Digitizing the Past: 1982 to 1997

It took me 145 days to digitize 9 books of old diaries -- from 1982.2.9 to 1997.8.22.  They're now in a word document with a total of 213 pages.

One entry touched me deeply.  It was from 10/20/1993, when Michelle first came back to Chicago after spending 2 years with Grandma and Grandpa in China.  Grandma and Grandpa didn't come back with her.  So, she came to a WHOLE NEW WORLD at age 3 -- all by herself.  My original diary was beautifully written in Chinese.  To benefit Michelle, I translated it into English, but it couldn't quite capture the sentiment...  This diary entry was recorded 10 days after Michelle came back to Chicago.

A few weeks later, I received letters from Grandma and Grandpa.  In them, Grandma included 4 pictures she drew for Michelle.  Three of them were the main characters from Michelle favorite Chinese TV show 白娘子 (bai niang zi).

I truly felt the love Grandma sent to Michelle... through her favorite TV characters at the time.  Grandma also carefully dated each picture...

1993.10.20（三）

Michelle at age 3

给慢慢洗好澡，关大灯，开小灯。慢慢静静地躺在自己的小床上，眼睛亮亮的。我给她唱《半边楼》的插曲，她就眯眯笑，闪着眼睛对我说：“在我们家呀，有阿婆，阿公和阿姨。我就给他们唱这个歌…” 而后，又闪着透亮的眼睛对我说：“阿婆说我脑子里只有一个人，就是白娘子…”

她那样说着，眼睛并没有看着我，但却让我觉得慢慢小小的心灵和脑海中充满着幸福；充满着在中国经历、体验到的一切；充满着许许多多纯洁美好的记忆；充满着那三个给过她无限温暖和爱的人：阿婆，阿公和阿姨…

After taking a bath for Michelle, I brought her to her bedroom.  Turned off the lights, only left the small night light on.  Michelle laid on her bed quietly, eyes bright.  I sang a song for her from a Chinese TV show.  She smiled, so sweetly, and said: "In my family in China, there were Grandma, Grandpa and Ayi.  I always sang this song for them..." Then, she widened her bright eyes and said: "Grandma said that there was only one person in my head -- that's 白娘子…" (bai niang zi).

She did not really look at me while talking, as if she was in her own beautiful imaginary world.  I felt clearly that her little heart was filled with love and happiness; filled with her warm experience in China; filled with all sweet and pure memories of China; filled with the three people who gave her so much unconditional love: Grandma, Grandpa and Ayi...

Polar Vortex 2019 (1)

Enough ICE for you?????
 
St. Joseph, Michigan
February 2, 2019

 

Polar Vortex 2019

The real question is -- do I really need to fly over 7,000 miles to chase winter???

Believe it or not, I was in southern California when the Polar Vortex of 2019 occurred in Chicago last week.  Can you imagine my tremendous disappointment and anxiety over this?

So, late Saturday, I rushed to downtown Chicago to chase ICE, frantically!  What I saw was the great melt down from the drama of 2019 Polar Vortex!!!

The last two photos were taken with my iPhone.  So, for the iPhone lovers out there, there is HOPE!!

Downtown Chicago 

February 2, 2019  

Chasing Winter (3)

The 3rd COLD place we visited was "China Harbin Ice and Snow World." The entire place was build with ice blocks and snow. Here are the statistics:

1. Size of the "Ice World": 8.61 million square feet
2. Ice blocks used: 6.36 million cubic feet
3. Snow used: 5.29 million cubic feet
4. Over 2,000 ice/snow sculptures 

The place was huge, and we literally walked for over two hours inside the park. My friend urged me to take some pictures. My reply: "This place is so overwhelming that I have NO idea where and how to take pictures..."

With that, here are the only two photos I took. Look at how small people are so you can imagine how big the castle is. Thousands of small lights were embedded in the ice cubes, and the color change is controlled by music -- absolutely amazing!!

Northeast China
January, 2019

Chasing Winter (2)

One other COLD place we visited this time was called the "Snow Village."  It's also in Northeast China, a very small, remote village that gets a huge amount of snow each winter.  It's surrounded by mountains.  Cold air from Siberia and warm air from Japanese Sea meet here and dump tons of snow in this little village every year.  The village used to be very rural and it kept all traditional Chinese housing...

Believe it or not, this year, the “Snow Village” had no snow (per local standards).  It took us a lot of effort to get there, only to find out that it's much warmer this year than usual AND there was "no snow!"  Go figure!!!!

Anyways, I just had to take a few photos... as a part of my travel log.

Northeast China
January, 2019

Chasing Winter

My trip to Northeast China turned out to be one of those unforgettable events.  Once again, I got to experience things that I'd never experienced before.  Went to a very remote village in Northeast China to chase winter, the real -30C winter!!  The place is so remote that there is no hotel in the village.  There are only homemade motels -- you live there and eat whatever the motel owner cook for you on that day...  Getting there was very difficult, and staying there was even more difficult.  I am not sure if I have the courage to ever go back there again...

Despite all the difficulties, due to unexpected weather conditions, I did not really get to see the special winter phenomenon I wanted to see in that part of China.  Yeah, I know, a big part of nature photography is luck!!

I would be lying to you if I say that this is not disappointing.  However, the important lesson I learned on the trip was "acceptance."  Yes, you might have plans in your head.  But when Mother Nature has other plans for you, happily accept it and thoroughly enjoy it.

Northeast  China

January, 2019

Happy New Year!!

The decluttering process continues...

In addition to the precious details I discovered about baby Michelle, I also found the following two events:

1.  We took our first "vacation" in this country during Thanksgiving in 1991.  We went with two other friends to the Gateway Arch in St. Louis and then Mammoth Cave in Kentucky.  I have no idea how on earth we picked those locations, but apparently, I was very happy about the trip.

2.  After landed in this country in September 1988, my first trip back to China was in December 1992, after finishing school and getting my green card.  My goal was to fly from Chicago to Beijing, but found myself going through such twisted connections to get from Point A to Point B.

1) 12/10/1992: TWA483 from Chicago to St. Louis, leaving Chicago at 7:15pm central time

2) 12/10/1992: TWA171 from St. Louis to LA, leaving St. Louis at 9:31pm central time

3) 12/11/1992: TWA171 arrived in LA at 1:40am central time.  Spent the night at my friend's place.

4) 12/11/1992: I arrived at the gate in LA at 11:05am Pacific Time to catch the flight to Beijing, no record of the airline or the flight number.

5) 12/13/1992: I finally arrived in Beijing at 1:35am Beijing Time.

  

Life was very different back then, but was equally precious, in its own way!!

I am heading back to China again this Saturday for two weeks, going to the COLD part of the country to chase ice and snow.  My flight?  United, from Chicago to Beijing, direct flight for 13 hours.  Everything is so much better now that I forget my painful experience from 26 years ago...  I will be sure to appreciate my not-so-long flight this time!