It has been almost three months since I left China. With that said I am going to reflect on the final weeks of my time in Tianjin and then some. Most of my final 9 weeks were spent working, walking the park and visiting the downtown of Tianjin.
Pictured here is the beautiful parks (I had the pleasure of walking everyday), Teda Tower (the land mark for Binhai) and yes that’s me swimming in the He Ho river. I had watched the locals many time swim in this river even with ice on the banks so I decided to give it a try. This day it was about 90 degrees so the water was pleasant.
Wendy left May 1st and I had a week off. We were allowed to leave Tianjin as China was very safe at this time so I decided to visit the great city of Beijing one last time. It was very eventful and a full day of travel.
Pictured here is the Egg, the great performing arts center of Beijing (I attended many concerts), St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Wangfujing (I attended a couple of masses there), The Forbidden City (visited twice) and of course the Temple of Heaven (lost track of my number of visits there). It was a great day and I came back tired with a memorable story but I will leave that out of the blog.
I also had a Principal’s Meeting in Shanghai in late May. It was a great 4 day event and I was able to meet my principal colleagues from all over China and enjoy the city that Wendy and I visited two years prior.
Pictured is the tallest building in China The Shanghai Tower, The Oriental Pearl and a bird’s eye view of the city from the observation deck of the Tower. I spent some time in meetings but enjoyed walking the Bund and playing tourist.
My final month in China was uneventful and I had final dinners with colleagues, graduation and final goodbyes.
My departure was not very exciting. I picked up my negative test results, started my Can App, taxied to Beijing with Panda (driver), flew to Xi’an, Toronto and quarantined at the same hotel as Wendy.
Many pictures and few words for my final blog. I am a little emotional writing this but the smile on my face with my family around says it all. China will always be a special place for myself and Wendy. We still talk about the people, the places, and the memories will always be with us.