Thinking about heading back to China

[SimonM]

So I'm thinking of going back to China already. Still love Toronto, but I miss the good old PRC.

Anybody over there right now, especially in the Beijing area?

[Scott R. Brown]

So I'm thinking of going back to China already. Still love Toronto, but I miss the good old PRC.

Anybody over there right now, especially in the Beijing area?

Does your wife miss home?

I know my wife goes through periods where she insists she is moving back home to the Philippines.

[SimonM]

Actually she says she's cool wherever we are as long as we can develop the financial flexibility to travel.

She isn't opposing a move back to China but she's not driving it either. This is just my predisposition to a nomadic lifestyle rearing its ugly head once more. It usually starts about 2 years after I arrive somewhere and ramps up for a year or so before I jump on a bus / plane and GO.

[sanjuro_ronin]

I haven't been back to Portugal since 2001.

There are days that I really miss it.

[SimonM]

Yeah, the "I miss China" itch is biting down really hard right now.

[Jimbo]

I lived in Taiwan from early/mid-'80s until '93. I had some good times there (and some tough ones, too), but I haven't been back out of this country since. It's weird, but I often have dreams that I'm somehow back there. I miss some of those times, but also know that things have changed there in the past 20 years, and it wouldn't be the same. There's an old saying to the effect of, "You can't go back home."

[sanjuro_ronin]

I lived in Taiwan from early/mid-'80s until '93. I had some good times there (and some tough ones, too), but I haven't been back out of this country since. It's weird, but I often have dreams that I'm somehow back there. I miss some of those times, but also know that things have changed there in the past 20 years, and it wouldn't be the same. There's an old saying to the effect of, "You can't go back home."

I great point.
My wife always asks me if I would go back and I tell her that I miss what WAS, not what IS.
I know that my time in Portugal ( or anywhere else I spent) is what I miss, THAT time.
That said, I do miss going on vacation to the home country and I am hoping that 2013 will allow me to take my kids to meet their great-grandparents.

[SimonM]

, "You can't go back home."

That's part of it.

I love Toronto, don't get me wrong.
I love the culture and it's great being close to my friends and family. But Canada's just never been the same since I got back compared to how it was. And there's the economy thing. I've got a skill set that makes me employable in both countries. I've got a job, and it's fulfilling, but the pay isn't great. And I look at my classmates from my most recent trip back to school and all of them have a degree and a post-graduate certification and I'm one of the lucky few with my fulfilling but low-paying job.

I can't help but think - when I was in China I was flush with cash and, yeah, maybe it was RMB, but I'd rather have a pocket full of RMB than a pocket empty of CAD.

[Scott R. Brown]

Not to mention it is just plain cool to live in another culture.

BTW: Any plans for kids?

My wife just got pregnant with our second child (6 weeks). Its my fourth though. I have two boys, 21 & 16 from my first wife. It is kind of weird for me because I know it is most likely my last child. I am 53 and my wife will be 40 when this one is born.

I look forward to hearing when you two finally have some children. Unless you already have and I missed the announcement!

Also if/when you go back I will be looking forward to hearing more of your adventures.

I actually refer to travel as adventuring. I miss those days!

[SimonM]

We do want kids, but that's proving challenging. Part of that is because we both have to work right now.

[sanjuro_ronin]

Kids change everything dude and rightly so.
They do NOT ask to come into this world, we bring them in kicking and screaming, literally.
The least we can do is prioritize them above ourselves.
Whatever "itch" you have, get rid of it before you have kids.

[David Jamieson]

Canada is my home.
I understand the wanderlust though.
Home is where your heart is. If you are where your heart isn't, you are in the wrong place.

[SimonM]

Any children we have will, by necessity, be carefully planned. So, yeah, we're keeping that in mind.

And my heart is a bit nomadic. It wanders around looking at new and exciting vistas and says "neat". So home is a fluid concept for me.

[Scott R. Brown]

Whatever "itch" you have, get rid of it before you have kids.

"The itch" is what causes children to occur?

[sanjuro_ronin]

Canada is my home.
I understand the wanderlust though.
Home is where your heart is. If you are where your heart isn't, you are in the wrong place.

Yep.
I wasn't born here and I miss the homeland a lot BUT I CHOSE Canada and chose to BE Canadian.
I don't know if people that are born in a country understand the huge significance of that...
I love Canada and I have been around the world and while Portugal will ALWAYS have a special place in my heart, I AM CANADIAN