Thanks so much for sharing your incredible 'Asian' experience! I will definitely miss receiving your blogs, but look forward to meeting up with you in TO in the future; although, maybe not in PJ's next time, haha!
Welcome home Hi Amy and Roel,
So great to receive this latest blog and feel so honoured to be mentioned in your blog. Here's to lots more lunches and cappachinos with Carrie.
All the best, Sherry Wolfson
MISSING YOU!! Hi Amy, it was a real pleasure to read your [hiccup] final blog and what a great friend. I did come close to shedding tears and feel that there is a big hole here in your absence! Your cameraderie is sincerely missed by Maria and me and we're working hard to keep up the tradition of a few laughs, especially at lunchtime!! I know that the kids are missing out on your talents and it's fitting that I write today on what I think is your very first day on the new job [lucky students], and the first day of SPRING in Aust!! All the best at your new school, and with Roel's study. Very good to read that Carli and Craig have such wonderful digs and that your furniture made it up there, stay tuned Carli for a phone call if I ever make it to BJ, must be a fascinating time. Well, move on 2010 Expo so the dust can settle, Amy the building of that flyover now has surpassed all imaginings, and we continue to clunk clunk our way through. Thanks again for leaving everything in such great shape for me, an esteemed mantle to take-over and as we say in Oz it'll be head down and bum up for most of the year. All best and love to you and yours, miss you! Margx
I'm flattered to be included in your final entry! Your engaging writing style and tell-tale pictures made reading a pleasure and commenting a breeze.
I am so happy to have you back in Toronto and am more than happy to shepherd your next journey into the West end. And next time I head out east, I hope to run into you in PJ's.
See you soon!
Love johanna
Good luck in "Reality" land! We've loved reading your blog- you could write a travel book yourself from it. We're settled into Minsk and enjoying both the city and the school. Minsk is one of the most beautiful cities we've been in. The air is clean and the cities is full of green parks and gardens and flowers and fruit trees are everywhere. Best of luck in "reality" land!
People make the experience. Great summation of a life-changing experience. But, although you two saw some amazing places, it's all about the people you meet along the path and the ones at home who love you and are awaiting your return. I feel lucky to have been able to both share that Asian pathway and to feel excited when you came home. :)
Great Wrap Up Hi Amy and Roel,
A great wrap up. I now ponder how long will it take you to get the wander bug again. And then let the blogs begin again.
Not sure if PJ's will take here in TO.
Jim
Legacy Impossible II Hey guys,
Wow, the end of an era! I almost feel like a piece of me is missing now. I had always enjoyed checking your blog from my desk in DC when all of my little brats were taking a test or something and giving myself a little mini holiday. It's hard to believe that the roles are reversed now. You mentioned Carly and I taking up the blog torch; well, unfortunately, I believe our blog would be doomed to failure and disappointment. Take the film "Speed," for instance. It had everyone on the edge their seats, eagerly anticipating the next scene. Granted, Keanu kind of gets on one's nerves a bit but Sandra Bullock plays her part well, the plot is tight and the cinematography is well-executed. But have you ever seen "Speed II"? Did you even know that there was a "Speed II"? Exactly. You guys were the blockbuster, we're just a boring old sequel. With that said, we do have another round of pictures about ready to send off. Even thorough they weren't framed by a semi-professional and they're not accompanied by international bestseller worthy prose, they'll have to suffice. There is simply no replacing or attempting to keep up with the original China trail-blazers, Amy and Roel. Thanks for all of the effort that you put into the blog, guys. It was thoroughly enjoyed and will be sincerely missed.
Treasures from East and West Amy and Roel, what a great compilation of text and visuals- a storehouse of unforgettable memories and shared experiences. Oh how the pics of Carly and Craig's hutong hangout evoke the 'old Beijing'. Thank you for including me in your adventure.
Pauline
Ahoy! Man, just when I thought that I had it made in Beijing, you guys go ahead and post these fantastic pics! Thanks for making me homesick. :)
In all seriousness, I do want to thank you for keeping up this blog. It was a great way to keep tabs on your adventures and I came to look forward to receiving the notice in my email inbox. I'm not sure if I'll keep up the practice myself... I can only imagine how much work went into this... But I will try to keep family and friends in the loop, just like you and Dad did.
One last comment... Come and visit us here in Beijing! I know you miss the food (especially the prices of the food!) and the patios... Come!
Love you both!
Car
What a journey! Dear Amy,
How wonderful to be included in your and Roel's thank yous!
It was amazing for me to be included in your two year journey. I loved your blogs!
Looking forward to seeing you in TO soon,
Leslie
Outstanding! Amy, the pictures really do say it all, but your writing adds a lovely richness to the viewing/reading experience that smacks of excellence. You have captured my heart and now I must go to Vietnam! Missing you! Maria
Zai Jian - xiang nimen - miss you! Hi Amy, it's Marg / Margaret here . . . have so enjoyed your blogs and these last 2 I read a while back and response has been delayed. Back home feels like living in 2 hemispheres, literally, as one browse through the inbox takes me back to so many good times - and many shared with you on a daily basis at work, along with a lot of laughs. The year would not have been so much fun without your collegiate spirit, fantastic professional advice and our little escapes from that real world through our Chinese classes, wines and cheeses, occasional dinners - and yes, that 1 trip to 'celestial dollars' - when we had to ride back to school in a major rush in a very small bicycle taxi!! Hope you get to read The Mao Case as some funny and reminiscent bits about Shanghai and M partic towards the end. Hope Carli and Craig settling in well to Beijing, and you and Roel in your Canadian home. Hope your hols have not yet ended too! And that this reaches you. love M.
learning Enjoyed your continued journey, ( as always ) what for an interesting society so very very different from ours. look forward to see you back here in good old home called Canada
Yin and Yang Dear Amy,
Looking at life from a yin/yang perspective would seem, ultimately, to be the wisest choice.
I wonder how a similar blog about life in TO might look.
Many thanks once again for an intriguing overview of Shanghai culture.
I long to return there myself!
Zai Jian,
Leslie
Dear Amy,
I have thoroughly enjoyed sharing this wonderful Asian adventure with you and learning in this latest blog of harrowing obstacles that your family has overcome so gracefully, I feel somewhat awe-struck and wonderfully inspired to set out on a similar trek.
Looking forward to seeing you again in TO,
Leslie
Major memories Amy and Rouel,
Your memories of Shanghai are beautifully recorded . What an amazing transformation has taken place.
'
My sweet memories of being there in 1984 recall a very different scene. I was with a group of US and Canadians. We were looking at international approaches to gifted education. We had to travel with guides. In Shanghai, one evening, I left my hotel alone(and without permission) to explore the quiet, bike- lined streets. Families were gathered outside their buildings along the way enjoying the evening air.
I went along a quiet, dimly lit avenue lined on either side with rows and rows of parked bicycles to a department store. I navigated my way to the 5th floor where musical instruments were displayed. I seemed to be the only customer. A very polite gentleman helped me find the one -stringed violin I wanted. (I had heard it played so expertly along the way
during the trip).
From there I went on along the avenue to a small independent jewellery and antique store. There I found an exquisite pair of antique jade earrings which the proprieter was so happy to sell me.
I returned to my hotel on foot. No one had noticed I was gone.
Thanks for sharing I have certainly enjoyed living vicariously through your blogs! Your story telling is wonderful. I hope our paths cross again some day.
Pajamas all around! Hey instead of 'correcting' this cultural faux pas, I'm putting out this dare to Amy and Roel (if you'll do it, I'll do it): Why don't you bring the custom here. Let's do Starbucks on Queen (muffins, muffins, muffins) in our P.J.s!
You did it! My title, in context, means, that you've managed to summarize succinctly and efficently, yet with obviously a lot of emotion what is probably the 'trip', 'experience' of your lifetime. I was very happy to be mentioned and I was very happy that I did in fact make the 'hop across the pond' because now I have my own personal set of great memories of Asia.
We are a couple of intrepid wannabe hippies -- young at heart -- who have dropped out of the Canadian rat race to explore life in the Shanghai teaching circuit. Join us on journey -- but only if you dare (or have nothing else better to do) What we lack in youth and energy, we'll try to make up for in entertainment value -- or a couple of laughs with us (or at us, at the very least :-).... full info
Sherry Chaplin
non-member comment
Thanks so much for sharing your incredible 'Asian' experience! I will definitely miss receiving your blogs, but look forward to meeting up with you in TO in the future; although, maybe not in PJ's next time, haha!