A Feeling of Home

We are home in Harbin! The bags are being unpacked and we are making our apartment comfortable. Kanyon is over his jet lag and sleeping great. He draws a crowd whenever we stop for too long at any one place. We have begun to find the local eateries, groceries, markets, and parks.

As we departed the airplane and walked through the Beijing terminal a familiar feeling swept over me. I didn’t realize what it was until later on a bus from the airport to our hotel for the night. It was a feeling of home.

After two years away from China, somehow on the bus ride I felt at home. It felt as though we had never left China and that China was the same as we left her. The writing is still foreign, the language is complex, but the food is great, the people are friendly, and the sights and smells all gave me a comfortable feeling. It is hard to describe, but China has become home to me and it felt great to be back. And now after four days in Harbin walking around the market streets, shopping at Carrefour, eating street food, and trying to understand the Chinese being talked at us, it feels even more like home.

Then when we return to the states each summer, that too feels like home. So while we are at home in both places, we are never really at home in either one.