Destination unknown

I’m writing this blog while flying somewhere above Ulan Bator, Mongolia. After 4 wonderful weeks in the Netherlands, where we submerged ourselves in the warm and loving embraces of our friends and family, we are now on our way back home. And yes you guessed it…..back into 2 weeks of quarantine it is!

I know it would be better to try and get some sleep. Arriving at 6am local China time means I will have a whole day ahead of me, so a bit of sleep will be good. But it’s just that whole full day looming ahead of me that keeps me awake now. The fact that we do not know where we will go after arrival, what hotel we will end up in this time, whether we will share a room together or be separated again….this is all keeping me awake.

It’s not that I worry so much about it. It’s out of our hands anyway, we have zero control over what will happen to us in the coming few hours. So why worry? But it’s just a weird and slightly uncomfortable feeling that you are on a trip with destination unknown.

Last year our quarantine rooms in Nanjing were not the best hotel rooms we ever been in. But right now, cruising at 37000 feet, I suddenly find myself thinking that I would not mind to get back into that very same room at all. Because at least I would know what to expect: a small room without a view, with a peculiar roomservice but a friendly neighbor in the opposite room.

But isn’t that all part of following the adventure? Is the adventure not about letting go and accept whatever comes your way? Last few weeks I often used a metaphor to explain how I experience life among Chinese. It’s like they see life as a river: it flows towards you and you cannot change the course of the river, the river will wash over you and then….the river continues. And whatever moment you found yourself in, good or bad, it has moved on.

Or, as my stepsister put it very eloquently; it’s like going into labor: you huff and puf and you just keep telling yourself it will pass.

Either way, I better try to get some sleep now and soon we will see what the day will bring us!

By the time I can post this blog we have probably arrived at our destination for the coming 2 weeks, and there will be a lot more thoughts to share. But that is for another adventure blog!

Take care ya’all!