"So how is China? What's it like" Is it really a question or just a polite hello? "Erm, where do I start?"

China has a population of 1.3 billion citizens

' I struggle to the train to make my way home.. oh a million faces pass my way, they're all the same, nothing seems to change anytime I look around.. from walking by a high-rise to a landmark square, you see millions of people with millions of cares.. '

Shanghai is the world's fastest growing city

' Where it takes you 'bout an hour just to cross the road.. from the dreary old lanes to the high-street madness, I fight with my brain to believe my eyes.. these streets have too many names for me.. I'll get used to this eventually I know.. '

and Songjiang is a rapidly developing city and county nearby Shanghai

' I will roam lost but never alone'

It is fun, absurd at times, loud and WHITE!

sky

rice

noodles

bedroom walls

me

tissues
-> squat toilet


Returning to England was great!
- I saw family members again
- Caught up with old friends
- Ate delicious food
- Went shopping
- Got a nice hair cut
- Travelled up the country to visit people
- Didn't need to worry about going to work

I packed in a lot during my brief visit and I enjoyed myself so much but leaving was easier than I thought it would be!
All I'd done was actually quite far fetched of how living in Evesham really would be - Friends are at university or busy with full time jobs, family members live far away and to treat myself would require a job and that would certainly be somewhere that isn't me, something that I would not enjoy!

"I'm sorry" Do not apologise!
"Thank you for everything" Don't worry about it!
"I miss you" I miss you too!

I apologised, as I'd missed so much out of their life and them out of mine too. And I thanked them, as they'd continued to support me.

' So I'll cherish the simple things.. it's the simple things that mean the most to me '

I was worried how leaving China and returning to civilization away from spitting, barging, burping, queue jumping… I'd never done that before, returned to a foreign country, a foreign home after a break.
* "This feels right" I said, as I hugged my parents and held each other tight at the airport.

-- That was a week ago.

"Hello, hello, hello and how are you? I'm fine, I'm fine, I hope that you are tooooo!" clap.clap.clap.clap. and repeat "Hello, hello, hello and how are you?..."
A brand new class of cute 4-6 year olds learning their first English words.

"NI HAO!" I stutter. Ah yeah right, it's not all that easy here. I think back on my vocab and realise that each trip out of the apartment takes planning and preparation. Do I know that word? Do I need to have it down on paper? Or can I just point?

Bang! BANG! Bang! Street corners, roof tops, road sides, fireworks in all directions. 5am, 9am, 1pm, 8pm. Fireworks all day.

"5, 4, 3, 2, 1! Okay, listen carefully" as I raise my voice to try and keep the attention of energetic teenagers and kids who think that adults before their time!

Hugs, smiles, waves and laughs as I see friendly Chinese faces and friends again.

* How that statement was so true!

' I saw this world as one big pool of opportunity '

Feb 2012 Emma x