The year 2016 marks my second year farewell to full-time motherhood and back to the people. It’s a year discussing with my colleagues with great concerns about the big events worldwide: France terrorist attacks, Brexit, and Trump etc.. It's a year dealing with interesting projects, and exciting publications; and it's a year with Nicole every day as the past years. Particularly, as a typical family with both parents doing scientific research and making a life on academy, this year for us is full of changes.

In the first half year, I used to devote all my Saturday mornings to a Deutsch class, try my best to catch up with Nicole’s language level and to adapt myself to the German-speaking environment faster and better. Then one day in September, I was told by my husband that I could make a pause or even stop my language course, because he would be promoted to a higher position, half a year later. But it would be somewhere else, not here.

It was really a piece of good news for our career, but I was not that happy as expected. I was actually overwhelmed by the very complicated feelings. I became homesick instantly. What a pity I have to leave again! I looked around our small apartment, and found that it is not like the barely empty it used to be the day we moved in. It is now well decorated, and even a piece of small hanging on the wall records the very happy moment happened in our life here. It is now a lovely and warm home for us. As days on I’ve taken here as my second home already in the past years. Nicole was born here and has been growing up happily. Both adults and the kid have their own circle of friends and built up their social network. And now we have to say goodbye.

But this is life, and this is reality. Looking back the past ten years, we left our hometown in China for overseas study and working, and then moved to Europe continue the research training, and again it’s time to go. Maybe years later in the future, we'll move to somewhere else on the globe. East to west, north to south, such an uncertainty and mobility. But isn’t it such an exciting endeavor?

Life is full of changes and challenges, which we really cherish and enjoy. It's like a long journey with the fancy unknown destination yet. Every city we have been living represents a special stage of our life. People come and people go. Some become our life-long friends, like some I met here on the CD blog; some become our life mentors and idols, guiding the way we would like to follow, like all the pioneers in this field. With people accompanying on the way, we are making our own colorful life.

I owe my sincere gratitude to all nice people whom we live and work with.

Judy, on 16 Dec 2016