myretroperspective

After last week's trip to Taipei we were determined to have as few plans as possible for this past weekend. As much as we love travel, as life-giving as understanding a little bit of a new place can be, we generally need a bit of recovery time. So this past weekend looked as "normal" as weekends in Shenyang do. Friday we met up with consulate colleagues for a drink after work and progressed to take out pizza (Shenyang does actually have a decent pizza place that will deliver... eventually) and friends sharing about recent adventures. Saturday morning we made blueberry pancakes and skyped with family which is pretty much the norm for Saturdays home. There's usually someone around and willing to say hi at the end of their week. After a few housekeeping items, we decided to check out the Shenyang library and a side of town that we don't get over to as much. I needed to pick up a few ingredients for a chicken salad I made to host our Sunday fellowship group. We didn...

Criss-crossing the city of Taipei turned out to be an excellent way to spend a long Memorial Day weekend. A welcome getaway from the everyday and a much needed escape from the mainland. With 4 nights and 4 days in Taipei we barely scratched the surface. We left planning return trips to check out a few sights we missed this time around and even get out of the city to the coast. our first night loving taipei food! We were slowed down a little by R's recent knee injury (wherein we don't actually know what he did or when just that his knee hurts). You would barely notice his limp, but it does change the pace of life. He has been trying to keep off it as much as he can, which isn't much in Asia. So we were forced to skip out on all the great hiking suggestions we received. "Next time, next time," we said. My biggest disappointment was that the gondola that takes you from the Taipei Zoo up into the tea plantations on the mountside of MaoKong was out of service for the l...

Do you celebrate cinco de mayo? I really can't think of a more fun (meaningless, truly meaningless but FUN!) reason for a party. You've got the delicious food that everyone loves, margaritas & other refreshing beverages, piñatas, incredible music (and hopefully dancing follows !) and colorful decorations. Not to mention it comes at the time of year when it's typically lovely outside. invite! As I whiled away my march and april days in (then still) freezing Shenyang, I dreamed of springtime and a fun fiesta. Any American in Chiner will tell you after only a short period of time in country that they desperately miss Mexican food. I also discovered somewhere along the way that not only was R's birthday 5 days before this mexican holiday, but two other guys that he works with were born on May 5th and 6th. These forces combined and a party was born. So having plenty of capacity, I set out to coordinate what ended up being possibly one of my favorite evenings in Shenyang...

Today we're celebrating the gift of new life and the power of the resurrection. In Chinese, Easter is actually called "resurrection day" (复活节-fu4huo2jie2) which I like. We're remembering and reveling in the most important aspect of our faith with new friends and a new community. We're not with this part of our family, like last year. Easter Sunday in Atlanta 2012 with R's whole family Or these dear friends, who's fellowship made life in Atlanta so spiritually rich. we miss these friends SO MUCH! especially on Easter. We're not even near any of these people who were light and life last time we were abroad. Easter 2009 with some of my favorites! But we did celebrate here today. And it was sweet and sad all at once. Which is a bit like the cross. Easter 2013  Wherever you're celebrating Easter, I pray you'll have the chance to reflect on the hope of new life that's promised today and always. Despite being near or far from loved ones, Christ is...

Surprisingly enough this is our first time celebrating the Chinese New Year on the mainland. The first three years we spent in China we were strongly encouraged to avoid the "craziness" that is lunar new year and escape to the tropical paradises of Thailand or Malaysia. We had conferences (and free flights) so were not about to protest. But even this time around, we were warned over and over about how insane the fireworks are for Chinese New Year. Two weeks of nothing but explosions keeping you from well-deserved sleep, driving you slowly mad. Better to leave the country. It's hard to escape it within China, and travel on the trains or planes is also said to be a nightmare due to hundreds of millions heading "home" to the countryside back from the city. Having just arrived 6 weeks ago, it was hard for us to justify leaving the country so soon. As I mentioned above, the horrors of in-country travel were too daunting to overcome. So we decided spending our first l...

With all that's happened over the last week (hard to believe Christmas was just 7 days ago), I'm not sure how to adequately sum it all up and I'm majorly lacking motivation to chronicle the journey in detail. So I thought I'd jot down a few highlights: Three generations! My Aunt came to surprise my grandparents- it was so great to see all of them! Christmas in Florida was so sweet. Lots of laughter and joy. Very little discord (not always the case, we are a normal family!). Great food. Incredible weather. We felt so blessed. Travel on the busiest day of the holiday season during a major snowstorm all went perfectly. Our short time in San Francisco with one of R's oldest friends was great.  best friends for almost 25 years! Our Shenyang apartment is HUGE. Bigger than anywhere we've lived as a married couple and I really couldn't ask for more. It's a little barren at the moment without our stuff in it but as our belongings trickle Eastward I know it will f...

So sorry for the hiatus! Christmas was wonderful and part 1 of our global move (that would be the part where we move our bodies and our stuff mostly comes later) went smoothly. I'm planning to write about all of that soon, but in the meantime I want to catch up on Christmas. Indian Shores, Fla. is a sleepy little beach town, but in the 13 years since my parents moved there it has been undergoing a transformation. I really think it distinguishes itself from the other beach towns in between Clearwater and St. Pete beaches. It's family friendly without being tacky. It's classy without being snobby. It's clean and cute, and I'm so glad when I go "home" it's where I return to. I was really excited about getting to go down to the town hall and watch the boat parade on the intracoastal this year. It usually happens a few weeks earlier in the month of December, but this year it fell on Sunday the 23rd so we were able to go. and you thought Santa rode in a slei...

looking up Pennsylvania Ave. towards the Capitol building After a very long last day of con-gen for me, R made good on his promise to take me to see the White House Christmas Tree. We had planend to go a couple other times, but bailed at the last minute. I was exhausted but it was well worth the trip just to say good bye to DC on our last night. just a building we passed on our way to the White House  The whole city is aglow with Christmas cheer. R could hardly make it half a block without me saying- oooooo pretty, let's take a picture of that hotel or building. It definitely made up for not being able to decorate our own home for Christmas. Eisenhower Executive building next to the White House It flurried a tiny bit as we walked and I felt like it was a display of God's mercy that DC's November and December have been relatively mild just before we head to Shenyang. North side of the White House We finished the night by getting pizza at our favorite spot in town- District o...

My mom sent me this series of photos taken on Saturday- Christmas has come to Indian Shores Though our nights are full of saying goodbye to fun people, I honestly am using every self-motivational technique I can to keep myself engaged with my consular training class that runs until Friday. To say I'm "over it" would be mild. I asked R this morning if there was any way we could fast forward to Saturday when we fly home to Florida for four glorious days in the sun. My seester flew down from Seattle Sunday and it's just torture having to wait. glorious isn't it? this is home The last time we spent time at home in Indian Shores was Thanksgiving of 2011 but that is not by choice! We planned a trip for Labor Day weekend 2012 and had to cancel when we got "the call" to join the foreign service the following weekend. This is actually the longest I've spent away from home even with all my time overseas. oh, gulf of mexico, you are not to be outdone! The mover...