pause for reflection
[ posted by mcdeviltoast ]
Life in the states is odd. It's difficult to be mindful of the Buddhist perspective. Everything here in some way seems to revolve around money; the pursuit of or the lack of. It's a pressure I haven't been used to for nine months. I was paid in cash every month, a repulsive rubberbanded stack of red bills that I squirreled away in an envelope in the closet. My lodgings were provided, and if I wanted, meals too. Prices were beyond cheap on top of that. Perhaps my new lesson is humility. I basically lived like a sultan, and now I have backpedaled into waiting tables and feel the thumbscrews of living day to day.
The pursuit of new environs to teach has shown me just how incredibly lucky I was the first go 'round. Nowhere else but China provides airfare, nor the lodging and dining or high wages and travel opportunities. The possible locales are India (New Delhi specifically as it is a George Harrison pilgrimage), Costa Rica, Chile, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Latin America in general. But perhaps Taiwan will make it into the running as it will be Chinese and yet not, so I won't feel like I'm rerunning my experience.
Heather comes into town on Friday and I'm excited to see her again. She and I, we're on the same path in a lot of ways. It will be interesting to see her on American soil. It won't be the same without Mike. I always felt we formed a kind of triad, a bond of friendship forged a few days before Spring Festival, and culminating into many amazing conversations and laughter, usually atop the Dongzhou roof. I remember Mike's final night, all of us passing around the bottle of tequila after barraging Haimen's citizens with water balloons, trying not to get emotional but feeling it grow all the same, a tideswell of memory effervescing our poor tired brains. I love them.
She arrives Friday night and I plan to take her to get Skyline chili, the legit stuff, not the facsimile I prepared in a frosty Dongzhou kitchen with stringy pork instead of beef. (No slight on my batch, but it doesn't compare with the authentic junk.)
The pursuit of new environs to teach has shown me just how incredibly lucky I was the first go 'round. Nowhere else but China provides airfare, nor the lodging and dining or high wages and travel opportunities. The possible locales are India (New Delhi specifically as it is a George Harrison pilgrimage), Costa Rica, Chile, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Latin America in general. But perhaps Taiwan will make it into the running as it will be Chinese and yet not, so I won't feel like I'm rerunning my experience.
Heather comes into town on Friday and I'm excited to see her again. She and I, we're on the same path in a lot of ways. It will be interesting to see her on American soil. It won't be the same without Mike. I always felt we formed a kind of triad, a bond of friendship forged a few days before Spring Festival, and culminating into many amazing conversations and laughter, usually atop the Dongzhou roof. I remember Mike's final night, all of us passing around the bottle of tequila after barraging Haimen's citizens with water balloons, trying not to get emotional but feeling it grow all the same, a tideswell of memory effervescing our poor tired brains. I love them.
She arrives Friday night and I plan to take her to get Skyline chili, the legit stuff, not the facsimile I prepared in a frosty Dongzhou kitchen with stringy pork instead of beef. (No slight on my batch, but it doesn't compare with the authentic junk.)
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[ posted by mcdeviltoast @ 9/13/2005 01:01:00 PM ]
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The dumbtronica act Montana & McDeviltoast, along with their friends, keep each other updated on their activities. Much fun having by all, and Pockys fear for their lives!