It’s all about sunshine and breeze — How I headed towards the UK

I know the weather in Beijing, always dry, a little burning even at the very end of September. I left the next morning, very early, but somehow, the hot evening that I finally got used to and black Americano that I was fond of for two years suddenly became my last impression of this country I lived in.

11 hours flight, I was chasing time up in the sky with the other 300 passengers, aiming to land before dark. Otherwise I wouldn’t be able to make it : People get softer and weaker alone at night, or in the dark. They lose the sense of direction, they get into the wrong bus,they make mistakes. So we had to hurry, the plane and staffs aboard and all the other 300 passengers, we needed to hurry.

We made it. I went out of London Heathrow Airport, it was noon here. Good weather: sunny, no clouds, cold breeze around me. All of a sudden, I thought I was standing in front of the entrance of Qingdao Metro station, heading back to Ocean University, continuing my life there- drinking at night, walking alongside the sea, climbing.

But no, I was not. I could not smell the sea, I could not hear people speaking Chinese with their lovely accent, and there are no red roofs, just like some buildings in Qingdao have. What I got here was some friendly smiles, and some unfriendly stares.

It’s my first time living in a place with a status called “the foreigner”. At the moment some things that puzzled me became clear and understandable, some things about my foreign friends living in China at the moment.

Now we are more like the same.

And for them who live in Qingdao, we even share the same kind of sunshine and cool breeze.

02 Nov. 2019