Travels

We survived Chinese New Year's Eve! Since we are now part of the family everyone was relaxed and they ate right along with us. We actually didn't eat as much this year because they let us eat what we wanted and did not keep offering us things! The jaozi or dumplings were delicious as always but unfortunately served last when there is little room left in the stomach. Today, the "house mother" here brought us up another plate of them that she had made so we got to enjoy them again as part of our lunch. We have lots of pictures and will fill you in more on Chinese NY in the next post. It seemed like another Christmas. This holiday has the same meaning in China as our Christmas season does in the US. You could feel the excitement and good cheer in the air ( along with the smoke from the firecrackers!).
I want to make sure all of you know we will be traveling and away from the computer for over a week. We leave January 28th for Hong Kong and will be there to meet with friends until Feb 1st. We will fly south and west that evening to Dali where it is eternally spring they say with a temp of 60's avg. We will stay there through the second week of February. We will be thinking of you all while we hike and bike and explore more of China. This will most likely be our last chance to travel very far in China so we plan to make the most of it.
Xin nian kaile! Happy New Year!