn’t matter here. Not in the grand scheme of things. And most of all I get to be with my family and learn and grow together on this huge adventure. I guess that is pretty good. 
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