Not There is an acceptance of dislocation, isolation and other-ness.
Dislocation:
As someone who has chosen to live outside my country, I live at a critical distance from my native culture. At this point, I will never be able to fit into a mainstream American existence again. That is another road.
Other-ness:
I am not Chinese, but I live in China. I speak the language but I will never fit in. My features mark me as being outside, a stranger.
Isolation:
China, because of the GFW & time zones is a world onto itself. I live inside a semi-permeable bubble. Stuck in-the-middle & floating between an imaginary East & West.
nottherebeijing 