Blogs from Harrisonburg, Virginia, United States, North America

can be found here: http://community.brcc.edu/international/wp-content/uploads/china-itinerary.pdf beginning to pack this weekend--had to get the girls to bring a bag up from SC--they were mostly still there from the move last fall! got my lists, been listening to Mandarin so I'll at least have some familiarity with the sounds and be able to say please and thank you! got some yuan, notified the cards where I'll be when, copied the contact info and put it on the bulletin board. Oh, also started a project list for Mike for while I'm gone!... read more

4/6/11--found that the NetBook has "Word Starter" on it. So, I can use whatever this is to draft my blog postings, then when I can get on, post them. I’ll try saving, etc., and see how this works. I did check and folks have posted on this blog site from within China so that part should work. i know several search engines and Facebook and other blog sites are blocked. Then, I have to check the China hotels and see which have wireless. THEN I really have to get used to the keyboard, especially to figure out how/why it jumps to the top, previous sentence, etc. Just found out today that Drew got the VCCS grant!!! That’s fantastic, will help her pay for the trip (maybe) and will support the upgrade of the nursing program with ... read more

We did some cleaning and organizing in the morning. Then we went to town. The truck wasn't ready, so we went to an Antique Mall to look around. The State Farm agent called while we were there and said the papers were being faxed from Nevada. We found her office right away. She was so friendly and helpful. We signed all the paperwork, took the check and went back to the dealership. The truck still wasn't ready. Everybody at the dealership loved Daisy and wanted to see her each time we back (again). We went to lunch at McAllister's. It was so tasty! We liked the sign that said something to the effect of "Tipping is not necessary. We pay our employees well to do a good job. If you leave a tip, it will be ... read more

Rich took the truck in for the trade and to get the hitch switched, the running boards removed and moved, and the trailer brake controls installed to the new truck. Rich gave the salesman the information he needed to contact the credit union to tell them the specifics of the new truck. The credit union was supposed to have an answer about a loan at 12:00, because of the time difference. Nancy paid bills online while he was gone. They gave Rich a little loaner car, so he went back to pick up Nancy. We had lunch and went over to make a deal! The credit union couldn't get their act together, so we went to a local sporting goods store to browse. Back at the car lot, the credit union was still having trouble deciding. ... read more

HEH--FORGOT TO ADD FOLKS before I ADDED THE BLOG--can you imagine me planning so poorly?--check out the Cedar Point pics!... read more

Last night Kayla and I palyed Wii right before I went to bed. I have to say that I wasn’t too thrilled for video games before we started, but it was very cool! That was my first experience with the Wii, and the player-controller interaction is one of the coolest video game experiences I have ever had. We played some cow-racing, ping-pong, and tennis. Good times. Rach and I went out or breakfast this morning, followed by some cruising around town on the bike. I have been trying to track down some more raingear, since I am tired of riding in the rain and getting wet feet and hands in the process. I figure I will have more rain riding before I get home, so it is a good investment to get more gear. I saw ... read more

The first night I arrived in Harrisonburg we had a BBQ at Rachel’s house. It was a Hesston alumni gathering including Jill Sweirs, Ben Baker, Chad Ahlstrum, Katie Ahlstrum, Kayla, Rachel, Aaron Nussbaum, and myself. It was a good time seeing everyone again, but toward the end of the night I was really fighting just to stay awake. Yesterday we went to Aaron Leichty’s wedding in PA, and it was great to see him again! I talked to him while I was there, and he invited me to spend a night with them on my way through. I believe that is what I will do toward the middle of the week. Yesterday morning we had lunch at Kyle and Erica’s, and it was the Hesston crew again. It was myself, Kayla Miller, Rachel Jaberg, Stephanie Kautz, ... read more

We've been back 3 months now and we've answered several of the same questions a few times so thought we'd cover some of them-- What surprised you the most? This one has several answers: 1) not many bugs. There were mosquitoes and flies but I think I expected there to be more beetle-type bugs around. Now, it wasn't rainy season and we were mostly in cities and that may have had some effect but that surprised me. 2) Lots of the blogs we read talked about the overwhelming odors and neither of us noticed that. Yes, it smelled different--more spicy or something--there's lots of cooking on the streets, etc., but we didn't experience the "got off the plane and it hit me" sense. And one of us actually has a decent sense of smell. 3) not ... read more

Well, Saturday, our plane was about an hour late leaving Heathrow but we landed only about 35 minutes "late". Immigration, luggage collection, customs, etc. went smoothly. Boy, were we glad we'd reserved a room at the Dulles Marriott (thanks, Doug!!). We were exhausted--about 36 hours later than when we'd left the hotel in Kolkata, with only a couple hours sleep. Did have two good flights, met some more interesting folks, had bangers & mash on the second flight, watched movies and TV but were pretty tired of sitting. Got up Monday and headed on home--the Valley sure does look good! Thank you all for reading along with us--we had a great trip and truly enjoyed sharing with you. I've added pictures to yesterday's entry so you might look at it again.... read more