Originally when I decided it might be interesting to write a blog, it was to chronicle my life and times in China. This would have been highly interesting, because, well, China is a gong show. More to come on that later. Unfortunately (or for my lungs, fortunately?), something suddenly came up and I came home. So, the theme of the blog has to change a little bit....it is now primarily based off of two of my favorite words and a phrase I borrowed from some ubiquitous Lonely Planet literature I read. One of my favorite hobbies is learning foreign languages because it breaks down an incredible communication barrier between any given number of parties. I have also found that some phrases are best not-transliterated, and left in their original form. My personal favorites, given my limited knowledge, are guanxi, joie de vivre, and mumtaz. Kudos if you know them all; if you don't, you probably will after spending about fifteen minutes with me. Each one of these has multiple meanings for me, so when the time comes, they are irreplaceable phrases in a conversation. The only catch is that speaking in multiple languages all at once in the United States is a confusing matter! I actually don't have the intelligence to do this, but one can dream. Thus my next phrase, a language all my own. Once again, I wish I was smart enough to come up with this, but I read it somewhere. The entire phrase goes like this: "After a bit too much sangria, you'll be speaking a language all your own." Even more appropriately describing my life. So read on for stories and tall tales from the Far East and the Eastside....in a language spoken only by me.