What happened to autumn?

Well I think we went from Summer to Winter. There is only a short spring and autumn here. We go from 25C to 10C in a few days. This week, maybe snow on the weekend with a low of maybe -5C and no heater in my home. So I guess I will not be riding my bike much this week. Snow? That will be strange. On Saturday it was 26c and I was sweating. If you want to know my weather just check for Nanjing weather. I am one hour from there so it's the same here. China is always full of surprises. Yesterday, I wore a shirt, sweater and jacket. I don't wear long underwear like most Chinese but maybe I will this year.

The trees are turning to red, orange and yellow but there are still a lot of green leaves on them but I expect that will change this week. By the following weekend I expect most maples and other (deciduous?) trees will be bare.

My Chinese is improving but I still can't carry on a conversation but I will soon, I believe. Now whether I can understand or not will be a question. I know the Chinese for 'please speak slowly' and 'I don't understand' so that's a start! haha.

Enjoy your day. If not, then there is always tomorrow. In Chinese language there is only a present tense. Some people say that there is no such thing as the present. There is only a past and a future. Maybe that's true. So in the next hour I will be living the future and then it will be the past. I don't worry about the past. I can't change that no matter how hard I try. So forget that. We only go through life once. This is not a dress rehearsal. I want to enjoy each minute that I have left. Hopefully, many 1000's of them.

I love China. I love being here. I would not trade my experiences for anything. For those of you who have never been here, come here once before you die. Even a week. It will change you. It will change how you feel about the world. It will change how you feel about yourself. Crowded? Oh yeah. Very crowded. Nice people? Mostly, yes. Many are the nicest people that I have ever met. It is a life-altering experience to walk down a street, to say xie xie to people who help me, to ask questions, to try to explain what life is like in Canada and to try to understand what life is like for them. I don't pretend that I know because I don't. I am working on it. But I can't understand a lot of things that are going through their minds. Their thinking is much different than the way I think. Not to say they are wrong and I am right or the other way. Just different. I ask a lot of people a lot of questions, like Yamin, Lijun, Amanda, Jack, Vicky, Judy, Cherry, and so many others. So many friends. I am learning. Slowly. You need to open your mind. To accept that what you see is true. Maybe you will shake your head and say that it can't be what it seems to be but it is. It is just different. My home is on the other side of the world. But here is also my home. If I am in Canada I will miss China. If I am in China I will miss Canada. I am half-and-half now. I hope to live here for many years. Maybe retire here. Maybe not. Maybe I will go home. But it won't feel the same any more. I am different. I look the same, maybe talk the same, walk the same but I am not the same. I feel better. I feel good.

There has been a lot of bad press about China. Most of it is from companies like Fox and CNN. I can't say much about that because China controls the country's news here. I can't even open Facebook. But I can read the news from home. But I think we all need to question the news no matter where it comes from. For those of you who are old enough, remember VietNam? Remember how the US downplayed their casualties and exaggerated their victories? If as many people were killed as they said there wouldn't be many people left there but they still lost the war. I met a veteran from the Korean War. He fought for North Korea. Very nice man. No English but his daughter is a friend of mine. It felt a little strange to me because I believe my uncle also was there for the Southern side. But it doesn't matter now. That is history. The Japanese did terrible things here during the 30's and 40's. Awful stuff. But that is also history. But history that you never heard about in Canada. Come to Nanjing and see the museum. Look up 'the rape of nanking (nanjing now). Ugly. They are making fantastic advances here. I feel like I am on the edge of massive progress. So much is happening, so fast, they can barely see what is happening.

Nice country. Nice people. Come here and experience it. I thought about teaching in other countries but no more. I like to swim on a warm beach and I will do that but not here. Maybe Philippines or Thailand or Cambodia. But it is not warm enough here in January. Maybe Hainan.

You can read about China but you need to experience it.

Don