In the rock climbing class that I took in my last semester at Geneva, we learned how to do route-setting. We worked with a partner to pick a start point and an ending point on the wall, and then, piece by piece, we'd plan out a route. We'd incorporate different moves and holds that we had been working on it into the route. Then all of us took turns attempting to climb the routes set by the other groups; it was very enjoyable.
China is less like a bypass road (which Douglas Adams describes in Hitchhiker's Guide as being designed so that people from point A can get to point B very fast, and people from point B can get to point A very fast, and people from somewhere in the middle can wonder what is so great about point A or point B) and more like rock climbing.
Nothing goes in a straight line.
Crossing the street, getting groceries, having conversations, buying fruit at a stand, ordering a meal, catching a bus, getting through the metro station -- you name it, nothing here works in quite the logical, linear fashion that Westerners think that it should.
There is always some bump that you were not expecting. A language barrier. A change in plans. Sickness.
I am pretty certain that realizing this makes my life in China a lot easier. When I remember that I should figure out where I'm going and not worry much at all about exactly what route I'll take to get there, there's much less stress on me and I can just enjoy the journey. I can trust that someone else has designed and set the route for me, incorporating things that I've learned before in life with some challenges to push me to grow.
:)
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