Courtesy of Skype, I learned that all is well with HWMBO and the group in Beijing. Although they arrived in Beijing on Wednesday, it took a couple days to work out the wi-fi kinks in their dormitory, thus the delay in communications. Two members of the group were still having difficulties as of this morning so HWMBO, always the consummate gentleman, offered the use of his account. So long as he is "connected," all's right with the world. He reports that he's still having a splendid time and enjoying the food and culture tremendously. He even greeted me in Chinese!
Tomorrow morning, Lawyer Sis (my "baby" sis, aka to the family as "Angel Lamb"), will board a plane bound for Amman, Jordan, where she will reunite with her daughter, Princess B. This is the same Princess B who stayed with me here last summer while she and a friend attended the summer French courses for foreigners at the University of Geneva. Princess B, a journalism major who is completing her junior year at university and who also also been studying Arabic, has been interning with a newspaper in Amman this term. Her internship will finish in June, so Proud Mom Lawyer Sis is joining her to do some ME sightseeing. On the agenda will be Petra in Jordan, along with Cairo and Sharm el-Sheikh - for some welcome R&R and beach time - in Egypt. Then they will return to Montana, where I am sure they will appreciate the cooler weather in a way they never have had cause to before after baking away in the ME. The summers are HOT there!
In connection with travel and far-flung family members, I just read a very sad, pathetic and somewhat horrifying piece in today's Guardian newspaper. The body of a man was recently discovered in his house in a Spanish village of 520 persons. It appears that the body may have been there for up to 20 years. The horrifying thing was not that he was dead - no foul play is suspected so far - but that NO ONE NOTICED THAT HE WAS MISSING IN ALL THIS TIME! And no one found it strange when he didn't answer his doorbell. Finally, one of his nephews - who lived in the same small village - decided to break into the house this week to find some clue about his uncle's whereabouts. It was then that the remains were discovered. Police who are investigating the situation have found banknotes in pesetas, which indicates that the remains have been there since well before 2002, when the Euro was introduced. The man would have been 73 this year.
I have occasionally wondered if anyone would miss me if I somehow "slipped into the next phase" while I am still here - far away from the country of my birth. But I feel sure that someone would have noticed if there had been no sign of me for 20 years.
Or at least I like to believe and hope so!
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