It's time to return to the classroom for students across China, as schools have finally re-opened after months of closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But for teachers, specifically foreign nationals, getting back to China is still a challenge as travel restrictions remain in place. For nationals of some countries however, entry measures have been eased, allowing for a slow return.

For Kharn Lambert, a British national and a physical education teacher based in Wuhan, his return to China comes with an experience and story he'll most likely never forget.

"I'll say initially, that if my grandma wasn't in China at the time, I wouldn't have left. I only left because she was here and I had to assist her getting back to the UK. Because when she comes, she's got all these conditions and she's disabled. So when she travels here she travels with assistance, from point A to point B," explains Lambert, who's taught at the Wuhan Britain-China School in central China for around 6 years.

Having returned to China in late August and having completed his quarantine in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, Lambert is now back in Wuhan. He's eager to get back to what life was like before the virus outbreak.

But it's his and his grandmother's experiences back in January that have somewhat put a spotlight on the two. Visiting her grandson on what was meant to be a holiday around the Chinese New Year, Lambert's grandmother was caught in a health crisis that put her life at extreme risk.

"My grandma was visiting at the time, and it was her birthday on the 18 which was the Saturday, and I remember that message very, very, vividly, because she also said, that you might want to think about trying to get your grandma back to England as soon as possible," says Kharn.

Speaking of a text message he received from a friend, warning him of the pneumonia-like virus, Lambert says he was even more concerned about his visiting grandmother at the time.

"Because she knew my grandma suffers with COPD and underlying health issues, and at that time, when she started explaining to me, it was killing elderly and people with underlying health issues.”

Speaking to Lambert via video call, he reflects and recalls of what it was like when the lockdown came into force in Wuhan. He describes the days as being long, and spending most of them on the phone with the British consulate, embassy and foreign affairs staff.

While looking to get himself and his grandmother out of Wuhan, he soon realized that time was not on their side.

"I suddenly realized that she was running out of medication. So that then started to become the biggest worry, because I knew that she was safe from the virus because I wasn't going out anymore, I'd done everything I needed to do, so she was safe from that. So now the secondary problem was that, if she doesn't get more medication and we're stuck here, she'll slowly start to deteriorate.”

Eventually the two were able to secure flights home, though as the expat explains, it was a rather disorderly and unorganized experience. Subsequently their entire ordeal garnered sizable media attention back home in the UK.

But it's Lambert's return to China that's also attracted the interest of the media.

"British teacher evacuated from Wuhan goes back because he feels safer," read one headline about his situation. But, Lambert clarified: "It is safer because they have it (coronavirus) under control. They don't have as many cases per day." But, "I'm returning because I love my job," he explained.

Having detailed his position on his reasons for returning to a city he calls a second home, acknowledging how China has dealt with coronavirus isn't something the Englishman has neglected.

"I believe the way that China has dealt with it, is the way to deal with it. They put us into lockdown and people respected that. They did that because they thought this virus was serious, it could potentially kill hundreds of thousands of people."