Feeling at home in China

Wow! It has been more than 8 months since Carsten got on the plane bound for China to start his new position and more than 4 months since Danielle started to live here permanently. We have enjoyed the many challenges and experience the time has brought us and we have started to feel at home here now that everyday life kicks in. After a time you get into the routines of cooking, eating out, shopping, playing tennis on Wednesdays, going to Beijing on the weekends etc. It is more seldom “wow – look at that – we are really in China”, now is it “just” home (in a good way)…

The “homey” feeling has been enhanced by the first visitors to join us in China, first Danielle’s parents (Agenta and Claes) and later her little sister, Nathalie. We really appreciated their company, open minds and not least all the great talks and experiences together.

When we have visitors we try to show them a combination of “how our everyday life is for us”, a part of the modern China and some culture. However, the most important thing is that we get to spend time with the family and friends we love and miss. We will not go into details on what we did in each of the visits from Danielle’s family, but we can assure that everybody had a good time and we are very much looking forward to our next visits.

Not only do the visits bring joy and happiness into our lives – it also enriches our lives through all the imported goods we request our visitors to bring: Rye bread mix, good coffee beans, good wine, chocolate and other delicacies. Not all of the things we cherish are readily available in China or it is insanely expensive.

On another note; as Ned stark would have said: “Winter is coming”. The 8 month summer with temperatures between 25-40 degrees has now disappeared and is replaced by clear sunny skies and temperatures below 0 degrees. It might seem cold, but it actually does not feel too cold as the humidity is very low (it never rains/snows) and the wind is never really strong. Coming from Copenhagen this feels more like a clear autumn day. The winter has transformed Tianjin’s rich outdoor street life to a more indoor environment – of course except for the many eager sport fishers, who we watch from our apartment as they drill hole in the ice on the river to catch their dinner. They never give up!

Both of us are now back in Scandinavia to celebrate Christmas and New Year with our family and friends. While our new home is in China our hearts still belong to all of you back in good old Scandi…

Merry Christmas and happy holidays

D&C