A New Centre, Another Beginning
Just as Hubin felt familiar, it was time to move again.
After about a year at the Hubin centre near West Lake, I had found my rhythm. Then the classes began to thin out.
I could have around twenty-one sessions on the weekly schedule, but bookings and attendance varied. The smaller face-to-face classes often had only one or two students. Life Clubs—particularly anything involving food—could fill a room, but overall the centre was becoming quieter.
When the lease approached its end, the company decided not to renew it.
I would move to Binjiang.
The new centre was near technology companies and another shopping mall, in an area where English could be useful to people working internationally. More immediately reassuring was the news that Andy would still be my manager.
The rest of the familiar group was dispersing. Dan had already left, and Chris Yu would go to Xixi. I would have new colleagues to get to know.
There were more women in the teaching team, which made a welcome change after Hubin. Iris had spent years studying in the United States; Janet had studied in Ireland; Suki had been to school in Australia. Their experiences gave us plenty to talk about.
Lewis was another British teacher. He had spent years in China, studied Chinese at Zhejiang University and built a family here. He was enthusiastic about teaching, and we quickly found common ground in our interest in the gym.
Yet while I was still enjoying the novelty of my life, he was thinking about a return to Britain. With a family to support, that required a plan. Further teaching qualifications were part of preparing for the move.
Kat, from Manchester, was also looking towards a different future. She had found settling in difficult and wanted to move to Australia. We had arrived in the same country and had very different experiences of it.
That was becoming familiar: some people were putting down roots while others were working out how to leave. I was somewhere in between, although I wasn’t yet giving the question much thought.
I didn’t welcome the move at first. I liked knowing my way around, knowing my colleagues and having routines that no longer required effort.
But Binjiang gave me another beginning. What initially felt like a disruption would bring friendships and memories I couldn’t yet imagine.