"You are like a piece of chocolate -- you will always be at the bottom of my heart."  -- farewell note from a student.

So for now, the adventure is over. I will miss my new 'home town' Zibo, so much, especially just looking at the bustling world go by through the windows of a rickety bus, or exploring a new street on our bicycles, and (sigh) the food. Ah, the food. And the friendly people. And my students. And my new friends. It  wasn't fun telling everybody 'good-bye.'

I'll be living on Vancouver Island for the time being. The blog will remain in place, and..... we'll see what the future brings.

 I've taught four semesters in China at a vocational institute, two in the fall and two in the spring. The usual pattern for me was to chug along, getting busier and more tired, and then catch a 'flu bug and have to drag myself through the final exams. This time, the 'flu obligingly held off until after final exams, and then passed itself on to my husband with a vengeance, so that although we are enjoying a care-free vacation, we are hacking and wheezing.  

I have to think the pollution has something to do with the way our lungs are feeling. Frankly, the pollution in Zibo (and across all of northeast China) this past winter was as bad as we have ever seen it. Smog settled down on the city for day after day; some days you couldn't even see across the street. The filthy air kept us from wanting to get out on our bicycles, too, so we didn't get the exercise we should...

The trip to the Great Wall is the highlight of a trip to China for most people. Our trip to the Great Wall was, frankly, a bit of a disappointment because it was a foggy day. We couldn't see the wall undulating over the hills to the far horizons, couldn't imagine mongol hordes sweeping down from the north, couldn't comprehend with our own eyes the vast scale of the thing. 

We took a cable car to get to the Wall. 

Thanks to the kindness and generosity of my school and my colleagues, I got some leave time from teaching this past semester when our oldest son Gus came to China for a visit. We were waiting for the right time to do the Big Tourist Thing here in China. Although I've lived here for close to two years, I hadn't seen the Great Wall nor Tiananmen Square, nor the Forbidden City.  We didn't want to go during the worst heat of the summer, nor during the crazy crush of the Chinese national holidays (when the mad migration is called "People Mountain People Sea"). So hurray - moderate fall weather, (but with the ever-present pollution haze), smaller crowds, and the chance to see China through the eyes of an intelligent and perceptive newcomer, namely our son.

I've mentioned this visit in a few previous posts but there are a lot more pictures and good memories, so here goes....