Weeks 2-umwhenisitnow?
First there was going to be an entry beginning "omg, two weeks?"', then it became "omg three weeks", "four weeks", and now I've kind of lost track. Oops.
But, (back to the original planned post here) what an amazing hmm-unspecified-amount-of-time it's been!
To be fair, I got back on Feb 2nd and after 2 days was off again to The Hague, so I am still catching up with myself -- but it's not a very good begin-as-you-mean-to-go-on, having neglected to chronicle the entire last month.
In short summary though, the HK/China trip was... good but weird; I've become unaccustomed to behaving as part of a large herd, let alone one where the norms and terms of group behaviour are a) largely unfamiliar, b) not something I have any input into and c) enforced by financial penalties, not just social ostracism. Perhaps I begin to get an inkling of why the choral IV scene can be so alienating to those not part of it. Still, we don't force people to buy the entire group's worth of meals for being 30 seconds late...!
There were plenty of good experiences on the trip, though, once I'd set my clock 7 minutes fast to accord with Group Mean Time and we learned always to turn up 15 minutes earlier than the supposed meeting time. Plus my eyes have been opened to the benefits of a regular getting-up time as opposed to whenever-I-can-get-away-with. This will hopefully help me deal a bit better with work as being Just Work (from which, the corollary should be, I go home at a reasonable hour as opposed to whenever-I-feel-I-have-to-stay-til-to-deal-with-unmanageable-pile-of-things).
I was vastly relieved, though, to wave goodbye to the rest of the group on 19 Jan and be master of my own time once more.
After a day of frenetic work finishing a paper and a most pleasant if short interlude in the island paradise of Mui Wo, I was off to Japan!
(which was utterly awesome but will have to be described later, as I'm about to get off the bus!)
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