Well my friend Kate had a lot of her things stolen from her in Tanzania. I feel so bad for her, but in a way I also know that she is the kind of awesome person who will use the experience of losing trust in a culture only to be thoroughly exhilirated by the outpouring of support I know she’ll get. She has a lot of our support from the rest of us, even if we’re scattered around the world as if Michael J. Fox drew a scatter plot. (That was harsh, but I got it from Bo Burnham, classic YouTube.)
I’ve had a blast so far with Mom and Jeff (Big Beard and Squeaky, FYI) and they’ll have some really great stories to tell I’m sure. I know they will, but I also hope they weren’t to culture shocked or disappointed in Hong Kong. I’ve decided that HK really is a great place to live, if not to tour around all the time. We did visit the Big Buddha for the first time and I’ll have to post my pictures later, but it was amazing. It made me think of Kathmandu and what an awesome time Melanie must be having there. There was just large mountains, and temple pagodas sticking through forests, all viewed from the pinnacle of a large Buddha.
I leave for Austria on Wednesday. Random, you think? Who would’ve thought I’d be going to Hong Kong only to travel to Europe, but since I’ve been blessed with time to travel in November so I decided to spend my two year anniversary with beautiful Bekah in wonderful Vienna. Plus, I could do for some street cafes and mashed potatoes. I’m excited and also freakishly looking forward to the long flight if only to get some work and reading done and make up some sleep time.
Until I get back on the 21st and see my readership decline to zero, farewell.
PS: Caroline, I expect you to not let me drop to zero!
Is this a bad time to tell you we don’t really have mashed potatoes…:)
Evan, I’m here for you as always. I would NEVER let that happen…! I’m stalking you only as a truly depraved creeper can…no worries. I’m going to send you a totally useless e-mail about my life. I fully expect you to print it out. Then mail it back to me with all the advice I need…which will be a lot. This is top priority Evan. No work/sleep on that flight purely Caroline-email-nonsense. Hear me? Alright, well do stay safe traveling and being on the other side of the world…! misss youuuuuuu.
Sqeaky here……As we all know Evan is driven and organized and is such as a tour guide as well. He is a marvelous host in a country that is overwhelming to a couple, not well traveled, very white Minnesotans. Big Bird survived, being hit on by multiple street hawkers trying to sell him a custom suit, as he was sticking out like a soar thumb and I managed to run along behind the two long legged American men whom I love so much. In a city full of contradictions, the one thing that stayed true was my wonderful son. He maintained his studies, got ditched by his HK friends, and for the most part was stuck to walk home from the hotel at 10:00 by himself after he tired out his sensory overloaded Mom. (He even had to adjust to his Mom’s irrational fear of heights with no impatience and in fact with great compassion.) He writes this blog often but by no means can any of us parents really understand what our kids are living through, in these far off places, even if we visit for a week. To all of you, friends of Evan, your parents may be worried about you being where ever you are, but we are not even aware of all the things you have to adjust to. So to all of you, hang in there you will be together soon, and to my son….Evan there are no words to say thank you for all of your time, your energy to take us all the places we went, your patience with us, but for arranging such a truly once in a lifetime trip. A trip where I got to see a blip of your life away from me in such a far off land so different from ours. Have fun in Vienna with, the wonderful, Bekah. I will miss you, as I suffer from Kramer/cottage syndrom. To all of you who read this, if you can’t tell, I am so proud of Evan and I am, with great sappiness proud, to say Evan I love you so very much.
Caroline I love all of your comments. And Bekah, find him some mashed potatoes, he has lost too much weight walking around Hong Kong.