China travel and coming home

It's been three weeks since I've been back from China but I haven't found the will to write this till now. The week I returned, I felt like I left a part of myself there. In a way, I felt homesick. In the very short month that I was there, I had adopted a little of the Chinese mentality.

 Because of connections that my family had, I was fortunate for my experiences. My dad is one of the sponsors of a foundation that gives children in poverty the opportunity to go to high school and/or university. The foundation is mainly funded by an Australian gentleman named John, or "Uncle John." We were invited to their graduation and it was one of the nicest graduations I've witnessed. One of the male graduates made a speech and became very emotional. It was so touching to see. After the ceremony, we went outside where I met an Indian woman who teaches English. She moved to Hong Kong from India after she got married because her husband had work there. Then after her fourth child she said she wanted to get an education. "And at my age!!" she said to me. She went to Britain to get an education in Arts. Now she teaches English. So wonderful. Afterwards we were invited to the village community centre for dinner. The village really is third world. It is so different but feels familiar at the same time. The people are so kind. We stayed in the village for a while but it was getting late and my dad and I couldn't stay any longer to wait for the students to arrive because we had to rush to Guangzhou. My dad and I got into the car and drove by slowly and I rolled down the window to say good bye. A whole bunch of young children were outside saying "Bye bye je je (sister)!!" I was so, so touched. There was so much love that I can't help but hope to return someday.

Coming back home with so many memories of making new friends and seeing family I haven't seen for over a decade is really is amazing, yet sometimes I find myself staring off into the distance and wondering if it ever even happened.