There's no place like home

I took this picture in Washington, D.C. last March. And sure, it's not my home, but it's the capital of my home country, which I miss oh so badly right now. Maybe it's the virus, or my inability to communicate in Chinese at the bank today (which took me hours to find thanks to Bank of America's accurate directions), but today is a day that I wish I could be back in America.

By the way, here's some advice.

1. NEVER lose or have your bank card stolen in a foreign country. It is really awful.

2. If you do happen to have your bank card stolen in a foreign country, make sure it's not China.

3. NEVER bank with Bank of America. I'm switching to Chase as soon as I step foot in California.

Today involved me trekking around in the rain for hours on end to find a bank where I could get emergency cash. BofA is supposed to mail me my bank card soon, but I do need money to tide me over. The bank was not on Pudong Avenue, as BofA had informed me. (In fact, there was no building where it was supposed to be on Pudong Avenue.) It was instead a few miles away. Thank God for the nice man at the hotel on the corner of Pudong and Dongfang Lu. Wherever you are, I owe you one.

In any case, I am happy to report that in the end, I got to the bank in time to be the last customer, then went through an ordeal because the "wrong person" was wiring me money. (Hey, thanks for telling me the wrong name, Visa... made things a lot easier.)

I'm pretty sure I sound super bitter in this post, and I think I have some reason to be. But at the end of the day, I am just really grateful for the support system I have here in Shanghai and the support system I have back in America. And I'm really grateful that bubble tea exists here. It makes everything, including three-hour-long rainy walks, bearable.

And to America, on this 9th anniversary of September 11th: I'm still shocked and saddened by what happened nine years ago in New York City, and I'm hoping and praying that we can all have the rationality to recognize the difference between a religious movement and terrorism, and to not burn any religious books or cause harm to others, on this day and always.