World Travelers
Well, most of you know that our family enjoys traveling. Before our son came along we thought nothing of long plane rides and getting around in foreign countries. Our last international trip was when I was 5 months pregnant, to visit our sister who works in Shanghai. We joked that it would probably be the last chance we'd have to travel like that for many years. Well...
...we lied.
Last week, we dared to do the unthinkable...trek halfway around the globe with a 15 month old in tow. Most of our friends and family thought we had completely lost it when we told them about our travel plans, but we are happy to say that it was a trip well worth taking. On top of that, traveling with our son made it even more enjoyable. We acknowledge that God's grace fully abounded to us, and that we were being covered with many of your prayers. Thank you! We couldn't have done it otherwise.
The 13 hour flight to Hong Kong was pretty uneventful. Even though we didn't sleep much, thankfully our son slept more than half of the way there (and Cathay Pacific has GREAT in-flight entertainment!). We arrived in Hong Kong on Sunday morning at 5:30am. Even though it was a really long day for us, it probably helped with the jet lag that we were forced to stay awake all day.
The trip was really centered around visiting a very good friend of mine in Hong Kong, some former students (& friends) in Guangzhou, China, and our sister who met up with us for the last 2 days in Hong Kong. Since my hubby & I have both traveled in Southern China before, we didn't really need to do a lot of sightseeing, and could just focus on connecting with people. Most of the people we saw I hadn't seen in 9-11 years! I was able to revisit the university where I taught English in '96-'97, and show my husband where I used to live. My former students were great hosts, and treated us out to dinner 2 nights in a row. I was so surprised at how the lifestyle has changed so much in Guangzhou. SO many more conveniences and comforts since '97. Many of my former students are driving their own cars around and own their own homes as well.
If you are interested in learning more about the younger generation in China, there was an interesting program, Young & Restless recently broadcast on Frontline (PBS) following the lives of 9 young Chinese individuals. I can't say that any of those individuals exactly match anyone that I know, but it is interesting to get a perspective on how quickly China is changing and how this is affecting the people and their culture.
Here are photos of our family with two different groups of students. I taught them when they were college freshmen. Now they are 30 years old, with successful careers, and many with their own families. It was very touching that they remembered me and wanted to meet up with us after so many years.
Well, I'm still recovering from jet lag, so I'm going to go to sleep now. I'll write more tomorrow & post some more photos too!
...we lied.
Last week, we dared to do the unthinkable...trek halfway around the globe with a 15 month old in tow. Most of our friends and family thought we had completely lost it when we told them about our travel plans, but we are happy to say that it was a trip well worth taking. On top of that, traveling with our son made it even more enjoyable. We acknowledge that God's grace fully abounded to us, and that we were being covered with many of your prayers. Thank you! We couldn't have done it otherwise.
The 13 hour flight to Hong Kong was pretty uneventful. Even though we didn't sleep much, thankfully our son slept more than half of the way there (and Cathay Pacific has GREAT in-flight entertainment!). We arrived in Hong Kong on Sunday morning at 5:30am. Even though it was a really long day for us, it probably helped with the jet lag that we were forced to stay awake all day.
The trip was really centered around visiting a very good friend of mine in Hong Kong, some former students (& friends) in Guangzhou, China, and our sister who met up with us for the last 2 days in Hong Kong. Since my hubby & I have both traveled in Southern China before, we didn't really need to do a lot of sightseeing, and could just focus on connecting with people. Most of the people we saw I hadn't seen in 9-11 years! I was able to revisit the university where I taught English in '96-'97, and show my husband where I used to live. My former students were great hosts, and treated us out to dinner 2 nights in a row. I was so surprised at how the lifestyle has changed so much in Guangzhou. SO many more conveniences and comforts since '97. Many of my former students are driving their own cars around and own their own homes as well.
If you are interested in learning more about the younger generation in China, there was an interesting program, Young & Restless recently broadcast on Frontline (PBS) following the lives of 9 young Chinese individuals. I can't say that any of those individuals exactly match anyone that I know, but it is interesting to get a perspective on how quickly China is changing and how this is affecting the people and their culture.
Here are photos of our family with two different groups of students. I taught them when they were college freshmen. Now they are 30 years old, with successful careers, and many with their own families. It was very touching that they remembered me and wanted to meet up with us after so many years.
Well, I'm still recovering from jet lag, so I'm going to go to sleep now. I'll write more tomorrow & post some more photos too!
Comments
Your dim sum blog was very mouth-watering!!! What fun!
Surely, I will be one of the frequently visitors... hehe...