A couple weeks ago I took the bus to Anshan. On the way, I recorded some of the scenes. I apologize for the shaking and fast moving cinematography...and for the music. This is an attempt to share more of the general atmosphere here but I don't think it comes through very clearly. I have said to a few friends that it is a good thing the people here are friendly because it is not a very attractive place to live. I don't think you can see in the video how rundown some of the buildings are nor how barren the landscape.
As I sit here and try to think of words to describe what is around me, I find that I cannot capture the whole picture. I guess what I can say is this: even if the people here are poor by American standards, I have observed that they are happy, perhaps even happier than many Americans. It is a strange phenomena that the more one has, the more one wants. No one here seems to feel sorry for themselves and they take great pleasure in the things that I, too, hold dear such as spending time with friends and family. Last Monday, at a dinner party while I watched everyone eating, laughing, and toasting, it came to me that people try to make happiness a complicated and elusive thing but really, happiness is a simple choice.
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