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Excitement! That's pretty much how I am feeling right now - excited to be blogging again!
I know it has been a while since I have put these busy fingers to the keyboard, and I apologise if I have let you down, but it has been quite hectic for us here in old Peking for the past 5 months. There has been New Year, then Chinese Spring Festival and Chinese New Year, a wedding and trip back home, two lots of Aussie visitors to show around, more trips to the Great Wall, the Olympic Centre, Forbidden City, exotic night markets, and most recently Xian, the ancient capital, and home to the Terracotta Warriors. Not to mention lots happening on the work front for both Michael and I, and with the girls’ home schooling. But for now, there is a pause in the pace, summer is in the air, and I have the urge to let you all know what’s happening over here in sunny Beijing.
As you can see I have a lot to tell you about so will do it in stages over the next few days and weeks. I promise!
It seems that every second conversation at the moment is about the world weather, or something to do with the weather, and how strange or wild it has been, and while it's always a nice way to wax poetic it has become a rather strange obsession for us, especially considering we have seen only two days of rain in our 8 months here so far.
Now, this week summer well and truly arrived, making its presence felt with a few searing temperatures and some perfectly blue skies. The brightness has been almost of ‘religious radiance’ and such that it would lift the spirits of even the most disgruntled sufferer of ‘China blues’.
You may think me shallow, but it is amazing what a difference a bit of sunlight can make to your outlook. All seems perfectly well and calm, and travelling through the city there is street after street of smiling faces framed by cherry blossoms.
Of course, scratching below the surface and delving into detail might reveal the perfect blue skies and sunshine are quite possibly government- orchestrated, and cleverly choreographed, just like the brilliant Kung fu show we saw a few weeks ago. Nonetheless, I am just going to savour the moment for a while longer before allowing my thoughts to return to some of the less inspiring aspects of the touted ‘modern society’ here, such as the hygiene standards in public places throughout the city, thought control media, and the gap between the poor and ‘well to do’
The Beijing summer is already playing havoc with the Aussie compass inside me. There are plenty of iced drinks and ice creams to help me imagine that I am lounging on a deck-chair by the swimming pool in good old Farmborough Heights, when in fact I am wandering about under an intense midday sun, the air heavy with humidity, within a concrete metropolis. And replacing the sparkling ocean off Wollongong’s North Beach are a million dazzling metallic car hoods, bumper to bumper filling the busy roadways.
Oops, I am digressing into some home-sick melancholia. Summer is here at last, and I am loving it!
So friends I’m back, with some interesting tales to tell I might add (bribes now being accepted for the next 24 hours from any of our former visitors who may not want their tales told) …cue in the ‘trepidation’ background music.
Anyway, I do hope, wherever you are reading this, that the sun is shining, or, the night is young, and you find yourself exactly where you want to be.
Lèyú, Nat
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Lance
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Holiday
Take care what you put on the blog re our visit as you will be home in a few weeks, remember baked dinners,BBQ's and good wine may not be forthcoming.