I Love China

I also don't.

Sometimes I love China. Like the smells, the loud yelling in a language I barely understand, the questionable architecture, the way spring takes forever to arrive. But then I hate how the markets are so crowded that getting elbowed in the eye is normal, and how when you check out at the big supermarket the one thing you came to buy doesn't have a price tag....so you can't check out and no one will help you get a new one.

I love how taxi drivers will go out of there way to stop in a busy road to pick up. I hate how they make you get out of their cab after 10 minutes of discussing where you want to go AND make you pay the fare for the time spent sitting in their taxi trying to give directions....even though you went nowhere.

I like how I finally bought a crock pot. I feel like I have stepped into another level of adulthood/stay-at-home-part-time-working-mommyhood. I hate how it took an hour to wait for a forklift to get the box off of the shelf.

With several friends preparing to leave our city in a few months, there's the overwhelming feeling that we'll leave here someday too. I think of all the things I'll miss and probably never see again. The things that no one would understand unless they had experienced them too. The things I can't even hope to replicate. I wish I could take part of China with me everywhere.