http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Sharon-Jumper/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Sharon Jumper en-us Wed, 02 Dec 2009 00:00:58 +0000 Wed, 02 Dec 2009 00:00:58 +0000 Some pics of Kunming. I'm teaching at the Yunnan University of Finance Economics for the Fall 2009 term. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Yunnan/Kunming/blog-449363.html August 2009 We spent two weeks in Marbella and traveling the Costa Del Sol. It is very similar to Southern California in the US. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Andalusia/blog-427554.html Spent a few days at a conference in Barcelona. Here are some pics of the city. Overall I prefer Madrid. Barcelona reminded me of Chicago or NYC. Too modern. When I come to Europe I want to see old stuff. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Catalonia/Barcelona/blog-417229.html We've spend a week so far in Essaouira Morocco. It is on the Atlantic Coast about 23 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. http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Morocco/blog-413993.html Here are some additional pictures from our week in Madrid. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/District-of-Madrid/Madrid/blog-412763.html 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 http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/District-of-Madrid/Madrid/blog-411051.html 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 http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Fujian/Xiamen/Gulangyu/blog-203970.html 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 els http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Fujian/Xiamen/blog-200401.html 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 hardworking. 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 oncampus fo http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Fujian/Xiamen/blog-200352.html 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. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Hong-Kong/Lantau-Island/blog-200255.html Here are some more photos from Hong Kong. Enjoy http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Hong-Kong/blog-200248.html 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 hea http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Hong-Kong/blog-200001.html 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 t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/blog-195630.html Our last three days were a blur of museums and shopping. On one of the last nights one of my roommates and I went to dinner at the 5star Serena Hotel. It was like being in a whole other world and we got to see Kabul at night for the first and only time. After 8 pm the streets of Kabul look like a ghost town. No lights no cars no noise. One of my favorite memories of Afghanistan will http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Afghanistan/East/Kabul/blog-49400.html We went to Bagram and saw a demonstration of how the HALO Trust was clearing minefields. As HALO's website notesAfghanistan was heavily mined by Soviet forces during their ten year occupation with further minelaying by the communist regime of Najibullah during localised internecine fighting between Mujahideen groups and most recently between the Taliban and the Northern Alliance...Afghanistan http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Afghanistan/East/Kabul/blog-49393.html Today we traveled to Wardak province about a 2 12 hour drive west of Kabul. We met Dr. Roshanak one of the province's members of Parliament. She was profiled in a recent Washington Post article. Dr. Roshanak is an OBGYN physician by trade and despite her legislative duties she still maintains a practice a few days per week in her home province. Dr. Roshanak began her education in Afghani http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Afghanistan/East/Kabul/blog-49010.html Today is Friday the Sabbath. We begin our day in the northern part of Kabul where the sun is up the dust is down and it is warming up. As we travel north up through the Shomali Plain we witness additional evidence of decades of war first the Russians invaded along this route so both the mujahedeen and Russians laid antipersonnel and antitank mines that remain today then the Taliban http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Afghanistan/East/Kabul/blog-48896.html Today was kid day. We spent the first part of the day at Aschiana a school program that helps the street children of Kabul. The Director of the program told us the story of how he first conceived the idea of these schools 10 years ago I was walking home from work and a child of about 11 asked if I needed my shoes polished. I asked him why he was not at school. There was a long pause t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Afghanistan/East/Kabul/blog-48206.html Another cold night last night. My roommates tried to surprise me while I was at the Internet cafe they requisitioned an electric heater from another room we were the only ones who didn't have one and plugged it in to get the room warm while I was gone.They turned it on high which not only melted the cord but started a small fire in the room. They get props from me for trying though.We beg http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Afghanistan/East/Kabul/blog-47975.html First a confession. Prior to this trip I had never even heard of International Women's Day. Apparently it is a big deal in many parts of the world and in Afghanistan any large public celebration of women is a wonderful and dangerous thing. Our group had received VIP invitations to the main event at which cabinet ministers ambassadors and President Hamid Karzai spoke. It was held http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Afghanistan/East/Kabul/blog-47990.html