Reflections in Chengdu

I have been in Chengdu for two and a half days now. It has been nice to have a home base for a little bit again, to settle in and relax a bit. I keep meeting extraordinary people who blow my mind, either by the adventures and travels they have already been on or the ones that lay ahead. It is humbling because I have thought of myself as a pretty adventurous person but just in this short time I have seen how sheltered and cautious I am. The dream of travel is so romantic and it is easy to get caught up in the glamor of it all reflected in Hollywood movies. The reality is much harder than that and the truth is that traveling in a foreign country alone is hard. It is a test of humility and perseverance.

There is nothing like seeing your personal and cultural assumptions and flaws reflected back to you on a daily basis. Sometimes it can be really painful, especially when you come from a country that teaches you to look down on people who are different and assume superiority in all things. Maybe this is universal in many ways but for some reason it feels like Americans have the monopoly on this. And then there are things that being here in China have helped me love and appreciate about my country. Some of these include: access to fresh and quality foods, laws and regulations (such as traffic and transportation) for personal safety and the rich, rich infrastructure and more. (well paved roads, toilet seats, toilet paper and hand soap in most public bathrooms, clean water for the most part and luxurious mattresses to name a few!)

I have taken for granted everyday of my life the ability to walk down the street and understand the language. I think before I had this experience it was easy to think of the world very theoretically. In a lot of ways it was us and them and they did not seem like real people. But meeting people from all over the world has shown me that really there is only we and we are all part of a common human family. This may sound corny but is is true!