This afternoon we will be finishing off and sending out the last paperwork needed for us to be leaving. The RCMP certificate of no criminal record. We’ll be scanning everything, E-mailing it and then Priority posting the original documents that we collected. Once that is done with we will have to buy our plane ticket. Once that is done, we will be ready for our trip.

Irish and I have been flip-flopping about how we feel about this trip, some days we are excited by the idea of going back, some days we are sad about leaving Canada again. We look forward to indoor playgrounds for the kids that are affordable, and have more than just iPads attached to the walls. (Guildford picture here). Irish is going to miss the Philippine stores and the Grocery stores here, where we can get all sorts of food from around the world. I am looking forward to working with my old group of teachers again. Irish & I both miss Joy City, a mall near our house with a fake city on top that the children can role-play different jobs and learn about different careers at. I am going to miss my family, and friends again. We know it won’t be forever, and we have promised ourselves that Canada will be our permanent location, we just need to get the paperwork cleared out of the way.

A lot of people have offered advice or options for us since we announced that we will be going back, and we appreciate the offers. Even with our flip-flop feelings, we know that this must be done. China is not as terrifying a place as a lot of people in North America believe it is. They have malls, good schools, friendly people and to Joe citizen, it is much like living in Canada, except that everything feels a bit closer. Each area actually feels like its own community, which is nice and the violent crime rate is almost 0.Yes the government has its issues. There is a huge difference between the rich and the poor, the rich are generally corrupt. They believe in censorship. And there is a lot of traffic problems. They are over internet-ized, and have different family culture than we do. Nothing dangerous to Average Joe there.

In general we are not scared to go back, we are just going to miss the things and people we know here. I am trying to update this on a more regular basis, and call people more often to calm fears. We are here for another month, and would like to see or hear from any that we can.

I was looking over the Comics Code, and I thought to myself, Self, Why did we get rid of this? If more media or people followed even part of the comic book code I think we’d be a better society. For your benefit the code can be found here: http://www.comicartville.com/comicscode.htm

The code just breaks down what is morally right and wrong, and lays it out. I don’t know how many times I’ve had conversations with friends or students and they ask me why I won’t play games like GTA (Grand Theft Auto), or watch movies like Fast & Furious, or the like, and I tell them it’s because it glorifies crime. Why do we feel the need to glorify the worst parts of our society?

I have had immediate responses (almost programmed responses I would say) “Video games don’t cause crime” or “Movies don’t cause crime” I didn’t say it causes crime, but it makes it ok to fantasize about killing or robbing or stealing. And when people fantasize about doing things they know are wrong, they start to ask “Well, why is it wrong?” and this is when the people who don’t have the social support of good friends or family start to cause problems for society.

Now I’m not saying that the code is perfect, for example Section B # 1 could be removed, (No comic magazine shall use the word horror or terror in its title.) because those 2 words, “Horror” and “Terror” don’t scare anymore, but they do warn.  Section C “Marriage & Sex” # 7 (Sex perversion or any inference to same is strictly forbidden.) is too vague and if we’re not allowing sex period, (especially in children’s comics, unlike naked Thor: ) it should be removed, even if we PDA (public displays of Affection) it should be for all. I  digress, My point is: If the people we look up to on TV, or our children to look up to are drug dealers, thieves, and murderers what does that say about us as a society?

I want to express that I am not for organized censorship. But I wish the directors and writers would think about these things as they write. A lot of people believe they are just mirroring our society on TV, but in most cases they directly affect our society and how we think or feel. If children repeatedly see the police as the enemy in movies and TV, then of course they won’t go to them for help, like we should be teaching our kids.

Now if we held this code of conduct to our regular lives, we wouldn’t be having as many difficulties.

It saddens me to say that my family and I are leaving Canada again. We are heading back to Beijing, and though it saddens me to admit this, I am not as surprised as I should be. Canada has been a very good experience for all of us over the last year, and being here has accomplished most of the reasons we wanted to repatriate in the first place. Even though it will be difficult, we believe that leaving is the right thing for us to do at this point.

Since coming back to Canada, I have had the opportunity to meet and see some of my old friends again. Some I met for the first time in 12 years, some I haven’t spoken to in about the same amount of time. I do wish that I could see them again before I leave, but this is probably not possible. We also had the chance to introduce the children to 3 of their 4 grandparents on my side, all their Uncles, and one of their cousins. My wife, Irish, was able to make a few friends here, and we will try to keep in better contact with everyone this time around. Overall, the benefits to the family have been good.

On the flip side of that coin, we have been having non-stop financial difficulty since coming to Canada. Work as I may, we quickly went into debt, more than I ever thought was possible in 1 year. I became a financial burden on my family, which I never meant to be, and I am truly sorry for this. There have been days that I have lost sleep over this, and if you know me that means a lot. Now this has a 2^nd negative effect, because, I believe, my credit is checked when I apply to sponsor my wife for her Permanent Residence (P.R.). Also if I accept any form of welfare from the government, I am immediately unable to sponsor her. One of our goals upon moving to Canada, was to process her P.R. from inside the country, and this has become nearly an impossibility.

One of the reasons we decided to return to China was, upon talking to my old boss in Beijing I was offered my old job back. I loved working at Zhongde School. I was a real teacher, the students were great, and I was working regular hours and was on a monthly salary, not an hourly wage. We will have to set ourselves up again, but we have confidence in that, as we know what we’re getting into there. Irish has friends in Beijing that she made the year before we left. We will be able to send money back to Canada to pay off our debts. I will be able to spend time with my children again. We can process Irish’s P.R. from Beijing, and things will return to “normal” for us.

Yes China has its difficulties, and we are worried about a possible war with the Philippines happening in the near future, which will explode into a multi-national war if started. We are not happy with the “Great Fire-wall of China” either, because that means that our tablets and phones will not have access to western social media, (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Google +, to name a few). On a computer, which we no longer own, it will be possible with a VPN (Virtual Private Network), but we will have to buy a new computer first. We have lived with these for 8 years prior to our move to Canada, and should be ok this time.

I have been spending the last week working out our budgeting for the next year, to make sure we are going to be ok with repaying our debts, both personal and professional. This and Visa work for China has left little time to relax. I am still working at my company in White-Rock, and they know that I am leaving. I have been working on getting used to having time to call family and friends more often to keep them informed of what is happening, and let them know we are ok, and that we miss them.

We do not know for sure when we will return. I want to bring the family back to Canada for the summer Holidays in 2017 at the least. However, for us to return on a more permanent basis will require a lot of criteria to be met: first and foremost, we have to have paid off our debts. I have to have my teaching licence for at least 1 province (I was hoping to apply for BC & Alberta). We have to have savings, enough to survive for 6 months or more without work. I need to have a career set up for when we arrive, no part time jobs, but something that can allow me to take care of my family properly.