It's been about month since I've left Beijing and reintegrating into North American life has been alarmingly easy. Between scarfing bagels and cream cheese, running in fresh air, and drinking Tim Hortons coffee, it feels like I never left home at all.

As I click through my pictures and reread old blog entries, it dawns on me that last year has genuinely been a fantastic adventure. Two weeks ago, I idly listened to a chinese radio talk show -- my mom listens to the Cantonese programming -- going on about "doing unto others as you would have them do unto you" (yes it an early Sunday morning). It took 5 minutes before I suddenly noticed that the program wasn't even in Cantonese but in Mandarin. This time last year, I'd couldn't even dream that I'd ever understand a sermon in 汉语.

Sure there has been plenty to complain about -- suffocating smog, crowds of sweaty (smelly) people packed into subways, and the neverending frustration of trying to understand/ be understood -- but if that's the price to pay for the things I've seen, and for the friends I made, I'd do it all over again in a heartbeat.

As Chris says (in what I imagine to be Humphrey Bogart fashion), 我永远记得北京 - I'll always remember Beijing. I came out of the year with more skill and confidence in Mandarin, living and travel experience in China, and a boyfriend no less. And a small but prominent scar that's disfiguring my left shin -- but at least I have a good story about how I got it! Not bad for one year.

This is my last post on Cat in China; I've decided to keep these past entries as a stand-alone record of my entire experience this past year and relocated the entire blog to cat-in-china.blogspot.com.

If you want to read about my year from from the start, you can click here to begin.

My personal blog will remain at the original address, kitkatcathy.blogspot.com.

Thanks for reading! Cathy

10 minutes of waiting in the rain before finally catching a cab. Where are taxis when you need one?

150 pirated DVDs taken through customs.

60 kilograms of luggage. And that's just what I checked in.

1.5 hours extra hours of waiting due to a delayed flight.

13 hour flight. We killed time by reading and watching...

8 episodes of 24 on Craig's laptop.

7 months - the age of a cute baby sitting across the aisle. She would smile every she saw me!

1 ice cream bar consumed during meal service. Yum!

15 minutes before the plane landed in Toronto, I was struck by a splitting headache and intense nausea. Not fun, especially when combined with turbulence.

7 hours spent keeping Craig company in the airport hotel before being picked up by my mum. I got into the car and discovered that the radio tuned into a mandarin station!

Not much going on lately except to say that exams ended and I'm all China-ed out -- the humidity, crowds and pollution has been getting to me for the past few weeks. With temperatures consistently in the high 30s, it's too hot to do anything other than stay in an air-conditioned room watching DVDs (currently working through 24).

Plans to triapse through southern China for the last 2 weeks fell through: train tickets are all sold out, plane tickets are too expensive, and to be really honest with myself, I am too tired to put in the effort. Budget travelling is never really a relaxing activity, and travelling in China is especially dauting since you can't book train tickets more than four days in advance of departure, and you can only buy tickets departing from your current location.

Here's an example of how fast tickets can sell out: we wanted to go from Beijing to Guilin on July 10th. Tickets go on sale 4 days in advance ie. on July 6th. So on the 6th, we line up at the ticket window (a line inevitably forms around 7pm every night when advance tickets go on sale) at 6:30pm. By the time we get to the window and ask if hard sleepers are available, they are already sold out. Time? 7:15pm.

After two depressing failures to buy train tickets - which increased our anxiety about difficulties buying tickets for other legs of the trip - combined with lousy weather forecasts for the region (rain, rain, and more rain), we reluctantly decided to scratch the trip.

I'm disappointed but to quote my mum "you want to leave some places to see for the next time you go to China!" Which is funny because she (correctly) assumed that I'll be returning in the future.

So Craig and I rebooked for earlier flights home! We fly out this Tuesday. It's been an amazing year but I am more than ready to see some blue skies and breathe fresh air!

Korean girl: "How long will it take to mail this box to Korea?"
Post office worker: "One week"

Spanish guy: "How long will it take to mail this box to Spain?"
Post office worker: "One month"

Me: "How long will it take to mail this box to Canada?"
Post office worker: "Four months"

Talk about a slow boat from China.

This just in: an earthquake struck around noon today; epicenter was in Hebei provice, about 55 miles south of Beijing, with a magnitude of 5.1

Craig and I were in our apartment on the 23rd floor and felt the entire building sway for about 4 seconds. We thought we imagined it until we saw the water in the humidifier tank sloshing around.