Sometimes, you just have to sing...

These days life in Chengdu is my normal.  My 27th floor apartment, my crazy loud neighbors, riding the metro, getting my hair washed and styled for the equivalent of 4 dollars: these are all normal. After over 3.5 years here, things that I never thought I would get used to are things that I love and miss when I'm away.  Honestly, there are very few things from life on the other side of the pond that I think of and wish I could get easily.  Of course I wish that I was able to be closer geographically to the people that I love that are scattered around the world, but there are very few material things or experiences apart from that quality time that I long for on a regular basis.

Today I thought of something that I wish I could incorporate into my life here, but can't.

Let me rewind.

I love my former roommate and current best friend dearly.  We are kindred spirits, often laughing over the same silly things and quoting the same random movies.  We fit together like...I dunno...two really cool things that fit together.

Anyways, today we were talking about musicals and I realized that we have never been able to share one of my favorite pastimes: singing in the car.

Sure, we sing in both of our apartments all the time.  Sometimes we burst into song while we're walking.  I'm pretty sure we've ever sung a few times on the metro.  But it's just not the same.

Singing in the car is your own acoustic paradise.  Your own personal stage, with only you (and the random driver who notices the passion with which you let it all out) as the audience.

I remember with so much hiraeth (look at me speaking Welsh....or just using a really cool TCK related word) singing in the car on many a drive from Seattle to Portland.  There is something so therapeutic about rolling down the windows, switching on the "Musical Favorites" playlist on my ipod, and just letting go while driving down the highway.  If there's traffic it's even better.  Or rain.  All of a sudden I transform into Eponine in her dream land, Jack in Santa Fe, or Maria singing on top of that mountain.

Musicals were reserved for the longer drives (it was a long playlist...had to give it the full time to shine), but even turning on the radio in the morning for my 5 minute drive to school was a chance to belt out a classic or learn something new.

Singing in the car.  There really is nothing like it.

Singing on a scooter just isn't the same.

And if you sing "On my own" on the streets of Chengdu in the rain, people really do look at you like you're crazy.

I know what to put on my to-do list for the summer...

Space Bubble

This was written on December 30th when I was flying back from winter vacation.  It has been sitting, ignored, on my desktop every since.  Time to share...

Many times over the last week, my parents marveled at the fact that both of their children live in China.  It is remarkable, really.  I never in a million years would have thought that 6 year old me, would end up living in this part of the world.  I didn’t even think that I would visit this part of the world again and didn’t see a need to.  But now, here, I am, half way through year four in the world’s most populated country.

As a resident of the world’s most populated country, one would assume that I love people.  And I do.  I really do.  I love people.  But since moving here I have definitely become more introverted.  Me? Introverted? Who would have thought.  Sure, I still recharge from people time, but I’ve never appreciated my own space more than I have in the last few years.  On a flight today, I was feeling completely claustrophobic.  The man sitting next to me didn’t really get the concept of sharing the arm rest…and in fact kept moving his rather annoying elbows into my space bubble, no matter how cocooned I tried to be in my little seat.  Then, to make matters more annoying, the airline had these little tablets instead of TV screens, which in theory are really cool but in actuality are incredibly annoying.  Why? Well, they didn’t give people headphones.  That’s right…imagine this: a plane full of people, everyone around you watching a movie…with no headphones.  There was action there was romance…it was all there…and I could hear it.  Going to the bathroom was the one place that was quiet.  I stood in there for about 5 minutes, just to breathe. 

It’s strange writing all of these words, because this really isn’t the me that moved to China.  Who knew that I would learn to love peace and quiet? Who knew that I would come to need time of absolute solitude? Seriously, who knew?

Welcome to international living: full of the unexpected.