Friday, November 14, 2008
A Note to Our Visitors
To all our visitors we have had in China,
As you know, three years have gone by unbelievably fast and Tim and I are planning to leave Shanghai and move back to Austin in less than two weeks. We wanted to thank you for coming to visit us over here. We understand it is a challenge to get on a plane to a country you have only heard of at the end of "Made in", where you don't speak the language, and spend your hard earned vacation time there. We appreciated your gifts from home, and your company and conversation while you were here.
But most of all, we loved seeing the country we came to call home through your eyes. It offered a fun and unique perspective on places that we had overlooked or came to know as commonplace. You reminded us of the rich culture here, and how lucky we were to be living in the fastest growing place on earth. The part I enjoyed most was hearing your travel stories (you were all so adventurous!), and being amazed how two people could have a completely different experience in the exact same place.
Some memories...Jay and Michelle tired us out walking Shanghai to death...Kim and Steve thoroughly enjoyed having a cup of tea and got us a sweet hangout in the Honeymoon sweet on the cruise ship...Shawn was our visitor who taught us Chinese...Angel braved the winter, and met us on a beachfront balcony in Hainan with a Pina Colada...Will was the village idiot on his trip with Tim to Zhouzhaigou...Mom and Dad, you were so open minded and brave, I gained a whole new level of respect...Mariel exposed a gift for language and learned more Chinese in 4 weeks than I ever thought possible...Linda and Wally, we motored down the Li River with cold ones and rode the rice terraces together (go Linda!)...Sam, Elaine, and Shannon, we had a blast (and a leg-blasting workout!) hiking the Great Wall...Katie proved getting a PhD also allowed for some sweet vacations...Mike Jablin showed us the Great Wall hike was nothing, try Hua Shan...and Joe, Irene and Audrey showed us China through a 2-year-old's eyes, Irene:"And why is the Chinese flag red?" Audrey:"It represents the revolution!"
Thank you all so much, we truly enjoyed sharing our China experience with you. Good luck in your future travels!
Love,
Laurel and Tim
As you know, three years have gone by unbelievably fast and Tim and I are planning to leave Shanghai and move back to Austin in less than two weeks. We wanted to thank you for coming to visit us over here. We understand it is a challenge to get on a plane to a country you have only heard of at the end of "Made in", where you don't speak the language, and spend your hard earned vacation time there. We appreciated your gifts from home, and your company and conversation while you were here.
But most of all, we loved seeing the country we came to call home through your eyes. It offered a fun and unique perspective on places that we had overlooked or came to know as commonplace. You reminded us of the rich culture here, and how lucky we were to be living in the fastest growing place on earth. The part I enjoyed most was hearing your travel stories (you were all so adventurous!), and being amazed how two people could have a completely different experience in the exact same place.
Some memories...Jay and Michelle tired us out walking Shanghai to death...Kim and Steve thoroughly enjoyed having a cup of tea and got us a sweet hangout in the Honeymoon sweet on the cruise ship...Shawn was our visitor who taught us Chinese...Angel braved the winter, and met us on a beachfront balcony in Hainan with a Pina Colada...Will was the village idiot on his trip with Tim to Zhouzhaigou...Mom and Dad, you were so open minded and brave, I gained a whole new level of respect...Mariel exposed a gift for language and learned more Chinese in 4 weeks than I ever thought possible...Linda and Wally, we motored down the Li River with cold ones and rode the rice terraces together (go Linda!)...Sam, Elaine, and Shannon, we had a blast (and a leg-blasting workout!) hiking the Great Wall...Katie proved getting a PhD also allowed for some sweet vacations...Mike Jablin showed us the Great Wall hike was nothing, try Hua Shan...and Joe, Irene and Audrey showed us China through a 2-year-old's eyes, Irene:"And why is the Chinese flag red?" Audrey:"It represents the revolution!"
Thank you all so much, we truly enjoyed sharing our China experience with you. Good luck in your future travels!
Love,
Laurel and Tim
# posted by Laurel @ 9:30 AM 
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