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Wednesday, November 14, 2012

My life in China


A few years ago I lived in China. It was an interesting experience. I moved there alone, which was one of the most difficult things I've ever done. I half loved it and half hated it. There were some things that annoyed me to no end, like every Chinese person everywhere staring at me, all the time. But there were a lot of things I loved about my time there, and most of those things were because of the friends I made - other foreigners like me, who were trying to build a life in a country far away from home. One day I went to the yarn market with my friend Lily, and even though I hardly spoke any Chinese, and she didn't speak much more than I did, we managed to buy some pretty yarn. This was mostly accomplished by pointing at balls of yarn, and hoping we understood the dollar amount. I bought this autumn-colored yarn there, and spent the next few days knitting this scarf on my bus rides to work. It's about six years old now and looking rather worn, but I still feel happy whenever I wear it, and think of the good times and the bad from my life in China.


Green sweatshirt: Forever 21
Denim skirt: Gap
Brown boots: Jessica Simpson from Macy's
Earrings: Underglass
Scarf: made by me
Bird pin: free from my aunt

I always forget about the Everybody Everywear challenges, but Gracey's post reminded me of it, so I decided to join in the fun. This time the theme was boots, so it's not like it was that difficult :)

8 comments:

  1. It is so great to hear the story behind that pretty scarf! :)

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  2. Aw! What a pretty scarf and a great story to go with it!

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  3. moving to a foreign country where you don't speak the language is a brave thing to do, and even if you half hated it, you still did it, which is huge. and i'm glad you can look back fondly.

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  4. I'd heard the same re: local Chinese from several friends, especially those that lived in Western China. Where did you live when you were there? (Found you through EBEW, so I'm glad you remembered it!)

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  5. So many of my clothes carry associations - I love hearing others' symbolisms and meanings!
    Perfect earrings too - they please my matchy heart.

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  6. I'm hoping to pack up and live abroad for a while. How did you pick China? Anyway, it's fun to hear about the story behind the scarf and what it means to you. I totally dig the colors!

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  7. what a lovely scarf and so nice that it has got meaning!

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  8. What a great story on your scarf. I am a knitter too and have been so behind on my Christmas scarves....maybe for next year. I am Chinese and would love to take my husband & son to see my family there but I think they would get stared at quiet a bit too since he's white. i get stared at too because I am Chinese American and they don't understand why I don't behave like they do.

    Alice
    www.happinessatmidlife.com

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