The Qingdao Adventure

Recently:

• Today we had a stellar lunch- Korean barbecue. Mmmm. And I ate the tongue of a cow. It was chewy, which makes sense (yours would be too), and it doesn't taste like much of anything. Oh, and the other night Rachel almost conned me into eating the leg of a starfish- and it wasn't a cute starfish tentacle either. She innocently told me it was "sea cucumber". I didn't fall for her trickery!
• We went to the beach today. The ocean is amazing, and I think waves are fantastically fun. I felt like I was 7 years old prancing around in the water and jumping over waves with all of China watching me, in their tight spandexy swimming gear. And no, Jeremy, just because Chinese people wear them doesn't mean you should!
• I'm enjoying time that I haven't found for a long while- time to read. And it is good.
• Rachel and I find many reasons to laugh in a day. She's a funny girl!
• Yesterday we saw all sorts of sea creatures at a park. Walruses are funny looking and fat, seals are instrumentally very capable (they played in a band), and beluga whales are plain lovable! Plus, I found Dori,Nemo, and Bruce the Shark too! Scary! That could have been the highlight right there!
• I am feeling a bit more adjusted to life back in Asia now. The first few days felt on the rough side. I am missing my family a lot. The focus is one day at a time- that's all it ever needs to be.
• It's easier to let pictures do the talking. Here's a photographical summary of the last five days in Qingdao:
  

All of my pictures have been updated on my Flickr site, which you can link to by clicking on the fun image on the sidebar (including pictures from my last week with the kids in Calgary). I will leave Qingdao on Thursday and arrive in Hong Kong, where I will move through the "settling in" process.

Cheers from Qingdao!