A proper goodbye to Beijing
If we're friends on Instagram you probably already know where we've moved to. It's this beautiful place on the edge of both Europe and Asia and it overwhelms me to this day. To be fair, we've been here a little over two months and that's not nearly enough time to take in the city. But I'd also like to say a proper farewell to Beijing, our home of two years.
Memories of Beijing
Beijing was an interesting place. I tried my best to speak the language, but in between working and caring for the baby and running the house, I really couldn't spare the energy. Nevertheless, it gave us so many beautiful memories, like our baby giggling because she was looking at Autumn leaves, her running through the park in the Springtime, climbing The Great Wall, walking around The Forbidden City, pretending not to be cold so we would let her play in the pool longer, and so much more.Not to mention, the newfound appreciation for blue skies.The thing with Beijing is, everything is so quick. You order groceries in the morning, it'll be at your doorstep by noon. You need to get somewhere in the city, you have your pick between the subway, taxi cabs, or the million bikes taking up the sidewalk.Anything that you need, you'll get at the press of a button. Paying for rent, paying for bills, paying for a chocolate bar from the tiny store downstairs--everything is quick and painless. If they need to build a new housing complex, they'll tear down centuries-old traditional homes to make way for it. Moving on, goodbye. See you never. Zaijian.
The Day of the Move
In the chaos of packing our lives up to move, we realized we hadn't planned well enough and we had WAY more stuff than we thought, and only three suitcases. We had to order a suitcase ON THE DAY OF our flight, and it arrived at NOON. Our flight was at eight in the evening. And then, we *STILL* had too much stuff. So we just panic-gave stuff away. Apologies to our friend Jenny Ybañez who got most of our junk. We love you.Of course, we still had to settle admin things like rent deposits and bank accounts and ALL BORING but important stuff. So while we were being brutally minimalist with what to bring, we had to deal with logistics like what time the landlord was coming so we could get our deposit. Rent was outrageously expensive in Beijing, by the way. It's actually ranked as the world's least affordable global city.We have a theory that everything else is cheap in Beijing, except things that improve you. Like haircuts, or school, or a gym membership, or deodorant.But back to the day of our flight, the landlord arrived super late, like five in the afternoon. We were expecting her at 2! So when they were finally done with the inspection, there was no time to be sentimental at all. We'd gotten our deposit and we immediately had to race downstairs to meet the driver who'll take us to the airport.
Not saying goodbye
You know how when you say goodbye most of the time you have a few seconds to internalize that you're departing? There are acceptable social rituals for that, like a handshake, or a kiss on the cheek, or just a "See ya". In Filipino culture, they ask if you want to bring some food home with you. It's wonderful and thoughtful and you're not going home from a Filipino party unless you have a bag of food in your hand.We didn't get to do any of those to Unit 902, Building B, Pingod North, where we spent birthdays, an anniversary, one Christmas and a New Year's celebration. Where our child learned to climb and jump and say her first word. Where we'd dance in front of the mirror and cook in our tiny but lovely, functional kitchen.Sometimes I feel like it's payback for all the times I French exited. It's not that I don't like saying goodbye, it's just that when you're in a social setting saying goodbye to so many people takes so much time and energy that once you're done you find that you've spent half an hour telling people that you're leaving. Just leave already. Is it just me? Introvert problems.It's like I finally met my match in Beijing. It kicked me out before I could get sentimental.So here's to a complex, ever-changing city where the long, brutally cold winters are made up for by the lovely, warm memories we'll remember, to all the friendships that go beyond The Great Wall--moving on, goodbye. Zaijian.