It's been too long

So apparently I've fallen a little behind on my blogging - sorry. Initially I stopped updating regularly because my brother, Matt, arrived in Shanghai for a month of travel with me. Rather than spend my evenings typing away on my computer, I chose to enjoy having family here. We had an incredible month together. We went from Shanghai to Hangzhou to Suzhou to Chongqing. Then we boarded an interesting "cruise ship" down the Yangze river where we arrived in Yichang after 2 days and 2 nights. From Yichang we hopped a flight to Chengdu. In Chengdu we made a day trip to Leshan to see the world's largest buddha. From Chendgu we headed to Xi'an for a few days. Relaxed and were lazy in Qufu for another few, and then headed to Beijing for 4 nights before saying goodbye. Having family here was great. Having family leave was a bit sad, and I have to admit that when I said goodbye to Matt at the airport I was a bit jealous. I love China, I really do, but I miss my friends and family back home immensely. I also miss the comforts of speaking the language, knowing the customs, and enjoying the variety of food.

Life in Qufu is moving quickly by though, and soon enough I'll be saying goodbye to all the things I loved about my year here. So now I'm hoping to jump start the blog again. Once a month goes by it's hard to start up again - too much has happened to record here. It's a bit like laundry. If you're doing it at least once a week, you don't mind it. But when it piles up, the pile just keeps growing. So now I've decided to skip past the past few weeks - they were wonderful and exciting and then rather boring - and perhaps along the way I'll write about the last of my travels. But for now, I'm back, hoping to stay on top of this pile of laundry.