Coulda Woulda Shoulda

I feel as though I may have not been sharing enough of the love om my blog recently. Okay, let's face it, I haven't really been sharing much of anything on this thing recently. But I think it's important to just say, at this moment, I am really really happy. I am so content and peaceful and blissful. I'm just perfect. I suppose this surprises even me a little bit becaseu I have to say, a couple of weeks ago, I was not this. I was very not happy. Very un blissful. Very "I'm going home" uncontented. There are times of helplessness, times of shear out-of-controlness, that you want to grab hold and do something drastic, if only to assert the power that you are in control. D pointed out to me that I made it for quite some time before I declared that I was done, threw my toys out of my pram and decided that the next flight back to Toronto would have me on it. It's slightly scary to think that is your only option. Slightly libertating as well. And, on the oth...

We've been in China for 3 weeks and surprisingly, this is the first time I have attempted to log into Blogger. The connections here are slow, and I assumed since I could never LOAD my blog, I would never be able to UPDATE my blog. I suppose even after I post this I will STILL have no idea whether or not I have actually posted, because I won't be able to check. So I'm literally writing into cyberspace. Weird. China has been...well...China. I can say that Korea prepared me for China. There is such a sense of isolation, of being lost amongst the millions, that it can, at times, be quite a lonely place. It has been filled with happiness and hope, awe and amazement, folly and frustration. And anger. I have been very angry many times, due to lack of patience, in China. As it was not perhaps Thailand's fault, I don't think it is necessarily China's fault. You need a lot of patience anyway with this place. Four months in, you don't tend to have very much. But we...

There have actually been a lot of things that I wanted to write about but since I have been obsessed with Facebook and email, I just haven't been able to get onto this thing. Plus, for some reason, it has been pretty slow the past couple of days. Vietnam has been an experience. I will say there were some downs, ones that we have not actually experienced anywhere else, but we've regrouped in a lovely hotel in Hanoi and are leaving here happy and positive about the country and the people here. China is our next stop. We fly today as we decided we'd had enough of trains and will be taking many once we get to Russia. One thing I've heard is that I can't actually access my blogger in China. I haven't really done any investigation so it may be wrong and you may hear from me again soon. But, if this is the last post before Russia, enjoy the next month and I'll be in touch once we're trekking through Siberia....in December....dear God what have I done? Family: F...

At 1:40pm on November 8th, Little Mr. Marshall Gary Cassidy arrived. 3 weeks early and ready to take on the world, just like his parents. My heart is bursting with excitement. I can't wait to talk to my sister, who, according to my mom I just spoke to, is doing well but very tired. C - well done sister - you are now a mom. Does that mean I get to beg you for things too? K - excellent job coach! Now the fun begins :) Little Mr. Marshall - you're gonna be SO SPOILED you have no idea :)

We had read a lot about the streets of Ho Chi Min, otherwise know as Saigon. That they were busy with motorbikes, flying and flitting all over the place, swerving and sliding down windy and unkept roads. I'd prepared myself but fell back on what I continue to fall back on when people tell me about the traffic in South East Asia - have you been to Korea? I have written before about the traffice in Korea - how all you need to do is simply pretend you are only person on the road. And use your brake excessively. For years, D has always poked fun at the way I'm terrified to cross the street. In addition to being a mermaid in my past life, I"m certain as well that I must have been hit by a car, perhaps when I was someone's golden retriever. I was bad enough in Toronto and not much better in Korea. I began to just get used to the cars come careening towards me. I would curse and srunch my face up, thinking that showing my frustration would somehow will the Koreans to be bette...

Every step we now takes brings us two things: Closer to home - for obvious reasons, I'm looking forwar to this. And it helps to make the daily constant decision making (ie where to sleep where to eat where IS THE BATHROOM) a little bit easier to bear. Closer to cold - this I'm actually looking forward to, if only so that I can again appreciate the gloriousness of the beach. In light of that, I thought it might be good to show a few shots of the heat we will be missing. No, i don't know any of these people but it's all very beachy. Life just always seems better at sunset. We are more than halfway finished our trip, over the hump and heading down the other side of the hill. We have our placed booked for Christmas and most of Russian accomodation is taken care off, thanks to my dreamy D. If it was left in my hands people, we'd be stuck in the middle of Siberia in December. I'm getting very excited to see China, although like the large countries of australia and ca...