Friday, September 18, 2009

Blogging from China

You might be wondering why I haven’t posted since we arrived in China. Well besides the fact that we have been run ragged by my always-on-the-go, 71 year old mother seeing the sights, the real reason is because I’m blocked from getting onto my Google hosted blog. Facebook is also blocked here in China. We take freedom of speech for granted in the States. As a result, I am having my cousin post this entry for me. We are currently in Shanghai and have taken some day and overnight tours to some nearby cities. Our plan is to stay in Shanghai for a few more days, then head to Hangzhou where my mom has some family. (Her cousin has been helpful in getting a hotel reserved for us near Hangzhou’s famous West Lake.) We are all doing ok. The pace with my mom and brother has been faster than when we are alone. They’re going to do another 2 day tour this weekend, while we stay in Shanghai to do some schoolwork and relax. Thank goodness we have my mom to translate for us. She’s been an immense help to us and is really resourceful. We’ve been saving money on hotels, eating out and by taking public buses (which would be nearly impossible without her since everything is posted in Chinese.) She’s good at bargaining too, so it’s been fun to pick up little souvenirs here and there, as everything is “MADE IN CHINA”. My experience here is different from when I was here about 15 years ago. So much has changed (modern buildings, modern trains, subways, better roads), but a lot has stayed the same too (nasty squat toilet bathrooms, tons of people everywhere, laundry hung out to dry).

Here is a link to our “while-in-China” blog. Paul started it last year to try TravelPod as our blog host. He wrote about a trip we went on to Yellowstone and Mt. Rushmore. I added pins in the map for all the places that we’ve been so far on our RTW trip. But as for reading stories and pictures, they start at the Korea entries. I’ll update this “new” blog as we go in China, then switch back to the Google based blog when I have access after we get out of China.

http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog/paulfeuerborn/1/tpod.html

3 comments:

  1. Hello Sweet Family! Were your ears ringing today? We were talking about you all, wishing we could visit with you and really wishing you'd move back to IL. We are kind of a broken record about that aren't we? I guess it's good that we like you all enough to wish you were here chatting with us, seeing the kids play together... Dane is sweet as pie, so itty bitty and perfect! I love living next door, so I can pop in for my baby fix. We all had dinner at Gretchen's yesterday, mom and Gretchen went to Barn Sale today, I saw them each for a few minutes, Andrew cooked up waffles this a.m., Joe and Margaret went over for breakfast. I am teaching 3rd grade, maternity leave till Jan? So far, so good. Taking a class at Aurora Univ.for ELL Certification-enjoying that. Bill took the big kids to see a couple colleges in MI. Will is hoping to go to U of I. He and Anna are still an item. Joseph's baseball is heading toward playoffs, it will be good to have our weekends back. All are well. We love your blog and of course, we love you! Such good writers- Jacob, I love it when you write. Maybe you should start your own blog and write your own book about your amazing experiences. Hug Jacob, Charlie, Henry, and Elise for us! So glad that everything is going well. Julie

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  2. Hi Paul and rest of the family.. greetings from unkown to most of you. I worked with Paul at Capital and following this blog closely...

    It's wonderful to experience your journey through this blog and nice to see the diversified experience you as a family going through....

    I am pleasantly surpriced and happy to see all of you enjoying this trip especialy the little kids and hat's off to you parents to prep them so much that they forget the confort of home and enjoy what's there out there in the world.....

    2 months and still to covery many places... wish you all enjoy the rest of the places...and keep blogging..will be looking forward to read the same......

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  3. Love you all! Hope Henry is feeling better and that no one else gets sick on you. We think of you often are are really enjoying the pictures and messages you are adding to both blogs. We can't wait to ask you all kinds of questions about the places you've been.

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