It is an adage in English. It means that once you make a big change in your life, like leaving your childhood house, things will not be the same.

      Like in this Spring Festival I visited my middle school in Longnan, things were not the same as before. After the earthquake last year, the main building was demolished since it had been damaged severely. When I went there with my friend Alfred, we just tried to remember where our classroom was on that ground and talked about our stories with such a strong feeling that they could never be found again but in our memories. There was another building had been built on the playground. Though that was before the earthquake, it did not exist when I studied there. We also took some pictures in front of the so called Cultural Gallery (文化长廊) because back in high school, Alfred and I practiced English and table tennis there for almost three years. Just in front of the picture of Lu Xun. I still remember when we were caught by the headmaster, our form master, who is also our head teacher, helped us explain to the headmaster that we were studying English and we had got the English teacher’s permission. But he didn not know that it was the Chinese class. So much memories there!

      Now these days in Lanzhou I also meet many people. The students here are so warm. I have never been in Lanzhou for half a month. It has given me another precious memory that I wish I will never forget. Not only with the students and teachers, but many things related to my family too. I just hope it will be a good turning point for everything. I will leave this land tomorrow after the last class for the Intermediate Spoken English Class embracing a new and exciting and also uncertain era of my life.

      I can never go home again. Everything is changing very fast around me and I have little time to look back. Just move on and expect the unknown.