Time is flying!

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Well, it seems each day just flies by and we're quickly running out of time to do and see everything we had hoped for while my parents were here. Seems always to be the case, doesn't it?

Martin and I met up with my parents on Friday, December 4th at a hostel on Hong Kong Island, whereupon hugs and tears were exchanged. It was pretty exciting to get to hug each other after four months of only chatting on the computer! We had a great few days in Hong Kong, seeing many great sights- we took a trolley around the island, walked EVERYWHERE, took an adventurous bus ride to Stanley (the other side of HK Island and absolutely gorgeous) and of course ate lots of good food. My parents were kind enough to bring us SIX pounds of Cheez-it crackers, my absolute favorite, AND five pounds of Tillamook Sharp Cheddar Cheese! Cheese is very hard to come by here and pretty expensive for what you get, so it's been amazing to have grilled cheese sandwiches and the likes here at our place.

We came back to Shenzhen on the 6th and have been touring around since. Some highlights include showing them China Ikea & Decathalon (like REI), riding the bus everywhere, morning tea, seeing the Shenzhen Library & Concert Hall in the city center, them sitting in on our Chinese class, coming to my English classes & being clapped for, multiple delicious meals (out at restaurants, cooked at our place and consumed in the cafeteria) and nightly laughing/talking sessions in our two dorm rooms. I know my parents minds are definitely opened up to a whole new part of the world and they both have been fascinated by the culture here. We took a quick weekend trip to Guangzhou, the capital city of our province and will head back to Hong Kong this coming weekend. Martin and I will unfortunately come back Sunday and they'll fly out Monday morning, back to the Pacific Northwest and Christmas festivities with the fam there.

We have hundreds of pictures and lots of great memories, that's for sure. Once they leave it'll be back to semi-normal life for us...about three weeks of teaching left before we head off for adventures around SE Asia. Pretty crazy to think we've almost been here 5 months...we'll be back in the US before you know it. 😊

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