It has only been a year since my last visit to China, yet I was not prepared for the initial culture shock this time around. Not that my home country is foreign territory to me, but perhaps I've grown so mentally detached from the norms and lifestyle here that I naturally feel like an outsider.

It's quite weird, and eerily real that we are conditioned to look for something familiar to ground ourselves when we're in a foreign environment. At home, I'd never venture into a Starbucks, but here I am, nursing my mocha and typing on my laptop… a classic portrait of a coffee shop junkie.

How to articulate this feeling? A good analogy can be found in this episode of LOST. During the episode, one of the characters Desmond becomes entangled in mental time jumps, sometimes appearing in the present and sometimes appearing in the past; yet all of this occurs inside his head. In order to save his brain from eventually short circuiting, he was instructed to find an entity that existed in both time periods, serving as a common reference point and a means of grounding himself mentally. I guess that reference point for me can be found in English speakers and a Starbucks with internet access.

As I sit here and stare at the masses of people outside going about their daily routine despite the perpetual rain and lack of sunshine, I struggle to grasp how they can be so nonchalant while I'm here on the verge of despair. Perhaps it's a lack of relativity. This is the life they know, this is the city they grew up in. As for me, making the sudden transition from clear skies, 14 hour daylight, and surfing when I want, to consistent overcast skies and a 6pm dusk… it's a bit overbearing.

But oh wait, this download is almost done. I'll be distracted again soon enough.

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