China, mobile.

Last Sunday my friend, colleague, and former Chinese tutor, Liu Haidi, left to go to Norway to teach for a year. A few months ago, one of my former students, Ray, went to Poland to study in a university. When Ray first told me she was going to go abroad, I asked her three or four different times if she really meant she was going to Poland because I couldn't believe it. My friend Jian was planning a trip to Nigeria a few months back (his trip fell through, but he was serious about going). I also have Chinese friends and students in England and Australia. Katie has a former student in Canada. Sometimes I go to Chinese restaurants in America and wonder how people from China ended up in obscure places in small-town America. In China, I'm watching people leave China going to all those obscure places all over the world. I just think it's interesting where people end up when they decide to expatriate themselves (is that a verb? is that a reflexive verb? probably not, but I like it. Yes, I'm an English teacher). In Yichang alone I've met people from India, Nepal, Sweden, Australia, Madagascar, Oman, Poland, France, England, and Canada. Whenever I see other foreigners in Yichang or anywhere in China, I wonder how they ended up here. I bet when I'm out walking around in Yichang, people look at me and wonder, "how did that white girl end up here . . . she obviously doesn't come from here originally." I don't really know what the point of this post is other than I was just thinking about having Chinese friends in Norway and Poland . . . of all places.