Nice Visit with #3

We had a very nice visit with AF and her Scottish boyfriend. BF and AF played the tour guides for Stephen. I know he really enjoyed the whole experience and will have some wonderful memories to last a lifetime.

It was so nice to have AF back here. The time went by very quickly and we are suddenly empty-nesters again. Here are some sample photos from the visit:

Special Packages Arrive on Same Day

AF and her friend from university arrived at Beijing International Airport on Monday at the old Terminal 2 on KLM. They arrived the same day as the Olympic Torch which traveled from Greece to Beijing. The picture above is the plane that was specially outfitted to carry the torch and dignitaries. A ceremony is scheduled for Monday at Tiananmen Square. BF noticed the highway from the airport into the city was closed for the torch delivery as she went in the opposite direction to pick up our special package.

AF could not wait to have two of her favorite meals in Beijing..........a club sandwich at the apartment bistro and dumplings/mango ice at Ding Tai Fung. We are really looking forward to visiting with them for the next 11 days.

Spring Break II

AF will enjoy her Spring Break from University of St. Andrews, March 29th to April 13th.

She has decided to come to Beijing for the break and will be bringing a friend from St. Andrews.

Lots of Air Miles

MF left for a school program to Chile and Argentina on January 2nd. He sent an email to say Chile is beautiful and a hot 90 degrees. He will fly back to the US just before school starts.

AF flew to Scotland on Saturday the 5th. She will be getting ready for final exams. For her semester in break she will be coming to China.

TF flew back to Beijing to begin work on Monday. There is a lot to do just prior to the Chinese New Year so time will fly quickly. BF will be joining TF in Beijing after seeing EF and AF off to school. The 3 of us are trying to visit Harbin Ice Festival the third week of January and then to Viet Nam for the Chinese New Year the first week of February.

EF is getting ready for a school program during her winter break for a model UN course in Egypt and Jordan late February.

All Good Things Come to an End

It was nice being back in the fresh air and spending time with family together in the US.

BF and TF arrived in the US a little late and then the first and last bags off the belt were ours. We did not get to bed until late Friday night. We said hi to MF and EF and then in the morning we drove to pick up AF at Newark Airport as she was arriving from Scotland. We got there late due to traffic but all worked out. We then drove to NY to see my family for Christmas. We visited with friends and family, played some games, watched some movies, shared some gifts, definitely ate and drank well, and we even saw the priest who married us 26 years ago (he is retiring in January so was a nice surprise to see him at all).

We then returned back to our home in PA. It was good to have the whole family together plus our house guest family. As usual something at the house needed fixing (par for the course). We had a relaxing time and got some supplies for back to school and for China.

Home for the Holidays

BF and I are back home in the US to spend time with our kids. They are all back from university and it is so nice to be with everyone again. Absence really makes the heart grow fonder. We wish everyone a happy and safe holiday.

St Andrews

On Friday morning we started the day with a nice Scottish breakfast at the hotel. We then embarked to get AF a bank account, mobile phone and some dorm room necessities. BF had the bright idea to take a quick little stroll over to the Student Administration Building. It was prior to their opening and nothing is really going on at the University until Saturday. We had the good fortune of running into the head of the international students. She saw us in her office and gave us lots of good information. She directed us to Younger Hall to get a document which proved her address here for St Andrews for the bank. We got a big run around but finally someone was able to log onto the system to pull up AF's accommodation contract. We ran into a mother who was having the same difficulty for her international (Italian) student which was reassuring that it was not just us having the same problems.

We then went to the bank (RBS) just in time. As we got there the lines for student accounts really began to fill up. We ran into the same Mother and her son at the bank (they had tried to get a bank account yesterday but did not have the accommodation contract so could not open the account). We had all the necessary information but it turns out that the account is really only a savings account with an ATM card for withdrawals but no debit card. It is going to take a few days before AF will actually have an account to use and even longer for the ATM card.

Next was the mobile phone. We decided the best route was for AF to get a prepaid phone since she really does not know how much she will use the phone in the UK. The Italian family came in right after us again. Seems like every family is trying to get the same think done for their international students.

AF picked out a black phone that has a really nice plan for international calls. It is only 6p a minute to the US and 5p to China. We loaded up her SIM card and she now has a mobile number, yeahhhh. I loaded in some numbers for her and I tried EF's phone. It rang and I handed it over to AF. She talked for what seemed like a long time. I guess they had a lot to say to each other.

We went to "Wooly's" (Woolworths) to get dorm room necessities. We then went to a pub we had eaten at the last year while visiting St Andrews for a bite to eat and some cider and beer. The rest of the time we wandered around including visting St. James Catholic church to get service hours for AF. We took some pictures of AF outside her dorm building and English department building.

Empty Nest Again

AF is off to Scotland and on to the next chapter in her life. This will be a new chapter for us as well (we had a little rehearsal this summer). The three of us left for St. Andrews to get her settled in to school and UK life with dorm, registering for classes, banking, phones, and all that fun stuff. She has "Freshers week" starting on September 22 and the official start of school is October 1.
She has been getting prepared for her move to Scotland by watching the 2007 Rugby World Cup. I have never seen her so interested in watching a sport on TV before. We even went to an Expat Pub in Beijing (the Pavilion) for dinner and drinks a couple of times to watch the games. It has been interesting.

The trip to Scotland was filled with adventure. First we went to check in at KLM with 4 large heavy bags which will be AF's belongings at St. Andrews. We presented our itinerary to the ticketing agent who then asked us for our paper tickets. Ooooops. We were pulled aside for some special processing until BF realized she had the paper tickets. We got back in line to discover a weight restriction on bags of 20Kg per passenger. I won't even tell you how much the overage cost was, ouch.

Next we got on the plane and were seated in a row that backed restricted our seats from reclining normally and it looked like they had crammed this seating in on the 747. We had very little space between the seats in front of us. I should have taken a picture. At least it was only a 9.5 hour ride.

We arrived at Amsterdam on time and lounged around for the next 3 hours while we waited to get on a short 1.5 hour ride to Edinburgh. We presented our boarding passes to get on the shuttle bus out to the plane. A ticketing agent got on the bus asking for passengers with our last name. "we need your paper tickets". BF fished out the paper tickets again for the agent.

We arrived at Edinburgh on time and had difficulty locating our driver to St. Andrews. We hunted and paged the driver but nothing. We had a reservation with contact information. I called on a pay phone but did not have any coins for the phone so I used the debit card (big $10/call mistake). I called the mobile phone number but it rang once and hung up. I tried the office number and it referred me to the mobile number. BF went to the information center and they placed the call for her. Turns out you have to call them as they are sitting in the parking lot. Uggh. We arrived at the hotel around 15 hours after the trip started from our apartment in Beijing.

A Full-House Again

BF and AF came back home to Beijing on Friday. it was great to see them again (vacation is over, well except for AF). AF finally begins her university experience on September 22nd in Scotland.

They brought family back with them on this trip. BF's Dad and Brother are visiting us in Beijing for a couple of weeks. Should be fun to show other people what Beijing is all about from an expat point of view.

The Girls Return to Civilization

EF and AF returned to civilization and broke radio silence today.

I can't tell you how hard it was not being in communication with the girls and not knowing what was happening. It was a very helpless feeling (the distance in China doesn't even create that feeling since we are only a call away). They had little time to talk but just wanted to say they are healthy and will be able to call tomorrow with more information.

Happy 4th of July and 400 Days to Go

It is Independence Day in the US and just another normal day in China. SL brought in an American-made US flag. We just had to hang it and take a picture.

We did have a nice hamburger at Friday's during their "I Love NY promotion". Not quite a picnic on the 4th of July, but a good substitute.

We also stopped at DQ for a Blizzard (wanted to expose our Chinese co-workers to some more American "culture"). We talked about all the different kinds of candies and cookies you could get mixed into the ice cream. Good idea but JLo went with the Green Tea flavor (mixed in "green" powder).

It has also been 50 days since I reported on "the Countdown". The Beijing Olympic countdown clock is now at 400 days. Another counter we are keeping from the local paper is the number of week (57 more weeks). So what has happened over the last 50 days?.................... There are so many things:

• We enjoyed the graduation of our last child, albeit in China (fabulous ceremony including fireworks...can you imagine that in China).


• Both of our current college students were able to visit us in Beijing. We really enjoyed sharing our temporary home with them.


• We visited Tibet which was a once in a life experience that we will never forget in our lifetime.


• BF, AF and MF were able to go back to the US to enjoy a wedding for BF's niece in Milwaukee.


• AF went on a great school trip to Guilin, PRC (BF and I hope to visit sometime while in China.


• We have become empty-nesters (this is a big change and is especially hard being in a foreign country, sorry BF).


• From a work perspective, there have been many changes to the organization back in the US.

"Empty-Nesters"

Today BF and I officially became empty-nesters. AF and EF left Beijing today to go back to the US. They are getting ready for their Outdoor Leadership month-long adventure in the Pacific NW. It was a very sad day.

Tibet "A Place Like No Other"

The four of us and friends (a couple from apartment building) visited Lhasa Tibet over a long weekend. We went during one of the best times of the year, the other being September. The girls were going to take the train but no tickets were available. Train tickets are only available 4 days in advance. You have to have a travel permit to Tibet and a guide on the other end to go there.

EF and AF in Barkhor Square

Tibet is a really a foreign place. I thought Beijing and China (ex-Tibet) was pretty foreign to us westerners. The first thing you experience is the beautiful mountainous scenery. We went by plane from Beijing to Chendgu, Sichuan then to Gongkar County, Tibet . It is a 100km ride to Lhasa (.4 million people) which is the capital of Tibet. Our guide Nyima from Lhasa and his driver met us at the airport to take us to the hotel. The area is on a huge high plateau at 11,975 feet. The mountains are completely barren of vegetation but the plateau has plenty of water and trees. The stone building architecture is unique and interesting.

We were a little concerned about the altitude adjustment. Most of us faired pretty well but it did take some serious adjustment. Breathing was labored and it was easy to get a headache and a queasy stomach. Sleeping at night was a little tough.

We stayed at the Dhood Gu Hotel which was very much a Tibetan building from the inside decoration. It was certainly not a luxury hotel but it did the trick. The rooms were a little small and worn but they were very clean. The location was great as it was in the old Tibetan section near the Jokhang Temple. The breakfast tasted so-so but the staff was exceptionally friendly and helpful. Everything tasted a little strange including the bread toast. I made the mistake of asking for two eggs over hard (I got two boiled eggs). I learned to ask for sunny eggs which were fried with sometimes the yoke soft and other times hard. The girls usually had scrambled eggs which is hard to go wrong.

The hotel also had a rooftop bar (how funny it was actually a roof top enclosure that did in deed have tables and a bar to put alcohol but was being used to hang all the hotel linens for drying. We used it anyway to play some mahjong.

From our room we could see a glimpse of the Potala Palace (ex-home of the 14th Dalai Lama) but more importantly the roof top of a local resident family across the alley that had a huge incense burner. We left a small window open to our room while sightseeing. We came back and the entire room was filled with juniper incense from the apartment across the alley. Yuck I hate the smell of the incense it gave me a headache.

We visited the Potala Palace, Sera and Ganden Monasteries, Jokhang Temple, Barkhor Street, and a nunnery:

www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/tibet/lhasa/potala.htm

www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/tibet/lhasa/sera.htm www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/tibet/lhasa/ganden.htm www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/tibet/lhasa/jokhang.htm

www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/tibet/lhasa/barkhor.htm

The buddhist religion is very mystical and interesting from the pilgrims who walk around the Jokhang Temple on Barkhor Street either by foot or full body prostration in a clock-wise route with prayer wheels and adorned in crimson/purple robes. To the smell of yak butter and juniper incense (I will never get those smells out of my system). Then the mandelas, the protectors, the stupas, the monks, abbots, and huge number of Buddhas.

The people on the street were interesting. I think the pilgrims from the countryside had never seen westerners before. We received an unusual amount of attention, especially with open palms asking for money. The kids were the most relentless beggars.
The food was pretty good but I have had my fill of yak meat and yak milk tea. Some of us even tried yak butter tea that the monks drink (yuk, they can keep it). Yak butter is everywhere as people buy it to bring and add to the large tubs of butter that are used to burn candles in the temples and monasteries.

For my fellow bikers at Chase in DE who are getting ready for the Ride for Andrew. I am sorry that I won't be there with all of you. I am with you in spirit B+. I know the weather will be great for everyone. Dave C. you are an animal, your next adventure is to take two wheels and go from Xinjiang to Lhasa (2500km and 56 days from Gobi desert to the Himalayas).