Pics of US and Canada: Holidays 2009-2010

Because I can no longer post pictures here on my blog, feel free to follow the below link (you'll have to copy and paste it into your address bar) to see some pics from my trip home to the States and Canada. It's open to anyone, so you don't have to have facebook to be able to see it.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2051349&id=147800610&l=6c0f56474d

Included are pics of home and our award-worthy Christmas tree, snowy snowy Tennessee, an AWESOME trip to Canada to spend time with my brother and check out his new northern life, a New Year's Eve concert at Niagara Falls headlined by the oh-so-rockin band STYX, and various other fun times. I didn't take my camera along for many of the other fun moments of my trip--coffees with so many old friends, revisiting my favorite mountain spot in SW Virginia, basking in the aisles of WalMart and Target etc...but these are enough to remember what a blessing it is to come home from time to time.

Chinese New Year (called Spring Festival here) is coming up this weekend and all of Wuhan is getting ready: the supermarkets are full, red lanterns and red door banners are hung everywhere, and every night for the past few days has been filled with fireworks here and there. Spring Festival features annually the largest human migration in the world as the migrant workers of the southern factories make their way back to their hometowns to be with family on this important holiday. I passed the long-distance bus station on the way to work yesterday and it was a teaming sea of people.

This is my first year to stay in China for the holiday. As a university teacher, I previously took advantage of our month-long winter break to head south--backpacking through Southeast Asia. This year, the private English-training company I work for gets most of its students during the month of the festival as college students sign up during their break to improve grades or prepare for tests. So we've all been pretty busy with classes.

A student today asked me if I was hoping for a lot of luck in the coming year. It made me think back at all the "luck" ...a.k.a. "blessings"...I've already had. I've walked down quiet paths with the light of the Eiffel Tower ahead of me, I've scrambled up ancient temples and jumped into jungle waterfalls. I've seen the sun set and rise from the Great Wall. I've sat for hours with friends at dinners and over coffees laughing until my sides hurt. I've seen the World's Largest Buffalo statue in North Dakota, the World's Largest Public Square in Beijing and the World's Largest Buildings (well...at the time) in Kuala Lumpur. I've felt snow formed from the mist of Niagara Falls fall on me while listening to STYX ring in the New Year. I've sunbathed on beaches, whitewater rafted through gorges, and roadtripped through mountains with my awesome family. I've had adventures. I've had young love. I've danced. I've seen Bruce Springsteen in concert.

Anyway--I use this blog too often to ramble about all the cool things I've been able to do. It's just bizarre. It's bizarre that I get to have a life that is so much more than what I've ever imagined. I'm just feeling really grateful this week! :)

I'll update some more about Chinese New Year as the week progresses and once I get a few days off work. Hope you are all staying warm wherever you are!