Monday, July 2, 2007

Return of the Exile


This weekend I was so thankful our son arrived home safely. I rejoiced just having him back on US soil. I was also grateful he was not traveling from London. We talked about the car bombs in London and he said they were both in areas he frequented. One was by Hyde park. Hyde park was across the street from his residence and the undetonated bomb in a place we walked by every day. The Piccadilly club was also a place his group frequented.

Yesterday was a beautiful July 1st day. Temperatures were moderate and the sky a clear blue. He said he had missed seeing blue skies. He never saw a blue sky in China--too much polluted air. I think the girls from China are going to be amazed. He anticipates culture shock for them related to the wide open spaces and less crowding. Andy noted that too. He said you see crowds of people everywhere. Even on the "freeways" many people are walking.

He came bearing gifts. One was shrink wrapped chicken feet. They are edible in China. I think they will stay shrink wrapped here. We watched his videos and slide show of digital photos last night. The area where they lived, a small town of only 300,000 did not see many foreigners. The "white people" were noticed every where they went. People stopped what they were doing and stared. One of the girls in his group was a statuesque blue eyed blonde, who not only drew stares but people could not resist touching her. She was treated like a foreign movie star and people stopped to take their picture with her. She is that pretty. Could have been a movie star pretty. Besides having paler skin, the Americans were all a foot taller than their hosts. Andy's take on his experiences of the last six months living first in London then China; "Now I know what it is like to be poor in a rich country and rich in a poor country." Interesting year for a 21 yr. old young man.

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