Blogs from Santa Ana, California, United States, North America

On 27 Jan 2020 stories were coming out of Wuhan, China about a new virus that had locked down the city. We have friends Tom and Wendy; Wendy was the first Consul General after the U.S. opened the Consulate in Wuhan following its closure during the Communist revolution in 1949. I read that the U.S. government was evacuating the U.S. consulate staff so wrote to them "I bet you are happy not to be in Wuhan now! I hear the consulate is evacuating U.S. employees. When you were stationed in Guangzhou during the SARS epidemic in 2003, you were quarantined there for months. Times are changing." Little did I know at the time how much times were a changing! The world shut down, travel between countries was banned, and my plans for international travel in 2020 ... read more

Monday, 9-12-16 The fourth week of my stay abroad. I am staying in Santa Ana, CA, to work at an in-home daycare. This week I have not done too much exploring. I had to work a lot but I did have an amazing Labor Day. We had a nice barbecue which we all prepared together in the kitchen with music and stains on our shirts. I have read that you'd better not wear white at Labor Day and now I know why. We all gathered together on the patio and talked about movies, family and how delicious the food was. Afterwards, the volunteers and I went for a nice bike ride. This was a bit tricky because there are of course no bike lines and two of them rode a bike for the last time five ... read more

Sunday, 8-28-16 The second week of my stay abroad. I am staying in Santa Ana, CA, to work at an in-home daycare. This week has been a bit hectic, but I started by a day off on Monday. I decided to get out of the house and go to the park that is near the house I am staying at, Lillie King Park. The weather was really nice but surprisingly, the park was nearly empty. In the distance I could see a cheerleading group practicing their dance moves and their cheers and I saw his dad teaching his daughter how to ride a bike. I also saw a man who brought his own barbecue, but that was it. Because it was quiet, except for the cheerleaders, I grabbed my book and started to read. The title ... read more

I did not go for walk. R went for a long, uphill walk upto Prarthu's college. Took him an hour to reach. Total of 2hr. 30 mins walk. 12.30 Sri, Shanthi, AJ, uncle, aunty, R and myself went to Artesia for lunch. Reached only at 1.30 because of slow moving trafiic. Opted to go for buffet lunch at the India Restaurant. It was full. Managed to get a table in 5 mins. After lunch Sri had to go for a meeting nearby. We waited in the lobby of a Days Inn hotel, while the others went grocery shopping. Back home by 4.30. Later in the evening Sri, AJ, R and myself went to see Prathu's college. On the way back Sri showed us the 2 houses where they lived earlier and the land which he sold ... read more

Morning went on a trail with Shanthi. Played TT with AJ. Watched The rebound movie. Went out with Sridhar to visit his carpenter. 56 in the night.... read more