Am I on vacation?

OK, so I was planning to write a post last weekend about leaving Harbin, my home for the past 14 months. But when it came down to it, I was busy packing and saying good-bye. But also, I wasn't sure what to say about leaving. I left wishing I had done more with my time there, but also with all the amazing things I had done while I was there rushing through my head. I couldn't be content with what I had done because I was also hard on myself for not doing more. So in the end, my time in Harbin is over, except maybe a quick trip back later this fall.

I have been in Beijing for the last week. I am staying with a friend who lives in a traditional courtyard house (called a hutong). Compared to my 6th floor apartment in Harbin it feels like a cottage. I can sit on the roof and do yoga at night, walk her dog through Beijing's old winding alleys, go for morning runs around Houhai Lake, walk 10 minutes to a world where Western restaurants are more prevalent than Chinese ones. Life is good. What has been most exciting about this week is that I have had friends calling me to join them in going to the ballet (at Beijing's new architectural masterpiece for performing arts building), going to see a bluegrass band, eating at a fancy vegetarian restaurant. Compared to sitting on an outdoor street drinking Harbin beer, Beijing has a nightlife!

I went to all these events, but really it wasn't the events that I was excited about. It was the alternative of what I could be doing. I actually wanted to spend my nights sitting in my new office and writing. I have started to write my dissertation and it is a great feeling. I feel like I can't talk about Harbin and the farms I was on this summer until I write about it all to process it. Writing is a great way to do that. Maybe after I continue to write day after day, I will get sick of it, but for now, I feel like I am on vacation.