I’m sorry. I’ve neglected posting for a while. I’ve been busy just enjoying the whirlwind that was the end of 2011. It was an amazing year. It wasn’t without its challenges or low points, but I can honestly look back and say that I was given some great opportunities and I made the most of them. It started with a trip to Patagonia, saw me marry and move to China, and included other amazing visits to Indonesia and Nepal (more on that later). The sheer awesomeness of 2011 means that I’ve approached 2012 with a little trepidation. Now that I get a second chance at a new year now it is the year of the Dragon, I thought it was time to make some resolutions:

• Don’t forget to blog! Sorry to those of you who have been asking. I’ll try to catch up asap.
• Participate in the Pennsylvania Spartan Run and DON’T SUCK AT IT. I’ve always avoided any running based races. Mostly because I don’t like running. Also I am sufficiently competitive to not want to subject myself to the indignity of being overtaken by someone dressed like a deep sea diver, or Thora Hird or someone. I’m hoping the obstacles will break up my usual running mantra of “hate hate hate hate hate…”
• Learn Mandarin. OK I’ve taken some lessons but Mandarin is difficult as you have to just sit down and memorise stuff. You can’t take in much from what’s around you as you can’t read any of it. While I am in China I have to reach the point where I can communicate somewhat more than currently.
• Also China related – I want to be able to acquire skills/learnings about the local market that will enhance my ability to do my job when I return.
• I want to grow my tiny new consulting business in the meantime. I’ve had some great new business discussions recently. Fingers crossed some of them lead to money 😉
• It’s not very measurable as an objective but I would like to learn how to worry less about things I cannot change. I spend a lot of time doing that.
• More easily measured is my resolution to sort my teeth out. I’ve never had many problems with them, but there are a couple of things that need to be sorted:- I need to get my top wisdom teeth removed now that the little buggers are deciding to put in an appearance. I also need to get a 20 year old crown replaced as there’s a small infection underneath it. Neither of these things happened overnight, but 2012 is the year they get addressed. Then, thanks to my time living in the US it is no longer acceptable for me to have English teeth. My wisdom teeth are making my previously fairly straight teeth decidedly wonky so I’ll get them fixed too.
• I also resolve to drink more water. So far this is going badly. Everyday I drink close to a recommended amount of water I have to go to the loo a LOT. Then when I forget, I don’t drink and I have to start trying to retrain my bladder again. Of all my resolutions, this is so far the most difficult one to keep.
• This year I will get a Chinese driving licence. I am stopped rather frequently in the US so I think having a Chinese licence could be awesome: “Ni hao officer! What seems to be the problem?”.

This  morning I went, with considerable trepidation, to have my immigration medical. While far from pleasant in any way it proved to be an eyeopening experience – in all the chaos and craziness, this unfortunate hurdle on the path to residence here turns out to be an sbsolute model of efficiency.

We showed up at 9am for our appointment. The place was packed and my heart sank when I saw that it employs a bacon counter ticket system. Thinking of past bad experiences at passport offices and other places that use numbers I was kicking myself for not bringing some emergency rations, particularly as we’d been instructed not to eat beforehand. I didn’t think we’d get out before lunchtime.

The first task was a document to complete where you have to mark all the horrible illnesses and surgeries you had ever had. Much to my surprise, among the usual suspects was a box marked “Plague”! I wonder how many people can say they have had that.

Almost as soon as I had finished filling out the details my number came up. I did not expect that.  First comes the admin portion. A lady checks your ID against the document. Done within seconds it was then a matter of scooting over to the next chair to the next computer operator who notes any operations. As soon as you vacate a chair, then next pair of buttocks fill the same spot. That’s when I realised it was operated like a human sheep dip.

Before I knew it I was sent to the next room and being ordered to stand on scales, before being handed a dressing gown and those funny plastic overshoes.  This room is at the start of a short corridor with five rooms on each side. Each room is dedicated to a different test. (funnily enough there is actually a room 101  – although just an admin room rather than my worst Orwellian nightmare). From there you are ordered from one to the next where tests are undertaken with military precision.  I had a chest XRay, an ECG, an ultrasound and some blood samples taken. The eye test was hilarious as I didn’t quite understand the instructions:

Me: ” I don’t understand what you need me to say”

Doctor pointing randomly at a chart: “Can you see it?”

Me: “Yes”.

The Doctor then looks quickly up my nose and down throat (presumably the rigorous NT bit of the ENT exam) then stamps me ready to go to the next room.

Throughout the whole process, I’ve never felt more like a random piece of meat. The one thing that does make you feel a little better about it is the fact that the small corridor is filled with other itinerant souls dressed in the same weird gown and shoes, shuffling from one room to the next. I can imagine that Purgatory would be the same, endless shuffling from room to room for random procedures. That said, it was all over in a remarkable thirty minutes so I can’t complain too much. I’ll find out later this week if I’m healthy enough to be a resident. Very pleased that’s now over.

I’ve made it to Shanghai. It feels like it has been forever since we first decided to take the opportunity to move here. That’s probably because we’ve crammed so much into the last few months. On the other hand the last few weeks have passed in a whirlwind. OK it probably isn’t the smartest idea to emigrate three days after returning from holiday…but we made it.  It’s only been a couple of days but so far so good.

It’s a really impressive city – it’s a really vibrant and cosmopolitan place. I know many places are described as cosmopolitan but few really are. Shanghai definitely is. There’s a strong energy here. While Europe and the US are feeling a bit flat right now, China feels like it is going places – it really does feel like you can achieve anything. Assuming you can embrace the chaos of course because there’s a lot of that. I’m not sure how things are going to work out but I think it’ll be just fine. I’m feeling pretty positive.

I was here for the first time a couple of months ago to find somewhere to live. It struck me as a city of great contrasts. There’s the very rich and the very poor living just a few blocks from one another. It’s just as quick moving from very Chinese areas to those that are very European. The food has been spectacularly good, there’s every possible nationality to choose from and so far I haven’t had a bad meal.

Here’s the video I made when I first visited. I thought it might be interesting to see how my perceptions change over time.

I just returned from this year’s motorbike adventure. This time nine of us rode in a wide loop that started and ended in Vegas (how many times have I been there this year? It’s just weird), taking us 2000 miles through Colorado, Nevada and Arizona. We started out riding East through Nevada in the scorching heat. It’s a source of huge irritation to the chap that my bike has a temperature gauge. I look at it a lot of the time (party so I can report temperatures just to remind him that I have the ability to 😉 Anyway, riding out of Vegas it was well over 100 degrees F, which is not the sort of temperature you want to be sitting on an engine…

Anyhoo – here’s an overview of the pics I took (they are just the pictures from my phone for now – I haven’t had time to process the others yet).

[fgallery id=1 w=450 h=385 t=0 title=”Bike Red Rock Bike Tour 2011″]

We saw some astonishing natural sights – it’s a constant source of amazement to me quite how spectacular the US scenery can be. The National Parks are all ruggedly beautiful. The first place of note we visited was Zion National Park. It was the first set of this week’s huge red rocks. Bryce Canyon was the next rock stop –  I’ve never seen anything quite like it. Its weird eroded rock formations make it look like something from a different planet. We stopped there for both sunset and sunrise so experienced impressive light shows over the red rocks. Staying nearby I was struck by the hummingbirds. I watched them feeding for some time.

I did something on a random whim recently – I signed up for a pin up photo shoot.

I wasn’t really planning to – I was introduced to a wonderful husband and wife photography  team by a mutual friend – I emailed them and they were so lovely that one thing led to another and before long I found myself heading over to Alexandria after work on the way to see them.

At that point I was seriously apprehensive. I wasn’t that sure what to expect and given that I dislike the vast majority of pictures of me, I wasn’t that positive about the likely results. On arrival they put me immediately at ease. Before long I was trying on a selection of weird and wonderful outfits and twirling around for feedback on which to choose. and Costumes chosen, I had my hair and make up done in the style of the 50s pin ups. Then the pictures started. I was pretty self conscious initially, but they gave me props and made me laugh so much that I was happy to take direction. It’s amazing how a giant leaf or parasol stop you from wondering what to do with your hands. It ended up being a surprisingly fun evening.

A couple of weeks later, the pictures came back. I was really impressed  – I reckon I wouldn’t look out of place on the side of a B52. Here’s a sample:

A major part of the whirlwind of the last few months was the wedding. I didn’t think I’d ever get married and I suspect that many people I know didn’t expect it either. Some of it has been just that I was never that girl who planned it out from an early age. So with no one else to answer to, we arranged a wedding that we would want to go to – one that was  fun with great food but that was not particularly wedding-y in terms of tradition or ceremony.

I was all for running off and marrying on a beach but I was convinved otherwise. I am so pleased I was. It was a special couple of days that I am thrilled we shared with people we care about and who care about us. The small group of friends and family who came made it a really special day. Nobody knew each other at the beginning of the weekend, but I think people left as firm friends. One of my favourite memories from the day is everyone squeezed into the ridiculous stretch SUV I’d found, laughing, joking with one another and popping champagne corks. Priceless.

Another element I never expected was the location – we married in Vegas. I had been there for many gruelling trade shows. But the more we thought about it, the more it made sense. For a start, the town isn’t exactly a stranger to weddings! It’s easy to get to, has fab hotels, great restaurants and lots to do. I admit I did look into the chapels and even the drive through weddings but couldn’t quite face the tackiness (veils and bouquet for hire by the half hour!). The hotels didn’t seem quite right either so the wedding ceremony itself was held outside the city, in the beautifully rugged Red Rock Canyon. It was simple and moving. We all stood on a boardwalk in the afternoon sunshine as the Reverend presided over a really personal event. She had gone to the trouble of finding out about us by talking to us both individually and together and even showed up wearing leopard print shoes to match my sash! My father gave a reading of a poem he had written for us and made everyone cry, even the officiant! He then pulled a vial of whiskey out of his cane and we each had a swig. I can honestly say that it was the first time I have seen that happen!

I’m still smiling though – it really was perfect.

It really has been ages – I’m sorry I’ve been away so long. It’s been a couple of months of complete craziness.

It started off with a short weekend moving the bikes from Dallas to Vegas – this ended up being a bit of an adventure, with gale force winds, snow in Arizona and closed roads. Soon after that trip we were in Shanghai househunting (Yes, we’re moving to China), back in Vegas getting married (yes I know!), then the honeymoon of course. We’ve had a few weeks to recover, during which there’s been a bit more travelling. Now we’re back, the next week will involve packing up clothes and goods that will be heading to Shanghai with us in a few weeks.  I told you it’s all a bit crazy right now. Did I mention we’re doing our 2011 bike trip before we go. Insane.

In any case I’m changing the blog tagline to reflect the move – rather than Letters from America, I’m going to call it Girl Meets world. I’m going to start catching up on all that’s been going on.