T-Minus

Due to frustration with the internet service here in China, the final bursts of pictures will have to wait until I am stateside. I may try to work just one more in with a last-one-in-Asia post tomorrow, so hopefully that will work out. It's definitely not for trying, as I have been constantly trying to upload further pretty visions of places East, but to no avail. Coupled with end-of-long-trip burnout, the frustration that ensued from this had me in some stinkin' thinkin' yesterday during 'school', and it's taking quite a bit of self-care and outside comforts to manage the stressors of unfamiliarity right now, so doing away with simple 'failures' that try to get their hooks in sounds like a good idea.

Shanghai is still grand and interesting, despite my travelweariness. We toured a VW assembly plant yesterday, and it was rather impressive to see. There was a lot of impressive modern technology being used to put the cars together, and it's always fascinating to see a thin strip of molded metal at one end of a line and a completed, complex dashboard at the other end. I have to say, however, that I was a little tired of seeing assembly sites by the time we got to the gearbox plant for GM and VW, so I was happy when that video/lecture/tour only took a short while.

Another good Chinese dinner in celebration of the trip was followed by a trip with a couple of other classmates to a Hagen-Daaz locale that was an actual sit-down dessert place as well as ice cream counter, complete with lemon-slice water to drink, big menus, and decent service. It's interesting to see what is positioned as a foreign food experience, like HD as a European place, KFC as American (they think that's the type of food that Kentuckians always eat, in fact), and Middle Eastern being called 'Muslim' food, despite the selection of alcohol, pork, and otherwise on the menu. Tonight I'm seeking out a churrascaria (Brazlian steak house, aptly named Brasil Steak House) and hopefully some karaoke or dancing, or something fun to keep me up a little later than usual. Tomorrow will bring a solid (benadryl-induced) afternoon nap, a final good dinner, some packing, and an increased readiness for a beanless Classico burrito from Cha! Cha! Cha!

One world I know I'm going to have to keep figuring out how to navigate should I get deep into business is the alcohol + socializing/networking one. I have had very small amounts of alcohol outside of the wine and Hoegaarden I mentioned here, and I think that not drinking can occasionally, at some point in the process, put me a little outside of the bubble. I'm not exactly the biggest social butterfly all the time, so that puts me at a disadvantage to begin with, as I prefer to get to know people rather than just socialize. I'm certainly hoping that my impression of the general student population here is less complex than the one of the general business community, but certainly there's enough inebriation on success, power, and money in that population that it makes sense that substance-induced euphoria would follow (or substitute) for some. After the last many years, I'm better armed than previously, but practicing such knowledge is not the easiest nor most routine task in the world, often times only being required in crisis-like situations.

I'm sure I'll do fine, but certainly right now (travel-worn) it's easier to feel more anxious about many things than usual. I feel rather clueless when it comes to functioning 'normally' here. I want to just watch and listen at how people interact so that I can figure out what to do, how to go about doing things, but I can't understand much outside of body language and non-verbal cues, so I'm like a little kid learning about how to act in a culture, but with the Peanuts' grown-up language in my ears. I don't really have anyone to help me out much, either, so I'm that kid running down the middle K-Mart aisle looking for my attache to the general world at large again, wary and not ready to be acting alone. Tokyo definitely wasn't like this; I could have kept on learning and exploring and doing lots of stuff in Tokyo, but here I'm totally adrift, and while my classmates help me out a lot, there's no one constant friend that I have here, and that keeps me feeling stranded at some points, since I don't know how evenings and such will end up (and my aforementioned reticence towards the partying lifestyle narrows my options).

I miss all your voices, and I'm looking forward to having that dang cell phone back so I can reach out easily to you again. It would be one thing to know that I have a decent period of time in Asia that would require the digging in of heels and allow for a more complex set up of life and routine, but this three week educational trip hasn't allowed for much in the way of settling, just brief respites from general upheaval. Plus, I'm anxious to get going on the changes ahead of me, so it's different for me than those who already have a bit of an established life. I'm just working on getting one. I'd love to come back in my thirties, forties, fifties, and such, and see how I see things then, as I know it would be that much different, both in terms of my own perspective and in the locations. Perhaps I will get to.

--you gonna take me home tonight--

p.s. I noticed some of you have left recent comments, but since I cannot look at my actual blog page--only update it--I have no idea what you have said. Regardless, I thank you and look forward to hearing what quips you have shared!