Saturday 3 October 2009

China bound - going home!

Hello Everyone!

We just got another step closer to going back home to China!

After all it was the Chinese who said that the journey of a 1000 miles, begins with the first step!

We continue to make the steps, as the interviews are over, the medical checks are completed, the residence and work visas have been approved and airline tickets are booked - we are finally going home!

I have accepted a great position in Guangzhou as a Director of Studies, and will start in October! This will be a new adventure for the family, as our previous postings in China, were in Xi'an and Beijing, in fact both my wife, and our son, were born in Beijing! So we will experience the hospitality of the south, along with all of the fine food!

There are still many, many more steps to go through - saying our "good-byes", deciding what goes and what stays, not to mention packing for the children - but we are making process with each passing day. The stress level is high in our household, and the children and I are most careful not to disturb anything too much, but the days until we depart lovely New Zealand are very short indeed!

I have almost completed my "disengagement from Dunedin" and have resigned from all five of the Boards of which I served and am now in wrap-up mode! We have received some very positive feedback, from some of the local people, as to what we have been able to accomplish for international students and migrants here in Dunedin, however if you have read this blog for any length of time - you will know that positive feedback has not been the norm!

Hopefully I will make more regular contributions to this blog, as I made an earlier promise to our intern from France that I would!