The Echoes of China

Coming back from a trip is a difficult thing. I don't mean the physical return, but finding our own place in the everyday's life after a long absence. After my last trip to China, which was only three weeks long I couldn't really accommodate at home and get back to work. Too many memories, too many people met on the way, too many thoughts, reflections and plans made. When I was away I discovered a lot about myself, saw my life from a perspective and realized that several things needed to be changed. Perhaps the anxiety after coming back was caused by need to face the question - will these plans and resolutions fit the reality?

Now, after almost two weeks at home I feel much better. I am committed to keep the determination and change the things that were stopping me from doing what I really wanted, and the lack of which made my life seem dull, and not fully satisfactory. And to introduce the changes that I realized were necessary to allow me to progress as a person and achieve meaningful goals. I decided to spend more time among the people, to take more photos, to start writing - hence the blog, to be more serious about my work. For the first time in my life I managed to compose and record a song. It seems my creativity is slowly coming back. But it is not easy to keep it that way.

Thankfully there are certain things that can give us an unexpected hand. Today I didn't have anything to eat at home. I went to the kitchen and found a mysterious green plastic bag. I opened it and found a big blend of dried kiwi fruits, which I bought in the Muslim Quarter in Xi'an. It had a surreal feeling, as I already hardly believed that I really was there. Then I sat to the computer and found another, even nicer surprise. An email from a charming and extremely kind Chinese girl I met in Hangzhou. I will have to write about this magic day, which I spent with three accidentally met young Chinese, walking around the West Lake in the pouring rain. The day that turned out to be one of my best days in China, despite the fact that I was all wet, didn't see anything, didn't take almost any pictures, and was almost all the time shaking from cold. But that's a long story, so perhaps another time.

Now I will just say that the Chinese girl made a great gift by her email, unwittingly reminding me about all that I promised myself, and helping me stay focused on my goals. I don't know characters for her Chinese name (it would be something like Tsan Dzan Len), but her English name is Echo. So thank you Echo, for the great day in Hangzhou, for your kindness, and for your email that echoed all that to me.