Lovely (美美) is adventuring in China (中国) and around Asia until June 2013. Apart from learning Mandarin and cooking up mischief, she'll be nuke wonking at Tsinghua University. These are her last moments of freedom before moving back to DC. Most photos taken by DRZZL.
Like most young nerds, I grew up surrounded with stacks of books varying in weight, size, and language, some with pictures and others none at all. It didn’t matter if I can’t read or understand them, I just liked the idea of having them around. As I got older, I made the amazing transition of reading Tagalog picture books to English children’s novels. I whittled down my collection to a handful that I cherished most: The Phantom Tollbooth, Watsons go to Birmingham, 1963, From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, The Cricket in Times Square. In some way, they jumpstarted my American upbringing.
Last week, I came across an incredible find: a copy of E.B. White’s Charlotte’s Web (夏洛的网) in Chinese at Wangfujing Bookstore (王府井书店). Charlotte’s Web is one of the first English books I finished cover to cover, and it was simply serendipitous to find a Chinese copy in China. Perhaps it’s the universe conspiring, hinting that I should abandon the mound of nuclear policy readings I’ve assigned myself, take a couple steps back, and start with something simpler and sweeter.
I think I’ll heed the stars.
