We've spend a week so far in Essaouira, Morocco. It is on the Atlantic Coast, about 2-3 hours West of Marrakech. The Gnaoua World Music Festival began the day after we arrived, bringing with it hundreds of thousands of people. The festival is now over, and it's pretty quiet here. [View Full Entry]

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Here are some additional pictures from our week in Madrid. [View Full Entry]

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On June 13, 2009, our youngest son (AKA "Thing Two") graduated from high school. My husband and I launched an "eeeevil plan" to spend a few years living and teaching abroad once Thing Two graduated from high school. After 23 years (the age of "Thing One") of being responsible parents, homeowners, etc., we decided that we were entitled to be selfish and do what we wanted to do, when we wanted to do it. We also have known too many people who made plans to travel "when they retire," but were never able to do so because one or both of [View Full Entry]

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We decided to venture across the water to Gulangyu, a small island across the water from Xiamen, where many old colonial buildings and historical sites are still standing. There are beautiful trees, some of which are 200+ years old, and gardens as well. Gulangyu in Pinyin literally means, "Piano Island." The island was home to a famous music school and contains the world's largest piano museum (we'll catch that one the next time around!) One great thing about Gulangyu is that it is not very crowded. It also has NO vehicles, save for a few electric golf carts that drive elderly [View Full Entry]

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Here are some more photos from Hong Kong. Enjoy! [View Full Entry]

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We took a day trip to beautiful Lantau Island. It was a nice break from the crowds and hustle of Hong Kong. There are supposed to be trams that take you up the mountain to the Po Lin Monastery and "The Big Buddha" but they were inoperative when we were there. We took a bus up from the MTR terminal and then rode a taxi to the ferry landing, going back to Kowloon by water. [View Full Entry]

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We've finished our first week of teaching here. I'm teaching Human Resources Management to undergraduate Seniors and my husband is teaching Business Negotiation to undergraduate Sophmores. The Chinese students are all very polite and hard-working. Their English is quite good, as it should be, since they've been taking English classes since they were in Kindergarten. We are living in the on-campus foreign faculty apartments. Since two of us are teaching, we have two apartments - we live in one on the fifth floor (ugh! LOTS OF STAIRS) and our son, Andrew, lives in one on the second floor o [View Full Entry]

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Getting around here is a bit of a challenge when you don't know the language. Xiamen is an island, but we live at Jimei University, which is on the mainland. Jimei is basically a college town built around the schools of the university. There are many small shops, bars, and restaurants that cater to college students, but not much else to do there. There's a Kentucky Fried Chicken, but not much else to my picky tastes! Getting to Xiamen requires a taxi ride (my favorite - a 30 minute ride across the bridge, to the opposite side of the island - [View Full Entry]

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Hong Kong was a great place to visit. It was very easy to get around via the subway. We took the Airport Express train to the MTR to MongKok station, where our hotel, the Langham Place, was located. The Langham Place was new, very comfortable, and a steal (less than $200 for the price). The hotel adjoins a huge mall, with many restaurants. The rooftop pool is quite a refreshing respite from the heat, humidity, and crowds of Hong Kong. Lantau Island, home of Disneyland and the Big Buddha, was a very nice day trip via the MTR. [View Full Entry]

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Tomorrow, I will be leaving for an adventure in China with my husband, Cliff, and our younger son, Andrew. Cliff and I will be teaching business courses in Xiamen for two months, and perhaps longer, if Andrew adjusts well to the expatriate lifestyle. Our only hesitation in doing so is leaving our pets, especially our dog, Punkin. All week, Cliff and I have been sensing that we must be "forgetting" things, because we felt like we should be panicked about leaving the US, but strangely enough, we were not. We'll have 18 1/2 hours to "remember" all of the things that [View Full Entry]

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