At last! The long-awaited podcast! For 35 years I’ve been travelling the world, seeing extraordinary things and documenting my experiences. I’ve often thought, as I’ve talked with the incredible people I’ve been lucky enough to meet, “If only I could share this conversation with the world.” And now I can, and I’m so thrilled to share the first of those conversations with you today. Where I’m coming from I recorded the first season of Oblivious Witness when we were still living in Beijing, and I’m bringing it to you from our new home in Bali, Indonesia. Going from avid podcast listener to podcast creator has involved a very steep learning curve, so I hope you’ll bear with me as I find my feet! Oblivious Witness is all about sharing the stories of people who’ve moved around the world and expanded their idea of “home” to encompass languages, cultures and lifestyles different to their own. It’s about the things they’ve witnessed while they’ve lived in different nations, how those things have changed them, and the lessons they’ve learned from moving outside of their own cultural comfort zone. Please welcome John Gordon In this episode, cross-cultural content creator John Gordon talks us through his early years in the United States, and tells us how he’s followed a thread of curiosity about Chinese language and philosophy as it’s led him through a decades-long career in China, where he continues to share his knowledge and enthusiasm with millions of people across the country. John’s wisdom, kindness, humour and intelligence, as well as his years of living away from his home nation, made him a wonderful, warm and inspiring presence on Oblivious Witness, and I hope you’ll enjoy listening to his amazing story as much as I did. I’d love to hear from you too! If anything you’ve heard in this episode inspires you to see the world a little differently or expand your own horizons in any way, I’d so love to hear from you. Please drop a note in the comments, or send me a message about a story you’d like to share. And if you’d like to talk about your own experiences of living away from your home nation, please let me know! Let’s come together to share stories of the things we’ve witnessed, so that we can learn from one another and see that, despite the differences in the details of our stories, we’re all global citizens of one beautiful and intricately interconnected world. With love and light from the beach Michelle xxx Get full access to Oblivious Witness at michelleneeling.substack.com/subscribe