Introduction

Photo: Sander and Courtenay looking for cicadas at the army college where we lived (fried cicadas were considered a seasonal delicacy), Hebei Province, China, 1997.

Not only is blogging completely new to me but so is my Fujifilm digital camera. I'm trying to figure out both of these things simultaneously on at least a rudimentary level before departing on Saturday. This will be Sander's second trip to China.

Sander was last in China when he was five years old, but that was after a year of living there with the rest of us. Sander and his sister, Courtenay, attended a Chinese kindergarten while Daryl and I taught English at a military college.

The military college is in Hebei Province and we are planning to visit there toward the end of this journey. They are expecting us and we are looking forward to seeing our former colleagues.

Although this will be my fifth time to China, I haven't organized such a journey since 1996. So I have been uber-organized far in advance ... which has been so unlike me. It feels good to be this prepared this early.

Meanwhile, Daryl (my wife) has a list of things for me to do before we leave. I need to get busy on completing that list.