at home… in China

My life seems to be on tracks recently. Still, nothing unusual there, I’d been commuting to Vienna University for years. Then again, this train journey, I sat down next to a Chinese, and promptly got my  ID checked along with him… I love such situations which people tend to overlook, both when they never go abroad, and when they go abroad and get struck by how different it all is.

Your own country is at least as different. And other places need not feel all that foreign.

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Everybody always knows everything. Sometimes, it seems a precondition for thinking you are grown up that you don’t listen to others anymore. So much of it is not wisdom, but only hearsay.

Case in point: culture contact. Our case: my girlfriend and I have gone to my country of origin, Austria, for the summer. The first day caused a bit of a feeling of alienation – not surprisingly; the food can still be challenging (with a few surprises); but, there is aso quite enough that is enjoyable.

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