China, China, China, China! :)

Someone recently said that I seem to talk/write a lot about China. It was obvious that their words were not meant to be positive. Well, you know, so what if I journal a lot about China? I absolutely LOVED being in China for what precious little time I was there. It was an incredible adventure for me. I would give up chocolate for the rest of my life (seriously) if I could just go back and spend more time in China. I have very, very good friends who are Chinese. They mean a lot to me. A lot. I write what I want to for my online journal. It’s mine. I write what I feel like writing and I post pictures of things/events/people that are important to me and mean something to me. That’s what bloggers do. I enjoy it. I honestly don’t care if anyone reads it or not. But I always appreciate it when someone pays me a positive comment about something I’ve written.
People who journal (as I do) tend to journal (and talk) about things that mean something to us. Issues that are important to us. China (the country and its people) is important to me. I spent months reading great Chinese literature in preparation for my trip. Going to China changed my life. Even a small tiny event that occurs within the space of seconds can drastically change your life. Those things are important. Geez, I mean, having a kid changes your life. Getting married, getting divorced, getting old, getting ill, blah, blah, blah. Have you ever heard a divorced woman go on and on about her crazy ex-husband? Of course! It’s important to them at the time. All kinds of things change the direction of our lives. What’s important to one person may not be important to another. That’s okay. Some things that were important to me ten years ago are not important to me today. Things change. People change. The world changes.
When I am fortunate enough to travel to another country....I get completely immersed in the culture. I want to know everything there is to know about what I'm seeing and see it all. I want to talk to people and eat different foods and just sit and listen to the sound of a different language being spoken. When I traveled to Europe when I was 16, there was no easy internet access, like I enjoyed before my trip to China. I went to the library to do my research. I wanted to know the less-touristy things to do....even at that age. I found out about a hotel in Vienna, Austria that served an incredible homemade chocolate cake (called Sacher Torte, and layered with apricot jam) and you could actually get a glass of cold milk there (and I do love a glass of cold milk with chocolate cake!). It was (and still is) near the famous Vienna State Opera House. I got a map, found the hotel on the map, walked there by myself and had a piece of that cake, sitting at a little table outside at the hotel cafe. It was delicious.
If you think these are just mindless rantings about travel.....I suppose one could blame my mother. She started it when she arranged for me to go on that incredible trip to Europe when I was in high school. It began my lifetime love of other countries and other peoples.
So.......tonight I am thrilled to be going to dinner with my son at our favorite Italian restaurant. And guess what? We’re taking my CHINESE friends.