Gearing up to the end of the summer vacation with new friendships formed, tanned and refreshed while having a mind full of adventures. I sat at a small beachside café admiring the ocean rolling onto the shore, as the wind blew softly and fresh around me. My latte was, tasting delicious as the vanilla chocolate cake combined with the coffee in my mouth. Qingdao had left a very deep impression in my mind through the sights viewed by my eyes and the sounds by my ears. I wasn’t, wanting to depart this seaside city that reminded me so much of Bondi Beach back home in Oz. All relaxed from the past two months break, I received a call that was not going to leave a good impression on my mind.

I was now trying to sort out the mess of not being given my summer vacation salary, due to some unforeseen reason. There were many calls made between myself, the school back in Bin Zhou and the HQ’s in Beijing.

After calling HQ to find out that the school was giving the reason of having not enough money and that they can’t pay on time, I found myself having to borrow from the HQ’s emergency fund even though I had some cash.

The point of the matter was that, a contract had been signed and both party’s consisting of myself and the school was not being met from their side. A few days had past and I was assured that the school was going to make payment and not to worry.
Heading to the bank a week later to check my account, I noticed that there wasn’t any payment and I was at about to arrive back at the school for the new teaching year.

The tension around the school in the first few weeks of the new teaching year was more heated then that of SARS. I and a fellow teacher found out the real reason behind all the drama. Trying to not let the bad drama affect my teaching and having the students suffer, I focused and gave one hundred percent. Every night and every day was of the same feelings that flowed around and around my mind, ‘DONE OVER, DONE OVER, DONE OVER’.

Following the guidance of HQ, I packed my belongs and headed to Beijing, where once again the feeling of being a new arrival revisited my mind, but this time I was wiser and ready for the new challenge that was ahead.

I was sad sitting on the bus with my eyes just watching the scene of the town passing by, as I had made the school my home and the people of the town part of my life for the past year.

Some of the thoughts were that of the first day arriving to the time that SARS had hit and I had to use disposable chopsticks instead of my favorite pair to visiting KTV bars that had me signing badly while pretending to be a star.

From the outskirts of the town and viewing for the last time, I knew that not only I, but the students would miss the opportunity of exchanging cultures and the occasional game of playing soccer on the field and the dining out with fellow locals would no longer be available.

* * * * *

Spending time in Beijing and being able to see more of the red capital, I did notice that it was a shame many of the historical spots of China were being surrounded by tall urban modern buildings. Seeing for the first time the real size of Beijing during the day, I felt that I was just one little foreigner still trying to understand the enormous culture at what many of the Chinese people still follow.

I visited the area of Tiananmen Square, the capacity of traffic flowing through, somewhat of a scene from Spain with the annual ‘Running of Bulls’. The square was of a perfect square with many guards watching and giving the presence of a big brother watching. The guards guarding the national flag flew high with many onlookers worshiping the red and yellow colors, a scene that would not really be strong back home, but the people showed great strength and belief for their country with their hearts and it was evident. The enormous ‘Peoples Hall’ held a strong foundation on one side of the square, watching the parade of people flooding through to view the main red wall that was so high with the best kept picture Mao Zedong. I was breath taken, and thought that it was fantastic how the colors blended and not faded, even though it had withstood all weather conditions.
Standing in front of the great picture over looking the national flag and the stream of cars whisky by, I was relating back to the time with the images that I had seen from TV of the major fiasco, which I guess still had a small presence with the not so memorable taste. Trying to visualize and getting a scope of the picture, the only picture that I was receiving, was that of cars, people selling photo’s of you and the wall at high prices even though you had your own camera and the sea of people just like that of a concert.

With the enormous wall that was the entrance of the Forbidden Palace, the surrounding area was clean and well maintained and at the same time had a mixture of countries and culture combing to create one ambience of life in China. Seeing the many faces that shone at the excitement of seeing this great area, I truly accepted my groundings of life here and really thinking that if life gets me down, then I’ll always have the people of China to make me smile. I knew that my life was not as complex and that many of the people had traveled far from home to Beijing to pay respect too the country that they love and honor, while striving forward to make every opportunity not slip away quickly as the seasons do every year and build a batter future now and for tomorrow.

* * * * *

October 1st arrived and many Chinese were out celebrating the National holiday festival and I was about to embark on the decision that was made a few days previous by my mind.

I decided to break my contract with HQ and move back to Qingdao to the school that I had worked in over the summer period, while helping out a friend who wanted to move to Beijing. The timing was perfect.

I packed up my gear in Beijing and bid farewell to the city that had left a very deep impression of traditional culture and values, with the small fragments of you’re welcome to visit Beijing and the 2008 Olympic Games fresh in my mind.

Arriving back in Qingdao, ready to work again and start fresh, I sat in the taxi thinking of how it feels when you leave home for some time and return some time later, a bit like Chinese New Year. But I was to re-start all over again while not knowing if any of my friends were still around and asking the question ‘Would Qingdao, except me as a true resident or just a traveling circus?’ My answer was obvious with the thoughts of my mind playing the words ‘NOT OUT and HOME’, just like an umpire making a close call in a tough game of baseball.

The weather was changing from warm-cool as the winter season was now just around the corner and the visual presence of the trees beginning to transform with the essence of leaves changing. I began to feel that Christmas was not far away either even though there was still time and plenty of teaching to perform.

Settling in was easy, and I couldn’t wait to see the reaction of the students that had passed through my classroom in the holidays with their eyes beaming and smile beaming greatly, while on the other hand, starting a friendship with a person who would become my insuperable friend and my ‘Dean of Studies’.

Working only a short week in the school felt like that I was one of the old crew and had more pull than the new teachers that would follow. The ‘Dean of Studies’ arrived and I was introduced for the first time to Jan. It was a brief introduction and then back to work. The next few days were going to either fun or unbearable for both me and the Jan, but time would tell.

It was the next day that sealed Jan’s and my friendship with her asking me ‘how do I use the photocopier?’ I automatically thought this was going to be the start of a great friendship now and into the future, not matter what problems lay ahead of us here in China.