Survival

Thank god there isn't some Darwinian benefit to falling asleep on airplanes, or adjusting to time zone changes.  I wouldn't make the evolutionary cut.  Over Chinese New Year I went back to Chicago.  It was amazing, needed, and irritatingly difficult on my body.  The flight home was so empty I had my own economy lay-flat row.  Even then, I only slept for two of the fourteen hours.  After 30 hours of being awake you’d think it’s easy to fall asleep, right?  I wish.  There was a lot of tossing and turning; flopping like a fish, and no real sleep.  It took me three days to adjust.  I finally gave in, had some drinks with friends and popped a few Advil PM.  Finally.

There were a few things that really stood out during my first trip back home: I don’t miss the winters, why didn't anyone give me a gift at work?, Chicago is the best food city in the world, Americans really are big, cab drivers are bad everywhere, and the skies are so blue.

There’s a documentary about air pollution in China that’s gone viral over the weekend.  All my coworkers were sharing it this morning.  It was created by a former state-run news anchor whose daughter was born with a tumor.  She feels that air pollution is to blame.  It has over 20 million hits within a few days (http://sinosphere.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/03/01/documentary-on-air-pollution-in-china-grips-a-nation/?_r=0).  The smog here never really lifts.  On the best days it’s been mostly blue, and on the worst days it smells and looks like a forest fire.  I don’t really feel like wearing a mask though (Darwin will be right after all).  I’m rarely outside, and even when you’re inside people will open windows.  It’s just one of those things you live with, but hopefully with videos like this people won’t have to forever.

Here’s a view from my hotel on a good day:

Here's what it looks like on a Baiju for your lungs day:

The air pollution makes this theme park really high on my nope list.  They probably have clowns too.

It was great to be home.  I loved seeing Rachel and my friends.  It’s back to work and Shanghai though.  I still have so much to see and do!  I didn't sleep at all on the plane here, so we’ll see how this week goes.