Landed.

Sun Feb 28--10 pm

Landed. You know you live in another country when your round trip ends here! Temperature not too cold, but today is so overcast I cannot see the sun. Well, it is the Year of the Tiger (lao hu nian) and it is going to be a big one. I was born in the Year of the Tiger. Someone recently asked me if they were born in ‘83, what animal would they be – apparently that is the Year of the Pig :). If it is the year of the animal in which you were born, you are supposed to wear something red the whole year…I’ve only done that a few days, we will see if I keep it up.

It was so fun to bring back chicken for my friends! Per Aunt Trudy’s suggestion, I tried not to let too many people smell it as to prevent attacks by neighbors on the plane…

Yes, that is 20 Original Sandwiches, 20 biscuits, and boxes of girl scout cookies in the middle of Shanghai. We had fun sharing about where the Chinese New Year break took each of us (S returned home to Singapore, M went to visit family and friends in the Philippines, D & A took a 20 hour train ride out to where the mountains they copied for the Avatar movie was, A was in Hong Kong), and I got to show them the new Tim Hawkins patriotic CFA song from Seminar.

While in Washington D.C., I got to see: Mary-Stew, two museums, (the Natural History - where Katie & the Hope Diamond were the highlights, and the American History where Lincoln's Top hat and pocket watch are), and shout out to Mollie who came on a 3 hour bus to spend the day and listen to me prepare for my introduction of the first night speaker.

Before I came back I had a 24 hour stop in Boston and got to see some of these folks:

I met them on the plane over on my last flight. Inspiring and fun people to be around, thanks for hosting Michael.

After 24 hours in Boston, I had 24 hours in Atlanta - just enough time to meet my niece before returning "home".

Now, I am off to try to sleep with all the fireworks going on outside on this last night of the CNY.