In Beijing, reflecting...

I think I'm ready. Ready to transition out of the world of hello! hello! laowai! laowai! and into the world of good old-fashioned cat-calling and whistles. I want to blend in again. My family likes to repeat the line from My Cousin Vinny when the Brooklynites show up in the South and Marisa Tomei mocks Joe Pesci, "Oh yeah, you blend". Oh yeah, I blend. Sometimes I repeat this line in my head when I walk down the street and hear multiple people say loudly "lao wai, waiguo ren" meaning foreigner.  For some reason it's necessary to label the obvious. Oh right, I'm not Chinese. (In Chinese language, people use very specific labels to order, rank, and view society. My Chinese friends are shocked when I can't call my twin sister jiejie or meimei, older sister or younger sister. Sister and twin are not options.)

I might sound frustrated, but I'm not at all. Quite the opposite, I've loved living here and feel emotional about leaving. It has been an incredibly rewarding experience to live in a country where life as I know it is tilted on its side. I've liked reorganizing and readjusting. Imagine a personal spring cleaning: I've consolidated important belongings, thought about what I want in the future and what I no longer need, and then there's some clarity.

In other words, life in China has felt like a blank slate, one on which to put forward the person I want to be. In a short period of time, I've built supportive meaningful friendships, tried many different jobs, worked with a wide range of ages, and had enough time to enjoy it all. Most of all, I felt really present this year. Every person and experience was an opportunity to engage with something new. Life was different because the setting was China, but also life was different post- student life. I had to re-greet the world that had no idea who I was; if I dare admit I had to find some labels for myself.

Now, New York is calling me. I want to be a different type of resident. I'm ready to come home to a place that I know, with a more self aware directed focus. I'm interested in health and maybe alternative approaches to understanding what health means. New York, with it's incredible diversity, seems like the perfect place to assess the wide range of possibilities.

So, yes I am ready to move on to the next stage. Friends and family in New York, I'll see you August 3rd.