Leaving Tianjin

I'm finding it hard to motivate myself to write this post -- a lot of the reason for that is that six weeks is an awkward amount of time. It's just long enough to start making friends and see the potential in those relationships; it's not long enough to actually realize the potential of those relationships. You don't normally stick with folks you know for less time, unless there's some intense experience (say, backpacking in the wilderness, or being on a bus that's wired to explode if it goes under 55 miles per hour) that forms a bond.

But I've been having to say good-bye to friends today and yesterday -- Wang Ting, Natasha, the foreign students who were likely to become the "usual suspects" with me, and so on. We've exchanged e-mails and so forth, and making just these kinds of contacts (along with the professional ones which didn't deepen either) was part of the reason I came here in the first place.

But I'm not reluctant to leave. A little sad, maybe, but not reluctant. Would I like to stay longer? Yeah, probably, if finances and life and my desire to start practicing didn't interfere. Six months would be ideal, but even one semester (16 weeks) would be enough to really get into the pattern here. Like I've said before -- Tianjin isn't the prettiest China has to offer, but there's something about the whole experience that I'm really enjoying. It's a gestalt thing.

That said, I'm off to the Pearl of the Orient tomorrow morning, taking the train because I've got the time and I'd like to see the countryside. I'm almost all packed up, and ready to get to the train station as early as possible tomorrow. We'll see how that goes.

I was planning to post my last Chinese medicine post for a while -- but Friday was actually pretty slow in that respect, and therefore I really don't have a whole lot to talk about. Going out to dinner to the Richmond (a -- get this -- German-style bar and restaurant) and then dancing is much more of a highlight -- but more because of the company. And my camera died on me (again), so I don't even have many good pictures. But they'll come... just be patient!

It's been cold here -- in the teens and single digits (Centigrade) the last couple of days. No other weather yet, but I have a feeling that when I head back to Beijing, I'll be looking at snow. Unfortunately, I lost my blue-and-orange striped scarf somewhere -- I know I packed it -- so I'm making do with a fleece jacket and gloves. Who'd have thought, after such heat only a couple of weeks ago?

See you in Shanghai!