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| Must be two in the morning. Pile it all in and Viola! Off we go. The moon waning. My thoughts more aanxious than melancholic or excited. Anxious everything going without incident, without any hic-cups, without any obstacles. Only because the unknown awaits. The unknown that the ticketing agent at the China Eastern booking desk almost did not give us a boarding pass because our onward passage was 31 days later and people staying over 30 days need a special visa before boarding the plane. The unknown that in the airport in Bali before we were oficially granted a Visa and entrance into Indonesia, my ATM card would not work and the credit card machine was not working and so I am thankful they accepted US dollars for the VISA. The unknown that everyone was so tired from our 12 hour flight to Shanghai that we almost missed our Midnight flight out of Shanghai because we were all sleeping next to the gate as everyone else was boarding. Luckily, I woke up and with blurry vision went to check out what was happening. So, I was a little anxious about the unknown, because with life the unknown always exists and with travelling the unknown increases and when travelling with children or soing anyting with children the unknown is magnified by an unknown factor, which left me with an unknown unknown amount of anxiousness. Dwana and I have been through moves. We try to take time to congratulate ourselves once again for another step. This trip feels different though. Not like crossing the border into Canada, not like driving so far away from home in Newfoundland, not like leaving Texas or California in the middle of the night and driving straight and not stopping or looking back until the sun rose to begin another day another way. This was different. We were both making the trip across the Pacific pond for the first time. Now we are over an ocean, away from land trying to connect to the Earth to the people of the Earth. Chinese B-movies are playing. They were actually pretty good. Better than the movies we were trapped in front of a decade ago on a bus in Peru. Nevertheless, we are trapped, held hostage to the entertainment. Viena is putting a puzzle together. Ezra is painting on the Kindle Fire. Flying above space. The check-in process was especially hectic since they almost did not let us on the plane because we did not have the appropriate VISA. For 30 days you do not need a VISA to board. The ticketing ladies counting once and then twice and then decided that a day in the airport did not count as a day so off we went – to Shanghai. We do not have much stuff, but we have too much stuff. And the stuff we have I am trying to take advantage of. We are some of the few Americans on this flight that flew out of Honolulu heading to Shanghai. No English spoken here on this plane, and I am sure it does not become any better once we arrive inShanghai China. The flight to Shanghai is 11 hours from Honolulu. We are loaded down with 10 bags. One bag has all of our food to bring – mostly energy bars. One has electronics. One has clothes. One has entertainment stuff. Ezra and Viena are travelling so well. Ezra was first to take advantage of the sleepng rule. We had just enought itme to make our connection in Oahu. Three hours should give you enough time, but we had to check in again with China Eastern. We were middle of the line of a bunch of Chinese people waiting to check in, but by the time we had counted days for our visa and checked all of our bags in we were one of the last to head to the security agents. We have already had to go through TSA twice, hopefully not another time. They always seem to pick me to do the full body scan. The plane ride was so quiet. Not many people talking even though it was daytime. Viena was finally clueing into what was happening in her own way. She said, “Dad, we are going to a place where there are alot of people!” She noticed as soon as we were standing in line at China Eastern for our flight to Shanghai that there were alot of people an dthey took notice or her and her light hair and the plane was full of people with darker hair with a different language and we were heading to China. The place where everything is made. And what about all their stories of their lives. Imagine if I could just record one, And to think back about when I worked at GetTogether and the inflence of Chinese culture on me from that job. And so we go. Ezra and Viena both have been practicing caligraphy with the magic paper we purchased in Chinatown San Francisco with Cousin Julia. Here we go again. This cultural experience. this is why we are doing what we are doing. The adventure starts here. Our semester has begun. After a few more whale sighting, after a few more roads. What wild places are we going to go now. I am going. The world is spinning. I am awakening. Spoke with Bob about his trip to HondurasI tried to connect the dots of all the stories in my head of which this is the one that I am living.What will happen? What will we do? How will we stay connected? What will fall through the cracks? How will I ever know anything? Where is my passion? When will we find the day that we lost? |
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oneworldtwokids 