"T" in Tennessee!

Amazing Trip to China: More about JianKou!

So.....after hiking up to the Wall with Mark Griffith the evening we arrived, we all had a great dinner together (prepared by the guest house owners) and then retired for night.  This began my night of no sleep! ha  I just could NOT get comfortable on that bed of boards.  I actually slept for maybe 2-3 hours (uh, exhaustion from jet lag) and then woke up every 15 minutes.  Waking up for good around 4:30 a.m., I dressed and took a short hike on my own.  Remember, I had just arrived the day before and after spending one night in a comfy bed at my friend's apartment......we left for JianKou.

Having only walked the Great Wall at Badaling (very tourist-y restored section of the Great Wall), I must say that you have not truly appreciated the Great Wall until you experience an unrestored section.  LOVE that my American friends in Beijing were able to take me here.  It was a wonderful experience.

We ordered up lots of local dishes, including 2 big grilled fish!  Our eyes were bigger than our stomachs and we were only able to consume ONE of the fish.  Mark offered the second to a nearby couple who accepted gratefully. :)  It was SO delicious!

Wonderful dishes! 

My room.  Sure you can tell that these seemingly comfy beds are NOT comfy! ha But you know what?  It didn't matter.  I actually LOVED that I woke up at 4:30 a.m. and was out and about by 5:00, walking around in the small village where we were staying.  This was one of the highlights of my trip.   For sure. :)

The next few photos, including the one above of the beautiful blooming tree, were taken on the morning of my third day in China, April 30. :)

The sun is rising!  Such a beautiful, cool day in China!

Wow!

I love trees. Especially trees showing such stark contrast.  I just really adore this photo and might even have it framed tohang in my home. :)  I have many photos of this tree but won't bore you with more! ha

Was trying to zoom in so not a great pic but this is the most common bird in China.   Alice?  Name? :)

Who am I to judge why folks think a photo of oneself sitting atop a pile of gravel is a great photo opportunity! ha

After my little early morning hike, I was walking back up to the guest house and encountered this man walking along with his donkey and also Kiah Griffith.  Turns out she and her husband, Ramon, had also risen early and had been out and about for a walk.  It's still not even 6:00 a.m.

The guest house owner's grandson and so very cute!

A wall at the guesthouse!  FU! Happiness! :)

Gathered sticks waiting to be burned for fuel for warmth or cooking.

At the guesthouse, they have hung cloths for folks to sign.  I so signed. :)

Though I embellished a bit more....here's my mark! :)

Kiah stands proud beside her contribution to the cloth "signature" wall!

These are the curtains in my guest house bedroom and posted here merely for Marie Villegas' enjoyment! :)

As we loaded up and prepared to leave this delightful village, I snapped this photo of a unique way of plowing the rows of corn which was definitely a communal effort and so great to see!  The guy in the front pulls the homemade plow, powered by the small bicycle wheel, and the guy behind the wheel pushes ad the woman in the back drops the corn in.  At least, I THINK that's what they were planting. :)

Spring planting really is a communal event.  So great to have been able to witness this.

Not open to the public?  Yeah, right. ha  They were even charging admission! ha

So we left and return to Beijing.  We regrouped at the Griffth apartment before heading out to their favorite noodle restaurant, 1949!  Upon leaving our quaint little village, Mark drove like a bat out of hell but also a very competent bat out of hell! ha  I worry about what his new Chinese driving skills will do to him once he returns to the States and must, once again, obey the traffic laws of the US! :)  No matter.  He might drive fast and furious but drive well, he does. The noodle restaurant that they adore was nice.  I've had better noodles but these were definitely good. :)  
This was a statue outside the 1949 Noodle Bar where we had dinner and.....this just spoke to me. It's as if a bubble should be hanging overhead that cries out, "Why me, Lord?" :)  I know it's slow-going, blog buddies, but bear with me.  I want to document everything about this exciting return to China after 2.5 years.  More to come! :)  LL, T.

 

Amazing Trip to China: Day 2 = JianKou! :)

So....here we go.  We drove from Beijing to our guest house in a small village near an unrestored section of the Great Wall at JianKou on Sunday, April 29, after a wonderful church meeting and great lunch of soup dumplings. Mark and Stacey had a big van rented to accommodate all of us.  The drive to our destination was interesting, to say the least.  Mark has definitely learned the Chinese way of driving ! ha  The good thing?  He got us to our destination in one piece! ha

Can you see the great Towers at the top of the hills. They're part of the Great Wall!

Yeah....looks like a great comfy bed, right?  There were twin beds in my room and mine had a one inch padding on top of nothing but BOARDS! ha  I slept very little.

Mark Griffith was SO patient with me as we hiked up to the Wall. I told him several times, "Just hike on and I'll meet you at the top" but he refused and continued to hike with me going so slowly. :)  I am grateful that he stayed with me as we hiked up a path that he said took about 30 minutes but took me one hour! ha

Oh my! At this point I am just very grateful to be near the top!

Even on unrestored sections of the Great Wall...where there are signs saying you CANNOT hike....you CAN hike and there will always be folks at the tops wanting to sell you water and ice creams and such! ha

It was an incredible evening, hiking at JianKou on the Great Wall! 


 Just take a look at these big bricks!  They are thousands of years old......  Hard to comprehend.

I still can't believe I was actually here!

The arches of a tower long forgotten but once so important in the defense of the Middle Kingdom.

Through the arches.

This is a section of the unrestored Great Wall called the "Heavenly Ladder."  I did not attempt to climb up the Heavenly Ladder....but would LOVE to attempt this section in a future visit to China. :)

Okay....it's late and I have to go now. But know that I will continue to post photos and such in days to come.  I returned to the States with NO sleep and jumped right back into WORK mode.  I am still dealing with fatigue and such as the days go by.  It's strange how jet lag can affect you.  More soon.  LL, T.

Amazing Trip to China: Day 1

Wow!  I had such an amazing time in China....JianKou, Datong, and mostly in Beijing!  Obviously, my age is affecting me because I can no longer sleep while sitting in an airline seat!  Next time I visit drugs will be in order! ha  So the flight to Beijing was okay but the first 5 hours were VERY bumpy!  Flight attendants were asked to buckle in THREE times!  A little scary for me as I LOVE to travel but don't have a huge love of flying! ha  I prayed a lot as the plane bumped and dipped during those first 5 hours.  The next 7-8 hours were smooth sailing, thankfully!  When I arrived in Beijing and made it through customs, emerging into the general public, my friend Stacey called out, "TERESA!" :)  I yelled back, "STACEY!"  But I still couldn't see her. ha  Then I got closer and could finally see her and her 2 youngest, Miles and Sofi.  SO GREAT to finally see them in person!  We then had to load up my mega-suitcases into their van and drive about 20 minutes to Terminal 2 where their daughter and her new husband would be arriving just a couple of hours later.  Oh, let me backtrack a bit.  I've worked part-time for two different airlines (American and AirTran).  I appreciate flight attendants and the job they have with passengers, especially passengers on a long international flight. :)  I took chocolates on the flight for them! United Airlines flight attendants ROCK!  They so appreciated the chocolates and before I knew it I was upgraded to Economy Plus and getting wonderful attention from the flight attendants. I SO appreciated the extra leg room even though I still could not SLEEP on the long 12 hour flight to Beijing.  I did, however, watch 6 movies during that flight time! ha

This is Kiah, Stacey and Mark's eldest daughter, with her newly-wed husband, Ramon, coming through customs! :)  There were MANY smiles and expressions of love as they arrived!

Originally, there were plans to have a great dinner of Beijing roasted duck upon our arrival but we were all so tired and such that we decided to cancel that and just head to Stacey and Mark's apartment where we heated up WONDERFUL jiaozi (dumplings) that Stacey and Mark's wonderful Ayi (house manager extraordinaire), Mrs. Li, had prepared and frozen for us.  They were DELICIOUS!  We all hit the beds early and woke up the next morning, Sunday, to  head to church, and then to JianKou where we were supposed to stay for 2 nights and hike on an unrestored section of the Great Wall and even spend a night camping on the Wall.  After a wonderful church meeting with great testimonies, we headed to my friends' favorite soup dumpling restaurant for a nice and DELICIOUS lunch!

This is Stacey and Mark's awesome apartment building!  Park Avenue in Chaoyang District!  What a wonderful apartment they have!

Kiah, Stacey and Mark's oldest, and her husband of 4 months, Ramon!

The incredibly wonderful soup dumplings we had for lunch!  We liked them so much that we had to order more! :)  Pop one in your mouth, bite into it, and experience the delicious warm soup juice as you enjoy the meat and dough of the dumpling!  SO GOOD!  Now..it's time to get on the road to JianKou to the guest house where we would be staying for our hike on the Wall. :)

But wait!  Before going further...this is the great shaved ice with condensed milk and fresh strawberries dessert that we enjoyed! :) 

This is Stacey Griffith!  My friend.  A friend I feel SO connected to and the wife of Mark and mother of Kiah, Sophia (Sofi), and Miles!  She is an amazing person and a wonderful friend as she opened up her home and life to me during my first week back in the land that I love. :)

But onward we go as we drove about 1.5 hours outside of Beijing to our destination....the wonderful guest house where we would be staying at JianKou.

Along the way, we decided to stop and buy some bags of fresh fruits!

Oh my!  Delicious strawberries!

I'm not sure, at this point, where exactly we are but I'm all for going to "Lucky!" :)

Ahhh...the hills surrounding our lofty destination! So we arrived at the guest house where we would be staying and settled in.  Mark wanted to hike up to the Wall in the evening and although everyone was pretty tired I opted to hike up the valley to the Wall. :)  I't's late.  More tomorrow. :)

Upcoming Trip to the Middle Kingdom!

I am SO excited!  I will be arriving in Beijing, for the first time in nearly 2.5 years since I moved back to the States in late 2009, on April 28, Saturday!  I will be staying for over 3 weeks!  I will be doing some amazing things (such as camping on the Great Wall with great friends) and taking a great trip to Datong and surrounding areas (Hanging Monastery) during my stay in China with some great American friends who are currently living in Beijing.  Words cannot possibly describe with how happy I feel right now to be returning to my "second hometown" and seeing all my great friends, former colleagues, former students, and great acquaintances (shopkeepers and such) in Beijing!  I hope very much to post here often during my stay in Bejing so please stay tuned! :)  Loving life, T. :)

I streaked and colored my hair red for my Beijing visit! ha  Wow...this photo is just TOO large! ha

Where's the Juice?

For the next 40+ days I'll be blogging at my secondary blog, The Happy Juicer.  You can get there by just adding /thehappyjuicer to the link for this blog or go here:  www.tinchina.typepad.com/thehappyjuicer.  Go to the beginning of my entries if you want to find out what I'm attempting these days.  Until around March 9th (hopefully) that is where all new posts will be.  Wish me luck! :)  T in Tennessee

Goodness Cometh from China! :)

When I returned home from work today....I stopped my car at the end of my driveway...rolled my window down...reached in....NOTHING!  Sad.  But then I drove up my driveway and noticed a box on my front porch!  OH!  It was a great package sent to me from an American friend currently living in Beijing!  She was recently in the States for her daughter's wedding so I had been expecting the box and it was just SO great to receive it on a rare day of NOTHING in my mailbox! :)  So you can only imagine how excited I was.  I brought the box into my kitchen.....set it aside and prepared to open it...which means I got out of my work clothes and into my "house" clothes....poured myself a big glass of Diet Coke....opened up the ends of the box and put it beside my computer desk and chair.  I then reached in and brought things out one by one! :)  What a wonderful box of surprises! :)  It made my day...my week! :)

Right off the bat.....GUM! :)  Call me a dork...nerd...whatever.  But I LOVE the chewing gum that you really can only get in China...even though made by an American compay!  You see here....delicious lemon gum, apple gum, and green tea/mint gum! :)  So thank you, Wrigley's, for making great gum sold in China but hey....could we get some of this chewing gum goodness in the States?

With apologies for the dusty/dirty nature of my keyboard....here are two WONDERFUL change purses which were purchased in Vietnam on a recent visit from my friend Stacey's husband...and inside the blue purse were some WONDERFUL beads (which I have SUCH plans for) and a great pair of earrings.  The other earrings...the silver and blue ones...were inside their own little box and I just love both pairs.  The little purses are SO nice...well embrodiered (sp?) and I SO love them! :)

The wrapping paper was just too cute for words! :)  I love it!  And the fact that the word "DIET" was on this wrapping paper?  SO funny and so adorable! ha

A GREAT postcard from a small shop in a hutong in Beijing called Plastered T's!  LOVE this postcard as Stacey has sent me several others and it's a great addition to my collection she is creating for me!

And a wonderful little journal....complete with stickers....and SO cute....like THIS page:

So lovely and just all kinds of Asian cuteness! :)

And though everything in the box was loved SO much....here are five wonderful lettersets of awesome Asian (mostly Korean) stationery!  I cannot wait to begin using this stationery to write to dear friends and relatives! :)  Thank you SO much, Stacey!  You are continuing to satisfy my thirst for wonderful things from China and I am blessed to know you and that you understand how very much I miss Beijing where I once lived and will never EVER forget! :)  Here's to a great friendship! :)  Teresa in Tennessee....but really missing the days when I would sign off as T in China!  T.

I LOVE MAIL! :)

Over the past six months I have become part of a couple of online websites where folks sign up and send and receive mail.....that is....SNAIL mail! :)  They are www.postcrossing.com and www.swap-bot.com.  I love getting "real" mail in my "real" mailbox.  Email is okay, but there is just nothing quite like getting a handwritten and personal letter in the mail....in your mailbox...where you have to reach in and retrieve it, see who it's from, and then decide how exactly you are going to handle such a precious letter.  Will you rip it open immediately and read it?  Or will you delay satisfaction by holding on to it for a bit.  My preference is to delay gratification until I'm back in the house and sitting down, comfortable, and not distracted.  Over the past 6 months I've been writing a lot and sending out a lot of mail. I'm especially happy about gaining 3 very special penpals in Japan, the Netherlands, and Poland.  My penpal in Japan is American and is a librarian on a Marine base.  My penpal in the Netherlands resulted from my association with postcrossing.  My penpal in Poland was a wonderful result from a "penpal swap" on swap-bot.  These women and I have exchanged some wonderful cards, letters, and information on our respective lives.  Sitting down and putting pen to paper is very relaxing and enjoyable for me.  I also adore stamps...from everywhere!  So I've been buying older U.S. stamps to grace the envelopes of everything I send out to my friends.

These are just a small representation of mail I'm sending out for the Christmas holidays.  I am also currently a little obsessed with making my own envelopes from thrift store-purchased books, magazines, maps and such.  It makes me very happy to send out handmade envelopes with handwritten messages inside.  I have also been enjoying making very small mini-envelopes with a tiny messages inside.  So here's the deal. If you would like to send me some "snail" mail....then I promise to write back to you.  You can send mail to me at:  Teresa Bragg, 1909 Dahlia Drive, Nashville Tennessee 37210, USA.  My motto will be "Send something, receive something!"  I really look forward to hearing from you!  Teresa

Love older U.S. stamps!

I've been a part of an organization called postcrossing for about 6 months now! I love it. www.postcrossing.com.  Send a postcard out into the world and get a postcard from some random stranger friend out in the world.  I am really really loving it!  I've received around 62 postcards now and am regularly corresponding, via snail mail, with about 4 folks due to postcrossing!  I recently discovered a stamp vendor at the Nashville flea market who has a huge box of stamps that he sells for face value!  OH MY!  What a joy! 

Lovely stamps! :)

Great postcards received !:)  I am really enjoying being a part of postcrossing! :)  T in T, T

Backing Up a Bit.....Summer of 2011!

I was very fortunate to have a wonderful Chinese friend (currently a law school student at Case Western University School of Law) stay with me for a month as she worked as an intern for a federal judge here in Nashville.  She and I had wonderful conversations but also created great meals. :)

I just can't say how grateful I was for being the beneficiary of such wonderful dishes while Tracy lived with me this past summer! :)

These are some of the wonderful pork/cabbage dumplings that we just couldn't manage to consume. But no worries.  They were saved and enjoyed for lunch the next day! :)

I was happy to take Tracy to Atlanta, Georgia, and show her many sights while enjoying a nice stay with my dear friend, Connie. :)

Tracy especially enjoyed getting to meet Mr. Anderson! ha

I took Tracy on a a tour of the CNN headquarters in Atlanta and we both had a great time. :)

We also met up with another dear friend, Liyin, while enjoying the wonderful laser show at Stone Mountain Park! :)

On the drive back to Nashville stopped off in Chattanooga so I could show Tracy the Chattanooga Choo Choo and the great hotel where you can sleep on the train cars! :)

This is Tracy inside one of the Chattanooga "sleeping" cars! :)  We had a wonderful time exploring Atlanta and also Chattanooga and Tracy enjoyed seeing some American cities that she had never seen before. :)  It was a great trip! T in T, T

Weekend at Cumberland Mtn. State Park!

It might be hard to top all those photos (see post below) of the Minister's Treehouse! ha But there is MORE to the weekend. :)  Marsha Haas and I have known each other since 1983 when we both worked for the same company (just after I graduated from the Univ. of Tennessee).  We have been friends through thick and thin for 27 years so it was so nice to do what we'd been talking about doing for years....have a girls' weekend together.  We did just that! :)

I arrived about 2 hours prior to Marsha's arrival and I was determined to have a wonderful fire going in the fireplace of our "rustic" 2 bedroom cabin. Things didn't quite work as I had planned (though I did bake some chocolate chip cookies before she arrived so the cabin's "funky" smell was replaced by some wonderful cookie smells! ha)  Well, when Marsha arrived she quickly determined that we needed "fire starter" supplies. Two heads are always better than one, right? 

Marsha not only brought the corkscrew for that expensive bottle of Trader Joe's wine (smile)....but also introduced me to the fine art of drinking red wine while eating a bit of chocolate cake brought back from our dinner at the Lodge of the Park. :)  Aren't friends great?

So on Saturday morning we arose to a wonderfully bright, though cool, day.  One of my self-assigned tasks was to prepare Saturday morning's breakfast.  We enjoyed great coffee and I prepared western omlettes with mushrooms, green peppers, onions and cheese!  They actually looked like omlettes and not scrambled eggs.  I was so proud.  Then we set off on a nice and gentle hike around the lake at the Park.

This is Marsha looking all nice and innocent. But she was saying "Come on, Teresa!" while she was jumping around on this swinging bridge and shaking it terribly! ha I was determined to make sure she had traveled to the other side before I ventured onto the bridge because, you know, I wasn't completely sure it could hold her AND me at the same time! ha  She finally gave up on her shenanigans and allowed me to cross all on my own.

From the middle of the swinging bridge.

NIce.

Cool rock formations/shelves that I am sure are part of plate tectonics from way back when.

Throwing the "peace/victory" sign because, you know, that's just how I roll. :)  Not too long after this photo...as we plodded along on the trail...a fierce (yes, that's right...it was fierce) wind came up and just as I was walking under an acorn tree one of those little suckers came down hard and fast and hit me on my thumb....and it really hurt!  Marsha, just laughed.  (Did I call her "dear" earlier?)

Well, hello, little duckies!  Where ya going?  Come back, come back!  Can't you hear me speaking "duck?"  Seriously...I can speak duck.

Here we are....about to end our nice little hike...but not before coming across these guys!

Geese are not to be taken lightly! ha  They are very protective and very territorial.  We gave them a wide berth as we passed by because, you know, getting pecked to death is not something I want to see on my death certificate!

Whew! ha  We've passed the evil geese and about to cross this wonderful historic masonry bridge/dam to head back to our cabin.

We've walked across the bridge and here's the other side.  After our hike we enjoyed a nice lunch of peanut butter and honey sandwiches (great post-hiking food), enjoyed chatting and then left to see a great comedy play (The Dearly Departed on it's last night of production) at the Cumberland County Playhouse! After the play we enjoyed a nice dinner at Cracker Barrel.  What a wonderful weekend catching up with a friend. T in T.