It's almost time

Well, we leave in a few days and are just trying to soak up Homer. Had an unexpected visit from Jeff and Louisa last week which was fun. Crazy to have people visit in October as it was pretty cold etc... Looking foward to spending time with Dave and Becky as usual! That is what makes the transition a bit easier! These are a few pictures of their visit. Mostly from the few days we spent at our friends house on Yukon Island. Love you guys!

more of the visit...

Well... it seems Dad and Mom are busy packing up their lives to move down the street, so I will post more China photos for you all to enjoy... since I, on the other hand, am at the most low-key point in my life (that is, no work, little study, and few friends...).... :)

This is one of my favorite pictures of Pops. As is evident, he is about to burst into laughter. He was trying to just stare at the camera expressionlessly, but I insisted he look happy... heehee.... quite a handsome fella! (he is in a famous garden in Shanghai)

The last day of their stay in Beijing, I took them to the Temple of the Sun, a beautiful park area and we just hung out. It was great to notice the sign above the bathroom door......... nothing like a two-star toilet!! When Dad came out, he said he ranked it a negative one or two stars... teeeeheee!! You really cannot understand until you have seen them and had to squat next to a stranger to pee in a hole.... luckily with two stars, you at least get a little wall.... others just have a row of holes in the ground!!! Like camping.....










Another great Great Wall picture. :) Gotta love it! Quite a wall. :) One of the now, 12 (I believe?) wonders of the world.






This is Mom petting a lion who is about to devour her.



:) In that same famous garden in Shanghai.










And this is mom holding up a crab just before we ate a 18-plus course meal! We are in Xingcheng, a tiny town in northeastern China. Dad and Mom have friends in Long Beach whose parents live in this town.... so we went to visit them. They treated us like royalty.... This is where Dad and Mom began to gain weight. :) Out the window you can see the ocean... on the other side of it is north Korea. This city is where the Chinese navy is trained.

Welcome to my world! At least Dad and Mom were here to help off-set the severe racial imbalance in this country! :) Here we are with all the relatives of the people Dad and Mom know in Long Beach (at the same dinner in the picture above). The man on the right of Mom is the dad of their friend in Long Beach. He seemed fascinated by Dad's watch, and I told Dad that maybe he should give it to him as a gift (because they spent TONS of money entertaining us). Well, Dad did, as he figured I know Chinese culture and perhaps if someone complements you on something it is best to offer it to them (which is true in most cases). Oppsss.... after he gave it to him, I remembered that it is REALLY rude to give the Chinese a watch as a gift. They superstitiously believe that it means your days are limited and it is sending you to your death. You give a watch to an enemy! Oppss!!! Goes to show you one year hasn't been enough for me. :( Soooo... we hope the poor guy is doing okay today.

Much love to everyone! Thinking of you all! I still cannot read or comment on any of the comments.

Tami (and Billy)

the visit

Ok... here they are. Dad and Mom had an awesome trip in visit us! We enjoyed it thoroughly! We spent 7 days traveling to other places (both to northern China and southern), and then 5 days in Beijing.

This first picture is Dad and Mom in front of a Chinese junk on Tai Hu in Suzhou, China (the south~~about 4 hours car ride from Shanghai).
I think we all remember the story of Dad and Mom's first year of marriage when Mom gave Dad a model junk and then Dad said, "Thank for the junk!" Mom of course, not knowing that these Chinese boats are called "junks", and thinking that Dad was making fun of her gift, burst into tears! :) Here they are with a real junk!

This second photo is of Dad and Mom at the Summer Palace in Beijing. The Summer Palace is where the Emperors and Empresses would head to stay cool during the Beijing summer. It is only a few miles from our house. It has beautiful grounds and a lake (Kunming Lake) which we wandered around for several hours.

This is Dad and Mom in the Forbidden City. Mom enjoyed wandering around the grounds, as she taught Chinese history for so many years. The Chinese people we met all thought it was funny to meet an American Chinese history teacher. At the Forbidden City, Mom learned that she had taught students for so many years that the last dynasty was called the Chin dynasty (pronounced "Chen"), but actually the last dynasty was the Qing dynasty (pronounced cha-"ching"!). We all found that pretty amusing!

This last picture is Billy and I on a pedestrian bridge by our house. Our apartment complex is the white one behind us... you get a great feel for the pollution... it wasn't an overcast day, just a typically polluted one! :)


Hope everyone is well! If anyone else wants to visit, you have five months left in which to do it! :) We'd love to have any of you!

Much love~~~ Billy and Tami

china

we know mom and dad are back from china.... we want pics!!!!