Last year around this time, I was in Monrovia, Liberia, assessing the possibility of me moving there. The assessment wasn't all negative--there were expat compounds were full of coconut trees (or "so so coconuts" as the locals would say) and huge swimming pools. The life ahead of me would have been a celebration of love. I could imagine the story I'd tell others while putting my hand around my loved one: "Yes, I crossed two continents for him, because after two years apart we realized that this was true love, and that we needed each other." We would have had a life of adventure and fun together; parties, friends, and lots of debates and soul-searching talks. We would have just about covered the world in our travels: home visits to Brazil and China, work around Africa, vacations in Europe and the US.
This year, I've finally moved. My new house is in the heart of Shanghai, just a few blocks away from the house where I spent the first 9 years of my life. I've pondered long and hard whether this whole coming-full-circle is a sign to me, and if it is, what would be the deeper meaning. Well, who knows. In any case, however, I'm determined that this house will be a celebration of many things: single-hood, elapse of youth, banality of life, and the end to a Ying who had hoped for different life.
Now the question is, who will the new Ying be?
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
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