O is for OMG!

OMG!

China is so big!  The cities are so crowded!  Traffic is terrifying! The Malls are ridiculously large and tall, and go down several layers subterranean!

OMG!

The food is so good!  You can buy this cool yogurt on the street in beautiful little milk glass containers (only one of which I remembered to bring home with me)!

OMG!

The bullet train is fast!  The train to the airport is fast!  Cars are fast!  Taxis are scary fast! People push past you! The escalators are so weirdly steep!  

OMG!

The Great Wall of China is so awesome - awe inspiringly awesome! The tourist areas are so crowded! The streets are so clean!  There are so many expensive cars getting stuck in so many terrible traffic jams on small streets!  The scooters are everywhere!

OMG!

Performing in schools in China is so fabulous! The kids are so great, and the administrators at the schools so welcoming!

OMG!

Walking fast through China's street is fun!  Clotheslines are everywhere!  Shirts, coats, dresses,  pants and underwear hanging from doors, windows, balconies!

OMG! I feel right at home here but as if I am in a different kind of home!  OMG!  It is so cold in Shanghai and so hot in Shenzhen!  OMG!  It is so much fun being in China and hanging out with Sonia and her friends!  OMG!  When can I return?

F is for FRIENDS!

  is for FRIENDS

We all need friends - to get through life, to enjoy the journey. Whether a partner or a buddy, friends make our life easier, more fun, and more understandable. 

This trip to China was all about FRIENDS. 

Firstly I heard about Sonia, Pana Wakke and the China trip through my friend Regi Carpenter. My friend Megan Hicks had just returned from the same journey. Sonia was an instant friend, from the moment we met via Skype - lots of nice big intelligent energy. 

Once in China, the tour was people to Sonia's many friends and colleagues, which she had made during her ten plus years working and traveling in China. Wonderful people, who did not blink when meeting yet another of her storytellers from the US.

And there were the friends we made together:

My first morning, I was waiting in line to get a cuppa at the Costa coffee place across from our hotel. The young man next in line to me leaned in and complimented me on how nice my hair smelled! Well, one thing led to another and there we were sitting drinking our coffee when Sonia arrived.  Nice guy - he had grown up in Shanghai and knew everything about the city.  He was interested in storytelling and maybe he will work for Sonia one day instead of for the big corporation where he brings in the big bucks!

Here he is with Sonia.  (What was his name?)

In Beijing, we took a cooking class at The Hutong (as I already wrote about in B is for Beijing.) Sophia was our teacher, and she was also the person who organized and/or set up the family storytelling class I taught the next day at The Hutong. I particularly enjoyed talking with her, and we have corresponded a little since I have been home.  I hope we stay in touch. She is one of those people who effortlessly make the world a little lighter.

Sophia (on the right, standing)

At that self-same storytelling class, I also met two wonderful storytellers who wanted to learn more about storytelling and storytellers. (They are also in the picture with Sophia.)  Here's  a picture of them on the way to the Great Wall of China.  More about Sven and Cas tomorrow.

Sven and Cass in front of a weird and wild hotel in the middle of nowhere.

Be sure to read my dear friend Sonia's take on friendship too, at writtenselfie.blogspot.com.