Looking for the next wave

Did I mention that we used our leisurely trip to the Keys to begin to get ourselves ready for the trip we are hoping to take to China. We stumbled across some tours that will be set to view the solar eclipse on July 17th in the area around Chengdu. If all goes well, Matt and Eve will get to visit one of the Panda research centers, and spend some time in a remote town, on a hill [or a mountain? - we can't tell from Google Earth] and witness the total eclipse - probably using a box viewer [or make us a suggestion that would work and either use materials we would find in China or carry with us]. For all of our time driving we subjected Rachel to the training CDs to learn the 4 basic Chinese language tones and basic words and syllables. Eve has signed up for the China as a second language class at the Raleigh Chinese Language School and we'll see what happens. We also started reading books on China - a must read for the most recent impressions is "Lost on Planet China" - The other book that got us interested in China was 1421 by Gavin Menzies. It is a great read and starting point for looking at world history from a different perspective. We are looking forward to 2009, we know there are challenges ahead but we look forward to meeting them with creative thinking and perserverance.