Sunday, June 26, 2011

I'm still blonde.....

but I am no longer in Beijing!

Sorry for the lack of updates... I know I have been really terrible about it recently and especially in the last month or two. We are officially back in the States... What happened to our AMAZING summer trip that was all booked and almost completely paid for, you wonder? Well - the military happened. My husband was required to report back to his new unit much earlier than planned, and we had to cancel our trip. In fact, I am supposed to be on a plane back to LAX right now after a week in the Cook Islands, a week in New Zealand and almost 2 weeks in Australia. Instead I am staying with a friend in CA while we wait to move in to our house next Friday, and my husband is flying back from Afghanistan.

Oh well! Next summer, maybe. Or maybe we'll do the South Africa trip we had to cancel due to the military... ha ha! Theme, anyone?

So, what is going to happen to this blog - I really don't know. But I do know that I have a TON of pictures and trips that we took in China that have not been posted at all... I promise I will make an effort to post those periodically.

In the mean time, if anyone ever has any questions about Beijing or China in general, please let me know and I will do my best to answer them. Between my husband and I, I think we are pretty much China travel pros, and I'd love to help others with the knowledge we have learned.

On another note, I was paid to write my first travel article! Here is a link.... keep an eye out for my husband's next article on Xizang - Tibet, and Mt. Everest Base Camp (which I did not go on).

http://www.onleavemagazine.com/mongolia-off-the-yak-beaten-trail/

Additionally, if you are in China and looking for a great Chinese teacher/tutor/class, my tutor is in the process of starting her own school and has the website up. The website is still under construction, but check it out - I am on there as a testimonial to how great her teaching method is!

http://keyimandarin.com/

Hope you guys are doing well! Now it's just job searching for me... this market is rough but I have an interview Wednesday.

Steph

10 comments:

  1. miss your updates! :)will check out your article :)

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  2. Congrats on your writing gig, very cool. Glad you're back safely!

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  3. So good to hear from you ! I'm sorry about the canceled trips but I'm glad you're back safely :)

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  4. Hi Steph! I stumbled across your blog recently through another blog (I can't remember which one at this point... possibly Embarrassment of Riches or Anthroholic?) and would you believe me if I told you I read through EVERY SINGLE POST? It was so addictive - like reading a novel! Over the past week or two I would just pick up my iPad and soak up another post.

    You have such a great personality and a true appreciation for Chinese culture; it was so much fun looking at all your pictures and reading your stories. I was so inspired. I myself am Asian but don't speak, read or write Chinese. It's been a goal of mine to live in Hong Kong for at least a year and to be honest, while I keep saying I'm going to do it, I haven't done much about it. I'm afraid!

    Thanks for sharing your experience for all us strangers to come across and enjoy.

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  5. Alyria - WOW thank you so much! What a great post to wake up to! I really appreciate everything you said and I'm so glad you enjoyed it! I know it is such a specific topic and may not appeal to all audiences and it's nice to know when someone truly finds it interesting. I haven't posted in a really long time and I am back in the States, but I do have tons of pics that I never posted and that I hope to share sometime soon!

    Thanks again for reading & stay tuned because I will try to make one of those posts sometime soon.

    Steph:)

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  6. By the way - Alyria - Hong Kong is amazing!! It's a fabulous fusion between the East & the West... has the comforts of home us Westerners look for & enjoy, but also has the exotic flair of the East and there is no way to forget where you are. I think it would be a very comfortable city to live in and I encourage you to try it if it ever really becomes a feasible opportunity! If I can live abroad, anyone can, I really believe that - lol!

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  7. AW thanks so much! I'm going to Paris soon, so I'll do a post when I get back :)

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  8. I enjoy reading your blog especially the China portion.

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  9. I really enjoy reading your blog posts!!!! If you have a chance, please visit/follow my fashion blog. It will mean the world to me if you did. Thank you so much in advance!!!

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