As a Newsreader with Sky News, Nicole Webb believed she had her life pretty well organised. She had worked hard over the years to attain this position. She was also the proud owner of a lovely little Mini Cooper convertible. Life was very good and she was enjoying every moment.
Turning thirty-five saw change begin to happen when she decided to do something very different; volunteer at an orphanage in Africa for six weeks, a decision that was to have a massive influence on what happened next.
Meeting James, a hotelier, on a ‘blind date’ proved to be the next momentous event in her life, an event that saw her getting married and at the age of 38 years, falling pregnant with their child; two events Nicole never thought would be a part of her life.
Along with being pregnant, they accepted a opportunity to move to Hong Kong. Four years later they were again offered a chance to move to China, a decision that was to be far more challenging than either of them expected, but one that was to enrich their lives in ways neither of them ever anticipated.
Once the decision was made to move, Nicole realised what she was giving up in her lovely, expat lifestyle in Hong Kong. China was far from anything she or James had ever imagined: Their beautiful, charming and cheeky blond haired daughter was the centre of attraction each time they stepped outside the door of their home for the next two years, The Westin Xi’an.
With a large dose of humour and good dollop of being able to laugh at herself, she shares her life as an expat wife of a Hotelier in China, the Middle Kingdom, a world that was vastly different to anything she had ever experienced or was even prepared for, learning how to do just about everything from the beginning.
Her journey to the hairdressers becomes a mission in its own right, finding a suitable school for Ava, a massive undertaking, trying to discover other Mums that made up the expat community proved challenging and that was without trying to learn the language, cope with the dense smog, the noise, traffic and immense amount of people everywhere.
Nicole Webb has offered a refreshing and honest peek through the window that people who travel for work and their families have to learn to accept as a part of their life. She has also presented a wonderful look at life in a vastly different culture, the love and insight that is gained by taking on a challenge and the understanding that no matter what the culture or the background, people are all connected by the same ‘common thread of humanity’.
More than a memoir and much more than a travel guide to China, China Blonde is a refreshing, enjoyable journalist’s eye-view into a world that has to be experienced to be understood and one that will definitely resonate with anyone who has ever lived or is living a similar lifestyle.
