After a slow start to the morning, we taxi over to BISS. Judy needs help taking apart 10 sets of really heavy bongos (no elementary kid could use them). After the bongos, we hung large photos of BISS musicals in the hallway. They had to be taken down in May so the hallway could be painted during the summer break. She took pictures before they came down, so we’re replicating how they were hanging. She needed me for my height and my willingness to climb up on a shaky chair to staple border on the bulletin boards and hang the framed photos.
The rest of our day was spent at the apartment fiddling around with chores, and watching Season 3 of “Major Crimes”. This is a nice way to kill an afternoon and evening.
As we start into a new school year, and having completed 300 blogs, it seemed like a good time to review our travel adventures this past year. One of our goals when we came to Beijing was to take advantage of some travel opportunities. Here a list of how we did:
Sept. – Seoul, Korea and the DMZ, 4 days
Oct. – Yangtze River Cruise, Chongching and Yicheng, 4 days
Oct. – Shanghai (Judy), 2 days
Dec. – Sanya, Hainan, China (“Chinese Hawaii”), 5 days
Dec. – US, Xmas Holidays, 14 days
Feb. – Phuket, Thailand, 9 days
April – Hong Kong, 5 days
April – US Trip (Gordon), 8 days
June – Courtney, Brad, and Glenda arrive and we tour Beijing, 5 days
June – Xi’an for Terra Cotta Warriors, 2 days (Courtney also)
June – Tokyo and Kyoto, 6 days
July – Amsterdam (via Warsaw), 4 days
July – Scandanavian Cruise, 12 days, departs & returns to Amsterdam
Berlin, Germany; Tallinn, Estonia; St. Petersburg, Russia;
Moscow, Russia; Stockholm, Sweden; Helsinki, Finland;
Copenhagen, Denmark
July – DFW & Baton Rouge, family visit, 10 days
As best I can figure it, we spent 85 days out of Beijing, flew in or out of 19 different airports, and rode on 22 tour buses or cars with guides. I think we got our money’s worth this first year. Now I’m beginning to plan for year #2. We’re looking forward to the new sights, sounds, and smells we’ll be experiencing.