The Woes of Blogging

If you are following this blog, you have surely noticed the infrequency of my posts. Time for some explanation. For a few years I have maintained a trip blog as a fun sideline to traveling. This year the NC State Alumni Association upped the ante with the challenge that I keep this not strictly as a personal blog but as one for the program with a link from the AA website. This in turn also upped my expectation on the frequency and rigor of my postings as well as my intention to master new technology skills in order to post pictures and have regular computer access.

Setting high expectations is the perfect set-up for frustration. Or in a more Zen sense, to be reminded of all that we do not control . So this post serves to explain the obstacles and my inner journey in reframing expectations.

The biggest challenge to blogging from China is the simple fact that blogging sites, such as Blogspot, are inaccessible here. (More explanation on that to come.) I knew this before leaving the US and arranged to send documents as email attachments to the communications staff at the Alumni Association. Thanks to them (Chris and Cherry and some interns), you are reading this. I cannot see the final product here.

I came to China with a new tool to master my blogging task: a ‘netbook’ personal computer. This would surely be an improvement over my prior dependency on internet cafes. In part it has been . . . when the computer is working (some glitches with that) and access is available (more limited than I expected) and when it is available, to have my computer configured correctly to meet the demands of our changing locations. At the University in Hangzhou, a technician had to reconfigure my IPN address to sync with the university system (a two and a half day process.) These hurdles have meant intervals of several days with no access. Finding time in our schedule to sit and write has been the other obstacle. So here is my official reframing of expectations about this blog. While I continue to strive for frequency, the reality is that you are likely to see hunks of entries posted sporadically vs. a neat calendar of daily posts. This experience provides yet another chance for me to practice one of traveling’s best lessons: be in the moment, be flexible to accept whatever may come. And don’t let the obsession to document the experience get in the way of having the experience itself.

And fittingly, I am off to a Tai Chi class. . . .