Our YaYa Annual Conference (OYAC)

here are less than 10 members but every year we gather together for an annual “conference “. The location of the conference involves a little off road sliding and driving but the end destination is Margie’s quiet, relaxing, comfortable, perfect river front home. Registration fees include – preparing one of the weekend meals and bringing your drinks and snacks of choice. As with any conference there were many interesting sessions.

The 2009 sessions included:
Basics of Crocheting
Remedial Crocheting
Beginning Gardening (Except for Parsley)
Wine Tasting
Chinese Facial Masks & Their Application
Dressing for Success (at a slumber party)
Emotion Cleansing & Replenishing

Attendance at the sessions was very good with only a few drop-outs. We all left with a couple of new skills along with the realization that each of us will always have this great support group that will celebrate, console, and sustain us.

Happy Chinese New Year

Today, January 26, 2009, is the first day of the Chinese Lunar Calendar. So Happy New Year to all my Chinese friends. I miss so many of you and think of you often. Spring Festival lasts 15 days and ends at the Lantern Festival. I took pictures of last years lantern festival and they are somewhere in my blog photos. The lanterns are so colorful and could definitely compete with some of our “over the top” Christmas decorations.

We Take So Much For Granted

Things are so easy in the United States. It is 10 am and I am already on my third and last load of laundry. The amount of clothes I am washing would be at least 6 loads of laundry in the typical tiny Chinese washing machine - a full day to do plus 2 days to dry. (Longer for some people who do not even have a clothes washer) I am about to hop in my car and drive down to Harris Teeter grocery store 5 miles away (8 km) and I am fairly sure I will be back in 40 minutes.

In Xiasha it was usually a 3 hour chore and you can only bring home what you can hand carry. To get to WuMei you would have to walk to the bus, taxi or van stop, which was about a ¾ mile away from the apartment. If you were lucky you could catch a taxi and not have to wait for a van or bus to get you close to the store. There is one thing I miss from my China grocery store trips… the massage place that was right down the block from WuMei. Every chance I got I would add an extra hour to my shopping trip to get either a foot or back massage.

Would China’s inconveniences and inefficiencies keep me from going back? No, but it definitely reminds me not to take everything for granted. So the next time you load up your washing machine or trunk of your car - appreciate what we have here.

Picture is of Nicole & Zac's house in Wells Vermont. Renovation still taking place.

Home Once Again

Well I am back on the east coast of the United States. Plane ride from Shanghai to Atlanta was a good as a 13 hour plane trip can be. We arrived an hour early but the plane from Atlanta to Jacksonville (where Gail was patiently waiting for me) was 4 hours late. Jet lag has provided lots of mentally fuzzy days and strange sleeping habits but I seem to be back to a fairly normal schedule.

I quickly flew up to visit Zac & Nicole in Vermont. So I ended up going from snow in Hangzhou the morning of my departure to LOTS of snow in Vermont. We went sledding a couple of times. I figure if I was sitting on a sled I would have less distance to fall. I forgot about how hard it is to climb up the hill and the bumps that launch you when you're flying downhill. I escaped without any bruises but my throat was raw from screaming.

I uploaded a video that Zac took http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2196109459136925989&hl=en it is a rather big file so if you have a slow connection – skip it. It generally just provides lots of laughs for me but it might not be “bandwidth worthy” for you.

Snow In Hangzhou

Literally it was my last few hours in China and I got to see snow for only the second time. It was sort of symbolic because when I arrived in China in 2006 - I saw it for the first and only other time. The snow was gone by the time I left the campus for my car ride to the Shanghai airport.

Last Trip to Shanghai

I had to make one more trip to Shanghai for a couple of reasons. To show Rachel and JP around and to make one more stop at Lisa Pearls and the knock off market. Rachel took on the hardest part of purchasing the train tickets to Shanghai in Xiasha then they quickly figured out the Shanghai Metro system and train system so they will be good to go the next time. Shanghai is one of the easiest cities to get around and has some fast-food western restaurants like Dunkin Donuts, Burger King, Coldstone, Taco Bell, and a great Tex-Mex restaurant which are not available in Hangzhou. Even though Chinese food is great, sometimes you just need some American food.

Very Popular Russian Bread in Harbin

These are Chinese waiting in line (literally for hours – we watched) for the “big bread” that is made by the Russian Restaurant where we ate. I would have figured that by now, some enterprising Chinese person would have figured out how to make a “knock off” of this “big bread” and made lots of dough (snicker)….