“Just breathe deeply,” said James, ironically lighting his third cigarette in a row. “Just breathe … deeply … ” he muttered, placing his hand on his solar plexus and breathing in, “because all you have got IS now”. Or words to that effect. I noticed how James’s heartfelt, life teachings were a simple as a […]
gratitude
Posted inGeneral
11 things I am grateful for
It was, quite simply, unthinkable. Not even the most paranoid would lie awake at night worrying about it, and yet it happened. A woman stepped into a lift in New York City, as millions of people do every day. Only this time, she got her foot caught in the gap between the lift car and […]
Posted inGeneral, Lifestyle
I won’t take money for my socks!
“I won’t take money from you for my socks!” the sock lady cries, “Take them! They’re yours for free”. “No ways, you’re crazy,” I mutter in Chinese. She is shaking her hand at me, palm raised in the classic Han Chinese gesture for NO. (This was like waving a red flag at a bull in […]
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The bitter-sweet barrier
He is staring as if from a void, which is what catches my attention as I stand at the blackboard. His eyes are pristine, tear-less, lit from without, not within. The Chinese gentleman leans on his broom like a Gandalf, watching me attentively through the classroom window. The Chinese children here in a poor “village”, […]