Rain catharsis = I'm definitely from the Northwest

Today I read an article by a friend of a friend who had some pretty interesting things to say regarding periods of transition / major upheaval in life (http://tatterhoodblog.com/2013/09/22/caterpillar-slime/) 

My most relevant takeaway:  trying to fool yourself and everyone else that what you're doing is easy isn't gonna do any good.

Tomorrow I will have been inn China for one month, and I've come to see that I need to start being more realistic with myself. In this new place and new culture, everyday frustrations build up and it feels like the more you fight things, the deeper in you sink. I need to let go of "the pressure to figure things out, to have a plan, to be able to explain what it is you're doing and where you want to go with it."  So, this afternoon I made a choice to stop trying so hard. The funny thing is, I realized I'm going to have to try hard not to try hard, because my first instinct when being thrust into a situation like this is to struggle.

Soon after, as I readied my materials for my walk home from school, the torrential rains came out of nowhere. No wind, just sheets of  massive rain drops falling straight down onto the warm pavement. I pushed headfirst out into the rain wearing my sundress and without an umbrella, and the water poured down on me, almost seeming to move through me. When I got to the bottom of the hill, I came across a group of men huddled under a makeshift rain shelter in front of an old building. They had drums and horns and gongs, and were playing what seemed to be some kind of traditional Chinese music. I stopped in my tracks, mesmerized. Standing outside that tent with the rhythm and the warm rain together washing over me, it was cathartic. It just felt too surreal--almost as if the universe was saying, "You're definitely onto something. Now let's give this another shot."