I have had an obsession with organizing journals and photo albums since primary school. Each picture has to be put in chronological order and albums has to be compact. Unfortunately, that also means that some photos were sacrificed when I was younger (with arms and backgrounds cut out). The journals and albums also have to be arranged in a chronological order and labeled correctly. If my friends give me photos of an event a year ago, I will reorganize all the pictures since then. Thank god for electronic repositories for journal entries and photos now.
Tonight instead of doing something more useful, I reorganized and relabeled my online albums on facebook. So neat, albums compact on the page, labels consistent, photos grouped to my liking and in chrono order. So satisfying! I am such a freak.
"What was Marsha thinking to take three months off work?". Indeed I have lost potential earnings, and spent money on my vacation, but the reward and experience out of it are indescribable. In fact, gas, car insurance, parking and car depreciation for a year cost more. It is just that ppl who questioned my decision view driving a nice car as more of a priority than I do. My horizon broaden, new friends gained, french improved(?), saw possibilities in life, gained more career opportunities, and I got brand new perspectives afterwards. Besides, I was frustrated and I couldn't imagine how I would be able to endure the last few months here if I didn't leave. I wouldn't have traded the three months for anything else.
I came back at a very good time. Weather is excellent, good, caring loved ones remain around me, cliffs with railings. The documents are the same, and acquaintances remember my name.. I am home and I appreciate every little things more.
What I remember I have learnt
I tried to understand different cultures and further understood that there are many ways to live and many options to choose from. There is no one thing that is so important that we cannot live without... besides maybe time. You further experience that neither black nor white is good, neither racking in lots of dough nor having a laid-back relaxing life should be the primary goal in life. You or her is the standard of beauty, and you are neither fat or thin.. Not everything falls between, in front of or beyond North America and Asia on a spectrum. I started to let go... and explore the truth (sounds so zen). You also start to be more aware of the differences.
Asians are probably one of the most fun-deprived, repressed, safe, and success-driven race out there. I guess these things are all related.
We are very lucky to be living in 1st world cities. Many people don't naturally go through the schooling system, and almost naturally get a well-paid job. Yes I know you worked hard in school and at work, but you didn't really have to WORK FOR school and WORK in school. Next time when you want to yell at an immigrant Quiznos worker, think again. Her life is a lot tougher than yours and her low-paid job is more stressful than mine. 
Don't rush into things until you are certain and ready.
I hate it when religion and traditions push friends or family apart. We are on our 5000th or 7000th year of civilization with different traditions and religious beliefs already. Why can't people just accept others' choices of beliefs and living? Just because you adhere to your preferred rules, you don't have to impose your standards on others to make sure that you are not the only one.
I reflected a lot, but this is all I can remember right now.
Turkey - I love Turkey. Turkey is very monotonous in that you only see Turkish men on the streets because women are at home being muslims. People are very fun, humorous, and warm (to tourists at least). I thought they would be more serious and conservative. Presumptions, presumptions. People are so good at flirting here. The dollar goes far here. Great weather, great food. Antalya area is very developed. Pamukkale was not as great as I thought, but I still enjoyed it and all the other places. Ah, I don't want to repeat what I have said in the albums. It was funny when we tried to speak english to the locals. People in my french tour were nice, including nice old couples. French overload... I enjoyed talking to Valerie everyday. We have very different perspectives and preferences but she affected how I planned my trips and lived after Turkey.
Paris, France - Paris was my head quarter. I spent over a month there. It was kind of cold there, around 0-10*c. People are nice if you try to appear on their good side (if u want). Lived in a shared apartment in Latin Quarter with three other roomies. I like that. Met some friends whom I will probably never see again thru language exchange and french school. It was nice chatting with different people - Tunisians, Frenchies, people from all continents. Life is so expensive here. Walked so much. I have only sat in a car twice. I won't say I love Paris, but that's because I had to walk to school and museums in the rain and in the cold in January. I did have good, numbing, boring, and WTF memories. Some of them are walking along St. Michael, along the Seine, walking in La Marais, Galleria at night, MontParness area, walking by Pompideau, the City Hall, the merry-go-round. Having lunch with classmates, going to school, sipping le marais choc milk and desserts with good company, happily eating street food, sleeping in the old spooky dorm for 2 days, my shared apartment and the good times in it, Montparnesse Train Station and area, countdown at eiffel tower, japanese museum, champs elysee, Gare Nord, Jazz club, Ternes, frozen at Sacre Coeur... Really miss the good memories, but not necessarily the place. I was very sick of pastries and baguettes.
Athens, Greece - I just spent 3 days there. I learnt the greek alphabets and a few words, played sudoko with the greek mother and ate good greek home cooking. I was brought around the coast, and also a lounge and a pub. Visited museum, walked around city in super cold weather. The greeks were not smiling (crisis)
London, England - Visited cousin Stephanie, Ben and baby Bella in London and Devon. Drank champagne and walked in the same area in London everyday as last time, and as the time when I was 8 -__-" The house in Devon has sooo much charm, being an 8 bedroom house older than all houses in Canada, with 40 acres of rolling hills. Very glad I got to know more about them. Knowing them is knowing more about myself. Ben is a very good husband/father and cool man. They are lovely people, in different ways.
Barcelona, Spain - I love Barcelona. The street performance, the eccentric buildings, old world charm yet clean and new, the food, the happy and fun mood, the weather. La Rambla, the street performances, the light that flies into the sky, the market, the very mediterranean people and fashion, the pubs and patios ... ...
Hong Kong - HK is HK. People are as hard-core as ever. I was reading about HK last night and I learnt nothing new from the whole site besides the religion part. Now I know what the 3 ceramic guys with beard are, and which is buddism, which is Taoism.
Shanghai, China - Shanghai has developed a lot since the last time I was there 13 years ago. It is very livable now (but I still turned down a job from Baxter v__v b/c of the pay). If you are rich, live in SH. If you are a business owner, go to SH. The employees believe in the 'Your company is your reborn parents' concept. Lovely. I do find that asians in general (from Japan to India, Russia to Indonesia) have more gratitude towards their employers, are more hardworking, easier to deal with (only one thing which might change their loyalty : salary) than say, latin americans or africans (chose randomly). The pay, though raised, are still very low for the uneducated even in SH. Sorry, not in the mood to summarize what I saw and what I thought. m(*__*)m
There is a common trend of not buying third world products because of the whole anti-child or third world labour trend. I tell them that I buy them because I support the children and their families. If you don't buy the stuff, it doesn't mean they will live a better life. Not much of a future working in a factory, but at least there is more hope and possibilities in that than starving near sewages and being picked on. You can have companies who pay the people well, do creative capitalism, you can develop programs which will improve their lifestyles etc., but not supporting third world products is not one of the ways to improve their lives. If you tell me that you don't buy their goods because you are skeptical about their quality - ok. You don't want your kids to have more competition - debatable but ok. To me, buying Made in China or Bangladesh products is charity without doing much.
Marsha Status: Switching over to another bureau next week : BGTD submissions (1) --> Inspectorate Clinical (0.5) --> MHPD Quality (2.5) --> MHPD Biologics pjt mgmt. 
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