Ok, so after I went and told you I would be posting more recent stuff, here is a flashback! lol..........This is 2014 honestly, but the Amritsar trip was our first trip in India and it was amazing honestly. This is just a "taste" as its a street view, not anything in depth.
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Its been a long long time since I have posted and its unfortunate, as I know there are still people who stop by, but we are about to change that. This is a "Hello" post to say we are still out here. At least I am. Trish claims she is going to post again, but we shall see.
So many things have happened, and its difficult to condense it all, but I am going to post a bunch of pictures soon to give people a good visual rep of what we have done here and there. To make it like a timeline will be too time consuming but hopefully some of the images will bring some of what we have done a bit closer to this side of the world. Summer travel plans this year, are not even close to set, sadly. Trish is waiting to hear if she will be going to the AP Reading. This might not happen because of the change of schools, teaching load and bad luck, but she still hopes too. That trip defines much of her potential summer. As does her next graduate class. She is taking classes to get a Masters is Library Science and while most of its online, there are some classes she has to take onsite. Depending on her load and if she has the time, money and inclination to do it, she will take a class or two more than likely this year. As the AP Reading is in Cincinnati and Master classes are north of Dallas, you can see how this will impact her summer. Help send Cassidy to Summer SchoolCassidy will be in Chicago for a month taking a couple of Studio classes. This is pretty exciting for her to see what its like to be in a college level program. Its a big change for her, and will be a heck of a learning experience. She got a Merit Scholarship, as well as a Needs Based scholarship, but its still fairly expensive, particularly since she is flying from halfway around the work. She set up a GoFundMe page if you are interested in helping her in this journey. If you want to help but feel like you got something for your money, (other than Cassidy's undying appreciation and helping her out) please feel free to buy her book. It has languished on the iBooks store and could use a sales bump. Her book can be found here, Cassidy's Photography Book. Its a bargain at $4.99 and it all proceeds will go to help furthering her education, and happiness. After Chicago, we may have to head back to China, as we might be limited in our options for any other travel While you are at the iBooks bookstore, feel free to download my free book at, Foundation of Art. Mine is free, and feel free to write a review. My summer plans are all hinging on what Cassidy and Trish do. So I am in limbo waiting. We all may end up in slightly different trajectories, but Cassidy and I hope to make Texas to see family. There is a glimmer of hope to go to NYC for family and friends, but there is a lot that is unknown at the moment. Life in China is more modern than India for sure. Bear in mind we were also in a very rural part of India, but as a whole, China is more modern than India no doubt. But one of the biggest irritants about China is that we have lousy internet. In school, at home, its slow. Toss in a VPN and its slower still. We were on a mountaintop in rural India and had much better internet. The roads are better in China, the infrastructure, as a whole is better and more modern than in India, but the language barrier is more difficult as not many people in China have English skills where we are. In India, because of the English occupation finding an English speaker was easy. Eating out is hard, unless the restaurant has pictures of the food. We have left places because we just can't get an understanding of what we want. Even with translation apps, as they aren't very good. There is a bbq near us that I have taken a menu from and have had some translations done from Chinese speaking friends and we point at what we want. And we will have more food options added as we go, but its not for those that want to have things smooth and efficient. Today I am going to the bank to transfer funds and its always a strange visit, and this is the first time without a Chinese speaker to help me out. Fingers crossed. Schools, all have their own problems and head scratching concerns, but all in all the move was a benefit on a number of fronts. So we are happy for the change of schools. The school is more modern, but it doesn't have the charming old world personality that Woodstock had. I loved the gritty light filled studio I had there. Now I am in an iMac Lab, shiny and clean, and there are benefits to that, and I like the courses I am teaching, but I miss the down and dirty art making that can happen. I don't see road side trash that is intriguing enough to drag home. At Woodstock I had compiled a wonderful array of objects that had so many possibilities. We have housing at the new school, and prefer to find schools with housing as that is a pain to do in a new land and culture. Its a nice, modern apartment with its quirks. Cassidys rooms is entirely too small for someone to live in well. The bed frame keeps the door to her room from opening all the way. That was a terrible choice to have. A slightly smaller frame would mean the door could open completely, but someone decided to make a small room feel smaller by having the door not open. We are on the 11th floor with interesting views and vistas. Nothing that is travel magazine worthy, but being up high like this is interesting. We have heated floors and a/c, where as in Woodstock we had one wood stove for a large area. All in all, we would trade the new modern apartment for the room and charm of the Woodstock housing. The galley kitchen here is so tight you can't easily maneuver two in there at the same time. In India all the housing was more or less on school property. There were some that were rented, but they had been long term rentals and they were scattered all over the hillside. We essentially had little clusters of houses that made up neighborhoods in a loose way. Back in the days of when the school had a more missionary vision to it, the neighborhoods was set up my denomination. Such as the Protestants were here, and the Episcopalians were over there. At least that is what I was told and it makes sense.
Many were easy walking distance, but everything was up or down there, so even a short distance could mean a lot of climbing in one direction. The farther places were about 25 minutes for walking. Some had motorcycles or scooters though. In China we have 4 compounds, (apartment complex) that most of the school lives in. We are picked up by buses in the morning and get bused back home at night. For us, I think we have the farthest commute its about 30 minutes of a bus ride. We make 3 other stops, picking up a single guy that rent an apartment, and then stops at two other compounds. its a 15 minute taxi rid if you go that route. Hope that answers the questions I got recently! |
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March 2018
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