I've been back in Beijing for about two days now! I had a fabulous time at home with my family and friends and it was really hard to get back on the train to Seattle. I am so lucky to have such amazing and supportive people in my life!
I know I have some more work to do here, though.
The flight to Beijing was a bit traumatic. I knew it was going to be a rough ride when the pilot announced that it was going to be a bit rocky. There was lots of turbulence, and I am a nervous flyer to start with, so it wasn't fun. Plus, I was pretty sad.
I went into work yesterday, and I was greeted by lots of friends happy to see me, so that made me feel so much better! I passed out Christmas cards with Seattle airport key chains and brought out the fortune cookies my Mom had gotten for my friends at work. In China, they don't give out fortune cookies at the end of the meals! The Chinese local teachers were pretty fascinated by them and enjoyed them. My class for the evening had been canceled, so I got a lot of planning done for the weekend classes.
Last night, I rang in the New Year at my friends' Laura and Claire's apartment. Laura made us a big, delicious dinner and we had wine and toasted in the New Year with the Big Ben bells and sang to a Chinese version of "Old Lang Syne" right over left. I stayed and chatted until I was practically falling asleep. I celebrated that night with people from China, England and Australia. I thought that was pretty special! I came home and practically fell into bed!
My first day of the New Year has been pretty slow. I slept in and called home. Oregon needs to catch up to the New Year! Now, I need to go take care of the hurricane that is my little studio, and grade some papers while watching Cool Runnings!
What a memorable, "international" New Year celebration for you! Hope you captured the moments on film/video. We played "tipsee" Yahtzee...quite entertaining! Glad you are having a good return to life in China.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Sandra! Happy New Year!
ReplyDelete