Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Here's hoping you have a

Healthy and Happy Holiday
with lots of family and friends present.

4 Big Reasons Why I am Doing a Happy Dance

1. Zac and new girlfriend, Sarah, are on their way down for the holidays!

2. I just finished my pre-Christmas cooking - All the dishes that can be made ahead and frozen are DONE. Yeast Oatmeal rolls, Banana Nut Bread, Squash Casserole, Mash Potato Casserole, Mac and Cheese and of course 2 types of cookies. I still have 4 last minute dishes/desserts to make on Christmas Eve but the messy stuff is done! Turkey and Brisket is being done by Southern Soul....

3. I think I have almost "jumped thru all the hoops" that my China NUDT university has put in my path. I was required to get a health exam using an approved Chinese form, which is a normal physical along with blood tests, Chest x-ray, and EKG. All those are now DONE -BUT were rejected because they were missing the all important and required "stamp". After lots of pondering between the doctors and nurses we decided that maybe China would be happy with the pages being notarized. We will see...

4. I finally got my flight tickets changed. I had purchased tickets to go to Changsha, China the beginning of February so I could travel around with Cynthia during China's Spring Festival. BUT NUDT wouldn't let me arrive then (even though I had a Multi-entry passport good till May 2011) for reasons only they understand.... It took me 90 minutes ON HOLD with DELTA to make the changes along with an extra 250 bucks. I am now arriving 2 weeks later, which is when we start work. No traveling or time to adjust for jet lag or getting settled in-- just start working. But the tickets are purchased and packing has begun and hopefully all the frustrations have ended.

Lazy Susan Food

Wonder where that name came from - but I betcha the Chinese invented the spinning food server. Thank goodness - We would have spent our entire mealtime passing the multitude of dishes if it wasn't for the huge lazy Susan at almost every meal.

And it tasted as good as it looked. Unfortunately it is not even close to Chinese food that you can find in America.

Xian

Xian was our second destination and another labor intensive site- the Terra Cotta Warriors. Amazing! This was my 3rd visit and it still takes my breath away.

Good Fortune Peach

Labor Intensive. Farming in China is generally done on a small scale and by hand -not with big machines. Then to my surprise they even add more work by masking this “good fortune” character on each peach.

Beijing 2010

We landed in Beijing after the long and full flight on Air China. The Marriot where we stayed for the next 3 nights had surprisingly soft mattresses (I was actually sort of disappointed that not one of our hotels had the typical hard mattresses that my school provided me with for my 2 years in China – I sort of wanted a little sympathy/empathy for what I endured)

1st day in Beijing was a busy day that included Tiananmen Square, a Hutong tour and Pandas. 2nd day was filled with the Great Wall, Jade Factory tour, Summer Palace and ended with a quick look at the impressive Olympic Birds Nest and the Water Cube. Janice gets the award in our group of 3 for climbing the highest on the great wall. Living in FLAT south Georgia seems to handicap me when I encounter hills and heights such as the Great Wall. The grandparents of our large family group did great climbing but to their advantage they live in San Francisco.

Good Omen

This first day of our travels I saw this outside the airplane window – I figured that a rainbow around the shadow of our plane would be a good omen for our 2 week ChinaSpree Trip. It was! China was fantastic as usual but the group that we traveled with made it even more so. Our group consisted of 19 people with 11 from one family that was made up of 3 generations. I have to tell you that when we saw this big family we were a little worried about effect they would have on the dynamics of the whole group. It was a totally positive – plus 2 of them were doctors, which was sort of like having a security blanket along for any “just in cases”. Ming our tour guide was great at accommodating all of our different ages and demands. She taught hand games to the kids, made sure that Donna’s vegetarian needs were met and even helped me get train tickets to Hangzhou when I left the group at the end of the tour. She even answered all of our questions – even the embarrassing ones.

Side Note: I have to publically thank the kids on the tour for teaching the ins and outs of the new iPad game that I had become addicted to “Plants and Zombies”. They taught me the strategies that would get me pass certain hard levels of this surprisingly devious game. Thanks a Bunch!