Agua Fria to Alconbury

The past couple days I have been on a walk through my memory. The memories revolve around my high school experience, which are wonderful, funny and sad. I went to two different high school s. The first school was in Avondale, AZ, just outside of Phoenix, Arizona, the year was 1982. My freshman year was on the Freshman Campus for Agua Fria Union High and sophomore year was at the main campus, someone thought freshman needed more adjustment time or something so we had our on campus, I don’t get it but whatever. In 1984, my family moved to RAF Alconbury, outside of Huntingdon, England. This is where I finished my high school career at Alconbury High School. It was a small campus on the military base for dependents. My graduating class consisted of 61 delighted students.

Major relocation is not that big of a drama for our family. I was raised as a military brat, my father was in the Air Force, and typically we moved every three years. Moving in the middle of your high school career is more of a challenge.

These are the years that you make your friendships that may last a life time. This is the people that you bond with over heart aches, hangovers and acne. This is the time when it may take a year or more to find your place in the pecking order. Don’t get me wrong, how many of my classmates were going to be living outside of London, England – just me. Thank you very much.

What I didn’t realize at the time I was sacrificing a proper high school experience by being overseas - limited to no driving and all that in tales, no homecoming parades/floats, school dances were not the same, no skipping class to hit the mall (so I did skip a lot of class but the accommodations were not nearly as entertaining), dating was a strategic nightmare in England. We were scattered all over the area.

Twenty five years later, shhhhh, don’t remind me, I realize how much I have gained with my vagabond life. I know that I can adapt to most anything thrown at me. I may not do it gracefully but I will survive.

With the help of the internet, my UK classmates stay in wonderful contact, especially in the past 8 years. I love getting on facebook to see what the latest with everyone. We are global, most are spread around the US, some are in the UK, some in Japan, some in Iraq (be safe), I am in China.

Yesterday, I started finding the classmates from AZ. Charlie was on facebook, he lived down the road at Luke AFB. I then got a memo from Steve, a classmate that I don’t really remember but his photo is familiar, to register on an alumni site. From there it has been a snowball effect. Yesterday, I found Kaki, Liz and Laura. Today, I found Famie; I wish to find Rodi but no luck yet. Yes, I know: Kaki, Rodi, Famie and Tressie – what did we do to piss our parents off….really that is our names. I am not making it up. Liz was the model. She was all school spirit, I envied her beyond measure. She had a wonderful heart and was like everyone’s personal cheerleader. Kaki was the strongest woman I knew. She was just fearless. I know she had some inner demons but I was just in awe of her presence. Rodi was the momma. She handled everything. I never had to worry about making a decision, see wrong decision, you just let Rodi take over and don’t worry. Famie was our comedian. That woman could crack me up. Her family was great too. I hated to be at my house due to other issues, Famie house and Kaki’s were my hideouts.

Laura, I remember when we first met; standing at the bus stop at the entrance to base housing, her momma would drop her off in that big old caddie. Out would jump little Laura, she was like sunshine but such the drama queen. I decided immediately this was someone that I was going to be around. She was my introduction to the teen wars, all the hurt, tears and laughter. I think I spent more Fridays at her house then my own. Friday Night Videos and sipping her sisters wine.

So it has been a great couple of days and I look forward to hearing their stories. I hate that I have all these great pictures of all of these women and many more not discussed but alas the photos sit in a storage unit in KY. Hopefully, all the stars will align and the winds will blow from the east and we will all be able to sit at one table and share a bottle of wine.

Big Brother or User Error

I am fighting with the blogging from China.

Big Brother has a bunch of blocks on sites and blogger is one of the forces of evil.

I can only access when the wind is blowing from the south while it is raining and temp. is between 45 and 55 degrees. Once I have the correct weather conditions I have to hold my laptop at a 45 degree angle and point it to the north, south, east and all the while chanting….please, please, please.

If I do this in the right sequence and at the right speed I can log in through a photo program, not directly from IE. By logging in this way I can put a few photos up and the text. I cannot alter the background or post videos or any of the little extras that some would expect to see.

For those of you that know me, know that patience is not my thing and since I ran out of Xanax – you can just imagine my inability to deal with internet chaos.

I have to be in just the right frame of mind to do battle with the internet in a normal environment so add the challenges of creative access and I am typically a freaking nut case by the time I get a solid post.

I am trying to do the text in Word so I can paste it into the site and pictures are limited to a few because I never know if I can get the add photo option to work.

I really appreciate all the comments and interaction with those of you that take a few minutes out of your life to keep up with our life here in Chinaland.

Dozy of A Weekend

New Years Eve was celebrated with our “China Family”. Tammy and Chris hosted a wonderful party for 30 or so expats. The group was diverse; some of the countries represented were as follows: USA (go figure), Britain, China, Japan, Australia, Austria, Germany, Italy and France. I am sure there was one or two that I am missing. Chris cooked a leg of pork on the grill that was amazing. Everyone was asked an appetizer to share, I made my world acclaimed bruchetta ( it really is world traveled now), there was also spring rolls, Italian pizza, veggie with dips, cookies, hummus, couscous and dips. The food was wonderful. The drinks were plentiful with many bottles of wine, beer, JD, Stoli and champagne plus an evil bottle of Sambuca. We all ate, drank and visited till midnight when we all filed outside and Bill set off some huge fireworks that everyone contributed to, the Chinese do know a thing or two about awesome fireworks. Then back inside for the DANCING. What a great evening. Bill and I stumbled home around 330, I did my preventive maintenance ritual which consists of drinking as much water as I possibly can, apply a lot of Burt’s Bees chapstick and three extra strength Excedrin, crawl into bed and pray for the best. Bill had a drunken bathroom incident that for those of you in the know just think of what the Maki’s are renown for when they are overly intoxicated – Travis, Jeanelle and Ray are famous for these occurrences………

The next morning, okay, noon – Bill and I woke up to well, if we had to do a breathalyzer, we probably would have failed. New Years day was spent on the sofa watching movies and drink gallons of water and orange juice. Even Derek, who celebrated between his friends’ house and our gathering, was not interested in leaving the house. Hmmmmm? I am not going to ponder that too hard.

Friday was a better, physically. Tammy had called and asked about flooring. It seems that a couple wine glasses were broke in the living room and dancing plus glass equals bad scratches on the hardwood floors. Chris was trying to fix the damage and Bill being jack of all trades jumped right in…..Tammy and I went around town and returned some loaned items and ran some other errands while Bill and Chris went to B&Q which is like a Home Depot. The project started at around 10am and by 5pm it was looking 100% better. It was a mess. Word to future host/hostess, plastic cups and no shoes on the hardwoods equals a much better clean up situation.

Saturday the weather was a little dreary but Bill and I went out to a ceramic market. Bill bought me a huge bowl on a stand similar to a bird bath that we have set up with water and it is going to be the fish bowl. I am collecting these jade rings that are about 3” diameter that I am putting in the bottom of the bowl along with some shells that we collected in the Dominican Republic during Nicole’s wedding trip. In the afternoon we met up with Green, a property manager for JRE, to look at apartments available in Yulan Villa. We looked at 4, two of which we are interested in and we are going to back to see them on Monday. The one I really liked is on the third floor (no elevator) so I need to decided if I am willing to commit to the stairs. I will tell more after Monday. That evening Bill and I went for a few hour walk around downtown. One of my favorite places is an open air market in the Choatian Palace. It has many names to the expats: Jade Market, Antique Market, Ming Market but my personal favorite is the Dirt Market. There is a 100 venders set up daily selling all sorts of knick knacks and jewelry. Most of it is not fake, they don’t like that work, call them copies. In Nov. the gov’t came in and closed it down. No one really has the full story but rumor is that they are going to clean it up. Remember we call it the Dirt Market. It wasn’t open when we were there but it was around 5pm which may be why, but outside of the enclosed area there were numerous people selling odds and ends out of suitcases and boxes. This is my favorite place to find the stone rings and oddities. I spent a little time talking to the venders and haggling over a couple pieces, which is always a riot. By the time Bill got me out of the mess I had about 15 Chinese men around me showing me items, repeating what I said or haggling on my behalf. It is so much fun to get into these situations. Bill walks off and leaves me to my negotiating, the men are better with me and the women work better with him…now that my vocabulary is a bit more diversified the locals are becoming great entertainment. For dinner we met up with our “gang”, Tammy and Chris, Susan and Jim, unfortunately Erica and Jamie were not able to make it. We ate at Les 5 Sens, a French place that has the best tenderloin that we have found in our area.

Now we are on Sunday, Bill and Green have been negotiating on the apartments. EVERYTHING is negotiable in China. We went to the grocery store this morning and stocked up the basics for the week only to arrive home to the bird cage laying on the floor. Mao, the cat, seemed to hit his great hunter hormone. Birdie 2, was in the cage still but Tango (Birdie One) was not. We followed the feather trail and found him in the hallway. He was still alive but we didn’t know if he would make it. His wounds were minor but he is just a little bigger then a Finch, fragile. I ripped up a bunch of paper and set up the travel cage for him. He laid there for several hours but eventually got on to his feet and perched on the water bowl. He is now in the big cage with Bird One. He ate and is drinking which means he has to go from perch to perch. I think he may be okay but time will tell. Otherwise, we picked up a bunch of our BlackMarket DVD’s and have spent a great day watching movies. It is cold and rainy and a wonderful day to snuggle in the blankets and let the world pass by.

The Wedding

Nicole and Chris got married on December 6^th in the town of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. What a great time for all of us. Bill, Derek and I left China on December 2^nd. We left our apartment at 630am to catch the train from Nanjing to Shanghi. From the Shanghi station we had to taxi to the Pudong Airport which took two taxi’s to get us and our luggage. Bill seemed to think that it would only take one but the drivers had no interest in creative packing of our suitcase so two it was. No biggie. I didn’t double check all the flight information so we extremely early, Bill said the flight was United at 3pm. It was actually American at 6pm, we spent a long afternoon in the Shanghi Airport, advice to future travelers – don’t do this. Our flight was uneventful, a little sleep and a couple movies, 13 hours of dull. We arrived in Chicago at 500pm, but our bodies told us it was 7am in China, Dec. 3^rd – 24 hours of travel.

We had a 12 hour layover in Chicago were we meet up with Nicole and Chris, Warren and Teena, Jeanelle and Uncle Dicky, Andrew, Kimmers, plus Rob and Journey. It was a dinner at the hotel and a 330am wake up call. Into the freezing morning we all go – back to O’Hare, next flight to Miami. I am exhausted but excited about seeing Travis and his girlfriend, Areka. Land in Miami and find the rest of our traveling group. Danie and Chad, Travis, Areka, Scott, Patty, Lindsey and Kayla, the gang is all here. Quick snacks and then back into yet another plane, next stop, Punta Cana. I am a little delirious by this time, sleep deprivation and vodka does not mix. By the time we landed in the DR, my body clock was going on 48 hours of travel. I don’t know if I am coming or going.
Customs was a cake walk and the travel group met us at the airport, loaded us on to the bus, let the games really begin. The resort was beautiful. Lush and green, water features everywhere, statues of various Caribbean gods and goddess. I love this place, The Paradisus.
The next few days were filled with fun on the beach. The sun is blazing, the drinks are frosted and the food was great. It is so nice to sit on the beach beds, listen to the waves and just be in the moment. Derek got to do many of the things that he had requested parasailing, boogie boarding, golfing, speed boating. Some of the group went horseback riding, brave girls, lots of bruises but they all had fun.
Sat. was the wedding, what a perfect day. Weather was spot on, sunny and 80, the wedding started at 4 on the beach. Nicole wore a white dress in a Grecian/Roman style. The bridesmaids wore complementing styles in white and clover green. The groom wore white linen shirt in a panama cut over tan linen pants. The groom’s men wore sage green colored linen shirts over tan linen pants. All the party and guest were barefoot. Everyone looked great. The three piece band was softly playing in the background as the service begun, I was walked down the aisle by Derek, followed by Chris’s parents, then the bridesmaids, Journey, Kayla, Kim and followed, Lindsey, the matron of honor. Finally, our bride, Nicole was walked down by her father, Bill. Such a heartwarming site, the band played the bridal march as they entered through the gazebo to the beach. Teena, Nicole’s grandma, was the officiate to the service.
After the ceremony, snacks were served at the gazebo as the three piece band played for the guest. Photos were taken on the beach and I am most eager the see the results. Once photos were done we all loaded into the trams for a ride to the front for the bus that awaited us for the ride to the marina. The reception as on a two layered catamaran, the captain met us at the shore to ferry us to the boat, were the crew was eager to help us get settled for the wonderful meal they had prepared. The boat went out and cruised the coast line while dinner finished. The dinner was a surf and turf theme with lobster, prawns, mahi mahi, chicken and beef kabobs followed by the cutting of the cake, which was three tiered in white with tropical floors. Classic and beautiful. In addition to the wedding cake we had a second cake for the day was also Warren’s, Nicole’s grandfather, 70^th birthday. Happy Birthday Warren!
After dinner, the crew took a few moments to reorganize the lower level for dancing…..as they cruised us back to the shore. Everyone went to the lobby bar for drinks and more dancing. What a great way to finish a wonderful day.

More to come……..

Tradition: Stuck in Elevator or Not.

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving Holiday. Our China Family spent a weekend trying to hold true to our stateside family traditions. However, living in China makes for more of a challange but I think overall we prevailed. Friday we followed Tammy's family tradition of heading out to the bar for pre-turkey cocktails. Tammy is from a small town in Wisconson, her clan typically would all arrive a the day before the holiday so going to the local supper club/bar was the town reunion. All those folks that you haven't seen since the previous holidays - classmates, cousins, teachers and preachers all would meet at the tavern to exchange stories, show of the new boyfriends/girlfriends and babies.
Bill and I are very familiar with this story as his family has some of the same traditions. Plus also keep in mind that that this time of year is mid-hunting season and deer camp is going strong. Most of the men folk will only come out of the woods to head to the tavern. Go figure.

Our friday night begun with a meeting at the Sheraton downtown. There is a nice Irish Pub on the fourth floor called Danny's. Tammy is married to Chris, who though born Dutche, was raised in the UK and also lived in the US. He seems more British than anything so we have labeled him - Our Token Brit. Catherine joined us there, she is from Austrilia, single and hilarious. Catherine is also the GM at the Sheraton, nice to have friends with good connections. She knows the best tailors, hair stylest, etc. Bill and I meet up with these folks for cocktails and munchies. The band started at 9 and the next thing you know it is midnight, the band was fun, the drinks were tasty and it was time to go. Bill, Chris, Tammy and I wander into the elevator and head down the main floor. The door opens and slams closed. Holy shit, we are stuck in the elevator.....

I kid you not. We are stuck in the elevator. I am cannot breathe. Not due to clastraphobia but due to laughing so hard I think I am going to pee my pants. We hit the buttons, nothing. Emergancy button, nothing. Oh my God. I am stuck with three very intoxicated friends. Still laughing. We call Catherine remember it is great to have good connections. Catherines reponse - yeah, I get right on that. Several minutes later - still in the elevator. Call Catherine again, we are on it......at this point all four of us are sprawled on the floor coming up with one liners.

I don't know how long we were in there. Felt like forever, reality was more like 10-15 minutes. The door is pried open and there stand four Chinamen. I would have gave anything to know what was going through their mind as they open the door to four whitie's reclining on the elevator floor, all but singing drunk.

Catherine is working to get me the security tape of the elevator - great connections and not going to put this down as a NEW TRADITION!

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend.

I know that I have been absent. I apologize.
Live is hectic at the moment.
No holiday rush for us this year.
China not big on the whole Christmas Consumer Trauma.
Celebrations are in the mix though, Nicole and Chris are getting married soon.
The plans are complete.
The bags are being packed and the excitment is starting to buzz around us.
So thank you for your patience.
I promise big tales to come but right now my focus is on our daughter and her day.

The photo that accompanies this is from a town called Xibi or is it Xidi.
I will figure that out later. The community is near the Yellow Mountains.
Bill, Derek and I spent the weekend in that area a couple weeks ago.
Day of hiking in the Yellow Mountains was amazing. I have photos to post.
My legs were killing me the next couple days but worth every stab of pain.
The second day was spent traveling to two small communities. The first was quaint but
not awe inspiring like Xibi. This is a pond filled with the largest koi I have ever seen.
The pond is in the middle of the town with small channels feeding in and out of the area.
Like a mini Venice. I will post more photos of the area. It was a delight and has really made
me eager to see what more secrets China holds to discover. Oh, the filmed Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon here.