Bathroom stories

No trip to a foreign country - especially if that foreign country happens to be in Asia - could ever be complete without plenty of stories concerning bathroom experiences. I don't mean to gross anybody out, but I think anyone who has ever spent time in the Far East will agree with me. This is so completely true, that I'm not even in China yet and I already have a story!

Actually, I'm sitting in the airport in Seoul, South Korea, after a ten and a half hour flight from Seattle. The flight went smoothly enough... most of the time. Unfortunately, "smooth" and "turbulence" don't really go together. And now you see where this is going.

At the 7 1/2 hour mark, the stewardesses dutifully came around offering scrumptious meals of beef & rice or pasta. Not being particularly interested in eating a meal in the middle of Korea's afternoon, nor in the undoubtedly mediocre offerings developed by the airplane food association, I refrained. Instead, I enjoyed a tasty apple from Albertson's in Seattle. Yum.

It never fails. Immediately following the second meal on any flight from the US to Asia, the skies get rough. It almost seems like they plan it that way, but what a weird thing to plan. Give everybody food that is already going to take a little extra effort to digest properly, and then churn that all up with turbulence. Bad combo, in my opinion. Which is why I have learned to not eat that second meal.

I'm not sure if it was the apple or the two glasses of acidic fruit juices that I had with it, but it turns out that wasn't the best combo with the turbulence either. So despite the fact that it's the middle of the afternoon in Korea, and therefore I ought to have been awake and doing something, I sat back and rested, trying to calm my surprisingly upset stomach. Yup, that almost worked.

For the first time, I had to get out of my seat while the seatbelt sign was lit and rush to the bathroom... and by rush I mean, stumble into and hope I don't pass out along the way. Weirdest - and possibly scariest - feeling. Thankfully, my story doesn't get much grosser than this... I managed to refrain from seeing that apple again. But I did have a nice long stay on the airplane bathroom floor, alternatively sweating hot and shivering cold. Besides thinking, hoping, that my body would somehow be able to stabilize itself despite the continued motion of flying (since I didn't think the pilot would take too highly to me asking him to "pull over" for a minute), my main thought was that I am certainly grateful it was a Korean Air airplane bathroom floor and not the bathroom in the hard seat compartment of an overly full train in China!

So optimistic, aren't I? :)

But seriously, the random (though freaky) sickness subsided and the rest of the flight went well. The stewardesses didn't even yell at me for not having my seatbelt fastened.

All that said, I certainly hope to not be visiting the bathroom on tomorrow's airplane during the hour and a half flight to Shenyang!

A New Chapter

How can one write on a blog called "Life in the Middle Kingdom" from a metropolitan area in the United States? For those of you who may not be aware, "Middle Kingdom" is the direct translation of the Chinese term for China -- the Middle Kingdom of the world, the great nation whose neighbors would send emissaries to kowtow and pay honor to the Emperor and whose history goes back some five thousand years. Life in the Middle Kingdom is life in China... so for those of you who have been following my story can understand that this blog has been post-less for a year now.

And for those of you who haven't been following me, I have been in Washington DC for the past year, finishing up some coursework towards my masters degree in Asian Studies.

This, then, is the beginning of Chapter 2: The Return to the Middle Kingdom. Yes, next week I will be moving back to China. I am incredibly excited to return to the city I called home for a year, the place deep and long-lasting friendships were developed, the part of the world that has gotten into my blood and become a part of who I am.

For those of you who are interested, this blog will be the best way to keep track of me, hear about my adventures, and join me in this new Life in the Middle Kingdom.