In Perth with my sister I took a ferry to Fremantle – complete with dolphins, watched State of Origin, went shopping, visited a Beijing friend at a cidery in the hills, and saw a play. It was a great time, with clear air and cider. Then I went home.
My church expects to lose 30% of the total congregation every year. Last year the youth group lost 50% of our regulars. Cleaning out phone contacts I removed 39 people without deleting recent graduates – from a phone only 9 months old.
One class chose a unit on death/grief, and I was invited to speak to them! I am in no way an expert on death, but I have experience walking with TCKs through grief experiences. Loss is a constant, an ongoing part of international life.
Many times in taxis I have heard Australia praised on the radio as a travel destination. These days when someone discovers I’m from Australia, the instant reaction is not kangaroos or our Prime Minister, but how beautiful my country is.
After 9 years the weather in China still surprises me. At least I’m no longer surprised being surprised. My first few years I was constantly shocked by how quickly the weather changed. The temperature, but also the light.
I took a job in Langfang, a small city between Beijing and Tianjin, and my Chinese rose to a new level. I was often the only English speaker in the open office area where my desk was. Eavesdropping became a great language learning tool.
I studied Chinese in school for over ten years, the final year being at a Chinese university in Beijing. All this did NOT make me fluent. It didn’t make me sound Chinese. So what did? Talking to lots of people – especially taxi drivers.
I am often asked how I learned Mandarin Chinese. The short answer is good fortune and hard work. When I arrived in Beijing I could already read and write Chinese pretty well. Listening comprehension, however, took me a long time.
This is why I go to the dawn service. While it is a holiday for Australia and New Zealand, there is no “us vs them” mentality. All deaths in war are tragic losses. ANZAC Day does not glorify war. Instead, it remembers the cost of war, on all sides.
Bird flu was confirmed in my neighbourhood. I translated an illustrated pamphlet we received with information in Chinese, to see what the “Shunyi District Health Board” and “Shunyi District Center for Disease Control” are telling the public.
I got completely out of the habit out wearing seatbelts when I first arrived. Many cabs did not HAVE functional seatbelts. I would automatically reach for a seatbelt and the driver would laugh at me, bewildered as to why I would bother with it.
I thought I would be sad to leave my apartment, that I would miss it a lot, but I mostly feel thankful – for all the things I learned during 3 years in Yinling, and all the memories made there. This post is thank you and farewell to my first real home.
Stories From Tanya 