To my readers and with good wishes to my Chinese friends, associates and colleagues….
It’s been months since I have written.
Life got away from me. All the plans for my blog, to aid and assist those wanting to ‘go international’ went amiss. When life became complex with buying a new flat, work requirements, family and my own personal needs I stopped writing. The reality is simple: Life as an expatriate is sometimes not easy and many times more complex because the physicality of the environment. Doing what is a simple chore in America and Europe is many times more consuming when working in a far flung location of the world, or as we Americans say “out in the boondocks”.
But today, Tuesday Jan 24th 2012 while I am on annual leave from work in the Philippines, I feel compelled to write. This day a new beginning, a fresh new start in the year of the Dragon.
On this second day of Spring Festival, I celebrate my Mom. I learned many moons ago as a child growing up near San Francisco, that today is Mothers Day. Day two’s tradition is for daughters ‘to call and when possible go see’ their mothers. Today, my Mom and I we spoke on the phone to end our day both on a high note.
To close this brief writing, I wish you the very best of the first 15 days of the year of the Dragon. The link I have included will explain what each day represents in celebration.
And, I have added new pictures to my blog. These are special. They tell the story of food eaten in the field. They are foods from Shandong Province in the city of Jinan China. They are local village foods (not special celebration foods of Chinese classmate and associate, Dr Yu Wen Ping and her former staff. They are people special to me, special to my time in Northern China in the mid 2000’s. They are people and foods I miss. And, today this first week of the Dragon I remember the good times, good food, good memories of China.
Life as an expatriate may be complex, but it is so worth the efforts because of the people, the travel, the experiences that are always and forever ones blessing. To be able to go so far and do so much for others is the grace of god in my opinion. It is also why all of it is worth it, even when the going gets tough. These memories carry me through more trying days because the good days —- like eating “yummy” Northern Chinese village foods at lunch with colleagues are worth every memory.
So, as the Mainlander’s———– Mandarin speakers say…….
Gong Xi Fa Cai
http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/285976/20120123/chinese-new-year-2012-what-each-day.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_New_Year
http://mandarin.about.com/od/chineseculture/a/Year-Of-The-Dragon.htm
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