Dear China, I miss you. I miss you more than I would have thought.

Thank you for flipping my narrative on its head. Thank you for the craziness and the chaos that you seamlessly fold into the beauty of your country. Thank you for the challenge. I never would have known that the One Child Policy was not particularly enforced. I would never have known how open and honest and straight-talking your people are. I would never have known that you are such a rich and green and bustling place.

I find myself missing you, but I don’t exactly know why. Our time together was not good. We struggled, you and I.

I miss your contradictions in the face of those in Korea. I miss your open and entrepreneurial spirit. I believe, honestly, that you alone embody the American Dream these days. Maybe the fact that nobody ever knows what…