New Photo Albums

From Summer 2009

From Summer 2009

I've added a couple of new photo albums. Nothing huge, but some really cool pics like the ones above of a storm that blew through Shekou just 3 days before we left. These were taken off of our balcony. Other pictures include Panama City and our other travels visiting family.

You can view them HERE - PICASA PHOTO ALBUM

For those new to the site, you can check out our archives and read of the beginning of us living in China from last August as well as some our trips we were able to go on throughout the year. Check out the photo album above for all of the pictures. If you have a question, feel free to email me.

Thanks!

Summer 2009 Continues

From Summer 2009

Above is Jamie catching up on some of her reading online.

Jamie and I have been in Calhoun, Tennessee visiting my family since July 3rd. I have stayed in contacted with people in China and Griffey is doing ok. I'm glad to hear this. The weeks are flying by and we are having a good time and eating some good food. Had some pinto beans and cornbread tonight with milk and an onion - Great stuff.

Played golf today with Dad and just missed my goal. I'm embarrassed to tell you what my goal was, but hopefully I'll get it lower when I play a few more times before we leave.

TENNESSEE!

From Bali 2009

Bathroom stall in Shenzhen International Airport. I found it the other day categorizing pictures and thought I would post it here.

Jamie and I made it to Calhoun, Tennessee this evening after driving from South Georgia. The visit with her dad and her family down there was great and relaxing. We are both finally better from whatever has ailed us, although Jamie sometimes does get sick after she eats. Not sure what is going on there. We have had the opportunity to eat some great food both in and out. Zaxby's - 3 times in 4 days, Chili's, and Mexican twice so far.

We'll be in Calhoun, for 9 days visiting here before we go back to Cartersville for 1 week, then back to China.

I am spoiled with the wireless features of Kindle. Buying a book takes about 1 minute and finding one is a breeze. You can even access wikipedia and google from it. I will certainly miss the wireless feature when we return to China.

I have finally merged my computer and Jamie's computer of all of the pictures and videos. Took me forever. While you can't see our videos, you can see just about all of our pictures in our Picasa photo album. For those new to the site, you can easily get to it HERE - PICASA PHOTO ALBUM. This link is also at the top of the page under our email addresses.

I have organized them by folders with the places we have visited. Lot of them have captions, but not all. If you want to know what something is, just ask.

Good to be in Tennessee with family. Anyone around us in Tennessee who wants to visit, feel free to let us know.

By the way, our US cell phone # for anyone who wants to call us is 678-848-3780. We have it around most of the time.

Checking In...

Jamie and I are now in Bainbridge (south Georgia) visiting her dad. I haven't posted in while, but we've been in Panama City Beach, FL with her parents. I spent the vacation sick most of days and Jamie has been sick off and on. We both feel fine now and are enjoying Zaxby's, seafood, and country cooking.

We'll be here for the next few days and then head to Tennessee to visit my family for about 9 days.

For those seeing our article in the Daily Tribune newspaper in Cartersville, welcome to our blog. If you go to right side and scroll down, you'll see the archives of our blogs from the previous year. If you go to last August, it begins our journey of China as well as the many places we've visited. Our Google Web Album is public and available for anyone to view and you can see pictures from China, Hong Kong, Macau, Cambodia, Bali, and Thailand. I lost count on how many pictures, but it would take a while to read all of the blog entries and view the pictures.

Feel free to email me ebrown2324@gmail.com anytime if you have any questions. We would love to hear from some of you.

We're Home! but...

Jamie and I arrived in Atlanta on 11:3o am on Sunday and were met by our parents at the airport. We then went to Gary and Kathy's house for a welcoming dinner of BBQ pork, Brunswick stew, potato salad, cole slaw, with homemade ice cream.

Our first couple of days here haven't been so happy because we both have been quite sick. Jamie has continued to have problems with her stomach and has been in and out of the doctor's office. She is feeling much better but has been up and down all week. I went to the doctor yesterday due to a sore throat. My strep test was negative, but the doctor said he believed I still had it. Who knows. I feel somewhat better today (Tuesday), but have been sleeping quite a bit.

So, our happy homecoming has started off to a shaky start due to our illnesses, but we hope to bounce back and have a great summer ahead of us.

We are home now and have purchased a Go Phone. If you wish, you can always reach us via email at the top of this page, or on our new phone 678-848-3780.

Delayed in Toronto

Our flight from Hong Kong to Toronto was delayed due to a volcano in Alaska. The captain of the plane came on and said they were going to have to re-route us after they had talked to the "volcano people." We left Hong Kong 45 minutes late after a pretty busy morning finalizing packing and plans for Griffey.

Because of the late departure, our flight into Hong Kong was late and we missed our connection to Atlanta. Apparently, Torontoians at the airport do not stay up later than 9:00 pm, because there were a ton of people on our flight that missed connections into the U.S. and there were no other flights. So, the airline put us up in a hotel for the night and gave us some food vouchers. Since they do not serve breakfast until after we leave in the morning, we had $50 Canadian to spend in the hotel restaurant.

I ordered a cheeseburger with bacon. Apparently, when you ask for bacon in Canada, they give you Canadian bacon, also known as ham. Thus, my "hamburger" actually had ham on it. Jamie go the wings where were just sweet, not spicy. Oh, those crazy Canucks!!!

Now, we leave Toronta tomorrow morning at 9:00 am and should arrive in Atlanta at 11:00 am Sunday morning. Long journey became longer, but at least we are safe and in the right hemisphere, not the right country.

Year 1 Abroad in the Books!

I'm typing this right at 4:00 on Friday, which somewhat officially ends our school year. Technically, we have to meet with our Director in the morning for a final meeting, but we are finished. It has been quite a memorable year, and Jamie and I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to see and do so much in just this one year. Time will tell how much more we will see next year and the many experiences we will share together and with our family and friends; but if it even compares to this year, it will be a sensational.

To recap, Jamie and I moved to Shekou, China on July 31, 2008 to begin teaching at an international school here. We both taught 12 year old Reading, Language Arts, Math, and Cultural Studies. While this isn't right down our alley as far as what we wanted to teach, the opportunity to teach in China has been simply amazing and something we couldn't pass up. In addition to teaching, we have been quite busy traveling to various countries. We traveled to Cambodia in September for 9 days, Thailand in December for 19 days, Beijing for 5 days, Hong Kong numerous times, Macau 2 times, and Bali for 8 days in May. Up next, we'll travel back to Beijing, as well as Xi'an, Guilin, Yangshuo in China as well as the Philippines for 2 weeks in August. Our travel plans for this upcoming year are not entirely decided, but we have thought about New Zealand and Vietnam and possibly Laos or Japan. The possibilities are endless, and it has become a large part of our lives.

As for our trips this year, we can 100% say that Cambodia was our favorite. We aren't sure if it was because it was our first trip in Asia or just because it was that amazing, but the entire trip set us up for a spectacular year traveling. Jamie and I miss Cambodia quite a bit and plan on returning in the future.

As for now, we are surrounded by boxes in our apartment and packing them up so they can be moved over the summer to our new apartment. It is only 2 buildings down, but the most important move will be for Griffey. Our AYI is coming be a couple of times a day to take care of him. I am a bit concerned, but it was our only option. I think he will be fine, but it'll be a long summer for him. Jamie is sick right now with some sort of stomach issue, so these last few days in China haven't been the greatest for her.

We'll pack up the rest of everything tonight and then head out for Hong Kong airport tomorrow about Noon. Our flight leaves at 3:00 pm or so and we'll land in Atlanta around 10:30 after a stopover in Toronto.

I just wanted to get down some of my thoughts and hopefully people haven't stopped reading this. We'll be updating some this summer, but most of the updating will be when we return on July 21 to travel around China and then to the Philippines.

We are excited to going home for a while. China has been good, but there is nothing like the USA.