No Reply/#54/Nikon FE2/Kodak Ektar 100/Cancer Institute/ Beijing, China

Piano Silhouette/#55/Yashica Electro 35 gsn/Kodak TMAX100/Chicago Cultural Center/Chicago, IL

Gutted/#56/Nikon FE2/Kodak Ektar 100/Zhong Tao Hutong/ Beijing, China

Cig Games/#57/Nikon D7000/Gulou Area/Beijing, China

Nightime Sales/#58/Nikon D7000/Sanlitun Area/Beijing, China

Art and?/#59/Nikon FE2/Kodak Ektar 100/Gulou Area/Beijing, China

Coffee Break/#60/Olympus XA/Kodak Tri-X 400/The Other Place/Beijing, China

Spring Batteries/#61/Olympus XA/Kodak Tri-x 400/Spring Cameras/ Beijing, China

As Tall as Skyscrapers/#62/Nikon D7000/Dongzhimen Area/Beijing, China

Again a lot has happened this last week. And, again a lot is still the same. I had a birthday; I’m officially 26…swinging right into the late 20s without a problem. Spent my birthday with a bunch of amazing people at a bar called Heaven. It was a blast, even if the Yellow Tail wine was way overpriced. I have a lot to work towards this year. In one year I will be submitting my residency application, I will have been back in the states for 2 months already, knee deep in my final year of medical school. It has been a surreal experience as I watch my best friends write and struggle with the monotony of completing their residency applications and I’ve been sitting in China taking pictures and doing research. While there is a component of feeling left behind, I know that this isn’t the case. I’ve made the conscious decision to leave behind the traditional medicine path, because, I’ve realized, there is nothing traditional about my dreams. Though it is difficult to articulate the destination my dreams will take me, they provide me a direction, a road to follow. And, so far this road has been nothing but non-stop adventure with its fair share of twists and turns.

All my life, I’ve paved my own road. I might hear a phrase or read some article that captivates me and I go with it. It has gotten me this far, but now I’ve reached a point on my road where the forks are a bit more dubious. I’ve been lucky so far to meet several people that have been able to give me advice, but in the end it comes down to me. And while I am not sure where I will be in 10 years, I know I will be pursuing something that makes me happy.

The other day I had the fortune to meet an old Chinese man and his wife at a restaurant. In China, if there is an empty seat during the lunch rush, it will be taken. So I got to sit next this old couple. The conversation started like most other conversations…

Are you Xinjiang Ren?

No, no, I am an American.

No way, that’s not possible, you look Chinese

Well my birth mother is Korean, and my birth father is Mexican

But that is where the similarities ended, rather than default to the normal line of oh your Chinese is excellent, he started to ask me more questions. I could see the genuine curiosity in his eyes. And something in me changed, I kept talking, I kept listening, and for the most part I was able to handle the conversation. Of course, there were parts I didn’t understand, but we talked about my research, about the cancer issues in China, and what we were trying to do to solve them. We talked about what he did, his children, how he and his family had lived in the hutong down the street for years. It was an amazing conversation. He ended it with saying that our meeting had yuan fen 缘分, a word that I have come to love. It basically means the destiny that brings people together. There is not a word like it in English, and it is something I’ve considered and know I’ve shared with many of the people I’ve met in my life.

To top it off, he said my Chinese is okay. This definitely means my level is increasing, as Chinese people won’t tell you the truth about your level until you can establish some sort of relationship, and if you can only kind of speak, you can’t establish any relationship. He felt comfortable enough with me to tell me my Chinese was okay. It was an amazing validation.

Until next time!

Good luck friends with your Residency Interviews, I honestly know you won’t need it though.

Bridge Smoke/#43/D7000/Beijing, China

Milky Way/#44/D7000/Yinghe (Milky Way) Soho/Beijing, China

Dreams of Chicago/#45/Nikon FE2/Fuji Neopan 400/Lakeshore path/Chicago, IL

Xiangshan Sunset/#46/D7000/Xiangshan Summit/Beijing, China

Pleasant Lady/#47/Nikon FE2/Fuji Neopan 400/Beijing, China

Last Train Home/#48/Nikon FE2/Kodak Ektar 100/Urumqi Train Station/Urumqi, China

Blocked Connection/#49/Nikon FE2/Kodak Ektar 100/Gulou Subway Staiton/Beijing, China

Suave in the Hutongs/#50/Olympus XA/Kodak TriX 400/Nanlouguxiang Hutong/Beijing, China

Night Lights/#51/D7000/Qianmen/Beijing, China

Hutong Dispute/#52/D7000/Nanlouguxiang Hutong/Beijing, China

Beijing Beverages/#53/D7000/Nanlouguxiang Hutong/Beijing, China

This last weekend I officially celebrated my first Mid Autumn Festival. It’s a holiday in China that normally takes place around September (officially it is the 15th day of the 8th lunar month) and is meant to celebrate family and friends. Unfortunately, in this day and age many Chinese live far away from their hometowns and their families and don’t have time to return home. Because of this many Chinese gather together and celebrate their friendship and fellowship together in their transplanted homes with, of course, food and moon viewing (the 15^th day correlates with the full moon).

I am no different. I am thousands of miles away from the people I love and care about but I have a lot of new and wonderful friends here. My colleagues at the Cancer institute were kind enough to invite me to celebrate the holiday with them.

So I spent my Mid Autumn festival at Dragon Lake Park with my new friends. We ate delicious fruit, chips, beer, and they even had me run a quick class on how to make “American” sandwiches. They even got “American” cheese slices. Though they insisted I was wrong when I said ketchup on a ham and cheese sandwich is a little weird, they enjoyed the American cuisine nonetheless.

It was a beautiful time, my mentor Dr. Qiao explained that one of the beautiful parts about the Mid Autumn Festival is to watch the clouds chase the moon. He had even prepared a few songs on his phone to further illustrate his point. Lucky for us, the pollution in Beijing was almost non-existent, the moon was full, and it was gorgeous. Clouds were scant across the sky, but Dr. Qiao exclaimed in excitement when they began to come close to the moon.

It was a beautiful day and a wonderful night. And I am very happy I got to spend this traditional holiday with my new friends in China. The meaning behind the holiday is something I really enjoy and hope to bring back to the states as a reason each September to gather together and celebrate friendship.

Speaking of which, I miss you all! I hope you had a wonderful Mid-Autumn festival back in the states.

 

Among Emperors/#31/D7000/Panjiayuan Flea Market/Beijing, China

Manual Labor/#32/D7000/Baochao Hutong/Beijing, China

Convenient Welcome/#33/D7000/Zhong Tao Hutong/ Beijing, China

A Game of Wits/#34/D7000/Beijing, China

Dusty Flats/#35/D7000/Gulou Street/Beijing, China

Ladder Nap/#36/D7000/Andingmen Road/Beijing, China

A Man and his Dog/#37/D7000/Beijing Hutongs/Beijing, China

Sky Bridge at Dusk/#38/D7000/Beijing, China

Where everyone should be looking/#39/D7000/China National Museum/Beijing, China

*Batteries not included/#40/D7000/Pearl Market/Beijing, China

Couple in Bamboo/#41/D7000/Zi Zhu Yuan Park/Beijing, China

Bubble Ride/#42/D7000/Zi Zhu Yuan Park/Beijing, China
 

Why did I choose China? Out of all the other countries in the world…China? It’s a question I get asked often. The reason though is a bit complicated. I guess you could say its due to my poor Spanish skills.

In high school my Spanish teacher made it known to me that I had the worst Spanish accent in her 30+ years of teaching. The worst. Not the kind of motivation to get your students to continue language study, so I entered undergraduate with the idea of taking a different language; an Asian language. I wanted to study Korean, the language of my biological mother, but Vandy didn’t have that option so I settled on a more practical choice: Chinese. I’ve been studying Chinese on an off since my sophomore year of college and while my skills are intermediate at best I continue to push myself to understand. I’ve had too many patients in the hospital go unheard because of the lack of Chinese speaking physicians. I would like to change that. I would like to be able to build rapport with these people and help further their trust in the American healthcare system.

But before all that motivation I decided to study abroad. To take full advantage of my college career and after only 1 year of Chinese study I flew off to Shanghai, China for 2 months. What ensued was beautiful chaos.

China has a way about it, it is rapidly modernizing and the China of today is nothing like it was a decade ago, but it still has many of the old world charms that I love. I love going outside not sure what I am going to run into. No clue on what I am going to find. Of course not every day is a crazy adventure, but most days are. Most days have something special about it, whether that be something I see or something I put into motion.

For instance, this weekend my roomie and I went for a 7 mile run around the Forbidden City. I ran with my hand outstretched grazing the walls of the palace. Exactly. There is something surreal about jogging around the ancient palace that was built 400 years before America was even “discovered” by European colonists.

Some days can be a slog, days in the apartment reading articles, writing proposals, emailing back and forth, but it is within my power to get out an explore. Every nook and cranny has some secret, some unknown history. That is why I chose China; to learn some of this country’s beautiful secrets.

Trapped/#24/D7000/Cancer Institute/Panjiayuan/Beijing, China

  Succulent Shot/#25/D7000/Beijing Hutongs/Beijing, China

Motherly Care/#26/D7000/Gulou Hutongs/Beijing, China

  Crashing a Sanlitun Photo shoot/#27/D7000/Sanlitun/Beijing, China

Killing Time/#28/D7000/Beijing Subway/Beijing, China

  ParallelLights/#29/D7000/Red Brick Art Museum/Beijing, China

Soho Abstract/#30/D7000/Sanlitun Soho/Beijing, China

What a week. Almost everyday I experience something new. I have an amazing friend who once told me that when you’re on the right path you can feel it. I feel it. The amazing people, the people with coinciding interests, the conversations, my growth in photography, I feel at home. Within the last week I’ve attended a conversation between young global health professionals, each trying to make their mark in a variety of unique ways. Each doing work that is really astounding and groundbreaking. When I talk about my own research, and they look at me with mutual respect, and I know I need to work even harder. Being able to interface with these individuals regarding my views, my opinions; I left the conversation beaming and with new friends.

My research has continued to progress. I’ve almost finished each component of my IRB application. Just need to finish a few more pages of work, get it reviewed by my mentors, make necessary changes, translate it into Chinese, and submit for approval. Things are becoming realities. My ideas from 2 years ago are becoming real. Everyday I get a little closer. Everyday another word is written. Everyday, I am closer to impacting women’s lives all across china.

As part of my work in China I got to attend the 2014 APEC Cervical cancer prevention and control workshop in China. Eleven nations throughout the APEC region came together to try and put together an action plan to help solve the issue of cervical cancer in this region of the world. Hearing from different countries on their strategies and difficulties in treating their respective population was incredibly interesting and enlightening. It also reaffirmed what I initially believed all along, just because Americans and the western world continue to believe that Asia is much better off than the likes of Africa and Latin America, that is simply not the truth. In Japan, less than 50% of the women in that country are screened for cervical cancer. Japan, has not approved the HPV vaccine for administration to young girls and boys. Japan, one of the most developed countries in the world, does not give its young women the services necessary to keep them from needlessly dying. That sort of inequality, that disparity is something I want to fight. These sorts of issues exist all of the world. The fact that so many Americans assume that because you have a strong economy and you’re not in Africa must mean you’re healthcare system must be good That is just a lie.

The collaboration though, the brainstorming, these experts in their respective countries coming together and attempting to provide uniform consensus to help each member state advance their own health was amazing. As a medical student in the infancy of my career, it was inspiring.

Outside of work though, I’ve been to art museums, I’ve eaten great food, and I’ve made great friends. I can’t ask for more. I’m incredibly blessed and everyday I realize more and more just how lucky I am to be here in Beijing. Thank you.

Train Reflection/#23/D7000/Train leaving Urumqi/Xinjiang, China

What a beautifully complicated and, at times, incoherent novel. I swam through the last section searching for some resolution, some deus ex machina to sweep in and tie all the loose ends together into a coherent story. That moment never came. After digesting the material after my addictive consumption, I am glad it didn’t happen. Still days after reading the last sentence I feel I am still holding hundreds of threads and trying to find a way to weave them together in a way that makes sense. Regarding the plot, I am not sure if thats really important in the end. Of course I’ve read a variety of blogs and while I think understanding the plot has its place, I don’t think it really matters. What I do know is that I have a lot of string in my hands and I can connect them anyway I please. As DFW said himself: ‘Certain kind of parallel lines are supposed to start converging in such a way that an “end” can be projected by the reader somewhere beyond the right frame’. The way these threads can be connected is up to me. The beauty of this book is that there is so much up for interpretation, Wallace just set the stage for interpretation.

I am in here…I am not a machine. I feel and believe.- Hal Incandenza

While I was reading IJ someone asked which character I identified with the most. An interesting question. And given my full reading, I’d have to say Hal. In the first chapter of IJ we meet Hal who is unable to communicate/interface with anyone. He is a consumer of the world but is unable to voice his thoughts, feelings, and beliefs. As he is questioned by a group of admissions directors in the first section, Hal tries his best to respond but falls dreadfully short.

In China I feel very much like Hal. Unable to communicate. I’ve sat at many meals struggling to concentrate on the rapid Mandarin flying around me and getting lost. Catching bits and pieces but unable to make any sense of the more complex conversation topics. Even when its not advanced conversation between doctors I find it difficult to maintain a place in a conversation, this issue is further confounded by my limited vocabulary.

My conversations will begin with full steam and once I run out of topics I can discuss the conversation stalls and often dies, the person I am interfacing with turns to their other side. And this is of no fault to person I am talking to, they are unable to interface in English and so our conversation ends in awkward silence after I say “Dui Bu Qi, Wo Ting bu Dong” I’m sorry, but I don’t understand. Of course I could ask the speaker to further try and explain their question or thought, but often this just complicates the matter and I am further lost in the conversation. After a while sitting at these tables its understood that the Lao wai, foreigner, doesn’t understand anymore and conversation for me kind of ends. I listen to other’s speak and talk. The thing is I do understand some things. I catch words, I catch an odd sentence, I know what realm the conversation is about. And that’s where Hal’s quote comes into play for me. I am in here. I am not a machine. I feel and I believe. I have thoughts, I have opinions that I want to share and expound upon with like minded people. I can contribute more than just a taken seat.

This isn’t the first time that I’ve felt like this though. Throughout med school I often felt like I was a silent consumer, except with a select few individuals. Conversations in school often revolve around one topic: medicine. Personal thoughts on medicine, personal experiences with medicine, personal opinions regarding medicine. And while I do have my thoughts about medicine, it encompasses more the system of healthcare and ways to maximally deliver care to patients while eliminating waste and redundancy. These topics though, don’t come up often, and because of that I am often silent.

One interesting aspect about my time in China has been through my roommate, Kyle. He is in a field so totally different from my own and possess the self confidence to make art and disseminate it to people. His influence extends beyond our frequent noodle binges and the occasional cigarette, but extend into an existential realm where I want to stand up and say look at me. I am here. I have beliefs and ideas, and I want to talk with you about them. I want to talk to you about my art, my photography.

More so though, I want to listen to your thoughts. I want to hear what you have to say. I want our opinions and thoughts to clash so that  we can come away from our conversation with an expanded view. I want to hear what you feel about my photographs.With Kyle and his friends throughout Beijing my conversations are often not at all about my work in China, my time in medical school, or the crazy patients I’ve taken care of(though a few stories have been told here and there), but rather arguably more interesting topics regarding thought process, art, criticism, politics, how to bring about change. It reminds me of days in college, after 3AM, with my roommates and what better to do than talk about esoteric topics and ideas.

Back to IJ, why can’t Hal communicate is another question. And most likely there is no real answer. It could be due to something he ate, but it might not. In the end though do I believe he will ever be able speak again? That is the more interesting and important question. And, I believe, yes, Hal will regain his ability to speak. He needs to figure out who he is and what he wants to do with his life. He cannot allow others to chaperone his life only to please others. He has to become authentic.

In reference to me, I also believe I will be able to communicate. I’ve already started to, I just need to keep rolling with the self-confidence. And learn to able to hold it no matter who I am standing around. That is something that this Fogarty experience has really begun to teach me. It’s already changing my life. That, and I’ve got to take some Chinese classes…

Final thoughts: Read Infinite Jest, it may not totally change your life in the grand sense of things, but it will expand the way you think. It will have an impact. And it will steal a few good few months of your life. But that is totally worth it. I will be reading this tome again.

Airport Reflection/#15/D7000/Beijing International Airport/Beijing, China

Xin Jiang Cia/#16/D7000/Urumqi/Xinjiang, China

Urumqi Light/#17/D7000/Urumqi/Xinjiang, China

Bad Lamb/#18/D7000/Tianshan Mountains Near Yiningi/Xinjiang, China

Yining numb Spicy Soup/#19/D7000/Yiningi/Xinjiang, China

Reclycing/#20/D7000/Urumqi/Xinjiang, China

Gobi Safari/#21/D7000/Dongguan/Gansu, China
Desert Trek/#22/D7000/Dongguan/Gansu, China

Things I learned/Accomplished in Xin Jiang:

1. Don’t travel without a passport. Ever. Even if the Chinese Government says you can. They lie.
2. I finished Inifinite Jest…Finally. After years of attempts.
3. Traveled from one end of Xin Jiang to the Gobi Desert in Gansu
4. There is reason that in a week there is at least one day of rest built it.
5. China is beautiful, despite the CCPs attempts to commercialize it
6. I look like I am from Xin Jiang
7. One Nikon battery lasts roughly >1 week of intense shooting
8. Shot my first roll of Fuji Velvia 50 started my first roll of Kodak Ektar 100
9. I like traveling through China via Train
10. 2 year anniversary with Jennifer!

What a whirlwind. So much has happened over the last few days, it’s hard to even begin. The crazy part is the adventure isn’t even half way over. Let me put it this way: a lot of Chinese people think that I am from Xin Jiang given my complexion and general Asian features. After 4 days I’d be proud to call myself a Xin Jiang ren, the amount of beautiful culture and kindness I’ve encountered here is amazing. On top of that, this part of the world is beautiful. Despite the slow consumption of Xin Jiang by the Gobi Desert, Xin Jiang continues to cling to a diverse and breathtaking variety of landscapes. From windswept deserts, rolling planes, to grass and gymnosperm covered hills this part of the world is unlike any other.

The worst part is I almost didn’t get to see any of it. First piece of advice regarding travel in China, ALWAYS CARRY A PASSPORT. Even if the immigration division of China gives you a temporary passport with reassurance that you will be able to book trains, fly in airplanes, and      generally move about China with all freedom of a passport, they are wrong. Miserably wrong. Heading the train station and taking at least 4 hours, my twin Scholar, Zhang Xi and I realized it was going to be almost impossible to get me a ticket. Returning back to our HPV training conference at the Urumqi Cancer Hospital, I had pretty much accepted that my Xin Jiang adventurer was going to be cut short. Despite arguing, debating, and flattery it didn’t seem like I was going to be able to do any of the planned itinerary Xi and I had planned.

After the day’s lectures and talks it was finally time for dinner. Supper was at one of the fancier hotels in Urumqi and we sat at an over 20 person round table, seriously this thing was huge. As luck would have it I sat next to the head of the cancer hospital, a modest man in his late 50s. I did not know this at the time of my seat placement. As the meal started and alcohol began to be passed around the man next to me offered me Bai Jiu, white alcohol. Not to offend any of my Chinese friends, but I think Baijiu tastes like wet dog…no exageration. But, from my limited experience in China I knew you never turn down anything from an elder, even if the the mere memory of the taste of baijiu makes your spine shiver in the worst way possible. So I manned up, I accepted the toxin. And 4-5 shots later, despite the terrible things my GI system was forced to deal with I was having a good time. I made speeches regarding my motivations for choosing China. The man next to me really liked my reasoning for coming to China. He was proud to be sitting next to me (I’ll discuss this in another post). And the night continued with more wine, baijiu, and delicious food. After the dinner I was finally informed that the man I sat next to was the head of the cancer hospital. After our night of drinking he said he would be more than happy to call the head of the train station and make sure that my temporary passport was more than sufficient to buy a ticket. And just like that, my journey was no longer a dead end but rather another lesson to learn: get drunk with the people you eat with, it builds up guanxi, Chinese term for relationship. With that all in mind, this was only my first day in Xinjiang, and already I had hit the most devastating of results and already I had found a way to bypass this roadblock.

Beyond this, the natural landscapes present in this part of China are absolutely beautiful. I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.

ALSO, I am very lucky to have been with an amazing girl, Jennifer for the last 2 years 🙂 Happy anniversary bud! Love you 🙂

Newspaper?/#12/D7000/Lama Temple Subway Station/Beijing, China

Chinese Lunch/#13/D7000/Dongzhimen/Beijing, China

Welcome!/#14/D7000/Wukesong Camera Market/Beijing, China

“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”—Ferris Bueller

On my way to Beijing, I thought it was only appropriate to watch Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. In my mind it made sense to leave a city I love by watching the quintessential Chicago movie. It didn’t disappoint. If anything it made me miss the city and all the wonderful people I’ve left behind even more. I remember this quote from the countless viewings of this classic film, but this time it really stuck with me. While it’s probably because I am older and each year is a smaller proportion of my life, but I’ve already been in Beijing for two weeks and it seems like I just got here. I am experiencing so much and its almost overwhelming how every sense is assaulted everyday by Beijing life.

The last few days I’ve done so much. I had the opportunity to speak at American’s Promoting Study Abroad (APSA), an organization that grants scholarships to lower socioeconomic American high school students to study in China, as a young professional. I introduced these teenagers to ideas regarding careers in global medicine and global health. I remember being in a similar room in 2012 when I was a mentor for a different generation of APSA students. Now that I’m on the other side of the coin, how time flies. I look back at how young I was then, I’ve done so much growing up in the last two years, I hardly recognize the now me equivalents in the back of the room, mentoring these students of today. Life moves pretty fast.

I’ve also dealt with the worst of Chinese bureaucracy. In China, to be an official document it has to have a red seal of whatever organization represents the document. I’ve spent countless hours on buses crossing from one end of Beijing to the next trying to collect these stamps on all my documents in hopes that I can legally reside in China. After so many days of this constant leaping through hoops, I have finally collected all the correct forms, with all the necessary red stamps, and I can finally collect my proverbial $200 in the form of legal residency. At least I hope, I won’t get my passport back for another 20 days, so who knows what unknown roadblock might be lurking next.

Beyond that though, I’ve made time for my research project, tightening up the proposal for IRB submission. I’ve made time for myself, visiting different parts of Beijing, including the Wukesong Camera Market (SO MANY LEICAS/HASSELBLADS/EVERYTHING), dinners with new friends, and now I stand before the next adventure: Xin Jiang.

I am so excited. I will have a large amount of pictures to upload when I get back and a lot to share about what I saw/experienced.

Yang Rou Chuanr/#10/D7000/Beijing, China

Closing Time/#11/D7000/Gu Lou Meat Market/Beijing, China

Things are starting to get rolling. Developing protocols, helping colleagues, having fun! Enjoy the pictures :)!

Night Time Fan/#7/D7000/Andingmen/Beijing, China

Slow Night For Business/#8/D7000/Beijing, China

Couple Tees/#9/D7000/Beijing, China

It’s tough to describe the last couple of days. Friday, I finally met my UNC based mentor, Dr. Smith, and had a discussion with her and my Chinese mentor, Dr. Qiao, regarding my project in Beijing. Initially it revolved around investigating prevalence of HPV in a small sample size (n=100) of migrant females throughout Beijing. While this is not a representative sample size by any measure, it would serve as a pilot study for future research, at least that’s what I described in my proposal. My meeting exceeded all my expectations.

Apparently my interest in the migrant population throughout China is an avenue of intervention Dr. Qiao wants to get into. He, and a few other Chinese scientists looked at my study as a perfect launching point to begin understanding HPV in this population, but they too had qualms with my sample size. With an estimated population of 250million throughout China at virtually every major metropolis my sample of Beijing was small and unrepresentative. Dr. Qiao wants to expand my study to cover multiple cities and cancer centers throughout China seeking to test HPV in migrant workers throughout all of China. This will allow me to not only increase the representation of my sample size it will also drastically increase the relevance of my study and serve as a much more clinically important study. To see 2 years of thought, research, and planning beginning to become a reality, but also a grander more exciting reality, it is hard for me to verbalize just how I feel. I get chills. I am excited for the mountains of work that lie ahead. It is going to push me to my limits and stretch my ability as a researcher, scientist, and my own resolve but this is a challenge that I signed up for, and while I may not have known what I was getting myself into initially, this is exactly where I want to be.

The weekend doesn’t end there though. Yesterday my roommate invited me to an event his company was hosting called, AM brainstorm. (www.bactagonprojects.org). At the event local and foreign artists, journalists, photographers, and many others from around the city gather to discuss a preselected topic. Yesterday was architecture, something I hold very dear to my heart. It was 6 hours of conversation where I actively contributed my view. It was an event unlike anything I’ve ever experienced in Chicago, reminding me of late college nights where procrastination leads to deep conversations about life, art, and philosophy.

Also, I got a bicycle (I wear a helmet). Best choice of the week.

Beijing has been so much more amazing that I could have possibly imagined. And honestly, it keeps getting better and better every day!

Monotony/#6/D7000/Panjiayuan/Beijing, China

I was walking on the street today taking pictures and an older Chinese women approaches me out of nowhere. Normally people don’t mind me taking pictures of them, and I did not think I had taken a picture of this particular Chinese woman and my immediate reaction was whoops, I’ll delete it no problem. But she kept on asking me “ni shi ji zhe ma?” Are you a reporter?

Stunned, I kept trying to tell her no, I was just a lao wai, foreigner, taking pictures for fun, but she didn’t believe me. The fact that I could speak Chinese and I looked remotely Chinese with a big fancy camera meant I was a reporter. She was actually happy I was taking photos of the area, in her eyes, the place had gone to hell and was a complete mess. The government needs to do something she said. Report the mess she continued, show the world my dirty street.

As I tried to assuage her fears that her street wasn’t that dirty in comparison to other streets in Beijing she began to agree. But then asked, if the street wasn’t worth reporting why wasn’t I writing about the Malaysian airplanes…

Oh, China. I love you.