08/08/08

The Olympics have finally arrived in Beijing. The opening ceremonies were quite spectacular, and managed to invoke a feeling of pride towards China... a country which I have never really felt a strong affinity to, despite being the country of my ancestry.

This will the the last blog entry for Beijing and Back Again. It's been a crazy ride since I visited China for the first time, with my girlfriend... and eventual fiancee... and eventual wife. I dare say that my visit to China was quite transformative. Aspects of my cultural roots which I used to shun in proud ignorance, I have been able to embrace... or at least acknowledge.

My wife has encouraged me to pick up the language, and I've been attending Mandarin classes for the last few months. The language barrier is a tough one to beat, since Mandarin is a completely different language than English. However, in this short time, I am happy to say 我會說中文!

I look forward to going back to Beijing again in the near future. We decided not to go back during the Olympics, to avoid the mad rush of tourists. I would rather experience Beijing as a local, and hang out with my family-in-law. In many ways, I am married to China now.