That's right, as you would no doubt know if you have been reading the blog lately we are in fact safely home in Australia.
It has been a whirlwind couple of days and we are trying to settle back into normality down here in sunny Mornington - that's one hour south of Melbourne for those not familiar with Australia.
The weather has been absolutely stunning and already it feels like China was a decade away rather than a mere few days. As we expected we are both starting to feel a little...I don't know, sad that we are home, questioning our achievements and the like but there has been one huge thing over-shadowing everything and that is of course Courtney's suitcase not making it home with us.
We waited and waited and waited at the baggage carousel and nada. We filed a report and left the airport with Courtney's parents, brother and best friend Sarah feeling somewhat upset. Courtney hasn't felt settled since but thank god we recieved a call this morning that the bag was located and they mailed it to us today via courier and well i think NOW we can start the settling in process.
We attended a wedding last night for Simone and Adrian which really was a great occasion. At the wedding was a whole bunch of our friends so seeing them was a welcome home of sorts.
We will put up some thoughts about what it feels like being home as it's not something you can just drop into a post without a bit of thought involved but i will say one thing.
The single most outstanding thing - or rather, the thing that has stood out the most, is the clarity of everything. Life literally looks sharp. It's like someone has just focused a camera and bam, everything just looks wonderful. The sky is blue, the trees are crisp green, buildings and hills can be seen absolutely miles away in the distance. It is not until you get back home to Australia until you realize how truly bad China's air quality is.
If someone says the air visibility in China is at say 100 metres - sure, you will see the silhouette/detail of a building 100 metres away, but a mere 5 metres away, between you and that wall, or you and that tree, you WILL see fog. It's never clear - ever. You get days that are much clearer than others - even those that will show you blue sky, but the air in China really is attrocious. I seriously can't believe how good everything back home looks with the smog factor completely removed.
More soon, byebye!
(ps. editors note - i cant get out of the habit of saying byebye - a term all chinese know. When you say, "Seeya!" or "Catch ya later" or just "Later" - no-one comprehends. But if you pay for your goods in China's version of 7-11 known as Kedi, and say Xiexie, byebye! they will say it back and know 100% what you mean. I feel kind of gimpy using it at home but I can't NOT at this point.)
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