Blisters and bathrooms... bowling and bliss

Our first few days in Nanjing were spent walking, walking, walking and literally following Bo's footsteps. He really wanted us to see Nanjing the way he had and to love it the way he had too. He had made many friends at university and we were lucky enough to meet some of them. Some had gone back to their home countries. The local Chinese people that he'd made friends with were the vendors on the street.... restaurant owners on Cheap Street and "Drink lady" at the entrance of the university. 
Unfortunately, Reuben wore the wrong kinds of shoes and ended up with many blisters. Thinking he could help, Tom let Reub wear his runners, Tom used a pair of Bo's runners and then there were two people with sore feet. 

We saw that some people            solved the problem of sore feet for their dogs...crocs! 

In addition to sore feet, Reub was the first to get "ladootza" which rhymes with turistas and is the Chinese version of Montezuma's revenge.

He spent the the day with his blisters, in bed and near a bathroom while we went bowling. Bo got his highest score ever: 215 and maybe I did too... 75. We're both winners! 

His friends were really fun to play with. 

Back at blogging.... First stop: Nanjing

Yep. As I predicted, internet issues prevented me from contributing to a blog. Apparently, in addition to blocking facebook, google has been intermittently blocked since May and the Chinese preferred search engine is Baidu. That doesn't work with blogger so, no blogging for us while we were there. Now, trip's done, jet lag almost subsided and before getting too busy around here, I'm taking time to update. 

First Stop: Nanjing (after flying into Shanghai)

Boaz met us at the airport in Shanghai; we took a bus to the train station, a 2hr train ride to Nanjing and two cabs (because of our luggage) to the Nanjing University. We arrived at our hotel on the university campus after a total of 30hrs travelling. 

Bo had been studying Chinese at Nanjing Normal University for the past year. 

We spent five days having Bo show us around his school: quite a beautiful setting, lots of trees, ponds, parks, outdoor basketball courts and old buildings. 

He took us all around his neighbourhood: very cute, good places to eat (Cheap Street) where we could get a really yummy meal for our whole family for less than $20. 

Because Bo had his regular eating places we met many people with whom he'd formed a friendship, Chinese and others. It appeared to us that he's quite fluent in Chinese, but how would we know if he wasn't? He certainly seemed to be able to make himself understood by the local people there. 

But... if you'd prefer western food, McDonald's even delivers. No thanks to that for me. 

Never go on trips with anyone you do not love...Ernest Hemingway

This might be the last blog entry if I have any issues with internet challenges while we're in China. Hope you've enjoyed reading about us getting ready. :) So... twelve hours from now we'll be heading to the airport. We're all a bit unnerved and have different ways of working this out. Yesterday Reuben was trying to convince me to cancel his trip. He said he never really wanted to go and that he really only wanted to see Boaz. Since Bo's coming home anyway, why are we actually going to China?

Our last family picture taken the day Bo was leaving for China in August 2013. 

Sheesh, think of how much fabric I could've purchased with the money we'd saved if he stayed home. Tom has packed his biggest suitcase with 23 pairs of socks and probably just as many underwear so that he doesn't have to do any laundry...He's also taking some kinds of costumes to attract a lot of attention while we're in China. I'm kind of paralyzed...so much to do and I'm laying here on the couch not doing it. Bo is probably the most excited of all four of us. He's got train tickets and hotels booked for us already. It's going to be fun having the four of us together though and I do love those guys.

A lasting week of "lasts"...

It's our last Sunday here for a while. Had a lot of well wishing after church this morning; thanks folks. Each day this week will be our last...for a short while at least.
As we do most Saturday nights, we skyped with Bo for the last time, last night. He was saying good-bye to a lot of the friends he'd made during his ten months in Nanjing. His room-mate, the buddies he hung out with, his teachers... He said it was bittersweet because although it was sad saying good-bye to the people he'd grown close to, he was looking forward to seeing us in less than a week. That was touching. 

Bo in China this year with three of his best buddies. Represented are UK, New Zealand, Australia and of course, Canada. 

It's good that Bo's anticipation of our visit assuages some of his sadness. He'll see us (hopefully) for a lasting time, some of his last year's friends, probably not so much. What constitutes or creates a lasting friendship? The proximity, the time spent with one another, the shared lasting interests... mostly the commitment on both parts to making it last. (I just googled "what makes a lasting friendship" and Goodlife Zen cites 35 ways, Tiny Buddha offers 21 ways, and Canadian Living simply gives 5 very poignant and trustworthy methods.) Mainly it's commitment. 

Get set....

This was taken in Sept. 2008. Have we changed? Well, admittedly, some of us have. More pictures will follow. 

We're not there yet, but in less than two weeks, our whole family will be together again, in China. Boaz has been going to university in Nanjing for the past ten months and we'll join him to spend about a week there, head off to Wuhan to visit friends that still live there and then we're going to be brave and maybe crazy and do whatever Bo has planned for us. It'll probably be somewhat different from our previous time in China, this time with a Mandarin fluent family member to do all the translating, negotiating, and explaining of the great Chinglish for us. It might be a totally different exerience this time 'round. Some things we're  really looking forward to: all four of us being together, visiting with friends we thought we might never see again, experiencing things that are so different from our life here and especially..... the food. So that's it... family, friends, fun and food. Check in here if you're interested in our travels from June 29-July 22.