A return
So, I went traveling for 2 weeks! We went to Yekaterinburg -> Hong Kong -> Beijing -> Moscow. 6 flights all in all, in a span of 13 days!
The trip was... amazing and exhausting. Thank god I had a bedroom to myself through all of it because some days were quite overwhelming and I really needed some alone downtime.
I can't even recount most of it right now. We watched a movie about Nikolai Gogol being a zombie demon slayer. I think Hong Kong might be the most beautiful place I've ever been. We got caught up in a typhoon that git the day we were supposed to have a flight. Beijing was a dream come true for me. It's been a really long time since I've been in a country where I can't get by easily and don't speak the language, so that was challenging, but also with each day there more and more of my Mandarin became serviceable and I felt more and more "at home". I mean, we took a bus from our hotel to one of the major tourist attractions on our very first day there and I just... I love taking local public transport, if that's feasible? And we did it, didn't get lost, paid for our ride despite everything being in Chinese, got where we needed to go. It just... felt great, and I'm so glad I had my cousin who speaks absolutely zero mandarin and had never traveled outside of Europe who was willing to go on this adventure with me.
I also spent about 80% of the trip sick with a cold, so constantly blowing my nose, coughing, utterly exhausted.
When I landed I was just... barely conscious, after our 22 hour layover in Moscow, during which we of course went to the city center. Like, I came home and sank into dreamless, exhausted sleep and didn't feel like myself for several days.
I also found out, when I landed, that my uncle had died while I was abroad, and my family decided to keep it from me (in the true fashion of my immigrant community) to not stress me out on the trip. So, I landed and immediately sank into - a relative has passed away. My uncle spent the last 20 years living in Germany, so apparently my dad spent half of my trip there, going to the funeral, etc. Again all of this had been hidden from me. Sigh.
As if that whole situation wasn't overwhelming enough, about 48 hours after I landed began this country's biggest SFF con, at which I was scheduled to do a bunch of events. This year's Guest of Honor was also Ann Leckie, one of my favorite authors, and the reason I was very happy to schedule my trip so I could still make the con.
So... that whirlwind happened. Needless to say my stuff from the trip lay unpacked all over my apartment while the con was going on.
The con was amazing. We taught a writing workshop that felt great to teach, I got to hang out with a lot of people, I got to be on a panel of "Israel's leading female SFF writers talk about writing" which was pretty unreal and I got to tell everyone about my Ancillary Justice opinions and tell them about my novella and like half the room gasped when I revealed how a particular plotline I wrote went.
I got to do a lecture about fanvids, and even though very few people came (because no one's ever done a thing about fanvids here before and most people aren't really aware of them) everyone who did come had the exact reactions I was hoping for, they got emotional at the right parts and laughed at the right parts, and so on. Basically it was a tribute show to
thingswithwings lol.
I also got to attend two writing workshops and generally listen to a lot of amazing conversations between authors Ellen Kushner, Delia Sherman and Ann Leckie. Hearing three older women who are SF/F authors talk about their craft, their writing, the business, it was just amazing. I was also fortunate enough to be invited to a dinner with all three of them, and then a lunch with Ellen Kushner and then a dinner with Ann Leckie where she repeatedly told me I "MUST finish my book" so... that was pretty amazing.
And now it's been over 48 hours since the three day con ended and I'm... slowly coming back to reality I guess? I'm still super tired, but I managed to go to pilates today, and do some grocery shopping, and unpack some stuff, and god help me I still hope to finish unpacking today and do the dishes and stuff.
It's been an amazing month and I'm utterly exhausted and still not fully functional, is I guess what I'm saying.
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The trip was... amazing and exhausting. Thank god I had a bedroom to myself through all of it because some days were quite overwhelming and I really needed some alone downtime.
I can't even recount most of it right now. We watched a movie about Nikolai Gogol being a zombie demon slayer. I think Hong Kong might be the most beautiful place I've ever been. We got caught up in a typhoon that git the day we were supposed to have a flight. Beijing was a dream come true for me. It's been a really long time since I've been in a country where I can't get by easily and don't speak the language, so that was challenging, but also with each day there more and more of my Mandarin became serviceable and I felt more and more "at home". I mean, we took a bus from our hotel to one of the major tourist attractions on our very first day there and I just... I love taking local public transport, if that's feasible? And we did it, didn't get lost, paid for our ride despite everything being in Chinese, got where we needed to go. It just... felt great, and I'm so glad I had my cousin who speaks absolutely zero mandarin and had never traveled outside of Europe who was willing to go on this adventure with me.
I also spent about 80% of the trip sick with a cold, so constantly blowing my nose, coughing, utterly exhausted.
When I landed I was just... barely conscious, after our 22 hour layover in Moscow, during which we of course went to the city center. Like, I came home and sank into dreamless, exhausted sleep and didn't feel like myself for several days.
I also found out, when I landed, that my uncle had died while I was abroad, and my family decided to keep it from me (in the true fashion of my immigrant community) to not stress me out on the trip. So, I landed and immediately sank into - a relative has passed away. My uncle spent the last 20 years living in Germany, so apparently my dad spent half of my trip there, going to the funeral, etc. Again all of this had been hidden from me. Sigh.
As if that whole situation wasn't overwhelming enough, about 48 hours after I landed began this country's biggest SFF con, at which I was scheduled to do a bunch of events. This year's Guest of Honor was also Ann Leckie, one of my favorite authors, and the reason I was very happy to schedule my trip so I could still make the con.
So... that whirlwind happened. Needless to say my stuff from the trip lay unpacked all over my apartment while the con was going on.
The con was amazing. We taught a writing workshop that felt great to teach, I got to hang out with a lot of people, I got to be on a panel of "Israel's leading female SFF writers talk about writing" which was pretty unreal and I got to tell everyone about my Ancillary Justice opinions and tell them about my novella and like half the room gasped when I revealed how a particular plotline I wrote went.
I got to do a lecture about fanvids, and even though very few people came (because no one's ever done a thing about fanvids here before and most people aren't really aware of them) everyone who did come had the exact reactions I was hoping for, they got emotional at the right parts and laughed at the right parts, and so on. Basically it was a tribute show to
thingswithwings lol.
I also got to attend two writing workshops and generally listen to a lot of amazing conversations between authors Ellen Kushner, Delia Sherman and Ann Leckie. Hearing three older women who are SF/F authors talk about their craft, their writing, the business, it was just amazing. I was also fortunate enough to be invited to a dinner with all three of them, and then a lunch with Ellen Kushner and then a dinner with Ann Leckie where she repeatedly told me I "MUST finish my book" so... that was pretty amazing.
And now it's been over 48 hours since the three day con ended and I'm... slowly coming back to reality I guess? I'm still super tired, but I managed to go to pilates today, and do some grocery shopping, and unpack some stuff, and god help me I still hope to finish unpacking today and do the dishes and stuff.
It's been an amazing month and I'm utterly exhausted and still not fully functional, is I guess what I'm saying.
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