Typically, during any holiday break Elyse and I jet off to some new destination to get out of the city. Hangzhou is one of the most popular tourist destinations in China for the nationals, so it gets packed full of people. During the normal weekends we don’t even try to venture to the lake as its wall to wall people. This year we found ourselves at home and wanted to make the most of the situation. This Holiday most closely resembles Memorial Day in the States, yet with customs and traditions that are unique to it self. The Qingming Festival (pronounced- ching ming) is a time to remember and honor ancestors at grave sites. The holiday is also called Tomb Sweeping Day. Chinese families go and pray before the ancestors, sweep the tombs and offer items ... read more

Pete & Elyse headed to the nearby Dental Hospital on Saturday, March 31st. It had been one year since either of them had a cleaning and they knew the cost was a fraction of the price in the US. Elyse had checked out a few places online through the Expat Forum and actually visited the Dental Hospital before making an appointment. Cleanliness, cost and a language barrier were her major factors when deciding where to have medical services done while living in China. When living in the US only 1 of these 3 factors would come into play as all dental clinics would have to be clean and speak English. Dr Wang was amazing and looked at Peter and Elyse's teeth first before sending them into seperate rooms to have a Specialist do the cleaning and ... read more

We just booked our return flights to the US and so the "Official" countdown has begun...... Days until we depart for Bali, Indonesia Days until we depart China for the USA We had to work on Sunday, April 1st in order to "make up" the few days off for Qing Ming Festival. Pete and Elyse being the pranksters that they are, knew they needed to pull a prank on their students since this holiday isn't widely celebrated in China. Being the cultural ambassadors that we are, we needed to educate them and what better way than first hand experience of a prank. When we both walked into our seperate classrooms we advised the students that it was that time of year that we have our 1st Oral English Exam....BIG, BROWN eyes all popped out of their ... read more

The day before my birthday, Elyse told me that she had planned a surprise for me and that we would be going out on our bikes at 3:30. I wasn’t really sure what to expect and was looking forward to spending some time with her and not working on any business related matters. It was a warm, sunny day and it finally seemed as if Spring was here to stay. We rode for 20 or so minutes, before we arrived at our destination. She booked us a couples massages at a nice Spa. Elyse had already been to this place two weeks prior with a friend, but it was my first time. We entered a room with two massage tables, a private bath with a deep, wooden soaking tub and separate shower. It smelled like lavender ... read more

St. Patrick's Day has always been a part of my life ever since early childhood. I can remember pinching classmates if they didn't wear green, drawing shamrocks in class and having green cookies. As a collge student it was another reason to drink, as if any American student needs a reason. I can remember Molly's bar in DeKalb had a special "Riding the Rail" if you drank so many Irish beers and shots then you received a tshirt proving your accomplishment. This week in class I explained to my students about the upcoming holiday, St Patrick's Day, and to my amazement none of the students or staff members that I told about this holiday had ever heard of it. I guess none of them have Irish ancestors in their bloodlines, so why would they. It got ... read more

I recently read this forum post by: D MJ Binkley Dave & Merry Jo Binkley They stated how they had read this article Top 5 Regrets of Dying and then went shopping, ie purchased flights for a trip to multiple countries. Pete and I have tried to live by these ideas since 2009 when we ventured to China. I remember hearing someone say "No one ever wishes they worked more, when they are dying" and that struck a cord with me. I am cherishing this time that we have right now, as I know we can't do this and live in the USA. It is a give & take situation. Returning to the US is exciti... read more