Journey to China and a new life

Journey to China and a new life
IslandBoy77 May 18, 2014 09:14

It never ceases to amaze me how life can change in "the blink of an eye" or on the strength of a simple sentence.  Indeed, when my ex-wife said to me early last year "I'm leaving you", I had no idea of the profound changes her words would bring, or the opportunities that would open as a result of her actually walking out the door.

 

Indeed, it was not until I met a lovely Chinese girl on the internet and decided to shake off my "comfortable, yet boring, western life" by deciding to come to China to visit with her (with the intention of later moving to China to live), that the scope and depth of the life change I was experiencing began to manifest itself.  Even then, it wasn't until I was actually standing at the airport in PuDong, Shanghai, that the extent of how different my life was becoming began to really impress itself into my consciousness. 

 

Initially, I thought the change from New Zealand to China thinking, eating and all the "trivia" of life would be too much for me, given my "older" age and life history.  Imagine my surprise at discovering that I felt quite at home in China quite quickly, and that I had almost no problem adapting to the food and general flow of life (rubbish-strewn Shangrao streets notwithstanding).

 

And so, it was with some regret and much sadness that my 10 days in China came to an end, and I found myself once again standing in front on my house in faraway New Zealand - safe, quiet, boring, and devoid of that vitality and life that infuses China from one end to the other.

 

And so now I find myself standing on the threshold of the start of the rest of my life: finding work and a place to live in China, uprooting myself from New Zealand and planting myself in my new home - a home that I left my heart in less than 2 weeks' ago.  I wonder how I will regard this mini-adventure, this turning onto a new and different road, 1 year from now?  So many things to do right now: possessions to sell, jobs to apply for, discussions to be had with my girlfriend, Mandarin to learn. 

 

Today I applied for my first 2 jobs here on eChinacities - it was almost a surreal experience, like someone else was clicking the "Apply Now" button.  Will one of those simple clicks made today be the gateway to the actual start of my new life? 

 

Time will tell.

 

Note: To avoid this blog turning into any sort of "venting and dumping ground", I've disabled comments.

Tags:General Relationships Expat Tales Lifestyle