Hello, dear blog followers, both of you. I'll bet you've been wondering what's been going on for the last month or so, right?
I finally got to sign off one item from my bucket list. I climbed Jara Mountain and soaked in the hot springs there, at 4,100 meters altitude. I did due diligence, checked the weather, booked the horse trek from my friend Angela, booked the air ticket, and arrived in Tagong.
I had two Danish friends accompany me. We all behaved as the proper tourists, making our bookings ahead of time, like our hotel in Chengdu for the night we arrived in Sichuan and so forth.
We were feeling the altitude, and asked Angela if we couldn't move back the start of our trek, to give us another day of acclimating.
I would have preferred to push it five days out. However, the return flights had already been booked, my Danish friends planning to leave Chengdu even earlier by four days than me.
Angela informed us that if we delayed even a day, we would clash with a tour group of 100 Chinese people and their 80-yak cargo load, also going to the pristine valley of the hot springs.
And this is why I prefer spontaneity. I break out in a rash, if I must plan my activities more than a day or two before my next travel move.
We did the trek suffering severely with altitude sickness. It was a nightmare, an ordeal, an endurance contest.
Now I am back in Changzhou. First, begin the long process to renew the work permit and residence permit. Simultaneously, start packing up the apartment. I am leaving Changzhou. If I return to China, it will be to Chongqing or Sichuan province.
It is difficult to sort through 6 years of accumulation, especially when part of it comes from the bakery.
Then, on to unfinished business. The house in Mexico, begun but not completed, needs to be visited. I have never even been to the project site, or anywhere in Durango State.
The house in Florida. After this summer of illness in Changzhou, I pretty much know that I could never live in a climate as hot and humid as Florida. Time to give that up and move on.
And then there are the pets to be considered. I know about cats, but I am still learning about dogs. Cats are 1. place identifying and 2. people attached. So if I remove myself but leave the cat in familiar surroundings, she'll not be traumatized.
Dogs, however, are people-attached. I saw it when I left her at the kennel for two weeks while I traveled. On the day I took her there, she screeched and screamed whenever she lost sight of me. When I returned, she had licked a spot on her leg raw. It cleared up as soon as we got home. Except that in all that irritation, she may have picked up some kind of bug, because now there is a rash on the skin that she licked constantly. Or did the rash come first? She will visit the vet this week and have all that taken care of.
I called the airlines. She can travel with me in the passenger cabin. So she will go to Mexico with me. Then on to the States. Maybe I will have to leave her with my daughter, if daughter thinks this is a good idea. I think the dog will recognize the similarity between daughter and me, and instantly feel at home.
This latter is a result of not knowing what comes next, after the house in Florida sells. Will I want to return to Mexico? Not likely, if I am the only resident in that desolate spot. Then, what?
Is there family I want to live with? No matter. No family is expressing interest in my company.
Of course, at my age, I like many of my peers wish for a sudden aneurysm to bring the story to a swift and happy ending.
Today I will go in search of a smartphone to replace my iPhone, which stopped connecting to the internet a couple of months ago. Thankfully, being a minor holiday in China (mid autumn), I have two days off from work. On Friday, back into the classroom.
I finally got to sign off one item from my bucket list. I climbed Jara Mountain and soaked in the hot springs there, at 4,100 meters altitude. I did due diligence, checked the weather, booked the horse trek from my friend Angela, booked the air ticket, and arrived in Tagong.
I had two Danish friends accompany me. We all behaved as the proper tourists, making our bookings ahead of time, like our hotel in Chengdu for the night we arrived in Sichuan and so forth.
We were feeling the altitude, and asked Angela if we couldn't move back the start of our trek, to give us another day of acclimating.
I would have preferred to push it five days out. However, the return flights had already been booked, my Danish friends planning to leave Chengdu even earlier by four days than me.
Angela informed us that if we delayed even a day, we would clash with a tour group of 100 Chinese people and their 80-yak cargo load, also going to the pristine valley of the hot springs.
And this is why I prefer spontaneity. I break out in a rash, if I must plan my activities more than a day or two before my next travel move.
We did the trek suffering severely with altitude sickness. It was a nightmare, an ordeal, an endurance contest.
Now I am back in Changzhou. First, begin the long process to renew the work permit and residence permit. Simultaneously, start packing up the apartment. I am leaving Changzhou. If I return to China, it will be to Chongqing or Sichuan province.
It is difficult to sort through 6 years of accumulation, especially when part of it comes from the bakery.
Then, on to unfinished business. The house in Mexico, begun but not completed, needs to be visited. I have never even been to the project site, or anywhere in Durango State.
The house in Florida. After this summer of illness in Changzhou, I pretty much know that I could never live in a climate as hot and humid as Florida. Time to give that up and move on.
And then there are the pets to be considered. I know about cats, but I am still learning about dogs. Cats are 1. place identifying and 2. people attached. So if I remove myself but leave the cat in familiar surroundings, she'll not be traumatized.
Dogs, however, are people-attached. I saw it when I left her at the kennel for two weeks while I traveled. On the day I took her there, she screeched and screamed whenever she lost sight of me. When I returned, she had licked a spot on her leg raw. It cleared up as soon as we got home. Except that in all that irritation, she may have picked up some kind of bug, because now there is a rash on the skin that she licked constantly. Or did the rash come first? She will visit the vet this week and have all that taken care of.
I called the airlines. She can travel with me in the passenger cabin. So she will go to Mexico with me. Then on to the States. Maybe I will have to leave her with my daughter, if daughter thinks this is a good idea. I think the dog will recognize the similarity between daughter and me, and instantly feel at home.
This latter is a result of not knowing what comes next, after the house in Florida sells. Will I want to return to Mexico? Not likely, if I am the only resident in that desolate spot. Then, what?
Is there family I want to live with? No matter. No family is expressing interest in my company.
Of course, at my age, I like many of my peers wish for a sudden aneurysm to bring the story to a swift and happy ending.
Today I will go in search of a smartphone to replace my iPhone, which stopped connecting to the internet a couple of months ago. Thankfully, being a minor holiday in China (mid autumn), I have two days off from work. On Friday, back into the classroom.
