For your visual delight, we have added a picture of our 'Hmong Style Safe Trip Home Ceremony'. The people in the picture are our Hmong family, including Chris! From left to right, the people are: Chris, Juu's father, Ben(me), Jay's father, Jay's son on my knee, Laura M, Jay's mother, and Juu's mother. Can you see all that food? They even cooked 2 chickens in our honor as part of the ritual. Its called, 'Bassi Su Kwan'... (i'm pretty sure about that, but not the spelling)
Wow, I can't believe so much time has gone by since Laura and I have gotten back to the States. I guess its taking longer for us to recuperate than we thought.
Since we have returned, I have had a full time freelance job in the Compton/Rancho Dominguez Hills area. For those that don't know, its quite a ways to drive in the morning from Colton to Compton. About 64 miles each way, so round trip, that's 128 miles, approximately. After doing that for a week, we realized that the drive was going to exhaust me to no end, so we looked into the Metrolink. For some reason, I've had an aversion to public transportation in Los Angeles. I guess I made up some story about how I would get harrassed or mugged by some crazy people. Apparently, the Metrolink doesn't have many of those in the mornings. Its a transit situation, and everyone probably feels the same... "I just want to get to work in one piece, and is it possible to sleep the entire way without missing my stop?"
The interesting part about me getting a full times freelance position is that Laura just went onto sabbatical, so she now has a vampire schedule. She tends to be most efficient from the hours of 1:00 AM until the crack of dawn. I know this schedule from working with clients in China.
Basically, Laura and I have reversed work roles. Where I once worked freelance from home having an adjustable schedule that would allow me to work anytime, Laura was doing the 8-4 thing. Now, we have now swapped completely with me doing the 4:30 AM to 7:30 PM thing, and Laura growing sharp pointy teeth and working at all hours of the night...
Will we ever be on the same schedule? I think on cruises we do, but other than that... who knows...
so, yes, I am out of integrity by not having updated this blog in a long while. We do have the pictures, and I do have intent to update. So, with that being said, please understand that I will be doing my best to catch up during the week with my 2 hours of freetime each day.
We hope all is well, and we're doing out best to see all of you as time permits...
All our love,
B & L
