Another Blog to Follow

Well, blog fans, here is another blog to follow. I felt that between all your chat services, facebook, twitter, links sent to you by your friends, other blogs, e-mails, news updates, and everything else you follow in your information overloaded life, you needed something else. But after several requests from friends to write about my re-entry into life in these United States, I decided to do this blog. You asked for it: here it is.

And here's a bit more what it's about. I've been living in Asia for roughly the last 5 years. I used to think Asia was weird. There were weird things to eat (snakes, cats, dogs, rats...), weird fashion choices (not even Stacy London and Clinton Kelly could save that continent), weird smells (stinky doufu, public toilets), weird fruits (durian, anyone?), weird knock-off versions of name brands (you buy a "Rolex" watch only to look down and find out it's a "Bolex" that has stopped running already), weird versions of things that are supposed to be familiar (who's ever tried the seafood corn pizza topped with mayonnaise at Pizza Hut? or found that you bought the wrong tickets and ended up in the movie that's dubbed over in Chinese?), and people everywhere. And, just for the record, they seemed weird to me too.

Then I lived in Asia for a while and realized that at 5'10" (178 cm) tall, with skin as white as white on rice, with hair and eyes that are a light brown, a tall nose stuck on my face, and the solid body construction of my Midwestern American frame, I was the weird one. I also realized that while Asia is weird in it's own special way, so is America. So that's what this blog is about: Weirdness. What follows is about culture shock, written about in the form of Seinfeld-esque observations about the differences between Asia, specifically mainland China, and the U.S. Most of what I write will probably be trite, skewed toward my perspectives and biases, and will probably be inaccurate in one way or another, etc. Fortunately, this blog is not meant to be a definitive commentary on anything other than myself. Like every good blogger, I'll be self-centered and broadcasting myself to the world. If you don't like it, don't read it.

After that disclaimer, one more: I'm not really that "in to" blogging, and it's possible that I may lose momentum on this project. The last time I started a blog, I kept up with it for a bit and then lost enthusiasm and, for the most part, stopped posting. Then I moved to mainland China and forgot my log in name (although, to my credit, I did remember my password) and really stopped posting. Forever. Anna's Asian Adventures died sometime in June of 2006. Fortunately, this blog will probably have a time limit. Within a year, I hope to be happily reintegrated into America, able to discuss the latest sitcoms, sporting events, and pop culture with the best of " 'em" while hardly even noticing all the things screaming "different!!!!!!!" that are presently assaulting my senses and mind from inside and out. My writing and observations will become less sharp, my insight will fail me, and it will be time to discontinue this blog. But until then, I will write.

OK, those are all the disclaimers I have for now. My next posts will be chirpy, cheerful, and hopefully entertaining. Cheers!