Sunny side

Countdown to departure: 23 days
Countdown to culture shock: 208 days

So it's party day today, and I've got food to make. I suppose it's a commentary on the state of Western culture that the "Western dish" I was asked to bring will in fact be a (westernized) Thai dish.

Concerning the events of yesterday, pursuant to a good long nap immediately after my last post, a very pleasant evening with my family, and a weekend-sized sleeping-in last night, I feel my brain and spirits have recovered.

I thought it was "the thing to do" to place all of these expectations and anxieties on myself now that the big date is approaching, but I think I need to take a more Daoist approach here. A conversation with my parents elucidated that, as little as yesterday's interactions may have done for my conversational Mandarin abilities, they offered me invaluable cultural insights. (We were talking mostly about lifestyles, politics, philosophy and religion.)

The benefits of living in the moment will be spoiled for me if I set too rigid of a definition of what it means to be responsible. I need to relax and play things by ear and get back to thinking of life in terms of relationships instead of timelines.