Wrapping It Up!

Yes, we're home, and it's time to wrap up 'A YEAR IN CHINA'...(sob, sob, sob, sniffle, sniffle, sniffle...). The weird thing about coming back has been coming back to a whole lot of 'Beijing Buzz' as Beijing is all the talk around town as the Olympics approaches. Everyone asks us why we didn't stay on for the Olympics, and the answer (so if you haven't already, you don't need to ask), is that we were planning to come back around now anyway, plus, we didn't have any tickets to the events so we'd be watching it all on telly anyway (but with lots of table tennis!), plus, Michelle has had her job back here waiting for her, plus, we're having a baby (BOY!) in December and we wanted to be back home for all that that entails...so yeah, we just had to leave China behind (for now), and say all our goodbyes to the friends we'd made:

As I've also shared with people around the place when asked the usual question, 'What's it like to be back?' - I explain that going to China and back has been kind of like what Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy experienced going through the wardrobe to Narnia, discovering a whole new world and life, having a great adventure, and then coming back through the wardrobe to find everything’s just as you left it (almost!) as if time stood still, and Narnia is a whole world away. It really is like that – as if we weren’t really there at all – except for the ways in which we have changed and grown over that time, and the fact that my bro and his partner have a newborn, 'Jade' who's absolutely gorgeous, and knowing that we've left some good mates behind.

And as I knew would happen - I keep staring at the sky - day or night - just mezzmerized by how clear, clean, blue (and colourful) it is, and at night, the amount of stars that twinkle away. I'll never take our environment for granted...it's true what they say though - we don't really know what we've got until it's gone (or until we go!)...

Our last month...

During our last month in Beijing we had more friends from OZ visit us after their successful 3rd-time-lucky-visa applications were granted. Peter, Alison, Nicola, and Georgia graced our small apartment and made it home for a week. As always we had a great time showing them the wonders of Beijing while even finding time to head down to the 'local' and watch some AFL footy over a beer. So much for the introduction to Chinese culture!

Some random photos taken over the last month or so that we were in Beijing - pics of friends and students.

I was also fortunate enough to visit my former host family in Fukuoka, Japan for a few days and catch up with all the latest, while even conducting my host brother's - Yutaka's - wedding.

Random shots around the streets of Fukuoka

Yutaka owns his own bar, which has a very traditional feel to it that he claims is very unique in all of Japan. He likes to keep the bar quiet and relational rather than rowdy and overcrowded.
He even wears a kind of kimono as uniform. It's very cool, and I even tried their 'Japanese Pasta' which was DELISH! It's 'Ichi-ban' (No 1) in the country if you ask me! While having a few drinks at the bar my Japanese started to rush back to me and I got into the swing of it, making conversation and jokes with the other customers. That compared to my first day in Japan where I found myself speaking half Chinese, half Japanese - rather embarrassing to say the least!

At Yutaka's bar 'TOBACCOYA'

Little reminders of my time in Japan

As strange as it may sound, one of the things I'll miss from my time in China, is teaching English to some amazing and generous people that I was fortunate enough to meet over there. I was able to have a job where I woke up everyday thinking, 'Cool, I get to go to work today!'...very rare indeed. I had a lot of fun simply teaching and getting to know Chinese students, young and not-so-young, guys, girls, mums, dads, full-time students, and business people. And I'm sure many of us will stay in touch in the years to come. Yet saying goodbye to some of the students and staff I worked with was not easy.

A boat I saw at the place where the wedding was held in Japan.

Michelle will also miss her work over there, and in particular, the friends she made with those she worked with. Her Chinese language skills only improved over the last year and it was inspiring the way she could communicate and interact with the locals - young and old. I'm sure she'll miss speaking Chinese day in, day out.

And I'll miss the fun I had taking photos in a different country. The colours were often inspiring, the Chinglish signs were entertaining, the culture intriguing and the city forever changing.

Now it's back to life in OZ. Michelle is back working in Currie St, and I'm completing some study while looking into some part-time work. And we're both looking forward to watching Beijing from the comfort of our lounge rooms as the Olympics comes to our screens.

Thanks for keeping in touch with us over the year and following this humble blog. See you around the traps.

We're not in China.

They are.

Dig it.