Still with me. . .

             

v 

Today as I was walking along the beautiful streets of St. Paul, I couldn’t help but snap some pictures on my phone of cool houses, interesting trees, and beautiful flowers.  It feels normal to want to capture the beautiful nature. But as I was taking a photo of an odd-shaped tree, I saw a Chinese student walking by me with a little grin on his face. I wondered why he was grinning, and then I realized that he probably could relate to my desire to take photos of everything. This seems to be something I observed and learned in China. I remember posing with countless friends and students in front of this tree or that flowering bush. In fact, we would even arrange times to take photos together. This photo taking phenomenon is a gentle reminder to me that China is still very much apart of me.