Waking up at 0230 in Bonn, Germany is vastly different than waking up in Shanghai. The first night of my surprise mission I was woken by the fresh air Germany. The missing sounds of traffic, smells of stagnate water, and visions of yellow neon lights from the hotel across the road, made me question my location. I realized I was not in my new home but in my old one. So much of the environment was familiar that made it feel like the last 4 months of chaos of moving did not happen.
Moving more and more and developing friendships with people from a variety of places makes my “home” more of a relative place to the location of my family and friends. While I miss the fall colors, the river Rhine, the rocks in the bed of the Salt river, the fjords the Vikings sailed, the castles in the distance, the cylinder Kolsh filled glasses, monsoon season in summer, I miss the people that make those places special to me more.
It was incredibly refreshing to be outside of the busy city of Shanghai and relax in Bonn. I now need to go back to the city to rest and be refreshed from catching up with people and faced with the reality that I do not live there and will not have the same collective experiences with them, but hope to continue meaningful connections.
I guess the more I live away from those places and those people I realize the importance of the ties that have bound us. The experiences that we have shared in these places can be greater than the distance between us. China will provide me with fantastic opportunities but the countdowns to rendezvous with people will continue to be my benchmarks. Thanks to my friends in Bonn, for making my first benchmark so fabulous. Much love to you and hope to see you in Asia or somewhere else in the world.
