Blogger's Block

Obviously we haven't been very prolific on here recently.
I did post last month, but it was only a musical effort and therefore perhaps doesn't really count. In Caroline's defence, she obviously has a lot of work going on and therefore only has time to write about specific things like her trip to Laos for example.
Since I am currently between jobs I don't have that excuse.

The specific problem is that after two years here, things don't stand out as much as they did when we first arrived. In addition to the fact that we have written about most of the things of immediate interest. The whole purpose of the blog was to keep people up-to-date with our life here in Beijing. Once things start to seem 'normal', it's inevitable that stream would run dry somewhat.

This idea of normality is one of the reasons I was feeling a little frustrated here earlier in the summer. I was beginning to take all of the good things for granted; as though they were normal. All of the frustrating things however, remained frustrating and if anything, the leeway that I afforded things when we first arrived was gone. I had little patience for the drivers and the general displays of bad manners which are fairly commonplace.

Happily, as I had hoped, the trip back to Europe served to remind me that a lot of the things I was taking for granted aren't 'normal' and aren't available to everyone in every city or country. Maybe I was just getting a little spoilt. Anyway, We've been back in Beijing for just over a fortnight (three weeks for Caroline) and I am again loving life here. I'm remembering to appreciate the culture amongst our friends of socialising frequently and not just at weekends, the food and restaurants remain fantastic, the weather has been regularly beautiful, someone comes to clean our apartment and generally our money goes a lot further here than it would in Europe. It also certainly helps to think about my parents coming and how enthusiastic we are to show them our life here and to take a trip to some great places in China; Xiamen (formerly Amoy), Chengdu (pandas), Yangshuo and Hong Kong.

The flip side of the coin is that I am trying to ignore the things that irritate me, although it is challenging, it is worth remembering that there are irritating things wherever you live.

So, this certainly helps to make me a more amenable person to be around, but it doesn't necessarily help me with subjects for blog posts. One thing I have learned about myself since moving is how relative characteristics are. What do I mean by that opaque phrase? Well, when you are in your home town, it's common to define yourself by your differences from the people around you. At least, this was common for me. However, as soon as you move away, and become surrounded by very different people, you begin to define yourself by your similarities to the people back at home. Again I'm writing in the second person, but perhaps this is just me?

Anyway, a concrete example of this would be about self-exposure. I always saw myself as being quite open about my thoughts and feelings. And by comparison to a lot of people I know I think that holds true. However, as my circle of friends and acquaintances widens and indeed as I read more blogs about other peoples' lives, I realise that on the spectrum of openness, I am probably closer to the tight-lipped end than the reveal-all point. So it really is all relative and what I am saying in a roundabout kind of way is that I don't intend to change this from a "our new life in Beijing" kind of blog, to a "this is what I am thinking at any given moment" effort. On reflection, I suspect Twitter might have been the real revelation on this score. Some people seem quite happy to reveal a remarkable degree about themselves in comparison to me.

So, in a slightly dissatisfying manner, I finish this post with the news that I haven't really figured out what else to write about, other than to try and remember to see things through the eyes of a newcomer. Plus it is a little ridiculous to suggest I have told the story of Beijing, a city of nigh on 20 million people in just these few posts. I'll have a new job soon, so perhaps that will provide me with new insights to share. To finish on an up-note, we're off to Qingdao (also transliterated as Tsingtao) at the weekend, so there'll definitely be some photographs and something to report from that trip.