China and the Steiners Rock

Just 16 hours after leaving Indonesia, we were on our way to China to visit our friends, Phil and Julie Steiner (and their sweet daughter, Madeleine), and to get a feel for a country that neither of us had been to before, but think might be a place we'd like to live and work someday.

On arrival in Xiamen airport, John and I were struck by how much like Japan it seemed- everything was so neat and tidy and high-tech and the staff in their uniforms were so proper. Here's a picture of me demonstrating the automatic trash can (no hands...):


The next day we flew to Wuhan which is in sort of central eastern China (but not on the ocean) and celebrated Thanksgiving with our friends and their coworkers (including the parents of John's high school buddy- Carl Frohman).

The whole visit was wonderful-it was nice and chilly (John would say horrible and frigid) so we got to wear slippers and sweatshirts and stuff. And walking the streets and markets in China was so much fun. It seemed to me to be like what I'd think the central Asian countries look like- bundled up shopkeepers, rows of smaller shops, I'll include a couple pictures to give you an idea.





To be continued...