“Cultures consist in a constellation of ideas,” my friend Vanessa said. She agreed with my feeling, calling “the East-West divide too reductive.” She also opposed the common notion of seeking happiness in life. “Why does it have to be the only goal?” Maybe it is the distressed, the unsettled, the heavy moments that allowed us to live fully. Vanessa insisted on finding a “lust for life,” an idea she picked up while reading The Brothers Karamazov. In Dostoevsky’s words: “The mystery of human existence lies not in just staying alive, but in finding something to live for.” I wondered if her journey exploring the meaning of life would ultimately become a source of happiness. Flipping her short hair dyed grayish-green, Vanessa reminded me of the yin and yang philosophy in Taoism. Symbolized in black and white, the two opposing forces interconnect, rotate, and coexist with one another, not unlike the cultural identities alternating and reuniting in a dynamic relationship, complicating and enriching the East-West duality.