I'm in China! This is Nuts!

I have been in China for 102 days as of today, but it wasn't until last week I became aware of this change in me. Although 'The Middle Kingdom' is changing faster than any country on earth, it doesn't move this quickly, so the change must be in me. What is this change? The novelty of China has worn off and my mind is more often filled with thoughts of work and social plans than wonder at my surroundings.

This is a far cry from saying I'm not enjoying myself, or that I'm not amazed by new developments. The stark contrast to my life back home has faded, as I find myself preoccupied with mundane thoughts of work and play, not an extroverted examination of my surroundings. Less and less often I find myself looking at something and saying "I'm in China! This is Nuts!" Admittedly this really means I'm beginning to appreciate and ponder the subtler aspects of life in China, but those types of observations don't smack you in the face every morning.

In honesty, I still am stymied by the subways - nothing gets me going in the morning like dropping my shoulders and bowling ball rolling through the stunned and waiting masses. The cultural attitude towards things (like Japan) baffle me. The acceptance of the vice-like grip of the government on the media coupled with the people benevolently accepting it as good shocks and horrifies me. That bars will spend an entire evening giving away free micro-brewed beer (as they did last night) is gleefully beyond my reasoning, not that I didn't enjoy it! There is still so much to wonder about, it just takes longer to realize what I'm supposed to wonder at.

Learning the language and becoming more familiar with the students will allow me to see deeper into China than I have been up to now. Though my life of busy routine is rather settled for the moment, the slow build up of knowledge is beginning to allow me to finally peak beneath the skin of this massive and terrifying country.