Friday, February 20, 2009

MmmMmm Good


During the Spring Festival many foods are eating to represent parts of their life. Noodles are eaten to represent longevity in their life. Dumplings are eaten to represent wealth in the New Year, so when Brad and I heard about a restaurant that claims to have the best dumplings in the world we had to give it a try. Here we are at the packed restaurant enjoying our delicious dumplings, which we are hoping will bring us a little money in the year ahead!

The Year of the OX





We arrived in Shanghai just in time for the beginning of the Chinese New Year. We were stranded here for a few days before we were able to travel back to Jingdezhen due to the Holiday, so we took the opportunity to see all of the New Years decorations. This year is the year of the ox, in various places among the city large gold ox statues were displayed as a Christmas tree would be in America. The Chinese make every effort to make it home to their families during this time to wish them well in the New Year. Many stores and restaurants are closed from one week up to a month. People enjoy their break by cleaning their homes, buying new clothing, and visiting friends and relatives to wish them a healthy and wealthy New Year.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Our Surprise Visit



We just couldn't stay away for Christmas. At the very last minute before we found out that we had more time off then we originally thought, so we began to think about going home. A week before Christmas we found plane tickets to fly back on Christmas Eve. We didn't tell anyone except Aunt Camille who picked us up at the airport. Since we were traveling "back in time" we spent one Christmas Eve on a train in China and the other in the air. We began our journey in Jingdezhen taking a train to Shanghai which is 16 hours over one night. Then we hopped right onto a bus and took a one hour ride to Shanghai airport. There we waited about two hours and then onto the plane. We actually made very good time on the plane due to the winds being in our favor, so it probably only took about 13 hours until we landed in Georgia. Then from Georgia to DC after a short layover. A very long journey! It was well worth it to spend some much needed time with our families. We tried to see everyone, unfortunately we weren't able to see all family and friends that we would have liked to, and apologize if we didn't get to see you but we look forward to seeing you in about 4 months~