A Return to Life Overseas

Way back in March of 2020, I left my home in Nanning, China in order to return to the US because of the outbreak of Covid. I had hoped that it would be a chance to try out life in my home country again after nearly a decade overseas, but thanks to the pandemic the past two years became more about surviving than really thriving. It has been a difficult and painful period. I lost my job and home in China and worst of all I've had to live separately from my wife, Anna, all this time. The pandemic is by no means over now, however we are slowly learning how to live with it. For me, at least, it is time to try and put my life back together again.

Thanks to recently being granted a spousal visa for the UK I will finally be able to do that. Anna and I have decided to settle down in her hometown of Bristol, a city that I have come to love from my visits over the years. In less than a week I'll be arriving there to start the next chapter of our lives together and I couldn't be more excited about it.

So here I am headed back into those middle spaces - the places that exist between countries and cultures where I have grown to feel most at home. It sounds strange but I find the ambiguity more comfortable than the familiarity of my place of birth. I feel most alive when I am somewhere other.

Despite the long hiatus I'm looking forward to coming back to this blog again. I'm hoping to write about my experiences settling into life in the UK, my ongoing travels, and do a little catching up on the places I never got around to writing about (Malaysia, as well as some hiking trips to Cornwall and Wales). More updates coming soon!