So Philip... I am writing this for you :) I am very thankful that you are my one big fan so I'm going to update you on what I've been doing for the past few weeks...
China usually closes for about a week to celebrate Chinese New Year. I of course have to take full advantage of this time off so our entire family decided to take a trip to Sri Lanka. We originally planned to go to Israel but due to war going on, it was not safe enough for us to go. I wanted to definitely go somewhere warm and our family has traveled to so many places in the world that we only came up with Sri Lanka as the one place where we have all not gone before. I was super excited because I heard many great things about the place from my friends here in Shanghai. It's very interesting how my friends here have traveled a lot and my friends back home always think that I have traveled a lot!
The flight to Sri Lanka took foreverrrrrr... It was extremely tiring to have to transfer in Singapore to get there but it was worth it. When we arrived, I was just excited to take off my layers of winter clothes! We could not have asked for better weather. Sunshine every day! We were in Colombo for just a day and we set off to the north to a place that starts with a "G"... damn I already forgot. I guess I should just say some of the activities that we participated in... we rode elephants (I was able to sit on the elephant's head... what a great experience), we ate a lot of seafood, fed some wild monkeys, we saw lots of tea factories, and I was able to walk a lot. we hiked up one of the most beautiful old "rocks" where the king lived. It was FANTASTIC. I will attempt to load some photos of this as well. All in all my family had a great time. It was interesting to take a trip with the entire fam after a long long time. It was quite a challenge of course... we fought about a lot of stuff, but when we're on vacation, the anger seems to go away a lot faster :) My parents are now on their way to Thailand before heading back to the good ol' USA. Can't believe that they've been out of the country for 6 months now! Time flies.
For me, I'm back in Shanghai for another week because I have a class that I must finish. I will then take off until Feb 28th to go back to the States!!! I can't wait. I have not been home in over a year now and it's killing me. No matter what, home is where one grows up. I am super attached to the states even though I have been living overseas for almost two years now! I said to myself that I just need to last one year... now I'm going on my second! I am not sure if I will come home soon because of the terrible economy and I'm just happy to have a job right now. I am hoping to get some idea of where I'd like to be situated some mid 2009. Looking at somewhere on the west coast... I realized how much I love the sun and the warm weather... I will trade in any big city just for the warmth!
I'm planning my May holiday trip to go somewhere too. China gives us a few days off in May for labor day so I'm going to hopefully jump on a plane and go to Laos. I have never been to this country and if the price is right, I'm there! I am also considering Mongolia or Nepal, but don't know about the cost. I will definitely keep you updated (Phil).
Until next time... Ayubowan (in Sri Lankan this means "to good health") I will be seeing the rest of you all in NYC and DC/MD very very soon. xoxo
