What's Making Me Happy!

I've been going from place to place to place to place in the US.  Been here since July 4th.  Happily, today I fly back to HK.  Due to time travel issues, I arrive 2 days later (Friday) at 5 am.  That's annoying, but leaves me some time to check work and unload the suitcases before I pass out for the weekend.

I also have a painting packed.  My grandfather painted a beach cottage the family used to own.  There are two small boys (me and my brother) playing in the sand in front.  I had to get it out of the outer frame to get it to fit, but it's thoroughly secured so should be safe.

Got behind on sleep on the trip and now I'm waking up early while taking extended naps in the afternoon.  This may take some time to get sorted.

But the good news is that I'm home in DG.

I've heard (read) that for every hour of time difference, it will take you a day to recover    So you should be "normal" in about 10 -14 days.

And on Sunday, I'm Leaving on a Jet Train, don't know when I'll be back again.

Yet again, my charity group decided to put the FengHuang trip before a big holiday.  This is actually a good thing for the lovely ladies who handle all the office paperwork, since most of them are formerly sponsored students from FengHuang.  They can shift from the school visits directly over to spending the holidays with their families.

So, yet again, I'll be trying to get back to DG before the holiday crush arrives, meaning I'll only be competing with a billion or so people for train tickets. 

I was hoping this trip would align with the planned wedding of one of the students I sponsored, but she hasn't selected a date yet.  Looks like I'll be making another trip to FengHuang sometime in October, November, or December.  I guess the advantage is that I can just focus on wedding-related things without having to juggle school visits at the same time.

 

I lost count of how many schools I visited today.  I did see one of my kids.  Hopefully I can see a few more as things progress.  Some I won't get a chance to see, because they are off at college.

I saw 4 more of them today.  That leave's one high schooler and one student at a local university.  There are others who are in Universities farther away, and there are others at various levels of schooling in other towns.

Saw my final high schooler today.  Not sure if we'll hit that local university next week or not.

And done!  We split into 2 groups to cover more ground.  The good news is someone got me a photo of my local Uni student.

Tomorrow I have the day off to enjoy FengHuang.

Thursday, I head back to DG before FengHuang becomes packed with tourists.  I'll be back sometime later this year for that wedding.  I just don't know when it is yet.

 

Wedding date is still TBA, but I got confirmation that it won't be before November 13th.

So, I've signed up for a quick charity trip to a different town in Hunan next week.  I don't have any sponsored children there, but it will still be fun to go.

...  I don't have any sponsored children there ...


YET 

Ode to EL
I have this image of you in my head which is probably totally wrong. you seem really American but found America in China or something haha. I'm sure I saw a picture of you as a guy with a big beard
But you live in the countryside and raise millions of kids?
I dunno, it makes me happy, it's so mad the whole thing lol. When I first moved here RenegadeDog (RIP) brought me here and it was still back when China actually was a developing country.
But there was this gang of people who all lived in Suzhou and went to that pub, I went to that pub and i can see why it would be fun, but you were out in Guangzhou by that point. It was not a hub. I did have some cool days in there but not nights
It's funny how China is, like the stereotype does have a truth to it how they are really conservative and because of history and everything the average Chinese person will only ever go to a Chinese mountain and maybe a Chinese beach it they are lucky
But then it's also such a land of everything,
 Anyway. It is mad eh? Your stuff which I can't relate to really is making me happy today

it turns out that the real treasure was the friends that we met along the way

...  I don't have any sponsored children there ...


YET 

Hee hee!  Just before getting on this trip, I did get a new one from another town in Hunan.  A lot of mine are various minority nationalities.  The new one is Yao.

I do need to pick one more soon.  One of mine recently "fired" me .  Her family's financial situation improved enough that she didn't need assistance anymore.  This is the second time that's happened.

Ode to EL
I have this image of you in my head which is probably totally wrong. you seem really American but found America in China or something haha. I'm sure I saw a picture of you as a guy with a big beard
But you live in the countryside and raise millions of kids?

I don't even have words for what I found in China.  I've written pages and pages.  I've written poems.  I can get pieces of it, but there's always so much more that I don't know how to express.  I just know I love it here. 

Yep, I've still got the beard and long hair.  Sadly, the hair isn't quite as long and is getting thin.  Happily other than the beard, the greying is quite minimal.  The power of Just For Men Mustache and Beard dye really helps in dealing with the grey invasion of my beard.

I do live in a lovely little village, but it's part of a city of about 10 million people, so the countryside aspect is a little lacking in fields and forests.  I don't actually get to raise the kids (a couple dozen so far), but I have gotten to visit many of them (and some of them are waaaay out in the countryside).

Guangzhou???  I've been there (tourist stuff, consulate stuff, airport and train station), but I've always lived in Dongguan.  I started off in town during my teaching stint, but have been a villager ever since then.


There's an old African proverb that says "Only a fool tests the depth of the water with both feet."  That's why I always take a deep breath and dive in head first.