Friends from the mainland.

Bob has graduated! Nice graduation photo to come soon. So yes, that means I've somewhat accomplished what I've set out for. I've passed the Masters program with a distinction average. And the dissertation did the job.

Of late, I have been questioning myself of what should have been painfully obvious. My recently acquired passion for all things China has overwhelmed most of what I read and reflect on - but the big question really - why then do i not have a single friend from China I would call a best friend, yet? I could wax lyrical and contextualize great a many Chinese stories, but in a nutshell, it's all really second-hand if my impressions all stem from just imagery in my head isn't it? The pictures in comic books, the cut scenes from movies, but what about first hand experience?

Perhaps, it's time to search for one. A few classmates/coursemates have come close, but they've left since graduation. I've made some twenty odd friends from various parts of the mainland throughout my stay in Australia thus far. The ones I click better with are from the South-east. The folk from Canton have been massively easy to get along with because we eat the same things (Teochews come from the same province as the Cantonese. My 'closest' buddy hails from Sichuan, and we spent a fair bit of time hanging out, but other than pursuit of good food in Melbourne together, we never made it to the we should meet up weekly stage.

So. Let's see. What's to come!