The origin of the Mid-Autumn Festival (Moon Festival) began in ancient times when emperors offered sacrifices to the sun in springtime and to the moon in autumn. It wasn't until the Ming (1368 to 1644) and Qing (1644 to 1912) Dynasties when the celebrations became widely popular in Chinese culture. What I find most interesting are the legends that emerged from these time periods— one of my favorites being about the Moon Goddess, Chang'e.
On the bus in China, you get to know people on a chemical level. The sweat is pervasive and the odd mixture of cologne (and lack of) makes for a veritable pheromone stew. You can sense who brushes their teeth, who had onions and chili for dinner, who drank too much baijo the night before.
You know that warm feeling you get when you feel whole, when you feel like you’re exactly where you should be? That’s how I feel here, and I know it’s because of the people. When I think about the Chinese people I’ve met, generosity is the first trait that comes to mind.
Nihao from Xi’an! On the 28th floor of our apartment, to be exact... Welcome to city living, baby. We said goodbye to Yangshuo and flew about two hours north to Xi’an last Sunday.
Our first taste of China begins in the beautiful and bustling city of Yangshuo. We arrived here late (or early?) last Friday night/Saturday morning in China, after a strangely easy trip from Chicago to Shanghai, and finally Shanghai to Guilin. We didn’t lose our luggage, we didn’t have any trouble at customs, and we even slept a bit on the plane— an A+ trip in my book.
After a whirlwind of a year at HubSpot, I spent my final day as a Support Engineer on July 8th. What an experience it has been!