5 travelers15 checked bags1 40 pound dog and her 40 pound kennel10 pieces of hand luggage
Qingdao > Seoul > Chicago
... already we're so lonesome we could cry
{and so we have}
28 December 2010
on a jet plane
tomorrow it's
07 December 2010
The Johnson's {Seaside} in Qingdao
We took these photos at the height of fall.
The ginko trees were turning yellow.
The grass was not yet brown.
We took them by the seaside,
with the dog
(which is prohibited, and we were so informed by a local bao an)
(He's the security detail who is not quite police)
He pedaled up on his moped and informed us "No Dogs @ the Beach."
He pedaled up on his moped and informed us "No Dogs @ the Beach."
Never-the-less, we snapped these in quick succession.
And they've made for some fun memories of glorious autumn weather in our fair coastal city.
The air is decidedly more crisp now. The air quality -- smoky and gritty.
We were assessed yesterday and it seems we are JUST-AT-THE-LIMIT!
We're full on sorting.
And dumping.
And packing.
It's life out of suitcases from here on out.
The next week will be intense, and there probably won't be much from the old bloggie blog.
So I'll leave you with some of our favorite memories and best smiles,
So I'll leave you with some of our favorite memories and best smiles,
and see you on the other side of our pack-out!
Thanks for all your love and support,
from friends here and on the other side of the world --
at the place we will soon, once again, call home.
Cheers, Love, and Peace,
05 December 2010
Sunny Sunday Morning
We had a rough night.
Bei Bei up in the night with croup.
The whole family with sore throats, itchy eyes and nagging coughs that don't seem to let up at this time of year in this dry, barren, late-autumn land.
This morning, after a cup of coffee, things seem brighter. In fact, they are so bright that EHJ and Bei Bei decided to bespectacle their faces with dark glasses while scrubbing six weeks of window markers off the windows.
It's sad to watch their master pieces streak down the pane.
Sad that tomorrow the "Moving Master" will come to assess our five years of accumulation, calculate how many days are needed to box it up, truck it out, and then put it on a slow boat from China.
Sad that I still have random piles. And stuff sitting out: The ant farm. The Elmer's school glue (see it there in the photo). Earrings I wore Thursday. The new credit cards Mr. Johnson is nagging me to activate. (And that's just on my computer desk!)
But for this morning, whilst I sit in my mis-matched pajamas, drinking the dregs of today's first cup of Sumatra extra bold, savoring the gritty bits that slipped passed in the French press, it's hard not to smile as I watch these two on a Sunny Sunday Morning.
** The blissful sweet moment just passed, as Bei Bei yelled from the other room, "Are we going to be ayi's all day long mom??
03 December 2010
Reading...
Three International related NY Times op-ed pieces I found interesting this week:
WikiLeaks and the Diplomats
01 December 2010
Perspective ...
It's easy to get wrapped up and overwhelmed as a family entering global transition.
I've got piles and shopping lists galore. I have been running all over our coastal city collecting "last minute" furniture, textiles, and Chinese trinkets. Having art framed and pictures developed.
Part of the stress, I realize, simply comes from the volume of stuff we own.
Stuff.
Last week the two families who sweep our sidewalks and mop the common areas of our apartment building, the families that have been habiting an unheated, unconditioned, un-leased garage in our complex, were packing up. It's not uncommon for migrants to move on, and often quickly, from one place to the next. But the leisurely way they were sorting their things suggested to me they weren't going far.
After asking them what was up, I learned that they had been told to relocate to the underground parking garage under our complex. Two couples with one child each now reside in the damp, dark and moldy concrete bowels several stories underground. They transported all their possessions in an industrial size trash bin (the same one I drop my daily trash bag in).
Kinda puts my "predicament" in perspective.
Kudos, Google!
It was fun when google created a salute to pacman earlier this year . . . (http://www.google.com/pacman/)
And fun when they did the same for Scooby Doo on Halloween . . .
Everybody can relate to fun pop-culture icons.
But, I was even more impressed with today's display. Simple and to the point. A woman riding a bus, taking a seat and taking a stand ... 55 years ago today.
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