18th of January 2020
How time flies
I´m looking at my pictures from China and the memories flow like a stream of a heavy river, happy and sad, content and disappointed but most of all grateful for everything my dear country presented to me and all the friends it gave me.
Yesterday I got a new years letter from my friend in America. We spent time together in MinHou and became best of friends. She visited me in Portugal and stayed at my home. We did travel around the country and I showed her my favourite places.
I love my friends and having them in my little land with me enjoying their presence by my side is worth more than all the gold and diamonds in the world.
When I look at the picture below from the bus and see all the black heads I remember travelling from the airport and being the only foreigner. I also remember travelling by the night bus, the last months I spent in China, having to renew my visa every month. That was something. The beds for the Chinese and not for a tall western lady. When I came to Portugal my knees hurt for several weeks after the trips in China. But, during those trips I got to know a lot of people and they stay in my heart forever.
Then there are the bikes used by those who transported goods or just rubbish. The men who collected the rubbish, i.e. the papers and other things do carry them in boxes like this, I call it boxes, and then they sell the rubbish. Hardworking and many of them very poor but they don´t give up.
Where I lived there were security guards everywhere and they made sure everyone was safe. I was the only one living on the island but never afraid.
A common sight when you came into a shop, a small one, was a tea table where you got tea, Chinese wonderful tea and quite often a group of young men playing cards and others following closely. These gatherings could be quite fun.
On my way around some village I came across this nice man with his saw and timber. Those days it was very hot, as often it was in Fuzhou, and he had his workplace more or less outside.
The other picture is one of many I used as a landmark. I got lost quite frequently and the best way when driving was to have a picture. Sometimes I just jumped out of my car and asked the police and they were quick to send me away. Stupid foreigner, or what! But they did make a drawing and helped always even though they were anxious to get rid of me!
It does rain heavily in China but the umbrellas are not a proof of raining. We use the umbrellas also as protection for the sun.
So,
just some memories from my beloved country.
I am going through the pictures and trying to finish my book about my life there but it is in slow motion and I have no idea if I ever finish it. Maybe I will and maybe not.
Just imagine all the problems I had when selling my house. My friends told me to write a book about that, because they had never seen anything like it. China is China and it does make a difference quite often if you are a foreigner. That does not mean the people are not nice, I love the people but the government is in many ways really strange!
Just a thought for today and many more to come!
Hulda Björnsdóttir
My thoughts shared with you 