here, there, everywhere...

In less than 2 hours, I will be headed out to catch my ride to the airport in order to begin the loong journey back to Toronto. Seeing that this trip is symbolic of the fact that I am completely finished my first year of teaching, I thought the occasion was worth ruminating about.  So I'm not actually sure what this entry will end up containing.  

But isn't that the whole fun of writing sometimes?

1 year. Crazy how time flies, isn't it?  And it never quite works out the way you planned.  I'm finding it a little funny - not to mention exhausting - that, of the year that I spent living here, I will have spent about 7.5 weeks there. And not all at once, either.

I hadn't planned on that. I came in here fully thinking that I would not set foot on Canadian soil again until the summer of 2013.

Well, obviously the Father had other plans.  

When I flew to Thailand at Christmas, a co-worker happened to mention that she saves up all her money so that she can go home, and often.  My response to that was something along the lines of "I spent 29 years at home; I want to see something different."  Travelling has always been something I enjoy, as stressful as it can be. There's just something really cool about being able to see something with one's own eyes. Pictures never do anything justice, and hearing stories second-hand is just not as fun.  So why should I go there, I wondered, when there's so much to see here?

Oh, how things just come back to bite me sometimes.  I'm currently waiting to fly to Canada for the second time this year. And I'm not talking school year.

And despite the struggles back home, I was still able to scratch the travel bug and see some cool things.

Beijing - 3 times

Guan Men Shan

Shanghai

Chiang Mai

Xi'an

Not to mention the trips to various cultural sites around my own city.

Oh, and the unexpected but still significant trip home in February.

I'm exhausting just reading about my travels!

Never thought I'd say this, but I'm really tired. Of travelling.   Right now, part of me just wants to go back to a place where I am surrounded by friends and family.  Or at least be somewhere that is comfortable. Unchanging. Predictable.

Or at least more so than here.

But I know that, because I've lived - and continue to live - here, life will never be the same for me there.