D - Livin' in America

C and I are alive in well in Buffalo, NY but it's been awhile since we wrote, so let's recap since December 16 (our most recent day in Dalian).

We left on a snowy December morning in Dalian. What started out as a light dusting appeared to be turning into a full blown blizzard by 6:30am (our flight was to Beijing was scheduled at 8am). For a few worried hours we gazed out the windows of our gate watching Chinese men in camoflauge form a giant shovel and dig out the planes. In the US, you would see snowplows doing this in work, but in China it's more efficient to throw manpower at almost any problem. To be fair, snowplows were clearing runways, but I assume that's only because runways are so long. Anyway, our flight was delayed from 8am to 11am, but it wasn't a problem because our flight from Beijing to Newark was at 5pm. Both flights were uneventful and a lot easier than the trip over to China. Let's face it, going back home is a lot easier than throwing caution to the wind and hitching a ride to a foreign country.

First stop on our US journey was my parents home in southeastern Pennsylvania. We spent December 16 to December 28 there and had a great time.
Highlights of PA part 1:
-Indulging my sentimental side and watching Rocky Balboa with my brother
-Playing with our dachshund Cody, who turns from jolly socializing to teeth-bared growling when he gets ahold of a rubber steak toy with a squeaker. In this state of mind he is referred to as "Fang".
-Gaining at least 5 lbs feasting on Western cuisine. Pizza. Hamburgers. Baked Beans. Grilled Salmon. Coffee. Did I mention pizza?
-The usual antics representative of our family dynamics. Difficult to describe but I love my family to pieces and wouldn't trade it for anything.
-A bed not featured on "World's Most Infamous Prisons" (our China mattress is a little stiff)

From PA we have now traveled to C's stomping grounds in Western New York state, up in the Buffalo area. It was a quick flight from Newark and now we are enjoying the company of her family.
Highlights thus far:
-Seeing C's cousin's 10 month old child. Her cousin moved to Spain a number of years ago to teach english and ended up marrying a Spanish girl and becoming a permanent resident. Their offspring is incredibly cute
-Tonight's euchre game with her father. Euchre is a card game played principally in Western New York and the rest of the midwest - places where German ancestry has traditionally been prevalent. Of course it's also quite popular on Yahoo! games, which I don't have an explanation for.
-Anticipation of chicken wing consumption at one of Buffalo's traditional establishments (e.g Duff's or Anchorbar).
-Chowder making on New Year's Even. C's father has since 1982 (I believe) been making what people outside of WNY would call "thick soup" - but it's a rather large injustice to do so. It's an all day extravaganza of cutting carrots, potatoes, celery and grinding meat, followed by standing in the cold and stirring the chowder in a 30 gallon drum. There are always large numbers of people that stop by for a bowl or two (31 in 2006).

Tomorrow we are going to Rochester to catch up with some old friends and watch a RIT hockey game. RIT of course is my alma mater. Next week we are driving to Chicago to check out the city and visit the law school, as that's C's next stop on the life express. Towards the end of January we will return to Pennsylvania for another week or so and then it's back to China in early Februrary. From there we have many possibilities for travel but we would like to get a good view on the Chinese New Year.

Anyway, that's the story from the City of Lights. Til next time...