?

Wow. I'm pretty sure that last blog post was contradictory and didn't have a point. Not my best work. Oh well. I was trying to say that while some people say they enjoy travelling, their definition of travelling in no way resembles what I am doing. And even though I am in a foreign country and not enjoying it, if I was doing what most consider travelling, I would probably be enjoying it. And even though I'm not travelling per se, I just might want to do it sometime in the (far-away) future.

I also meant to say, but failed miserably, that if I was living long-term in a western culture, I might enjoy this a little more. The East is so far removed from everything I know that I find it difficult to relate with any one here.

On some nights I travel to the faux Starbucks down the street. On the wall, there are three Van Gogh's , the foremost being a copy of The Café Terrace on the Place du Forum Arles at Night, a painting for which I have a slight affinity because there has been a poster of it in my sister's old bedroom since I was 13. Every time I stare at The Cafe Terrace, I can't thinking there are probably five people in the entire city who have even heard of Van Gogh, much less know that he painted it. The painting is nothing more than high-brow eye candy being exhibited because of it's ties with Western culture. No one ever looks at it. Nobody even appreciates the beauty. Nobody cares that it's a masterpiece. It's just a thing on a wall that takes up space. A painting that is only wanted because it's from the West. When I look at that painting, I feel like I have more in common with The Cafe Terrace than I do with most people I meet. The only reason I was allowed to come here, the only reason I am oggled at, the only reason I am so popular is because I am from the West. I feel more connected to a work of art than I do most human beings; now that is real loniliness.

Tonight, for the first time, I heard of the story of San Diego. San Diego, probably not his real name, was a nineteen year old guy from San Diego CA. He was good looking, single, and got all the attention in the world from every girl in the city. San Diego taught at the University across the street. He also, you guessed it, breached his contract and left a semester early. Apparently he couldn't take the attention.

San Diego, The Cafe Terrace, and I are going to play poker some day.

I guess that is what I was trying to say.

"I'll see you in the morning if nothing happens."