Blogs from Xi'an, Shaanxi, China, Asia - page 8

Back in February, Jarek and I decided we would find a way to make it to Hong Kong for the Asia Area Women's Conference. We agreed with the owner of a music studio to trade teaching music lessons for plane tickets to Hong Kong. I am not going to go into all the details leading up to this point - it isn't a very fun story and it would take way too long - but because of cultural differences, miscommunications, and a few other reasons we made the decision to stop teaching the class. Like I said, it is a very long story so I am not going to go into that, but what I do want to talk about is what we did during our little "music" class every Saturday for the last couple months. ... read more

Without a doubt, one of the highlights that we anticipated for this trip, was the opportunity to visit the terracotta warriors near Xian. We shared a table at breakfast at the Sheraton where we’re staying for two nights in Xian, with the Canadian couple that organized the Easter Day meeting aboard the Viking Emerald. A favorite topic among fellow travelers is which the preferred direction of travel for this cruise is: From Beijing to Shanghai or the direction of our trip from Shanghai to Beijing. The way we do the trip, the true highlights build towards the end, culminating with the terracotta warriors and then the Great Wall on our final day in Beijing. Some feel it is better to do the major attractions up front, then get on the Viking Emerald, and then to relax ... read more

It's been about 3 months since I last blogged. I was pretty busy towards the end of the term (in December) and once vacation started I tried to access my tablet to post on the website. Unfortunately, my tablet wouldn't connect to travelblog, so I was unable to post. Now I am back in the office, getting back into the routines of class, tutoring, gym, etc. Now that I have access i will look back on my spring festival trip. Travel during the Spring Festival can be troublesome and insanely busy; this year spring festival starts on January 31st. The days leading up to China's most important holiday (equate it to Christmas or Thanksgiving in the USA) can be taxing, especially if you plan on taking trips. I attempted to buy train tickets via CHinatravelguide.com but ... read more

Merry Christmas!!!!! I love Christmas so much! We hope you are all having a wonderful Christmas season! Things over here are going great! We had our branch Christmas party this week and ate at the delicious buffet where we had Thanksgiving. The best part was that they had a chocolate fountain!!! We were in heaven! We also had a Christmas party this week with all the exchange students. The mutual language is Chinese so we played Chinese charades and played the human knot game. Every “country” made a dish and brought it to the party. There was sushi, spaghetti with mozzarella, a delicious Korean dish that I don’t know what it’s called, chips and salsa, and more. We had a great time. At both parties Jarek and I sang Michael Buble’s version of White Christmas. It ... read more

Hello again! Sorry we get behind. First nothing is really going on, so we don't write, then too much is going on, so we don't write, then... we're really behind. Now though, we have loads of great things to talk about! Life here is better than ever. We're working hard to build and maintain friendships with Chinese students and it's a lot of fun. A few weeks ago, some friends invited us out to eat at a hotpot place because Kaylee tells everyone that it's her favorite. Now, remember, I'm not so keen on it- I like eating it for sure, it just tends to be spicy and do terrible things to my body. This time, however, they took us to a Beijing style hotpot place, i.e. not spicy. The really spicy stuff is all from ... read more