Halfway Around the World

We miss Wolfhill. China is amazing and interesting, but we miss home and all of the family. We still have nearly two weeks to go before we see home again. It is cold here in Hefei, about 31 degrees fahrenheit for the high with about an inch of snow on the ground. The streets have cleared of snow so traffic is moving at its usual chaotic pace. We had heard people tell about how they drive over here but you have to see it to believe it. In Beijing our van driver tailgated other cars with about a foot of space. Everyone uses their horns frequently. Amazingly during three days of touring in traffic bedlam we saw only one accident. It was a bicycle rider that collided with a bus. We didn't see the rider, only the bike laying in front of the bus, we hope the rider wasn't hurt badly.

For all of the crowded conditions here, the people get along well by American standards. Sometimes there are what appear to be heated exchanges between people, but no hard feelings. One or the other of the parties will convince the other and it's over. What we have seen makes us very thankful to be Americans. Also some of what we have seen makes us realize that in many cases Americans are not thankful enough, and are maybe way too selfish. If Americans were forced to live in the crowded deprived conditons that millions of Chinese are, I shudder to think how we would cope.

I will try to post some street scenes to give you an idea of how things are over here.