After the 4th of July, Desi, Haley, and I took off down I-84 on a trip across the country! We were bound for Toledo, Ohio, with stops in Fort Collins, Colorado and Omaha, Nebraska, and anywhere else in between. I enjoyed the drive just for the views and the company of Desi and Haley, however, Desi saw it a different way. He was rushed to get home, and didn't like the hours behind the wheel. We made it work though, and we saw some beautiful places! Some of the highlights were due to driving in a Jeep--both lowlights and highlights, really. [View Full Entry]

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We flew into Portland! Yea! I told Desi I would kiss the ground when we got there. However, I was too distracted by the fresh, moist, pine-needley air. I would still kiss the ground, any day, anywhere in Portland. It has to be about 1000 times cleaner than the ground I trudge through here...hehhee... These are just some of our Portland photos, before and after our trips across the U.S. to Colorado, Ohio, Michigan, and back, and L.A. What a fantastic Portland summer. One day, I'll live there permanently, again! :) [View Full Entry]

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(I am trying to catch you up on the end of last year's school year.) Here are some of our highlights from last spring! Everything was wrapping up: cleaning up and organizing classrooms, apartments...celebrating warm(er) weather and enjoying barbecues, visiting with friends from home, traveling to Shanghai again, and finally, packing and moving apartments for the year to come. There is quite a lot to do upon the closure of a school year. The day we had to be all finished and wrapped up/classroom packed up at school, we were also moving our new apartment. We literally were scheduled to move [View Full Entry]

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We've made it back on to our blog! Hopefully unblocked by China for the rest of the year so you can stay updated! :) Lots has happened--we still have to post some photos from last year, the summer in the U.S., and the several we've already taken this year. I will get around to that soon... Just wanted to let you know we are back, and to expect some photos soon! XOXO, Desi and Jill [View Full Entry]

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A couple of weeks ago, we had a three day weekend, and found ourselves again in Shanghai. We really enjoy our time there! We actually are returning this coming weekend, for a four-day weekend. We are able to get some of our favorite kinds of organic food, and really, any food that we can't get here in Ningbo. We also got to visit again with Yvonne's brother and friends that we met in Hong Kong back in January. We tried to find some dance clubs--failed. However, thanks to the Hong Kong friends, got a good taste of the "dancing" scene in [View Full Entry]

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We completely forgot to post these birthday photos of mine! I really wanted to do something different than we normally do for my birthday. So Desi had made plans to go bowling at the local sports arena. I was so excited! However, I also was starving when it came time to go. So we did Japanese first...and when we pulled up to Perfeca--it was closed! Of course! Nothing goes as planned. So, we ended up at the foreigner bar, playing pool. Still fun. [View Full Entry]

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Here's a bit of a collection of photos that we have been saving up for you. They are just local scenes of Ningbo. Enjoy the classic Chinese scenes. Still waiting for someone to write that Hong Kong blog...hehehe.... [View Full Entry]

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After Kuala Lumpur, we flew to a Chinese city (only two hours away from Ningbo), Hangzhou. We heard a lot of hype about Hangzhou, as many of our coworkers have lived there and gave us some recommendations. (By the way, flying in and out of Malaysia was awful for me. We would have to wait at a gate, then after many delays, we would be allowed to "board." We had to walk around the airport, for 5-10 minutes, in hot weather, and our luggage, and walk out on the tarmac, up lots of stairs, and push and shove onto planes. Once, [View Full Entry]

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It's been 50 days since we've written anything! So sorry. What a rush the winter has been! I guess that is a good thing since it's so darn cold here. We are just waiting it out and layering up like no one's business! So, Kuala Lumpur went down as one of our favorite places, ever! We spent about four days there, over Christmastime. We stayed in downtown, in a big building, and we were completely surrounded by bustling city. Our building even had a mall in it. The first thing that caught us off guard, pleasantly, was that everyone looked different. [View Full Entry]

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Since you heard from us last, we've been back and forth from the U.S. and really earned our vacation there taking care of Desi's mom's things, etc. (that's for another blog if Desi chooses to write)...We had one week of school, which was like pulling teeth...and then came here, to beautiful Malaysia! We are staying in the Berjaya Resort--so not really roughing it--but the people all around the island, and here as well, are just one-of-a-kind. What a difference from China! The water is beautiful, the landscape too! We've stayed four nights already, and have had creature run-ins (geckos, mon [View Full Entry]

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