A Picture of China

Jet lagged

I was desperate to blog when I was in China. I sort of knew that blogger was banned in China, as is facebook, but it was still strange after all these years of having instant access to posting my thoughts online to not be able to do so when I had so much to say. China was confusing, incredible and bewildering. I have always been desperate to travel and while I consider myself to have seen a great deal of Europe, trips on the long haul have not seemed to be that frequent, and visiting cultures which really are amazingly alien has eluded me thus far.

My trip to China was unusual from the outset, as I was staying with my brother, sister in law and nephew. It made the whole experience both familiar and other worldly at the same time. I have a familiarity with Chinese food, culture and language through my family ties there and some things I felt quite connected to. There were other aspects of my trip that simply blew my mind. Seeing the Great Wall of China was one, it didn't matter that there were tourists of all nations around me, I just couldn't believe that I was standing on there, gazing over centuries of feudal rule.

I have a lot more to say about this trip, but most of it will have to wait as I am so tired, so behind on my sleep. I know that the one reason that I haven't planned trips like this before is because I don't like the idea of long haul flights. Ten hours on a plane seems like an eternity, and I still can't believe that the flight home is over, it was the journey that lasted forever. Mind you, it can't be that bad as I am starting to think that this going to huge life-changing travel stuff may the way forward, Easter 2011...India anyone?

Aller Retour

I landed yesterday at lunchtime, and went straight into my meeting pretty much. When that was all over, I waited for D by taking the Metro straight to Trocadero and onto that Platform where all romantic comedies end up when the characters go to Paris. You know, the vast white marble space that overlooks the Eiffel Tower. I lived in Paris and had never been there, but I went yesteraday. My patent black shoes clicked their way over the what must be one of the most famous veiws in the world. I stopped, sighed and thought 'That's why'.

Here I am now, writing from the Internet cafe on the corner of Rue Soufflot, the one that I blogged from the entire time I lived in Paris. I am looking at the same things across the street, feeling some familar feelings and looking forward to a few more days in the city that seems so full of light and life. After today, G and K will arrive in the morning and I will start all over again, tours on buses and hidden corners that I found when I lived here, although very little of Paris remains undiscovered these days.

I don't know where I am going, and I know where I have been, but this has been the most glorious of breaks. It has given me a chance to breathe at a time when I felt I had no breath left, and has reminded me that where-ever it is, it is not there.

Everyone loves a list...

So there are lots of things on the horizon and I know that as soon as I have a new place to go, life will breathe a sigh of relief and settle down before it speeds up.
Mostly in the European region, at the moment there are The Netherlands, Germany, France and the UK on the list, with a crazy left field China steaming down the wings.

The years already seems to be whipping past, and I can't believe that it is already February. There has been a million tons of snow over the last week and there is more to come. This will be my third move overseas and this time of year, the January and the February and the looking make the waiting period seem like it lasts as long as the winter seems to. All I need to do is tuck myself in, get a hot water bottle and wait for the Spring.

Oh, and to go with my new start and return to the blog, I got myself a lovely, shiny, new camera for my birthday last week.

Burst

It is nearly four months since I last blogged, my Blogger home page informs me. After all those years, I know why I stopped. Work had become so complicated and every day was filled with things that I would never in a million years put on my blog for the world to see. Yet here I am a few months later feeling like I might have a few things to say again.

I left work early today to go and get a parking permit from the local council offices. An hours waiting, followed by a long walk found me at the Alexandria bookshop on Andrassy, the massive new one with a cafe that illicits sighs of wonder at the golden ceiling. Looking for books about other cities, I couldn't find what I was looking for. This is my third year in Budapest, and the time has come to move on. In June, I will move some-where new, I just feel like it is all out in the ether enough to be able to say it on here.

It is incredibly difficult and very exciting being in the phase of looking for new chances and challenges in any number of places. I find that now, as ever, I am drawn back to Paris. Perhaps I have unfinished business with this city, maybe I just want a job I can enjoy and Sundays in the City of Lights. It is possible that Paris is drawing me back in, but there are other places to think about too. What about home? Seven years stand between me and England, time that has made me feel more British than I ever did when I was living there.

One thing is clear, things have to change. Walking home from Alexandria, I passed a small Jewish bookshop that has opened on Klauzal Ter. Gazing past all the tempting, homely books on Jewish cooking I saw this book. Something inside me burst and I could feel myself deflate as I found myself in the midst of a waiting game once again.

"Leave your stepping stones behind, something calls for you.
Forget the dead you've left, they will not follow you.
The vagabond who's rapping at your door
Is standing in the clothes that you once wore.
Strike another match, go start anew
And it's all over now, Baby Blue."

Bob Dylan (It's all over now, baby blue)

Attention

Why is it that I had to wait for some-one to notice my absence before deciding to blog again? The summer is all over now and outside the window I can hear the rain falling so hard that it almost sounds like applause. I have had the wierdest three weeks of my life at work, and now that it feels like autumn is finally on its way, a nrew phase begins again. September is the new january apparantly.

One way or another, this will be my final year in Budapest, and whilst last year I kept away from my blog for fear of giving too much away, I would like to be better at recording what I actually do while I am in and around Hungary. There is a lot going on at weekends these days and it would be nice to try and remember some of it, rain and all. At the moment however, there is only work and sleep, with precious little in between. It is astonishing to see how the routine climbs back into first place.

"The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain."
Dolly Parton