Nathaniel and Sheree back in Australia

Returning To Australia

After a lot of soul searching we have decided to return to Australia at the end of Sheree’s contract in July. It has been an interesting two years and we have both enjoyed being over here with its ups and downs. The only regret that I have is that we have not seen much of China apart from Beijing. Over the last 6 weeks we have been trying to compensate and have gone to a number of different places. So far we have:

• Gone Go Karting

• Went to a Hot Spa with our Home Cell.
• Went to Xi’an and saw the Terracotta Warriors
• Went to TainJin and saw the concessions.
• Went to the New Summer Palace and saw the marble boat.

Go Karting

We went Go Karting with Ingrid and Alex from Language Calls. The most interesting thing about the racecourse was that it was indoors. When the temperature is below zero for almost four months it make sense. Because it was indoors the track was a lot tighter than some of the other ones we’ve been one. It was also really noisy but that just added to the excitement. Each race was only 6 minutes which does not seem like a lot of time but when each lap is about 30 seconds the 6 minutes seems like a really long time. Sheree was won by a lap and had an average speed of 34.3 kph.

Hot Spa

We went to a Hot Spa with some of our friends from Home Cell. We had bible studies, lots of praise and worship and a really good time. I don’t think we have many photos of the Spa and water park because we were to busy having fun but that’s life. My favourite ride was the man made wave … although that may be because I was the only one able to surf for more than a couple of seconds

Xi’an

Sheree organised the holiday to Xi’an which was a nice change. She found some really cool apartments near the center of town. We got to see al the major attractions in Xi’an:

The Drum Tower & Bell Tower

The Terracotta Warriors

The Bumpo Village

The Big pogola.

The Wall (We found out the hard way that it takes just over 1.5 hours to ride all the way around it)

We also go to see some other attractions:

Kites that stretched as far as you could see into the sky.

Some snacks in Moslem street.

Jiaoza Banquet.

TainJin

We went to TainJin with some of the teachers from Sheree’s school. The hotel was really nice but the bus trip there took almost 5 hours. We went on a tour through TainJin looking at all the concession(sort of like embassies) and hearing about TainJin’s history. I think one of the most memorable photos was looking at all the people fishing right next to the no fishing sign.

The photos from the TainJin holiday probably look really boring since the photos are mainly of buildings but in China they are really out of place and it almost feels like you are in another country when you go through some of the concessions.

New Summer Palace

We went to the New Summer Palace with Jon because it was his last day in Beijing. The day was windy and cloudy and rather depressing. I was freezing and to be 100% honest the jade boat wasn’t that impressive. I’m glad we want but I’ve seen so many temples in Beijing that they are getting a bit boring. We didn’t go to the palace itself because it cost an extra 30RMB to go there and we had ran out of time.

Future Plans

When we get back to Australia I am planning to go back to university and get a Graduate Diploma of Education. Eventually we would like to travel again and it will be easier if we are both teachers at the same international school. We will both:

• Get medical insurance.
• Flights back to Australia every two years.
• Paid an international wage.
• Leave work at the same time.
• Get the same holidays.

That should make it a lot easier the next time we travel.

Till next time…