Welcome Home

“Welcome home.”

Two simple words, spoken softly as I crossed the border back into China.

And just like that, something inside me lifted.

I hadn’t realised how heavy I had been carrying myself over the last two weeks until that moment. The lightness was immediate. A grin I couldn’t suppress. A quiet surge of relief moving through my body.

So I think it’s true.

China is home.

I live a small life in a vast country, tucked away in a corner most people will never see — and yet it feels exactly where I am meant to be. The last two weeks have proven how much I value this simplicity. How much I cherish the rhythm of training, the discipline, the routine, the shared understanding.

It’s not glamorous. It’s not comfortable. It’s not easy.

But it’s honest.

As the train speeds at over 300 kilometres an hour, carrying me deeper into the heart of China and deeper into the cold, I feel something I haven’t felt in a while — certainty.

Not certainty about visas or paperwork or long-term logistics.

Certainty about where I belong.

It’s not just the training I missed. Not the hardship, not the injuries, not the tiredness, not even the challenge.

It’s the simplicity of it all combined.

The clarity that comes from knowing what you are doing and why you are doing it.

Moving through Wuhan, I am reminded how different mainland China feels from the world I’ve just left. Yes, it’s busy. Yes, it’s crowded. But there’s an order to it. A quiet politeness. Space somehow made for everyone.

And the smiles.

Always the smiles.

This place reminds me that people are strong. Kind. Generous.

It felt good — deeply good — to be home.