A few years ago – was it almost 6 or 7 years ago? – when I left China I wrote to a good friend of mine about the ending of one stay – she wrote back saying that all endings are beginnings. It stuck in my head. Just as one thing turns over to an end, it merely means that something else new has begun.February 10, 2011 was the last day at work for me. After 3.5 years, I was left with a bag of mixed feelings. I had enjoyed working there. Nothing more. Nothing less. I had had the pleasure of meeting wonderful people – and the pain of watching one of the wonderful people turn into some unrecognizable form that I can scarcely call a human being. I have learned much. And unlearned so much more. It was good. It was lovely. And like all times, it’s changing now for the better.

Now, I go back to the same place where I once thought of endings as endings before the beginning began. Once again, I go to China thinking it will be the beginning. And I will come back knowing that the beginning doesn’t end. It’s for those lessons that you live for. And somehow even silly, idiotic, and neurotic people make you live.