Adjust, adjust, adjust...

Life in China so far is an interesting, fun, challenging, and a new experience, but no matter how much I prepared and researched, it was not what I expected. 

The firsts two weeks being here have been fun but also very challenging for me. I just have a lot of thoughts going through my head about being in China and away from my family and friends. I never thought I have this much homesickness. When I am out with people and experiencing China, I love it. I have met a lot of great people and experienced some unique things. It’s enormously refreshing and exhilarating to feel like you can be anyone you want to be and come into situations without the baggage of your past, but I also realize just how much of “me” wasn't based totally on my geographic location, but more the connections I have made back home more than anything else. During a lot of my down time I sit and wonder about life back home. I miss not being able to just hear friends and families voices everyday. I have only been here for couple weeks, and I am already nervous about losing friendships. I know my closest friends will always be my friends, but being so far away has giving me such a forgotten and alone feeling that I hate. The worry that I had of the first few days of making new friends, adjusting, and mastering Chinese has now been replaced with the repeated question of “What am I missing?” As I am settling into life here, time is passing and it has also brought up another question of "How long have I been gone?" I am realizing life back home is going on without me. In the next year, people will change, move, and become completely different people, and so will I. It is a scary feeling for me right now that has made me very emotional, especially the last couple days...

That being said, I am determined to grow here in China. I know these strong feelings are only temporary. To grow as person one must be stretched from the comfort zone they are familiar with. I want to evolve, to change, to put myself in an uncomfortable new situation that would force me to into a new phase of life.

I will be traveling to Beijing next weekend so I will shy away from the emo blogs next week! I look forward to writing about my experiences there!

This is a picture of the local market by my house called "The Friendship Market." The food is unique, tasty, strange and cheap. My favorite thing to get is the pizza bread and dumplings!