Wondering and Wandering

Friday afternoon of the Spring Festival week found me winging my way back to Beijing which now feels so familiar. Arriving at Betsy’s apartment feels like coming home and once there we shared pictures and favorite memories of our week together in the south of China. What a grand adventure and what fun to share the experience with Betsy and her darling daughters, Alex and Menghua. I am so indebted to Betsy for so willingly sharing her home in Beijing and introducing me to XiaoWei who provided us with such an incredible opportunity to experience rural life in China.

Best of all, the end of this Spring Festival week culminated in my birthday on Saturday. Betsy and her girls provided me with such grand gifts as a can of Campbell’s tomato soup which I have dreamt about to accompany the toasted cheese sandwiches that I sometimes make in Dalian, an O’Henry candy bar that sent me into paroxysm of chocolate and nuts ecstasy, deodorant which has been impossible to find in Dalian and a chocolate birthday cake, a huge piece of which I had for Saturday breakfast. Can life get any better? Well, yes I guess it can as Leslie and Betsy presented me an old piece of Miao fabric that I had admired in a shop in Yangshao.

Leslie, Betsy and I proceeded to spend the day shopping for Tibetan furniture and having an amazing foot massage before Leslie and I caught an early evening flight to Dalian. I found two old piece of Tibetan furniture that I had shipped to Dalian. I love having them in my home in Dalian and they commemorate my fifty fifth birthday. I will remember February, 2007 and the adventures of the February Spring Festival as I look at the Tibetan furniture and the wall hangings that I found in Guiyang and Yangshao. Life is good!