Home Sweet Home

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As I look out the window at the snow-covered streets, New Zealand and Asia seem very far away... We are very glad to be home though.

The flight home was decent, as good as it gets with two 10+ hour flights back to back! We had an overnight in Vancouver and were fortunate to crash with Duane's cousin Emily and catch up with her. We also met Lisa for lunch in Calgary airport, which was sweet. And then we arrived in Saskatoon to a welcome committee. It seemed so chilly out, but it wasn't really. We have to get our weather toughness out again.

We had a few days to get over the jetlag before we had to get back to work. Duane's been subbing regularly and I am back at work too. Our department has some new staff and we have an office with actual windows! We caught up with the Smiths over the weekend. The following weekend we went to Fort Sask. We were greeted by many "Welcome Home" signs at the Henderson house! We also did some bowling with family and friends, and had a supper all together. It was so nice to be home. We missed everyone tremendously!

We've both done some reflecting on the trip. It is so hard to pick a highlight, so we picked 5 each:

Charlotte:
- sipping tea with locals at an outdoor teahouse beside a temple in China
- snorkelling in Thailand with the bright colored fish
- walking through countless lush, remote NZ rainforests.
- Cathedral Cove beach in NZ
- Skydiving, after the sheer terror subsided and I was pretty sure of my survival

I feel truly grateful that we were able to do this trip. It was just the thing I needed. I learned so much over these months. One of the biggest things is that hit home for me is happiness is not dependant on circumstance. For example, an impoversihed chinese person is still loving life despite having very few possessions, opportunities and poor living conditions. Also if you are in a far away country and you have a non-functionning vehicle and no job, you can still have a fun day at the beach!

Duane:
-My first pic is from China; the Great Wall. It was REALLY amazing, and an incredible view for every inch of the 10km we walked!
-I liked seeing a Chinese Opera and Film, (Romance of the Three Kingdoms and The Journey to the West respectively) both of which I had read the books, and was excitedly relating to Charlotte what was happening.
-Hitting the Beaches with Techno, buckets of booze (literally), and our Irish pals during the Full Moon Party and pre-party nights.
-White water rafting down a 7m waterfall, during the most intense 45 min rafting trip you can imagine.
- and finally I loved our tree top adventure. That was a very fun day. Honestly Mom & Dad are lucky that I never knew of a local version when I was a kid or I woulda begged to go all the time.


Thanks for thinking of us and sending messages while we were away. Now we will sign off this adventure.....

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Photos

Charlotte enjoys a Tim's to fight jet lag
We are not crazy Tim's enthousiasts, but NZ had a severe lack of brewed coffee!

Getting to know Simon all over again
Simon has changed the most since we've been away!