Day to Day in Rural China

A lighter post from when I lived in Tibetan China: a list of things I did in no particular order.

I cook. You laugh, but I like simple things.

I eat with my Tibetan Buddhist, Hui Muslim, Han Atheist friends (separately of course).

I walk the streets and parks watching families, grandmothers, roast-yam sellers.

I watch grandfathers concentrate on chess, majiang, card games.

I watch the same movies (I recommend Kunfu Panda).

I sleep without an alarm.

I realize I'm from the West.

I realize I'm from the East.

I read philosophy (in English), the news (in Spanish), essays (in Chinese), and sometimes textbooks (in math). The wonders and frustrations of languages.

I connect with family, with friends old and new, or just a friendly face.

I learn to fight.

I learn to let go when fighting is useless.

I teach.

And I do all these things without looking at the clock.