dream out loud

I love U2, I actually do. Ever since I was introduced by my cousin to some songs on U2′s War album, I remember liking “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” and have owned every album since. For whatever reason (too young, too poor, bad timing) I didn’t get to any of their shows. I did see them recorded later on though. That all changed in 2001 when I saw my first U2 concert. I actually saw several shows on that tour, and have seen at least one show on each subsequent tour.

When I moved to China, a new album was released, and lucky me, a friend was visiting me the week of the release, so I pre-ordered it on Amazon to her and she hand delivered it to me. A tour was announced, but sadly it was in the Fall of 2009, when I would be back in China teaching. But hooray, all of a sudden a new leg was announced: late Summer 2011 in Europe. So I bought tickets for Frankfurt, figuring that we could find a way to go. Then double hooray, a North American leg was added in early Summer 2011. So I bought Toronto and Meadowlands, NJ tickets, and decided to sell my Frankfurt tickets. (It later turned out that we are starting at a new school and couldn’t go to Germany at that date anyway) Everything was working out so well.

Bad news!! It’s announced that Bono has had to have emergency back surgery and ALL North American shows are postponed. I was disappointed, but glad to hear the shows were postponed and not canceled. The only glitch would be if they scheduled the shows to dates that I’d still be teaching in China next Spring. Friends even offered to buy my tickets if that’s the case, but I didn’t want to think about that. Well today they announced their dates – both shows I have tickets to will be in July – when I can definitely make it. I’m super excited!

The band even put up a nice video message to fans. I really appreciate their thoughts. I know that refunding all the money wouldn’t have been good for them so their best option was to re-schedule, but it can’t be easy to haul around their stage again for another few months and turn this into a three year tour. So, thanks U2.

Growing up Asian means that not wasting (and by proxy, saving) is just second nature. Whether it is food, water, electricity, clothing or money, it was just drilled into me, waste not, want not. How convenient that when I was in high school, not only did being environmentally friendly become the right thing to do, it was also quite trendy. Of course I joined environmental activist clubs in school. Sorting your recyclable materials became the norm in the 90s, as was giving up aerosol cans (imagine that, right after the 80s big hair!) Back then, it was our way of showing we cared about the environment. Maybe a witty button on your backpack or something too. People said things like “save a tree” instead of using a piece of paper and inappropriately used the term “ozone layer.”

Years went by, and we learned there was a lot more to preserving our earth than just recycling. There was also reducing our consumption and reusing products. Then we learned about “carbon footprint” the cause to replace the ozone layer. With people still using the term wrong. It seems like it is getting harder and harder to care for the environment – maybe like being the parent of a teenager?

What I’ve started to take on as my new personal goal is: re-purposing. My reasoning behind this is that some of my actions have small benefits. I don’t know how much energy and manual labor it takes to sanitize bottles and jars for recycling, to recycle paper, or to manufacture new products. One could even loop in the carbon footprint idea here.

It has not been as easy as I thought it would be. There are lots of great ideas out there in books, blogs, and magazines. Some ideas are outright unattractive (who wants a scarf made out of an old t-shirt?) while some are functional and aesthetic. I can easily spot which items can be washed and saved but I don’t necessarily have the creativity to turn it into something useful. In my effort to try this, I’ve become more of a pack-rat than I’ve been able to help the landfills. The best I have done this year is re-use paper which had something printed wrong on the other side.

My new home resolution is to create a bin in the corner (there’s a huge junk room/closet) off the kitchen which I will use to save…. junk. I’ll need to keep up to date on web sites with re-purposing ideas and then go back to my bin o’ junk. Hopefully it will also satiate my craving to do crafts. Lastly, this re-purposing junk is a skill I should get better at, if I want to be a better early childhood teacher. I just admired some good ideas right here.

My question to you is, do you have any ideas for me? Any that you have heard about or have tried at home?

From here, I am facing another new adventure, I think of it as China: Chapter II. I had always been eager to spend time working and living in China. I was sad to learn that Suzhou wasn’t the kind of place I was looking for. So I feel like I am going to go to Guangzhou with a fresh start. It’s true, it still might not be the place I’m looking for, but I’m determined to tap into some of the opportunities I wanted that didn’t exist in Suzhou. It will just take some self-reminders and initiative.

That said, I made some incredible friendships and relationships in Suzhou, which I had to sadly leave. I don’t think it’s possible to live in a place and totally throw it out of your memory and life when you leave. For me, anyway. But for everything that annoyed me about living in Suzhou, there is something or someone that I loved. In all parts of my life that I’ve moved on from, I don’t just leave friendships behind. So, this is not goodbye

Also, looking back, I can check off many of my goals for going to China in the first place. Pay off student debt, improve my Chinese, save money, travel, gain more teaching experience. Hopefully in Chapter II, I can extend on these goals and make new ones. Improve my Chinese further, save more money, chip away at my mortgage, gain more teaching experience, travel more, meet some native Chinese friends, and learn more about local culture and cooking.

… to be continued!

I arrived home on July 5, exactly one year since I was last here. Fortunately, the school calendar shifted a week earlier this year, and so we were finished a week before. In that extra week, we first flew to the San Francisco Bay Area, to visit my cousin, her husband, and adorable 21-month old daughter. After that, we flew to Ontario to visit half of Glen’s family. And now I’m home for another two weeks.