This time last year I must have known that coming back to China was a big life move, even compared to all my previous travels, but I seem to have been too busy with writing my thesis, organizing my journey, saying goodbye to everyone, etc, to think about what was ahead of me.
So here I am, on the 23rd of August 2010, with my “foreign expert” certification, a married man, a headmaster, with my name on the contract of three different flats, and now a baby on the way. What’s happened?
I suppose this is how it always goes. People have always done these things and I’m no different. The years of wandering round Eurasia (what V calls my “single man life”) were the unusual part, though they seemed like unremarkable fun at the time. I’ve not finished traveling – fortunately I’ve picked a career (TEFL training) where I can get a good job almost anywhere in the world. But it’s on hold for a few years anyway.
Now I’m going to be a father it seems like I need to be mature and responsible, but I’m not sure what that really means. Certainly my lifestyle right now includes very little in the way of irresponsibility and instability.
The odd thing is how easy and natural it all seems. I’m not panicking, not in the slightest, not even worrying much. A few years ago this would all have seemed like a very big deal indeed, but a couple of 31 and 30 being married and having a baby is pretty much the natural course of things. Life has simply moved on, and all for the better.