20th June, 1985

Whilst moving house, I came across a very partial diary for the year that I went to China for the first time: 1985-6. I'll be posting a few excerpts here. Forgive the tone: I was 22, and very young. The first is from before I went -

Learned yesterday that I have a place teaching English in Peking for next year. I have not yet been told if I have a place in Sichuan. But I am going, most definitely going. Spending an hour each day trying to learn Mandarin. Scared, excited. It was a mindless decision, to go to China; I still don't know why, but I shall go. It is a determination with no basis. Will I find myself over the abyss with only a crumbling will to hold onto? A feeling of floating, of baselessness, but of calm. Calm in the long summer evenings. About to go to Edinburgh so stay with [friend] Peter....

We have come full circle: 23 years later it is I who live in Scotland, and Peter who came to visit me just after Christmas.