My Home Town
My hometown Shaxian is a medium sized city in South-Eastern China. I grew up and was educated there, until I went to university. After graduating from university, I went back to Shaxian and got my first job as a teacher there. Then I met my husband, married and settled in England. I have been in England for more than 6 years now, but the homesickness has never got better. It is getting worse all the time when I realize any of the Chinese festivals are coming, or when I get fed up with the weather and foods here.
Shaxian sits in the middle of Fujian province, it has abundant rainfall, therefore the weather there are very pleasant compared to Northern China or U.K. The four seasons are nearly equally long and distinct from each other very clearly. Spring there is my favorite season. I can still recall the enjoyable time that I spent in spring, lying on the grass and the hours of reading sitting under a big tree. Bathing in the warm sun, breathing the fresh air, smelling the fragrance of flowers and soil, I could even fall asleep sometimes. But the spring here is just too cold for me, and sometimes can make me very confused – because you may have some nice and warm weather in February and January, so you may think the spring is coming, but also you can get the heaviest snow in the year in March and even April.
I love the summer here, the feeling is just very similar to a warm spring day in Shaxian. Apart from one-two weeks unbearable hot days, summer in Shaxian is warm but still pleasant. Summer is the time for children to release their playful natural; it stands for fun & discipline free for most kids. From end of June to 1st of September, we got more than two months school holidays – the longest school holiday in the year. Although still lots of home-works to do, at least it means no more school uniforms, no more piles of homework until late night, no more struggling for getting out of the bed in the early morning, in stead lots of fun games, adventures and holidays. Followed a group of boys we were busy with adventures. We rided on the other’s shoulders in order to pick up the fruits in the tree; we climbed up trees for cicada, we put glue on paper made it into a net to catch dragon-fly; we waded/forded into the streams building an embankment encircle the fishes / shrimps and wipe them out. With girls, we rope skipping, chasing each other in the yard, play hide and seek….拌家家，So many exciting things to do, that we just too playful to back home for dinner in time. When the dark drove in/ befall, the familiar scenario is voice of parents searching for their kids spread out the streets. After dinner, when the dark night backdrop fully pull down, here comes another fun time before we tired out. Carry on chasing in the yard, or get a stool and join the circle of mums, daddies, unties and uncles, we were enjoying the time listening to their gossiping, stories and jokes, while we were lipping with the watermelon, licking with the ice-lolly. Lying on the grass, counting the stars in the deep dark sky, arguing who is living inside the moon is a fantasy time for us, All these simple things can make the summer days so special and delighted, although sometimes the hot temperature and the mosquitoes can be quite annoying.
