Home at last!!!!

I know we are all so thankful to be home at last! Not to say we won't miss our sweet Asian friends, their warmth and kindness mirrors southern hospitality, with an Asian twist. They worked so hard to give our kids a wonderful experience and a warm reception. We will miss our new friends from our trip too, who had to return to other places besides Memphis. There is rumor of a chaperon free reunion between the kids, but don't worry, we will track them down and make sure they behave and get to bed on time.....where ever they go!!!!!

I believe it when I say, lifelong friendships have been made, in the US and across the seas. The minds of our kids have been opened, transformed and their worlds have been broadened in so many ways.

Our journey from China was about 36 hours from the time we checked out of our hotel, until we got back to Memphis. The kids were great and did very little complaining. We had a few long layovers, which made the trip longer. They were very good at entertaining themselves. We were surprised by wonderful hotel accommodations our last night. We thought we were returning to the dorms at the school in Beijing, but we were instead taken to a really nice hotel. It was such a nice way to end our trip. The food was wonderful, the buffet had the biggest food choices, and most American menu, that we had been served the entire time we were there. They even had french toast, and when we tried to get the kids down to the lobby for breakfast so we could leave, we teased them by tempting them with the wonderful food choices available. They did not believe us, since we had teased them about having French Toast on the menu while in Yunnan, that time we were lying of course. But hey, after weeks on end of trying to get teenagers to get up early, we resorted to anything!

I am going to try and post a story that was in the New York Times, by a girl who was in our group, but from another state. She was quarentined after testing positive for N1H1 flu. Her group was at our campus. She writes about her experience. It gives a glimpse into what we were experiencing those first few difficult days.


Thanks again for the thoughtfulness of the parents for bringing us flowers and a special gift. We hope your kids enjoyed their journey! They may not have such an exotic and adventuresome journey for a long time to come!