We watched The Kite Runner tonight. A few minutes into the movie, I said “This looks a lot like Kashgar”, knowing that old villages in Central Asia and the Middle East look similar, especially to the Western eye. I spent a summer in Kashgar, a city in Xinjiang Province in far western China, in 2001.
Out of curiosity, I looked it up in imdb.com and discovered it actually was filmed in Kashgar! It noted that parts of the movie were also filmed in Tashkurgan, another city in Xinjiang which is just miles from the border between Afghanistan and China. We went to Tashkurgan on a weekend trip during that summer.
It made me miss being in Kashgar. That was a time in my life when I was exploring the idea of spending my life living in remote rural villages to try to do something to bring some sort of hope to those who don’t have any. Fast forward to 2008—I’m in New York City working as an IT consultant for a fast growing software company, thinking about the next major metropolis to live in and not really thinking much at all any more about going to a place like Kashgar.
In some ways, I’m okay with it and other ways not. Everyone is more idealistic when they’re younger. Lately, I’ve just been feeling very content with life. I don’t know if that sense of contentment is just something that comes with getting older and more mature. Or is that contentment more of being resigned to the way that life is “supposed” to be? I should be thankful that life is so good, right?
Comments 2
Roll in it like a dog in shit, Peter, because rarely does life release you from wanting something else. I’m very happy for you.
Posted 01 Apr 2008 at 12:56 pm ¶you’re content cuz you’re getting closer to 30. that’s what happens, bro.
Posted 16 Apr 2008 at 12:33 pm ¶Post a Comment