Richard is great at taking beautiful pictures...but he doesn't really like writing on our blog (you've probably noticed). I figured I would write a little commentary (aka Esther babble) about his last two posts, Huangshan and a recent village visit.
It's been a busy, fun-filled past two weeks. I've already mentioned how "getting out of here" was frustrating and tiring due to bad weather, but we were thankful that the rest of our trip went relatively smoothly. We met up with my parents in another part of the country and tagged along with them for a few days. Huangshan is definitely one of the most -- if not the most -- beautiful place I have ever visited here. We were able to take a cable car up part of the way, but we still had to hike for hours to enjoy the view from various peaks. Those of you who know me probably know that I would have been content with the "easy walk" around the top of the cable car area. Those of you who know my dear husband know that he would want to drag the family on a more challenging hike where cable cars do not go. I admit that I was out of shape, but this was definitely the most physically challenging thing I have done in a long time (imagine climbing upstairs for hundreds and hundreds of steps with no end in sight). But anytime I caught myself complaining, I looked over at poor Richard, who was dripping in sweat because he had Noah (who now weights ~26 pounds) strapped to his back. Yet somehow, Richard was having a ton of fun and thought the whole thing was a blast. People who walked past us were shocked and amazed that Richard had a kid strapped to his back. I also wondered how Noah would do since he rarely gets carried anymore, but he did great and seemed to enjoy himself (especially the cable car rides). So we're still loving our Beco carrier. Needless to say, the two of us were sore for about three days, but we agree that it was worth it. So my super husband is now officially super dad as well (though he was already worthy of this title before).
Random funny moment: I've always seen my Caucasian friends' kids get swarmed with people who want to take their picture. Well, while I was resting and playing with Noah (while Richard chose to hike an extra peak), some random guy came up to me and said (in English), "Can I take a picture of your son?" I was too shocked to say anything but yes, and as soon as I did, Noah suddenly got swarmed by about 6 people. Since I didn't want to be in the picture, I slowly backed away and continued to make silly faces so that Noah would smile in their picture. They took their picture, said thank you, then ran off. All I could think was, "But we're not white." Haha, I was amused since that was the first time I've ever been approached in that way, even though I've seen it happen to my friends countless times. For me, that was a funny, interesting, amusing experience...but I'm thankful that I don't have to deal with that everyday.
Then a couple days ago, we took my parents to our friend's village. As you can see from Richard's pictures, it was a beautiful place...probably one of the more beautiful villages I've visited. We had a really nice time walking around and eating lunch with our friend's family. It was neat to be able to show my parents the village aspect of our lives. It's been great having my parents around this week, and Noah has especially loved the extra company and attention.
Anyhow, I'm thankful that we'll be home for the next month until we travel again in early May. But I don't want to think about traveling anymore right now...I'm just enjoying being home.